Another Road
by Mezamun
Summary: After coming short of another Pokemon League victory, Ash takes another look at his methods of pursuing his goal of becoming a Pokemon Master. Putting himself and his team through rigorous training, he's determined to prove himself to the world more than ever. Pearlshipping.
1. Catching a New Groove!

**Thank you, for taking your time to check out this story! Reviews and feedback are appreciated, and if you have any questions, we'll be happy to answer! In addition, fanart should be accompanying many moments in this fic, so please check out its blog, if you get the chance? We can be found on our tumblr, another-rxad.**

 **We hope you enjoy Ash's next journey!**

* * *

Here he was again.

He stood atop the lush green hills overlooking the beautiful hamlet that was known as Pallet Town. Once again, Ash Ketchum was home. Onyx eyes radiated with fondness for the sight, his lips curved into an eager smile that practically spread cheek to cheek.

"It's Pallet Town. Let's go, Pikachu!" The boy chanted before running off towards his home, met by an eager cheer from the mouse perched atop his shoulder, Ash's best friend and number one partner. He, much like his trainer, was thrilled to be back home.

After a short run from just outside town, made difficult by the bags of gifts occupying Ash's arms, they had arrived at the cozy two story home. It sported a vibrant pink coat of paint and a small garden in the front to complete the welcoming image. He'd found his way to the door, eager to ring the doorbell, only to realize both of his hands were occupied. "Uh, Pikachu? Could ya get that for me?"

Pikachu reached out without hesitation, pressing his paw against the doorbell adorning the front entrance to the home. Now all they had to do was wait not-so-patiently for the one they could always count on to give them a warm welcome.

The wait would not be long for Ash and his partner Pikachu. In almost the exact moment they rang the doorbell, the door swung open. Standing in front of the door was none other than Delia Ketchum, Ash's loving mother.

"Ash, my goodness, you're back!" The mother exclaimed, pulling her son into a giant loving hug. "I know you are a growing boy who loves to be on the road, but that doesn't stop me from worrying about you!" Before Ash knew it, he was crushed between her arms, struggling to get breath from his lungs. "Mom, I... can't... breathe..!" Upon hearing this, she let go, allowing Ash to regain his bearings.

The teen exhaled, finally managing to catch his breath. "Well... I'm home, Mom!" He entered the living room, stopping in his tracks when none of them seemed to follow. He turned back, spotting his mother still standing at the door, eyes peering around for some figure that wasn't going to show up.

"Uh, who're you looking for, Mom?"

"I was expecting Dawn to be here! Your friends usually stop by here after your adventures." At least, that was the pattern that the matriarch was used to.

The trainer frowned at the question, his shoulders slumping as he went on to explain. "She was, but her Buneary got a modeling offer the day we were going to leave, so she decided to stay." It was quite the disappointment, really. Showing Dawn around Kanto would have really been something to look forward to.

"Aw, that's a shame." Noticing that her son seemed a little down, she went on to suggest something to lift his spirits. "Why don't we talk about your adventures over lunch?"

Suddenly, Ash's stomach growled loudly in response. "Sounds great, Mom! I'm starving!" He ran off into the dining room in the blink of an eye, leaving a stunned Delia and Pikachu behind.

"Some things never change," Delia conceded with a smile as she went on to the kitchen.

"Pikachu," the mouse muttered as he shook his head in disbelief.

* * *

In typical Delia fashion, the young woman put a meal together in nearly no time at all, adorning the kitchen table with a variety of fruit, rice balls galore, and a bowl of nice, hot soup for the gluttonous teen. Ash didn't waste a second in sitting down, scarfing down one morsel after another, nearly leaving Delia and Pikachu speechless. Indeed, Ash hadn't changed a bit.

"This ish sho ghud!" Ash praised with a mouth full of food, still whole-heartedly stuffing his face.

"Ash Ketchum, what have I told you about talking with your mouth full!" The mother's expression creased into a frown-one that didn't hold for long. It'd been so long since she'd seen him; how could she possibly stay mad? It wasn't worth dwelling on, so she went on as he downed his meal. "So, Ash, would you like to tell me about your adventures? I'm sure there's tons of wonderful things I haven't heard yet!"

The boy downed another large portion, eyes lighting up at various memories of Sinnoh running through his mind. Surprisingly, it was even enough to make him drop his fork to speak! "Oh, sure! Sinnoh was awesome! As soon as I got there, Team Rocket managed to get a hold of Pikachu... But, Dawn ended up saving him, and we traveled together with Brock!"

A nostalgic smile found its way to Ash's face as his mind flashed with many memories of the two. They'd shared so much together, just like him and his other friends. "Watching Dawn perform in contests was really cool... We even came up with some strategies together!" He balled his hands up into fists at shoulder level, eyes sparkling in marvel over the work they'd put in together. The counter shield, Ice Aqua Jet, the spin technique... "All of it helped me out a lot, when it really came down to it! And, Brock figured out something for himself, too! He helped save a ship full of pokemon, and decided he was going to study to become a Pokemon Doctor!" He proudly proclaimed, thrilled that one of his closest friends had found a new path.

Delia's two hands clasped together, a bright smile on her lips. That whole adventure sounded so exciting! "Aw, that's great to hear! I always knew Brock would end up doing something special. And you and Dawn sounded like quite the team! Oh, and your battles? How were they?" With all of her faith in her son, it was hard to imagine they were anything short of incredible.

Once again, a smile spread from cheek to cheek. "Sinnoh had some of the best trainers I've ever seen! The Gym Leaders gave me a heck of a hard time. But, someone I met there was even tougher than them! This guy, Paul, he ended up being my rival. When I met him, he was a huge jerk, but he's got one of the toughest battling styles I've ever seen. It took me all the way until the Sinnoh League for me to finally take him down!"

The language Ash was using was something easy to notice. Speaking of taking someone down wasn't like him. "It sounds like he was a real challenge! But, I always knew you could do it, honey!" As quickly as her smile came though, it faded. "Still, I really wish I could have seen your matches! I was busy with the restaurant, but I'd love to hear all about them!"

"The tournament was going great," Ash started. "I beat our friend Nando in the first round, and this guy named Conway in the second. Him and Paul both had perfect streaks when I got to 'em. My pokemon and I were really on the ball! I made it to the top four!" A statement of pride, to be certain. He had never made it that far in a league before.

"...But." His tone became somber, a warning to Pikachu who had seen it all play out. "In that round, I faced this guy named Tobias... I heard that he used the legendary Pokemon, Darkrai! They said through the whole Sinnoh League, he used it alone to win every single match!"

Thinking back on those few days at Lily of the Valley... It was hard to forget what he'd felt-the sensation of his heart racing in anticipation of facing something so powerful; wondering whether he'd be able to take home the cup or not in face of such overwhelming odds.

"I fought them, and he took out three of my Pokemon just using Darkrai. They all did great, but he was just too much... Sceptile managed to beat it, though! I was the first one to ever beat his Darkrai!" Ash was practically glowing over this fact alone. Not only had he taken down an unbeatable Pokemon, but a legendary one!

The second half of the story, however, was a bit more sobering. A drop in his tone made that clear. "...But, then he sent out a Latios. Another legendary Pokemon. Sceptile and Swellow went down, too. Pikachu here," Ash added, scratching the mouse behind his ear, "pretty much managed to beat Latios all by himself! He really hung in there... After he went down though, that was all six Pokemon. So that was the end of that."

Sensing the gloom in Ash's tone, Delia was quick to put on a reassuring smile. "Sorry, sweetie... Oh, but you did so well all the way to the end! I'm sure no one else would have gotten as far as you did!" It was all she could do to keep a proud mother's tears from welling up in her eyes. Her son had really come so far as a trainer... "You've gone from trying to tame a Pikachu to going toe to toe with legends themselves! So you better be proud of yourself, mister!" And that wasn't just reassurance. That was a mother's order!

* * *

The rest of the day went on smoothly. Ash spoke more and more of his adventures, including each of his Pokemon he'd befriended. Infernape's story had been quite the tale! But soon, Ash tired. All of the excitement piled on constant traveling had left the young, aspiring master worn out. The sun had set and a loud yawn left the boy's mouth.

"Well it seems like it's been a long day for you, Ash. Why don't you head upstairs and get some rest?" Delia chided in a typical motherly fashion. "And, don't forget to brush your teeth, mister!"

Normally, Ash would have complained and dragged his feet. But, he was just happy to be home. "Yeah, I will." With a childish tone and a smile, he carried himself upstairs with Pikachu in tow.

After the menial tasks that Delia had told him to do, Ash pulled the door open to his room, nostalgia flooding his senses at the sight of every adornment and trophy. It was like a Pokemon fanatic's dream. And, as much as he wanted to marvel at every sight... He was exhausted. The bed creaked and squeaked when it was met with the force of Ash hopping onto it. His eyes then turned up towards the ceiling. "Well, I guess I'm home," he remarked, to no one in particular.

* * *

The same four walls surrounded him once more: those covered with Pokemon merchandise and memorabilia, trophies and badges. It was nostalgic, welcoming, to a traveler like him. He could always come back here after one of his adventures. His room was charming, really… filled with the sky-high dreams of a child who would let nothing get in his way.

That was Ash's attitude, through and through. But, each time he came back… Each time he'd fallen a little short, each time he'd come home only to head onto the next region. And, as those visits piled up, he felt a bit more scared each time-a bit more frustrated about his losses, but his youthful spirit and determination allowed him to brush it off.

This time, however… he had come to the top four, closer than he had ever been to winning a regional league. And yet, his hopes were crushed by the mysterious trainer, Tobias. It was frustrating. The match kept replaying in his head as he stared blankly at the ceiling above his bed. Arms folded behind his head with Pikachu huddled up beside him, the electric type's head rested against the boy's chest.

 _"Use Dark Pulse!" The cloaked man called out as Darkrai unleashed a flurry of violet rings that overpowered Torkoal's Flamethrower, barraging the tortoise in a large explosion that left it unconscious after a single move._

Why had he used Torkoal against an opponent with a Pokemon as fast and powerful as Darkrai…? No disrespect to the Pokemon, it did its best, but what a poor match-up. He could have sent out Sceptile sooner.

 _"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!" Ash had called this himself as Latios descended for another Giga Impact. Try as he might, Pikachu was overpowered by the devastating move. He'd taken another hit as a consequence._

What had he been thinking, attacking that move head-on…? Looking back, he could have used the spin technique Dawn had taught him before the Oreburgh Gym… A passive attack strategy would have been much better than brute force against such an opponent.

The mistakes seemed to pile up in his head. Sure, he had fought well and his Pokemon were amazing. They had defeated two legendary Pokemon! He wore that accomplishment with pride, but something told him he could have done better. It could have been different. The boy's eyes narrowed, coal irises focused on the azure ceiling above him. Brows furrowed. He felt frustration. He had worked so hard to win Sinnoh… He'd put so much effort into beating Paul, that…

He hadn't been prepared. He hadn't thought his choices out thoroughly during that last battle. It wasn't his Pokemon that had gone wrong at all, no.

He was the one who had made the follies.

"…It was my fault." He finally spoke aloud, just above a whisper.

The mouse laying against his side turned his head towards his trainer, ears perking up. "Pi…?" Pikachu couldn't help but worry that Ash was coming down on himself. That wasn't something that he would allow. He was about to speak, but Ash continued.

"I put all of my effort into battling Paul and defeating him… Once I was there, it felt like the tournament was over. He was our goal. Past that, I didn't even think as much as I should've… All of my Pokemon were great… Especially you, Pikachu. But, I made some bad moves out there… I could've done better… Here I am again, back home. I… I want to do better than that. If I keep messing up like that, there's no way I'll be a Pokemon Master!"

"Pika! Pikachu!" The lemon-colored mouse hopped to his feet, waving his paws and yelling to his trainer. Don't be so hard on yourself, he said! Don't give up now! Ash still had it in him to be the best; he always said he would! Hearing him talk like that… It was unusual. Almost a bit scary.

Part of him couldn't help but worry he might take these thoughts too far to heart. Ash had a heart of gold, but unlike Pikachu, he was still something of a child. He figured a time would come when his trainer's confidence would breach. "Pika…." His voice softened to almost a whine. Don't change, Ash. Please don't change.

"What if I'm not good enough…? What if this'll be as far as I go…? What if I keep going from region to region and not winning?" Ash sat upright, fists closing in frustration. One could dismiss this as a juvenile tantrum, but it ran deeper than that… It was a lapse of confidence.

Ironic, after his closest spot to victory yet.

Ash, as Pikachu knew him, was never one to obsess with winning a match, with being better than anyone else. His Pokemon did come first… but deep down, Ash was still a boy-a boy with huge dreams who wanted to be the best. It only made sense that falling short of them would eventually lead to problems… But, Ash had it in him! He knew he did! It wasn't like him to give up, yet!

"Pika Pika! Pikachu!" The mouse cried out in protest, furrowed brows conveying the intensity of his coal colored eyes, the two staring into Ash's after he'd pulled his trainer away from his fretting. He would be a Pokemon Master! Maybe they hadn't done it yet, but they had a lifetime to get there! And maybe it wouldn't be the same way they'd been trying, but they would do it! They always figured things out!

While he couldn't understand the exact words Pikachu was shouting at him… The teen was able to see further than that. The message was clear. Pikachu knew he could do it, one way or another. No matter how hard it might be, they would be masters!

The boy's hues began to pool with tears, onyx irises showing a hint of copper. Pikachu had always been one of his inspirations. He was Ash's best friend, the one he confided in most. He was the one Ash needed most right now and he hadn't budged. He was right there, telling the boy how it was.

"Pikachu…." His lips quivered, his throat burning with sobs he bit back as he attempted to regain his composure. Those same eyes that were filled with confusion and fear were now burning with intensity, the ambition within him swelling to a fever pitch. Building with him like a raging inferno that filled his body with life and energy, as well as his mind. His fists tightened, one raising to shoulder level as he put all of his passions into words.

"Pikachu, you're right! We CAN still do it! We'll be the best team the world's ever seen, and we'll come back smarter and stronger than anyone's seen us! One way or another, we'll bounce back from this!"

Tears fell freely from his eyes as he spoke, his legs taking him towards his closet in a rhythmic stomp of defiance. The door was thrown open as he rummaged through it, continuing to speak. "Maybe we'll do things differently… Maybe we'll find another road for us! But the Sinnoh League isn't going to stop us, or any other Pokemon League!"

There! He'd found what he was looking for. Gloved hands rummaged through the messy mix of old clothing and collectibles of his, retrieving a familiar artifact. A red cap with a white section on the front, Indigo League's green insignia resting in the very center-his prized Pokemon League Expo hat. It was placed on his head with haste but with care, being fitted on just right as he turned back towards Pikachu with a raised fist.

"We're going to work harder than ever before, and show the world how great we are!" With a quick sweep of his hand, he slid the cap backwards on his head, fiery eyes turned toward the starry sky outside the window. "Mark my words, Pokemon World! I'm gonna be the best there is!"

At this point he was promptly joined by Pikachu, who dashed over to leap to his shoulder. Imitating his pose, he chimed in with his own declaration. "Pi-Pikachu!" They would get their goal… They would reach it!

The initial excitement began to fade soon, replaced by another layer of uncertainty. But it wasn't the same kind he'd felt when he was close to giving up. It was anticipation of the future, the anxiety brought by imagining the road ahead of him. The kind that made his stomach nearly turn upside-down in excitement. "We'll find a way soon… I say we go talk to Professor Oak tomorrow! What do you say, buddy?"

His gaze turned once more towards the mouse, positively beaming with excitement. Waiting patiently for the equally important answer from his partner. Of course he was meant with an enthusiastic"Pika!" that agreed wholeheartedly.

Maybe things hadn't gone just how he wanted them to… Maybe Ash had made some mistakes. But, that wasn't going to put him down for good. No, today was just the beginning!


	2. There's Always a Silver Lining!

Soon after Ash had declared his newfound confidence, he passed into slumber, and night passed as soon as it had come. Brilliant sunshine beamed in through the window of his bedroom, basking the sleeping teen in warmth… But, he was none the wiser, still dozing peacefully. Even an aspiring Pokemon Master needed his sleep.

The door to his room slowly parted with a creek, being slid open by none other than his mother, Delia.

"Ash, honey, it's time to wake up!" She announced in a soft tone, causing the ear of a certain yellow mouse to twitch.

Pikachu lifted his head, having previously been buried in Ash's chest, to turn to the source of the voice. Ash, however, didn't stir in the slightest.

"Pikachu, could you go ahead and wake Ash for me? We wouldn't want him sleeping the day away!" Delia's request was quickly met with a mischievous smile from the Electric Mouse Pokemon, whom squirmed his way out of Ash's arms, landing on the corner of the bed. His rosy cheeks sparked to life with electricity, quickly culminating in yet another brilliant bolt.

The crackling buzz of electricity was only eclipsed by the nasally wail of a certain sleepyhead, subsiding just as quickly as it had come, only to leave a soot-covered teen in its wake.

Groaning tiredly over the unpleasant sensation, Ash opened both of his eyes to find Pikachu, who had a coy smile etched on his curved lips, and Delia, who wore her same innocent smile. Never mind the fact that her son had just been electrocuted with a Thunderbolt.

"Errgh… Mom? What's the big idea?"

"Well dear, I just didn't want you to sleep away such an important day~!" The woman chimed, leaving her explanation oddly vague. "Breakfast is already set up for you downstairs!"

As she spoke, the alluring aroma of freshly baked pancakes and Arceus knew what else drifted into the room, instantly driving away any sleepy reservations that Ash had left. He'd already pulled himself out of bed, ready to rush downstairs without even questioning Delia's odd behavior.

"Hold it right there, mister!" Those few words were enough to stop Ash in his tracks, a pout already on his face that predicted what would come next. "You better go and wash up first! I won't have you go leaving ashes all over my kitchen floor… One of you is already enough to handle!" The brunette chuckled to herself over her own joke as she left the room, leaving her less-than-amused son to do as she'd said.

"Yeah, yeah… Very funny."

* * *

After performing his morning rituals, Ash dashed downstairs like a man possessed, ignoring everything but the crown jewel that was the plate of food on the table. Laying before him was a scrumptious looking stack of pancakes, accompanied with bacon and eggs, sunny-side-up. He didn't waste a second in sitting down before his meal, beginning to devour it at a rate that would put a Snorlax to shame.

"Dis….is delishus!" Ash managed to utter between stuffing pancake slices into his mouth. Surprisingly, he paced himself enough to down what he'd been eating to comment further. "Thanks a lot, Mom! You really outdid yourself this time!" Although it was certainly a meal no one could complain about, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for Delia… But after constantly being on the road, any proper meal was pretty much heaven right now!

"Ash, do not talk with your mouth full," she chided, but her expression quickly softened. "But, of course, dear! A growing young man needs his nutrition, after all!" Ash didn't pay the comment much mind, due to his current laser-like focus on devouring breakfast.

Soon, something foreign seemed to brush up against his messy bedhead, catching the attention of the ravenous teen. Floating above him was a balloon, along with several others that were floating around the room. He'd been so busy eating that he hadn't even noticed! Upon a second glance, Ash was able to make out the writing on each of them. 'Happy Birthday!'

The boy stared at the inscription for a good few seconds, trying to put the pieces together in his head. She'd said it was a special day, earlier… She had called him a growing young man… "Hold on a sec… IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!?"

Ash nearly jumped out of his chair, flabbergasted to say the least. "That means I'm, uh…" A hand was held up, fingers being counted one by one. "That means I'm… Fifteen today!" The conclusion was met by widened eyes. He was fifteen years old!

Delia couldn't help but chuckle. Ash was so silly. She worried he might lose his own head if it wasn't attached to his shoulders! "You sure are, honey! Oh, I'm so proud! You're just growing up right before my eyes!"

Pikachu walked over to Ash, lightly tapping his cheek with his paw. "Pika pi!" It was clear he was proud of his trainer, too! Delia couldn't help but smile at the sight, handing over his cap.

He grabbed the cap from her hand, placing it carefully atop his head. "Thanks for the breakfast, but now I want to tell my Pokemon that today is my…. my….."

"Fifteenth," Delia finished.

Ash then continued, "Right, my 15th birthday. Let's go, Pikachu!" Ash ran for the door, grabbing his jacket before rushing towards Oak's lab.

* * *

Ash soon reached the front door to Professor Oak's laboratory, gazing fondly at the structure that hadn't changed a bit. It sat on a large hill, sporting a windmill, with the authority's vast ranch in the back.

Ash and Pikachu pressed the doorbell simultaneously, waiting a short few moments before being greeted at the door by Tracey. The sketch artist now appeared to be a young man, sporting a lab coat along with his signature headband. His face lit up at the sight of Ash. He hadn't seen his good friend in ages!

"Ash! It's good to see you! What brings you here today?" He greeted, pausing briefly before going on. "You know, the Professor is away for an hour." Tracey explained as he allowed Ash into the lab.

"That's fine, and it's good to see you, too! I'm here to see my Pokemon. I want to thank them for all their hard work in the Sinnoh league." The boy announced, holding his fist up in front of his chest.

Tracey beamed, then seemed to freeze as if he'd recalled something important. "Oh, sorry Ash, but I just remembered I have something important to attend to! I'll have to catch up with you later!" With that, Tracey departed towards the bowels of the lab.

"I'm sure Professor Oak keeps Tracey busy, right Pikachu?" Ash mused aloud, to which Pikachu replied with a cheery "Cha~!"

The two made their way to the back of the lab, stepping onto the grassy green plain that housed the various Pokemon Oak cared for. Soon after making their appearance, they spotted a large, toad-like creature with a large bulb on its back.

"Bulbasaur!" Ash cheered, a smile spreading from cheek to cheek when he spotted the Seed Pokemon. "Long time, no see!"

Bulbasaur looked up to his trainer, the biggest smile forming on its face as it ran over towards Ash. Before Bulbasaur could reach Ash, though, the trainer was tackled to the ground by none other than his Bayleef. The large Single Leaf Pokemon pinned Ash to the ground, affectionately nuzzling his cheek. Ash couldn't help but laugh at the excessive display of affection, reaching to pet the top of the Pokemon's head.

"It's great to see you too, Bayleef!"

Pikachu made his way over to Bulbasaur, holding out his paws to shake with Bulbasaur's vines, presumably being welcomed back to the ranch.

Finally, Ash managed to struggle to sit up, turning to the reliable starter Pokemon.

"Hey, Bulbasaur, could you call the other Pokemon over here?"

"Bulba, Bulb!" He promptly answered, firing a brilliant multi-colored Solarbeam, which climbed high into the sky, bursting into a brilliant array of lights that was sure to attract Ash's roster.

One after another, Ash's roster began to gather, from the trees, the ponds, and even the skies. The rampant burrowing of Gible and the smooth soaring of Swellow preceded the slower sorts, like Snorlax and his sluggish waddle. With that, and everything in between, Ash's roster gathered on the grassy hills behind the laboratory.

Ash looked upon them all with fondness. All of these Pokemon he'd collected over the years… All of them were here as a reminder of all of his hard work, and more importantly, the memories he'd shared with them. It was almost enough to put a tear in his eye. But, there was no time for that!

"You know, guys, today is my fifteenth birthday! I really can't believe I got lucky enough to meet you all over the last few years… I just wanna let you know that you all mean the world to me, and I'll never forget all we've been through together! Every one of you made my journey even better, and I mean that!"

The sum of his Pokemon let out roaring cries of approval, the majority of them piling atop Ash in a chaotic pile of affection. Of course, excluding his more distant Pokemon, such as Sceptile and Buizel, who admired their trainer from a short distance.

"H-hey! Take it easy!" Ash laughed, feeling someone or another pressing down on his lungs. "If I'm gonna make it any older than fifteen, you're gonna have to give me a break here!"

Several hours seemingly flew by as Ash played with his Pokemon, catching up with each one of them in an effort to make up for months of absence at a time.

Some were proud to show off new moves; Squirtle was quick to boast about learning Iron Defense. His shiny shell matched his sunglasses! Totodile had picked up Hydro Pump, and was naturally, quick to drench Ash with it. Swellow was even able to show off Steel Wing!

After everyone had been tended to personally, the trainer stood up amidst of the group once more. "Alright, guys! For the first time ever, we made it to the semi-finals! You put up an amazing fight, and I owe you all, big time. But, next time we're aiming for the top-and I don't know how we'll do it-but I just know I'll find a way for us to get stronger! That's a promise."

Ash was met with yet another cheer, when a familiar face was spotted in the corner of Ash's eye. was leaning over the fence to the ranch, waving its arms to get the trainer's attention.

Tilting his head in confusion, Ash couldn't help but ask. "Mr. Mime, what's wrong?"

The Barrier Pokemon attempted to mime the action of a person eating from a plate, which clicked in Ash's mind straight away.

"Mom's making dinner? Why didn't you say so sooner!?" The long day had worn Ash down with an empty stomach, leaving him practically drooling. "Sorry, guys… Those speeches made me hungry. I'll catch up with you later!"

With a wave, Ash grabbed Pikachu by the paw, hopping the fence. "C'mon, Pikachu! I'll see you guys tomorrow!" He rushed on home, leaving all of his onlooking Pokemon in disbelief.

* * *

The front door to the Ketchum household soon burst open, revealing an overly-excited Ash Ketchum to have made the dramatic entrance. "Hey, Mom! I'm ho-" His sentence stopped short when he was met with an unexpected sight. In his living room sat two familiar faces; a boy his age with spiky auburn hair, Gary Oak, and Gary's grandfather, the Pokemon authority, Professor Oak. "…Gary? Professor Oak? No one told me you guys'd be here!"

The young professor shook his head with a smile, taking a sip of tea from a small cup between his fingers. "Oh, Ashy-boy. You haven't changed a bit, have you? You didn't think we'd miss your birthday, did you?" Gary wore a snide smile, making it difficult to tell whether he was being sarcastic or not.

Ash simply huffed, feigning annoyance, but their true rivalry had long since faded.

"Please, Ash. Have a seat!" Oak gestured to the chair beside him. "Your mother's still cooking dinner, and it would be wonderful to catch up!"

Ash didn't hesitate to take a seat in the spot pointed to, and Oak continued.

"Sadly, I wasn't able to attend the Sinnoh League due to important research, but I had heard some very interesting news! The trainer who won the competition was said to be using a Darkrai… And rumor has it, that a trainer from Pallet Town defeated it in the Semi-Finals! Now, unless I'm mistaken… That had to have been you, correct?"

Ash reached to scratch the back of his neck, feeling a bit sheepish. This was the second time he'd discussed that battle since he'd been home! "Yeah, that's right! I may not've won, but I was able to beat Darkrai with three of my Pokemon left! All thanks to Sceptile."

His gaze then turned on the mouse sitting beside him, one hand reaching to scratch behind his ear. Pikachu cooed, lightly nuzzling his head into Ash's fingertips.

"The guy had a Latios, too, but Pikachu managed to take it down with him! Everyone was awesome, even if we didn't win." The second time he told the story, Ash didn't feel the same sense of disappointment. The doom and gloom from the night before had passed

Grandfather and grandson alike met Ash with an incredulous stare, stunned silence dominating the atmosphere for just a few moments. Gary was first to break the silence, putting his usual taunting aside. "Well, well, Ashy-boy. I won't lie to you. I'm impressed! You may've gotten better, but I never would've thought you'd pull off something like that!"

"I must agree," the elder man added. "Regardless of your placing in the tournament, I don't believe, in all my years that I've ever heard of such an accomplishment! Though, I can't help but be rubbed the wrong way with such mythical Pokemon being entered in an ordinary conference…" The Professor scrunched his nose, putting his hand to his chin in thought. He'd never heard of such a rule, but one would only assume there would be restrictions.

"It is pretty weird, but I'm not gonna blame Tobias for me losing. If I really want to be a Pokemon Master… Then I'm gonna have to learn to be stronger than him along with everyone else! And, I know Pikachu and I can do it."

The younger researcher beside him nodded in approval. "That's the kind of attitude you should stick with… Say, gramps. Wasn't there some kind of research you were making a breakthrough on?" Gary looked to his grandfather, having decided to change the topic.

"Ah, yes! Well, we're working on it. I've been speaking to some of the other Professors, and we just may be making major progress in understanding the fundamentals of Pokemon evolution!" Weary charcoal eyes lit up with enthusiasm. Even in old age, his passion for Pokemon had certainly not faded. Oh, how amazing it would be to find something unprecedented!

Amongst his zeal, however, the Professor had nearly forgotten something rather important! Snapping out of his own thoughts, he turned his gaze to Ash. "Oh, that reminds me, Ash! I'd spoken to my colleague, Professor Juniper, not too long ago! She's an authority in the far-away Unova region, which houses plenty of new species of Pokemon!"

The announcement was met with widened eyes, gloved fists closing tight and a smile spreading across the young trainer's face. Yet another region full of awesome new Pokemon to check out! "The Unova region, huh? That sounds awesome! I've gotta-"

Just then, the conversation was interrupted by loud call from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready, everyone~! Hurry up and take a seat!" Delia had shouted, and Ash had bolted towards the dining room not even seconds afterward. Leaving Gary, Pikachu, and Professor Oak in the dust.

"That kid has the attention span of a Monkey," Gary couldn't help but throw in with a shake of his head.

"Indeed…" Oak couldn't help but agree, making his way to the table in a more composed passion. "But he's full of energy, if nothing else."

Pikachu nodded in agreement, following the three.

* * *

The table was adorned with numerous delectable dishes, varying from savory meets to small fruit morsels and rice balls, comprising a balanced, delicious platter that only the most conscientious of hosts would be able to put together. To top it off, a bowl of Pokemon food sat among the rest for their electric-typed friend. As usual, it was appreciated by all, who had quickly dug into the meal before them… Some more hastily than others.

"Thanks a lot for the food, Miss Ketchum!" Gary was the first to speak, having just filled his own plate.

"Oh, it's no problem, dear!" Delia took a seat beside Ash, smiling from ear to ear. It was such a joy to provide for Ash and the rest of their friends.

"Yes, thank you!" Oak added on, starting to dine on his own selection before turning his gaze towards the younger of the two Ketchum's. "So, Ash," he started, prompting Ash to give his mouth a moment to rest. "I assume you don't plan on staying in one place for very long. Do you have any plans going onward? Perhaps you'll travel to Unova next?" It was always Ash's style to head for the very next region he heard about, after all. It was only expected.

A fork was held tightly in his grip, a thoughtful look on Ash's face that was, at a time like this, rather uncharacteristic. Usually, any new challenge was met with instant enthusiasm. This time, however…

"…No."

All eyes were turned on him the moment the word left his mouth. It was as if everyone had just seen a ghost.

"Unova sounds really cool, and I do wanna go there… But I can't, because I'm not ready for it." It gave Ash an odd feeling in his gut. Rejecting a new exciting challenge was foreign to him. There was a slight nagging feeling that he would regret this choice… Looking the others in the eyes, though, he went on.

"After Lily of the Valley, I wanna do something brand new. Something totally different. Maybe I'll train harder, so next time I go after a Pokemon League, I'll be a lot stronger! Maybe there's more to being a strong trainer than just winning badges all the time." He paused, nudging his food around on his plate.

"Now, I know that's gotta sound weird coming from me!" Nervous laughter followed his speech.

Stunned expressions all around held true, with each listener feeling varying degrees of shock. Ash's inspirational speeches were far from out of the ordinary, but hearing him approach a situation with a path other than his first impulse was certainly something new.

Noting the reactions of his partner, mother, former rival, and professor, he went on. "…So, I need somewhere new to go, but I'm not really sure where. Do you have any ideas, Professor?"

Oak finished chewing his food, swallowing it whole. He arched a silver brow and tapped an index to his chin, inaudible murmurs escaping crusty lips. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh. Ash had traversed them all, along with the secluded Orange Islands! Where else was left to go if he needn't want to simply traverse a new region?

Awkward silence filled the table. It seemed like forever, when in reality the thought process was merely a minute. What, he was old and not as spry as back then! Using the process of elimination calculating through a rusty yet brilliant mind, Oak finally came to a solution!

But… would even a veteran battler such as the valiant Ash Ketchum be able to survive **_there_**? He didn't want to be liable for Ash's safety if the trainer or his pokemon were to be critically injured!

He hesitantly opened his mouth to speak, only to quickly shut it again, repeating the process. "Well... I suppose there IS one region— er, area you have yet to visit, Ash." Oak briefly excused himself from the dinner table to collect an average looking folder containing a few documents. The elder returned and lay them out upon the table before Ash, gesticulating to the photographs of the majestic mountain separating Kanto and Johto.

"I take it you've seen this mountain before? It's none other than Mount Silver!" The geriatric's hand hovered to each different photograph in perfect sync with each topic. "The few whom I've granted entrance to it were very talented trainers. You could say they're on par with the Elite Four's skill level, if not more so!" So entwined in this psuedo-lecture of his, Oak had nearly forgotten about the half-eaten meal at his plate. He locked solemn gazes with the aspiring Master.

"As you can probably tell by now, I don't suggest or grant entrance to simply any headstrong trainer willing to believe they can overcome the rough obstacles which lie dormant inside Mount Silver. But you… you have an extraordinary bond with your Pokemon! At such an early age you're able to understand it's not the strength, speed, or moves of a Pokemon which lead to victory and prosperity— it's the bond connecting trainer and Pokemon. If strong enough, it can tackle nearly any obstacle."

He lowered his profoundly raised index and cleared his throat. Oak would certainly use himself as an example of what a powerful bond can lead to, but not one to talk much about his past, the Professor omitted those details. Now to get to the point of this entire spiel and pop the question! Chances were, Ash's response would be yes.

"So, Ash… do you find yourself willing to travel to Mount Silver?"

Ash stayed silent through the presentation and lecture alike, considering the idea. He had been around Mt. Silver before, once-but only to return a Larvitar to its mother and home. The mountain itself hadn't been touched, nor had he really thought anything of the place. This was the first time he'd been told it was anything special, let alone fatally dangerous.

"I've been near the place… But, I've never heard of it being such a big deal! There must be a lot of strong Pokemon there, too!" That alone was a very tempting thought for Ash. Powerful wild Pokemon were a rare sight. Though he had seen plenty over the years, seeing a bunch gathered all in one place was a whole other story altogether, and it was enough to make his heart race in excitement. "Plus, it'd be great to get some time on my own, so I don't get distracted too much!"

Charcoal hues turned to Pikachu, Gary, and Delia in particular, who was holding her napkin in an iron grip. He couldn't quite make what the former two thought of this, but it was easy to see his mother was worried. Even, still, he couldn't delay in giving an answer. Looking back to Professor Oak, he nodded. "…Yes. I'm not gonna lie, it does sound really tough! But if it's a place where I can train hard and focus on my Pokemon, then I'm not going to turn that challenge down! If will bring me closer to being a Pokemon Master, then I'll go!"

No one was surprised by Ash's dramatic flair. Nonetheless, the idea of him traveling to such a daunting place was difficult for anyone to swallow. Everyone seemed to hold their breath, none really sure who should speak first…

"Now, hold on for just a second!" Delia's hand slamming into the table rattled silverware, flattening her crumpled napkin to the table. The exciting atmosphere and energy fell back to normal almost instantly as Ash and the two Oak's looked toward Delia. "What makes you think that I will allow my fifteen-year-old son to train in that dangerous mountain?" Delia questioned the two, anger and hurt evident in her eyes.

"Mom, I'll be fine! I traveled through four regions and even saved the world-!" Ash was then interrupted by Delia.

"I will not allow you to question me, young man! If you want to train and improve, why not go to Unova with your friends or train at home? It's been years since you spent any significant time home and…I miss you." Tears of sadness and frustration began to silently fall down Delia's face.

After giving Delia a few moments to collect herself and for the shock of the refusal to fade, Gary stood up and cleared his throat. "Mrs. Ketchum, if I may, Ash may not be the the most mature person in the world yet."

Ash shot him a glance, muttering something incoherent before Gary continued.

"However, with Ash together with his Pokemon, he'll be better off than most other trainers anywhere, especially in Mt. silver. I've battled his Pokemon, and they're plenty tough enough to take care of Ash." He continued, wrapping up his plea. "I totally understand your concern, but I believe Ash'll be just fine, and Mt. Silver isn't far from Pallet, so he can always make it home if something goes wrong."

Ash couldn't help but smile as he saw Gary, the trainer that was once his fiercest rival, speaking up on his abilities as a trainer and fighting to convince his mother of the same.

Delia looked over to Ash and back to Gary, letting out a sigh. "I appreciate your kind words, Gary, but I still will not allow it. Ash is all I have now, and it's hard enough letting him go to travel all over the world. I am not going to allow my teenage son to train in a mountain that even adults can't survive!"

Ash stood up, but before he could speak, Professor Oak did first. "Now Delia, I understand your feelings, because I felt the same when Gary traveled through Kanto and Johto, and through Sinnoh. However, we know that boys will be boys, and ours have such an indomitable nature that no challenge seems too big." Oak shared a gentle reassuring smile with Delia. Her facial features seemed to relax and her attention turned towards Ash.

"Ash, you and Pikachu are all I have. I understand that you have a dream to become a Pokemon Master, and I know that one day, you'll get there. If anything were to happen to you…" The young woman paused, swallowing to prohibit any more tears.

"…I don't know what I would do, but you're right. You have traveled four regions, saved the world more times than I could count, and you've saved all of us."

Oak and Ash exchanged a smile, recalling the mirage fiasco.

"If Samuel and Gary both feel so strongly that you can take care of yourself and your Pokemon, then I will trust my friends and my son." Delia's implication caused Ash to perk up, nearly jumping out of his seat in the process.

"Does that mean…?"

His mother smiled, nodding her head. "Yes, Ash. You have my blessing, on one condition."

The three men in the room and Pikachu turned to Delia, curious what the condition would be. Ash was then handed a small mechanical device.

"Uh… What is it, Mom?" Ash queried, puzzled.

Gary then spoke up, identifying the object. "That is an Xtransciever! It's a video phone that was made over in the Unova region!"

Ash nodded, eyes widening in wonder. "Way cool! I didn't know something like that existed!"

Adding on to her condition, Delia continued. "With this, I would like to receive a call from you at least once every week! That way I'll know you're safe."

Ecstatic, Ash was quick to jump from his seat and pull his mother into a hug, and Pikachu joined in as well! "Oh, thanks, Mom! You're the best!"

"You're welcome, dear… Oh! I almost forgot!" Ash was released from the hug, nearly causing him to stumble over his own feet. She'd disappeared into the living room, soon returning with a rectangular box wrapped with a big red bow.

"Ash, I had a feeling you would be going on a brand new adventure soon, no matter where you'd be heading, so I wanted to get you a brand new outfit!" She handed the box to her son, clasping her hands together with a jovial smile. "Happy birthday, honey!"

As much as he had grown and matured, Ash wasn't one to resist tearing the wrapping off a present within seconds, eagerly unraveling the gift before pulling off the top of the box.

Inside of it was, just as she'd said, a brand new outfit! The vest was pulled out first, revealed to be a strong crimson color with white sleeves and a collar of the same tone. In fact, it seemed quite familiar.

"Hey, wait a sec… This looks a lot like the jacket I used to wear, when I went through Kanto and Johto!" Ash noted before proceeding to go through the box, finding a black t-shirt, teal gloves with pale green cuffs, and a pair of jeans. "The rest of it is the same, too!"

"That's right, Ash! You're a young man now, and I thought it would just be perfect if you returned to your roots! Now that you're trying something different, I think I made the right choice! Don't you?" She chimed as Ash slipped off the gold-striped jacket he'd worn through Sinnoh.

The red jacket took the vest's place, and Ash flipped his Pokemon League cap atop his head to complete the look. He reached to adjust his cap out of habit, which left him with a strong feeling of familiarity. He could definitely get used to this.

"Yeah, no doubt! Thanks a lot, Mom! This look works out just fine!"

A smile stretched across Oak's aged features. "Indeed, it suits you quite well, Ash! Now I assume you'll be preparing a team before setting off? I'm sure you wouldn't want to leave unprepared."

Gary nodded, adding on to Oak's suggestion. "And I'm sure you'd wanna stock up on items, as well! I've heard there's a Pokemon Center around there, but you can never be too careful. Especially knowing the kinds of messes you get yourself into!" He jabbed at his former rival, quickly stopping his prodding after a less-than-pleasant look from Delia.

"Right!" Ash nodded along, his fist closed and held up in conviction. "I'll pick out my Pokemon and head over there as soon as I can! And when I'm done, the world won't know what hit it!"

Ash's eyes scanned around the room as he spoke, taking note of those sitting at the table: Samuel Oak, the wise elder man who provided him with Pikachu and plenty of information and assistance along his quest. Gary, his former rival and one he'd once considered a goal to surpass that was key to his way to greatness. His mother, who had raised him since birth and supported him on his quest to be a Pokemon Master. Finally, Pikachu, who had been his partner from day one, and seen him through thick and thin.

 _'Everyone here's putting their faith in me… With all of that, there's no way I can let them down! Get ready, Mt, Silver… 'Cause I'm coming for you next!'_


	3. Getting the Group Together!

The sun's brilliant rays shone down on Pallet, coupled with a gentle breeze that welcome to brush over Ash's skin, ruffling his bangs as it went. His eyes scanned over his impressive collection of Pokemon, spanning from the tiny rookie, Gible, to his cool and stoic Sceptile, and everyone else in between. Professor Oak had shown him out back to the ranch behind his famous laboratory, electing to assist Ash in his coming decisions that would prepare him for the adventure that drew ever closer.

"I know I want everyone to get in on this training... But first, I guess I gotta pick out a main team to head out with. I've gotta start somewhere, right?" Ash turned his head toward his yellow companion, scratching him behind the ear. "Of course, you're coming with me, buddy!"

Pikachu cooed, nodding his head in agreement. "Chaaa~!"

Meanwhile, his pokemon frolicked and bathed in the sun all across the ranch, each of them catching the trainer's eye. Ash stared, puzzled, until the elderly man interjected.

"Well, you're right about that. A hasty Slowpoke who ruffles a calm river catches no Shellder." An attempt at a solemn expression turned to a cheery smile that raised his bushy brows. "It's good advice, but also makes nice poetry, don't you think?"

"Ahaha… I don't get it, but I see your point." Ash ruffled his hair, turning back to the ranch. "I guess you've got a point there... But, I really don't wanna leave anyone out." His brows furrowed in frustration, no clear solution coming to mind. "Maybe I should think on this a lil' longer…"

Turning his head back towards Professor Oak, Ash gave a brief wave before running off, once more jumping the fence. "I'll be back soon, Professor! I promise!"

"Pika!? Pikapi!" Pikachu scolded, dashing after his trainer. What was he up to, this time!?

"A-ash!" The elder called out, a hand raised before falling limp in its futility. "It may have been my suggestion, but I can't help but worry that he'll be too excitable for that mountain."

* * *

A steep climb up Pallet's ascending hills brought Ash and Pikachu to the open fields of Route 1. The duo's sprinting pace had slowed to a leisurely walk, giving them a reprieve from the strenuous climb that had gotten them there. Each had the time to soak in the sun and take in the sights around them.

A glance to the left gave view of several Oddish running in a single-file line behind a Vileplume. The occasional tree cropping up from the dirt was peppered with Kakuna and Metapod patiently awaiting evolution. "Man, this really brings me back." Ash mused aloud, only to be interrupted by a loud shriek. It could be heard throughout the forest, not only catching Ash's attention, but scattering many of the nearby Pokemon who quickly slipped into obscurity.

Ash's gaze was turned towards the source of the cry, his eyes meeting the fearsome glare of a fully evolved Fearow - one that was closing in on the two at a frightening pace.

"Hey Pikachu, watch out!" The duo just barely avoided the assault by the skin of their teeth, turning just in time to watch it return for a second attack. A sharp turn brought it back towards its target, and Fearow's fearsome beak began to glow as it prepared its Drill Peck attack.

"Of all the rotten luck…" Ash groaned, regaining his composure for fear of being skewered. "Pikachu! Chase it off with your Thunderbolt attack!"

Short but powerful legs launched the mouse off of Ash's shoulder, followed by a powerful Thunderbolt that cut through the air towards its target.

The Beak Pokemon slipped under the bolt, swooping in to land a direct hit on Pikachu's belly, scoring a critical hit on the electric mouse.

"Pikachu!" Ash didn't waste a second in leaping to catch the mouse, feeling a pang in his shoulder as Pikachu's momentum sent him crashing into a tree behind him.

Fearow didn't relent, homing in on the disoriented duo with an intent to injure, or possibly worse.

"What the heck is this Fearow's problem!?" Ash barely had time to question, turning on his side to hug Pikachu to his chest. "When I said I might not make it past fifteen, I didn't mean it…!"

The duo had shut their eyes tight, bracing for the worst, when a pained shriek assaulted their eardrums.

Still clutching Pikachu for dear life, Ash slowly opened his eyes, his hues turning toward the clear skies. Gentle blue was peppered with countless brown and tan hides, taking Fearow's place above the trees. Pidgey and Pidgeotto cawed, vigilant for what Ash could assume was the Drill pokemon who'd nearly turned him and his companion into an Ash-kebab.

"Looks like the cavalry came to save our tails." Ash stared at his saviors, doe-eyed.

But, why? They couldn't have gathered that quickly just over territory. The trainer squinted at the flock, some of quick were already making a bee-line for the squawking, livid Fearow. Among the flock, one much larger specimen stood out. A bright, arching mane crested its head, and Ash could swear that for a moment, they'd made eye contact.

"No way…" Could it be...? The stunned trainer rubbed his eyes, taking another look at the Pokemon to confirm his suspicion. It must have been his Pidgeot that he'd released all of those years ago! The trainer's heart swelled up in his chest, tears threatening his eyes until the lightbulb went off.

"If that's her… Then that Fearow has to be the same one from last time!" This deduction explained Fearow's rage and animosity. No wonder he was under attack!

But, the danger didn't stop there. Fearow beat its wings with an ear-splitting cry, summoning a horde of Spearow and Fearow to oppose the would-be rescue team.

The aggressive flock began to peck at and pester the Pidgey and Pidgeotto, engaging them in a massive dogfight that would strike worry into even the hardiest trainer.

The leader, however, swept down along the pale green path, wings kicking up dust as it neared its messy-haired target; that pesky, arrogant, idiot kid and his freak of a Pikachu. Were it not colorblind, it would be seeing red as it charged the duo. The mouse now stood in his way, guarding the boy who it'd once laughed in the face of.

That might have evoked some sentimentality, if Fearow didn't simply see them as pray.

A furious gust mercilessly beating its narrow, craned body though, was not what it'd expected. Ruffled and furious, Fearow reluctantly pulled up, giving itself a reprieve.

A bracing Ash looked up to see gigantic, flapping wings guarding him, kicking up quite the dust that kicked up sand and dust every which way. When the debris settled, the avian before him became visible.

"Pidgoo." The pokemon craned her neck, staring directly at Ash and Pikachu. Her majestic head feather was particularly long and colorful, and several knicks in her body, along with a strong build were enough evidence that she was significantly more battle hardened than the rest of the flock.

She lowered her neck, spreading her wings to gesture for Ash to mount her back-just as she had done many years before.

"Pidgeot…!" Ash's lower lip quivered, sentimentality spilling over. He was at a loss for words. In their current predicament, though, he couldn't argue, climbing aboard with Pikachu cradled carefully in his arms. "Alright. Ready when you are!"

"Djooo!" Pidgeot cried, flapping her wings to take to the skies. This was done just in time to witness an enclosing Fearow, whose beak spun violently for another coming Drill Peck.

"Pidgo!" Pidgeot squawked back to her companions, warning them to hold on tight. Thankfully, it was heeded when she swerved off to the right, flying well out of Drill Peck's range. The violent turn was followed by a nosedive, forcing the trainer atop her back to cling to his cap.

A silver streak surrounded her, prefacing a speedy climb that sent her beak crashing brutally into Fearow's belly. Quick Attack had hit its mark, sending the stunned flying type tumbling.

Ash exhaled, his heart pounding against his ribcage. "What kinda speed…? Pidgeot, that's incredible! If we can just keep this up…" A gloved hand dug into the pocket of Ash's jacket, pulling out the trainer's Pokedex. A quick scan of Pidgeot's moves followed.

Ash did a double-take at what he saw.

"I've missed a lot, huh?" He suddenly winced at his own question, leading the hurt Pikachu to pat his trainer's arm. Bad choice of words. "…Well, let's settle this, so these Spearow and Fearow leave us alone, once and for all!" The trainer pointed towards their hovering opponent.

"Hurricane!"

"Djo, djo, djo! Pidgeoooot!" Long, sturdy, battle-tested wings began to beat ferociously, kicking up a nasty wind that rustled the forest below. Errant Pidgey, Pidgeotto, and Spearow panicked, doing their best to maintain their flight amidst the storm.

Fearow, meanwhile, grew furious as he was battered with the unforgiving gust. A nasty, red gleam flickered in its predatory eyes, his hatred for that skinny twig of a human and that overgrown pigeon surfacing in a reckless charge towards them both. Purple flickers of malice trailed its tail feathers.

"What kinda move is that?" Ash questioned aloud, holding his Pokedex outward.

"Payback: A dark type attack, channeling a pokemon's anger after being hit. When used after a pokemon takes damage, the power of this move doubles."

"That ain't good… Pidgeot, Hyper Beam!" Ash ordered, clinging tightly to Pidgeot's back.

A low, rumbling cry built in the avian's throat, most of its raw power channeling into a flickering orb that looked very much like a miniature sun. The guttural growl turned to an ear-splitting shriek, and the attack was fired in the form of a terribly powerful beam.

Even Pidgeot herself couldn't help but recoil.

Fearow, on the other hand, got the worse end of the deal by far. It realized this a tad too late when it found itself charging head-on into the blast. The ensuing explosion left it breathless.

The Drill pokemon's descending body was trailed by wisps of smoke, fizzling out when it made contact with the ground. Charred and exhausted, the defeated pokemon lay unconscious.

Watching their leader succumb to defeat, the remaining Spearow and Fearow squawked in panic, abandoning their grudge match to flock off shamefully in defeat. Their retreating forms disappeared into every corner of the forest.

Pidgeot huffed, making a slow descent for solid ground after a Hyper Beam that left her heaving. Meanwhile, she found herself surrounded in a celebratory chorus of chirps and squawks offered by her flock, praising her triumph over their winged agitators.

With Ash and Pikachu's safety in mind, Pidgeot allowed an incoming breeze to deliver her to solid ground with only mild difficulty, where she skidded along the dirt. Her talons stopped their drift and held her steady, at which point she lowered her wings to allow Ash and Pikachu relief.

Ash dismounted with clumsy steps, his head still spinning from the commotion. "Ah, man… I get the feeling I'm gonna end up with a major headache from this… What about you, Pikachu? You hanging in there, alright?"

"Pika… Chu!" The electric mouse shook his head, trying to regain his bearings. His belly still felt sore from Drill Peck, but he was otherwise healthy. "Pika-Pika."

"Happy to hear it." Ash let out a breath of relief, smiling as he scratched his companion under the chin. "You gave me a scare out there."

His attention turned to his larger former companion, who had now settled before him. "And, I owe you big time, Pidgeot. We were in real trouble and you came through for us, like you always do." Ash flashed a smile that he soon discovered felt forced. He was putting effort into the stretch of his lips. A tense silence floated in the air before Ash spoke again.

"It's really great to see you again."

"Pidgoo." An unenthusiastic coo accompanied a nod of Pidigeot's head. Lidded eyes scanned her former trainer up and down. His stature had only changed marginally, only a couple inches in height gained, at most. But, beyond that, the difference cold be seen in Ash's eyes. There was a worldliness about them. The immature, doe-eyed boy she'd grown alongside had probably seen the world. The two had grown separately. Reality turned out to be quite different from the promise Ash had made.

When he was met with relative silence, Ash shifted his feet. His lips dropped into a frown, and his stomach dropped in guilt. Rubbing the back of his head, he did his best to come up with an apology to string together. "Look, Pidgeot... I know I slipped up in coming back for you... I guess I just... Thought you were doin' well out here."

Even he sounded unconvinced. Sure, it was true, but... Long ago, Ash had promised not to make excuses for his mistakes as a trainer. When he'd failed to protect his Metapod, who was now a Butterfree.

"Pidg." Ash's unsure eyes were met with a scrutinizing gaze. How long had it even been since that promise was made? After a while, she'd stopped keeping track. Later still, she'd given up. If he hadn't shown up in years, then clearly she'd put too much stock in his word.

She wasn't about to let him become a Fearow's dinner, but trusting him wasn't easy, either. She turned her head away from the trainer. Maybe it'd be for the best if she left.

"Pi-chu-ka!" Pikachu tried his hand at earning his former companion's favor. Ash had his share of mistakes, but surely, he deserved a second chance?

"Djoo." The bird ruffled her feathers, beak pointing up towards the sky. Perhaps it was time she took her leave.

Ash could feel his face heating up with shame. His shoulders clenched and his fists shook. "I'm sorry, Pidgeot!"

His words likely echoed throughout the fields of Route 1.

"...I screwed up. I was just a kid, and I guess I caught up in seeing the world… I swear I thought about you, but… I was stupid. I'm sorry, alright!?" A sniffle held back tears that built up in his ducts, obstructed by the brim of his cap that hung over his eyes.

Releasing a pokemon was painful enough. Losing one to his own incompetence struck far deeper.

"I came out here because I thought about seeing you again… But if you're still upset, I understand." Ash exhaled, turning on his heels back towards Pallet Town. "I hope you're happy with your flock, at least. I can tell you've gotten really strong protecting them."

His voice had lost its upbeat energy, dropping to a defeated drone. He began to walk, crunching the occasional twig under his feat.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu asserted, climbing back up to his trainer's shoulder to nudge his cheek. "Pika-Pika!" Didn't he remember what they'd said the other day? About turning things around, no matter how difficult? Walking away wasn't the answer here.

"I'm sorry buddy, but- eh?"

A feathery limb brushed his shoulder, stopping the trainer in his tracks. Ash peered back over his shoulder, a breath caught in his throat when he found large, charcoal eyes staring back at him.

Her large beak gripped the brim of his cap, a flick of her neck flinging it around to the back of his head. Ash's guilt was evident. Parting with his pokemon clearly still hurt him. He'd gotten the message.

But, there was still one thing missing.

"Pidgooo." If there was one thing she knew about Ash, he never gave up.

Ash's bottom lip began to quiver, tears spilling down his cheeks that he'd been holding back. "Pidgeot!" He threw his arms around the large avian, clinging to her for dear life. "You're the best… Well, if you're up to giving me another chance, I've got a special mission for you."

Curious, Pidgeot tilted her head.

"No long from now, we were planning on getting real serious about winning our next league conference. So, we're planning on some intense training up in the mountains out west. Everyone's gonna be there… You've got a lot of new teammates you'll get the chance to meet. So, we're all gonna make a group effort to come out on top! Whaddya say?"

Pidgeot clicked her beak, considering the proposition. This would mean more time with Ash, Pikachu, and the other pokemon… It would also be nice to battle some more alongside Ash. And she'd headed her flock for quite a while. By now, they'd grown into their own.

They could surely handle whatever mess was left here.

A loud shriek of approval with spanned wings answered Ash.

Recovering from the near-heart attack Pidgeot had given him, Ash buried his face in the pokemon's feathers once more. "I'll make sure you don't regret it! We're gonna be the best, just you wait."

"Pika-Pika~!" Pikachu cooed, grateful their issues had been resolved. He climbed up to sit atop Pidgeot's colorful feather crests. Now, they'd get to be a family again!

A spare pokeball was grabbed from Ash's belt, and held up to the flying type.

Pidgeot pecked at the button in the center, capturing herself in a red flash of light.

Amber eyes watched closely as the ball shook. Once, twice, thrice.

That familiar 'ding' brought a wide smile to Ash's face.

"Welcome home, Pidgeot."

* * *

With the briskness of the evening quickly approaching the small town of Pallet, a more chipper than usual Ash was approaching Professor Oak's lab. Upon being greeted at the front door, Ash and Pikachu face the Professor with wide, prideful grins.

"My, you two are looking bright! What has you in such a good mood, Ash?" The Professor rose a bushy brow, an amused smile present on the corners of his lips.

Ash removed his cap, showing his unruly raven colored hair as he reached to his belt and unclipped a single pokeball. "I caught a Pokemon while I was in the forest! Try and guess what it is, Professor!"

A small snicker was heard from Professor Oak as the elder man looked upon the smug duo. "You forget that whenever you catch a Pokemon I get a notification in my system."

Upon hearing those words, Ash and Pikachu fall into a slump, and Ash responded in a whine. "C'mon, professor, you could have at least guessed."

Oak chuckled briefly before regaining his more serious demeanor. "I am very pleased to see that Pidgeot not only forgave you for leaving it behind for so long, but also agreed to join back into the fold. Will it be training with you?"

Ash gave the question a moment's thought before responding. "I wanna work with everyone, but I still don't know who to use first."

Oak was about to open his mouth when a familiar voice could be heard from another room.

Tracey appeared from around the corner, his eyes set on Oak. "Professor Sycamore is on the phone for you, sir!"

Oak nodded his head, excusing himself from the room. "Sorry Ash, but I have to take this call! I'll speak with you later!"

"Sure thing, Professor!" Ash gave the elder a wave, turning back towards Pallet Town. "C'mon, Pikachu!"

"Pika!"

* * *

Ash and Pikachu took that chance to take their leave, making their way back to the Ketchum household. Upon walking in the door, Ash caught the scent of a heavenly aroma of delectable dishes being prepared in the kitchen. It proved so intoxicating that Ash was just shy of walking into a case in the living room. Pikachu, however, managed to save the day by tugging on his trainer's ear, regaining his attention.

Ash's senses soon returned to him, and he found himself face to face with a glass trophy case that held not only Delia's honors for her culinary work, but Ash's badges and trophies as well. The case was looked upon with nostalgic fondness, every medal and award he'd won bearing memories of amazing battles, and the Pokemon he'd fought alongside to win them.

He gazed at his Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh badges, as well as the placement plaques from each respective league. One particular award caught his attention, though. The Orange League Championship trophy.

Sitting beside it was a small framed photo, one that had been taken only minutes after he had claimed victory over the previously undefeated Champion, Drake. The cheery light in his eyes was unmistakable. He remembered that very moment like it was yesterday. The euphoria of victory made Ash feel like he was on top of the world. And with him stood each of his companions that had brought him that win. Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charizard, Tauros, and Lapras... The last of which whom had departed from his team shortly after.

"Hey, Pikachu, d'ya ever think about how Lapras is doing?" They hadn't seen it, after all, since their reunion in Johto.

Pikachu instantly perked up and nodded his head, thoughtful of Lapras just as he was of his other departed teammates. "Pika-Pika!"

"I wonder if Lapras is ever upset I let him go... I wonder if he misses us." The trainer pondered the thought, the familiar feeling of guilt returning to him.

The mood was quickly broken, though, as Delia popped her head into the room. "It's good to have you home, honey! Dinner's ready!"

Once again, any looming thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind as he and Pikachu rushed into the kitchen in such a fury that Delia couldn't help but shake her head and smile.

After dinner, the duo went to bed with full stomachs and happy hearts, dreaming dreams of victory and glory that were sure to come.

* * *

Not before long, morning came, but the raven-haired boy still lay asleep, arms sprawled across the bed carelessly, mouth hanging wide open in a manner that was all but flattering.

Pikachu began to stir under the warmth of the sun's rays shining in through the window, wiggling his way out from under the covers. He stretched his stubby arms over his head, letting out a high-pitched squeak of a yawn, ears twitching to welcome a brand new day!

Unfortunately, his 'partner in crime' was still sleeping sound. Frowning, Pikachu leaned over to nudge Ash's shoulder. No response. Once more he reached forward, tapping Ash on the cheek. Nothing, still.

He crossed his arms over his chest in frustration, thinking briefly before the lightbulb went off on his head. He raised his paws over his head, shrieking before setting off his own built-in 'alarm clock.'

"Pikaaa... Chuuu!"

A brilliant Thunderbolt was sent coursing through Ash's body, causing him to let out a yelp, flailing and falling out of his bed.

The roused boy uttered a pained groan from the floor, leering at the mouse sitting above. "Dawn and Mom have been a bad influence on you, ya know that?"

Pikachu couldn't help but laugh, reaching for Ash's dresser to grab his signature cap, placing it atop his trainer's head. The message was clear. They had things to do and Pokemon to see!

* * *

After breakfast, the two departed for Professor Oak's laboratory, where they had left Pidgeot overnight, so her condition could be checked on and verified. By time the two had arrived, the check-up had just been concluded.

"Well, Ash, it seems Pidgeot's in ideal shape! Pardon a few battle scars that had long since healed, she's doing just fine!" The elderly man held the Bird Pokemon's Pokeball out to its rightful owner.

Ash lit up, thrilled with the news. "That's great! Thanks a lot, Professor!" He accepted the capsule, snapping it onto his belt.

Oak nodded, speaking once more out of curiosity. "So, what do you have planned for today? Are you still working on deciding your departing team?"

"Pidgeot, Pikachu, and I were hoping to track down Lapras, to see if we could reunite with him the same way we did with Pidgeot!"

Ash was met with a thoughtful gaze that was followed up with a nod.

"I see. Well, if you want to meet up with Lapras, then your best bet would be in the Seafoam Islands; they fall right in the line of their migration pattern! It shouldn't be that long a flight on Pidgeot. Do you have any clues as to how you are going to find your Lapras?"

He was met with a sheepish smile from the boy, who scratched the back of his head. "Uh... Not really!"

"I could have guessed as much, Ash." The elderly man resisted rolling his eyes, moving over to one of his computers to type and click diligently in a seemingly random fashion.

Curious as always, Ash followed to observe the computer screen, which displayed an image that seemed to be some type of map, with a dotted line crossing over the seas of Kanto.

"This is a map of Lapras' typical migration patterns! With this, there's no doubt that you should have an easier time tracking down your released Lapras, assuming that he's still part of the herd!" The geriatric announced with a smile, a finger pointing upward in a matter-of-fact manner. "Now I'll just have to download this onto your Pokedex, if you'd please?"

"That's awesome!" Ash's face lit up as he handed over the Pokedex, and he was practically bouncing on his heels. The thought of getting to see his long lost friend again was just too exciting!

The bright red device was inserted into an open port beside the monitor, allowing the data transfer to take place, signaled by a number of flashes and notifications on screen. The download was quickly completed, and Oak withdrew the device before handing it back to Ash. "There you are, Ash. This information is sure to be your best shot at hunting down your friend. If you want to be back before sundown, though, you'd better get going!"

"Thanks so much, Professor! Let's go, Pikachu!" In a flash they were out the doors, heading for the shores off the edge of Pallet.

* * *

Soon, the duo made their way to the docks, stepping onto the wood boarded platform overlooking the southern seas. A single Pokeball was grabbed off of his belt, retracted behind his head before being thrown into the air. "Pidgeot, come on out!"

In a flash of white light, the silhouette of Pidgeot began to take shape before fully taking form. The flying type let out a loud cry, stretching out her wings under the brilliant sun.

"Pidgeot," Ash started, addressing the large Pokemon beside him. "We're heading to the biggest of the Seafoam Islands to find Lapras. It should be a little to the south out west from here. Do you think you could take us out there?"

The feather-crowned Pokemon nodded its head, bowing her head and spanning its wings in a gesture for the two to climb aboard. She'd never met any Lapras Ash had owned, herself, but knowing that Ash was on a roll with meeting old companions put her heart at ease.

Ash sat atop Pidgeot's back, Pikachu included, before flashing a thumbs up to the bird carrying him. "Alright, we're set!"

Without a second thought, Pidgeot took off, entering the skyscape above with a loud cry, announcing its presence to other flyers and ocean-dwellers alike.

"Woah!" Ash let out a yelp, holding his red cap down upon his head just as it was beginning to slip off from the strong winds. Childish laughter left the youth as they soared above, eyes fixated on the glimmering ocean below which, right now, seemed like little more than a blur. "Man, Pidgeot! I forgot how fast you were!" His eyes were glimmering with amazement, a hand gently rubbing the back of Pidgeot's head. "But I guess you're probably a lot stronger and faster after all these years now, huh? With this sort of speed, we should be there in no time!"

* * *

The flight seemed to drag on for quite a while, maybe an hour or so. The sky above was practically clear, merely a few clouds lingering overhead that hardly interfered with the image of a perfect sunny day. The salty smell of sea water wafted by, setting quite the relaxing atmosphere for Ash and Pikachu that made boredom hardly a factor.

A grey landmass then began to surface over the horizon. "Hey, look at that... I think it's the first island!" Ash pointed a finger towards the sight that grew larger and larger as they neared.

He reached to grab his Pokedex from his coat pocket, checking the interactive map that Oak had given him. "Yup, this is it, alright! Lucky for us that the Professor helped us out!" He pocketed the device, more eager than ever to reach his destination. "Alright, Pidgeot. Come on down once we get to the island! With any luck, we'll find Lapras there!"

They soon dove down to land upon the shores, where Ash was eager to hop on down and stretch his legs. "Ahh… I was starting to get cramps from sitting so long!"

Pidgeot let out a huff, just a tiny bit tired from the trip. It hadn't escaped Ash, who returned to place a hand upon his Pokemon, lightly massaging her wing. "It's been a pretty long ride, huh? You did a great job getting us here quick." The trainer smiled, focusing on putting his Pokemon at ease. "But, I'm sure just one more trip won't be so bad, right?"

While Ash was preoccupied, Pikachu couldn't help but feel as if something was off. His long ears twitched, identifying a familiar sound. He nudged Ash on the shoulder, immediately narrowing his eyes towards the source.

Ash turned his head, and at that moment, he spotted something completely unexpected. A chilling Ice Beam was shooting through the air right towards them! Ash was quick to react, pointing toward the projectile. "Pikachu, keep that away from Pidgeot with a Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu launched off of his trainer's shoulders, drawing his limbs in, shrieking as he unleashed a brilliant Thunderbolt. The two attacks collided, pushing against one another before exploding between Pikachu and the attacker. Before the electric mouse could react, he was met by a barrage of Water Pulse and Ice Ball attacks that threatened to rain down upon the duo.

A few of the Ice Balls collided with each other, showering the area in shards of ice; a few of the Water Pulses also collided, soaking the beach. Not all of the attacks were stopped, though; the blasts hit the beach, sending shockwaves blowing past Ash and his Pokémon. A few rumbling noises came from the water, but Ash didn't pay that much mind; he was a bit more preoccupied with the imminent threat to his and his partners' lives.

"Pikachu, we've gotta make a break for it! You too, Pidgeot!" Ash announced before running for the dense foliage just off the beach, but stopped short when a barrage of Ice Beams showered the area, forming a solid wall of ice. "Oh man... Looks like we're trapped! I really didn't come here to become an Ash-sicle… I guess we'll have to face this head-on, huh Pikachu?"

Pikachu nodded his head, and they turned to face their attackers.

About a dozen Lapras were gathered just on shore. Some of them were glaring down at the trio on the beach with a hard gaze. A few were eyeing those threatening the boy and his companions, looking equally unhappy. Tension hung in the air like a Thunder attack ready to strike.

Before chaos could erupt, one of the Lapras made its way to the front of the pack. Though its appearance matched the rest, soft eyes void of any sort of malice easily stood out.

It made its way towards Ash through the sand, moving surely, as if he weren't a stranger.

Ash stared at the creature, letting his mind wander momentarily before putting the pieces together. "Lapras... Is that... Is that you?"

The Transport Pokemon didn't hesitate to dive forward, nuzzling its face against Ash's, eyes alight with joy.

Ash couldn't help but laugh, throwing his arms around the creature's neck as he returned the affectionate gesture, rubbing cheeks with Lapras. Pulling back, he got another good look at Lapras, as well as the herd. "It's so great to see you again! You guys have really gotten stronger since I saw you last time, haven't you?"

While trainer and former Pokemon alike reunited, Pikachu was busy playing with the younger members of the group, who had seemingly accepted Ash and his teammates.

The rest of the pack had seemed to ease when Ash was greeted by their leader, dismissing him as a threat. The trainer felt his heart beginning to sink as he watched the scene, a familiar sense of guilt washing over him.

"I know it was the right thing to do to leave you here with your friends, and I know you wanted to... But, I still feel kinda bad about leaving you... You've done a great job taking care of the rest of them... They all look big and strong now." He watched the other Pokemon playing and enjoying themselves. Along with his shame, Ash felt a sense of pride. The same Lapras he'd rescued and trained had taken care of its brethren, just as Pidgeot had.

Maybe it was time for it to leave them to fend for themselves, too. "To tell ya the truth, Lapras... I came back here to see you. I wanted to know if you'd come with me and train together again. Think you'd be up to helping us be the best out there?" He pulled back to make eye contact with the sea creature, a hopeful smile spread across his features.

Lapras paused, pondering the proposal for a moment. Suddenly, her mouth parted to unleash a chilling Ice Beam, firing the attack just past Ash's head.

"WAH!" Ash yelped, ducking away from the freezing projectile. "What the heck was that for!?" Ash returned his attention to Lapras, who craned her neck upwards, looking down at him with a gesture that seemed to signal only one thing. He would have to battle her first.

A smirk found its way across Ash's lips, a fire building in his heart as he ran a good distance away from the creature, turning on his heels back towards it. "Alright, Lapras! You're on! Let's go, Pikachu!" He pointed to the electric mouse, who quickly dashed over to stand beside his trainer.

Lapras readied herself as well, gleaming eyes staring Pikachu down.

"Okay, let's start with Iron Tail!"

Pikachu didn't waste a moment, leaping above the shore towards his opponent. His tail became shrouded in light, covering itself in a sturdy layer of steel as it was swung down towards Lapras.

The Transport Pokemon wasn't going to take that sitting, though, as her mouth parted to unleash a condensed blast of water, firing back at Pikachu with Water Pulse.

Hardly expecting the retaliation, Pikachu was thrown back by the gushing waters, landing on all fours in front of his opponent.

"That was a pretty strong Water Pulse... Alright, Pikachu! Quick Attack!"

Shaking the water out of his fur, Pikachu shot forward like a rocket, silver light trailing his form. He went on to crash into Lapras' stomach.

The larger Pokemon winced, recoiling in pain before parting her jaws to fire a freezing beam towards the mouse.

Quick feet and stubby, but powerful legs sprang Pikachu out of the way, who let out an exasperated sigh as he landed on his bottom, mere inches away from a frozen patch of ice on the beach.

But, Lapras' assault was relentless. Another Ice Beam came, just barely skimming Pikachu's side, causing the mouse to hiss in pain. A third beam came after that, and then a fourth, as Pikachu hopped between unfrozen patches of land before landing steady on all fours once more.

Ash watched with genuine interest as Pikachu was kept on his toes, legitimately challenged by his old friend. And, she hadn't had proper training in battles for years-at least as far as he knew. This left him legitimately impressed.

Soon, though, he was brought out of his musings when Lapras let out a loud, melodious cry. A small tidal wave rose from the seas to enclose upon Pikachu.

"Looks like Pikachu's out of the frying pan and into the freezer... Or, out of the freezer and into the… water...?" Ash placed a hand to his chin, pondering the botched expression before realizing just how close Pikachu was to being swept away. "Pikachu, jump above it and get grab onto Lapras, quick!"

Unlike his trainer, Pikachu had no plans to waste time, opting instead to leap high over the cresting wave. Stubby paws came closer by the second to grabbing onto Lapras' horn. Pikachu, without a doubt, had figured out Ash's strategy. If they could get clean contact with it, a full-fledged Thunderbolt would decide the match for sure.

Lapras had other plans. Just as the mouse came within range, she ducked, bowing her head in a move that caught Pikachu completely off-guard. Taking advantage of the mouse's surprise, the water type threw her head upward to slam her horn into Pikachu's stomach, sending the hurting Pokemon soaring higher into the air.

"Ah, Pikachu!" Ash shouted out in concern, eyes wide as he watched the mouse ascend. That was definitely unexpected... But they weren't out yet! "Pikachu! Hang in there, and come down with Volt Tackle!"

Ash's command left a smirk on Pikachu's lips, and the mouse began to tumble in mid-air, heading down towards Lapras. The spin ended in Pikachu's body lighting up with a brilliant golden aura, electricity dancing along his entire form. He dropped into a free-fall towards his target.

Lapras was motionless, completely awestruck by the counter attack. Before she could think to move, Pikachu crashed into her head, lighting up the beach with a booming explosion!

Soon the smoke cleared, revealing a Pikachu none the worse for wear and a recoiling Lapras, who appeared to be paralyzed.

"Alright... This is it!" Ash declared, grabbing one of the metallic capsules off of his belt before throwing it overhand towards the Pokemon with so much dramatic flair. "Pokeball, go!"

The ball bounced off Lapras' forehead without a hitch, drawing her form inside in a red flash of light. It fell to the sand below, beginning to shake and rattle from Lapras's resistance.

It shook once.

Twice.

"Ping!"

That all too familiar sound sent Ash's spirits through the roof. The boy ran towards the Pokeball, barely able to content the excitement that ran through him. He grabbed the ball out of the sand, a smile running across his face from cheek to cheek. Charcoal eyes stared down at the shining capsule held in his palms, bright with pride.

"Thanks a lot for wanting to travel with me again. Now, let's all become the best in the world, together!"

He was promptly joined by Pikachu, who hopped upon his shoulder with a cheer. "Pika Pika!" The excitement wasn't just theirs, clearly, as another voice chirped in approval.

"Pidgoooo!" Pidgeot cried from across the shore, raising one of its wings to congratulate the two.

Ash chuckled before turning his gaze to the remaining Lapras, a somber air hanging about them. "I'm sorry I'm taking Lapras from you guys... I know she was your leader and all, but I'm sure you could make it on your own, right? You all seem pretty strong, now."

The remaining flock of Transport Pokemon nodded along, some seeming to take the news better than others. It was obvious that their leader wanted to be with Ash, and he was plenty fit to take care of her in his own right, judging by their match.

"And hey, who knows? Maybe we'll visit again someday! But right now, we gotta get going. Let's go, Pidgeot!" Ash called out to the flying type, who lowered her back and spread out her wings for Ash and Pikachu to climb aboard. As soon as the two sat atop her back, the flying type Pokemon took off into the sky. Ash waved his hand above his head, giving his last farewell to the Pokemon below. "Goodbye, guys! Good luck with your migration! See ya later!"

* * *

What seemed like another hour passed as Pidgeot soared over Kanto's southern seas, and soon, Ash found himself back on the shores of Pallet Town. Hopping off the flying Pokemon, Ash gently massaged Pidgeot's beak before tapping her lightly with her Pokeball. "Thanks again for the ride back, Pidgeot! Now, take a good long rest!"

The capsule was placed along the others strapped to Ash's belt. "Alright, I guess we should head over to Professor Oak's place to choose my starting team!"

"Pika pika!" Pikachu chirped, raising his paw in agreement.

Ash rushed back to the laboratory, hopping over the hillside fence that separated the ranch from the rest of Pallet Town. Most of his Pokemon could be seen going about their own business, not having noticed their trainer just yet. "Alright, I guess I should start thinking about who's coming with me..." While Ash mused to himself aloud, two familiar faces made their way out to the backyard. Professor Oak, along with his assistant Tracey.

"Well, hello there, Ash! I see you were too impatient to use the front door?" The elderly man playfully chided, the smile on his face betraying any facade of irritation with the trainer.

Ash let out a yelp of surprise, turning on his heels to find himself face to face with the authority figure and older friend of his alike. "Ah, Professor! Tracey! I didn't know you guys were here!" He reached to rub the back of his head, wearing an apologetic smile. "Sorry, after I got Lapras back, I guess I just got a lil' too excited!"

Tracey could only let out a good-natured laugh, waving a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, Ash. I understand completely! So, have you decided which Pokemon you're going to take with you?"

Ash put a hand to his chin, closing his eyes in thought. "Well, Pikachu, of course. Hmm…" Memories from the recent Sinnoh League tournament came to mind first and foremost, and he nodded, opening his eyes. "Well, Sceptile's got speed and power to spare; he did take down Tobias' Darkrai, after all. I think he'd be a good fit."

As Ash mused over his choices, Professor Oak's eyes seemed to light up a bit. "Pardon me a moment, you two. I'll be right back." The professor turned, heading back towards his lab, leaving the two younger men out in the ranch area.

Tracey had been thinking as well and the Pokémon Watcher nodded as well. "Well, you just went and got Pidgeot and Lapras back, yeah? Why not them?"

"Great idea!" Ash grinned and nodded once. "Alright, two more…" Ash turned, pacing a little bit. So lost was he in his thoughts that he didn't notice a shifting in the ground nearby… or Gible leaping out from underground and chomping on his head.

"Wh-Whaaa!" The young man yelped in pain, flailing his arms a moment before he recognized that set of fangs. "Gible?" Maybe it was just the dragon's jaws clamping onto his head, but an idea clicked in his mind. "Hey, you did really well a while back, Gible, and we haven't had much time to train together… want to be a part of my first team?"

Gible let go, hopping happily in place with a big toothy smile that took up most of his body. The little land shark jumped for joy, launching a Draco Meteor skyward. The orb split into many, which began crashing down, prompting yelps from Ash and Tracey as they dove for safety amongst the debris.

"Hehehe, well, there's five… just one more." Ash frowned. He had so many Pokémon… it was tough to choose. He didn't think it over for long, though, as Professor Oak's voice broke him out of his musing.

"Ash, could you come here for a moment? I have something you might want to see." The professor had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he went back inside, grinning.

Ash hadn't paid it much mind… though when he went inside and was engulfed in a friendly Flamethrower, the reality of the situation struck him as swiftly as the scorching blast of heat.

"Charizard!"

The fiery Pokémon thumped his chest, grinning as he was pulled into a hug by his trainer.

Pikachu waved with both arms as well, giving the fire lizard a high-five.

Professor Oak laughed softly at the scene. "Considering that you're going to the most dangerous part of the joint regions for training, I only felt it appropriate that you have one of your strongest Pokémon with you. To that end, I made a call over to the Charicific Valley and had Liza send Charizard over here. Did you enjoy your surprise?"

"Did I ever!" Ash grinned widely, stepping back. "Alright! Pikachu, Sceptile, Pidgeot, Lapras, Gible, and Charizard. We're heading out tomorrow… and we're gonna get a lot tougher. You ready?!"

Pikachu was quick to announce his support, pumping his little fist in the air, and Charizard joined in with a booming loud roar.

Ash pumped a fist as well. "I thought so!" He could feel excitement welling up in his chest. The young trainer from Pallet knew that this was the start of something great.


	4. Nothing to Sneasel At

"Ahahaha! Hey, quit it!" Joyous laughter filled the air, accompanied by many overlapping cries of pokemon.

Morning had come in Pallet Town, and Ash had woken bright and early, making his way to Professor Oak's ranch after a very filling breakfast, there to say his goodbyes to all of his Pokemon companions.

Now, he found himself floored, surrounded by plenty of affectionate creatures that clearly didn't want the boy to leave. "I'm gonna miss you too, Bayleef, but if I can't get up, I'm never gonna be able to get outta here!" Ash managed between laughs, receiving a heartfelt goodbye from the second stage grass type, who was nuzzling her face against his.

Finally, Bayleef pulled back, allowing Ash to stand up amongst the crowd of Pokemon. All were bidding him a tearful farewell.

"Alright, guys. Today I start on my brand new journey to become the world's greatest Pokemon Master! And, don't worry about getting your fill of training, 'cause all of you are gonna get a turn!" Ash pumped his fist in the air, his words being met with plenty of cheers and cries of support from his various Pokemon surrounding him.

Buizel stood with his arms crossed in the back of the crowd, flashing his trainer a 'thumbs up.' Torkoal was, of course, a sobbing mess, discharging black smoke from his shell, much to his companions' dismay. Standing at the front of the group was none other than Bulbasaur, who stared up at Ash with cool, collected red eyes, extending one of his vines up to Ash's level.

The trainer couldn't help but smile, reaching to 'shake hands' with the extended vine. "Bulbasaur, I'm counting on you to watch out for everyone here. You think you can handle it?"

"Bulba!" The Seed Pokemon barked back with conviction, nodding to his trainer. As always, he would be the one to keep things in order on the ranch, as he'd always done. Guarding the Hidden Village in the days before Ash had captured him had prepared him well for the self-appointed position, and it was something he took pride in.

"I knew it! Alright, guys! Take care! I'll see ya later!" Ash made his way to the fence blocking off the edge of the ranch, hopping over the side before turning to his large ensemble of Pokemon. He was smiling from cheek to cheek, doing his best to contain any further emotions. If he kept looking back, he'd never want to leave! It was just hard not to look...

It was hard not to when he couldn't be more proud of the team he'd gathered. With one last wave he ran down the grassy hill, sliding just barely to a stop at the road below. And, not a moment too soon, as he found himself face to face with none other than Professor Oak, and Delia!

Ash let out a yelp, coming to a halt just in time, as the two had already braced for impact.

Thankfully, it never came.

After a few moments, the two adults eased and Professor Oak couldn't resist to let out a chuckle.

"Goodness, Ash, do try to be a bit more careful! My old heart can't take as many surprises as it used to!" The professor gave Ash a smile, holding a letter in an envelope out. "Be sure not to forget this letter! This will get you into Mt. Silver. It wouldn't do for you to make that trip, only to be barred from entry, am I right?"

Ash laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. That's right… he hadn't gotten the letter that granted him permission yet. Oops… "Eheh... Yeah, I guess you got me there."

Delia shook her head with a bemused smile on her face. "Heheh, I guess some things don't change. You're every bit the reckless young man your father was at your age…" She suddenly pulled Ash into a tight hug. "I'm so proud of you… You've come a long way from your first day! I know that you have good judgment, but I'm going to say this anyway, because I'm your mother: Be careful, okay? And… Don't forget to keep your clothes clean. It can get cold around Mt. Silver."

The hug brought a feeling of embarrassment to the boy, a blush burning on his cheeks and ears. But, of course, he returned the hug anyway. That was a mother for you. "Of course, Mom. I promise I'll be careful… and I'll keep my clothes clean." He let out an inward sigh of relief, grateful she had avoided one particular topic. _'At least she didn't tell me to remember to change my underwear.'_

Pulling back, he fixed his backpack onto his back, petting Pikachu on top of his head. "So, I guess that's it, Mom! I'd love to stick around, but if I'm ever gonna get started, I have to get going!" He waved to the two before beginning to run off towards the exit to town, shouting out to both of them. "I love you, Mom! Take care, Professor! See you later!"

Delia had held up until now, surprisingly, but finally the dams broke. Tears stained her cheeks as she waved frantically to her son, watching the center of her world run off into the distance until he was out of sight. "I love you too, Honey! Good luck out there! Oh, and don't forget to change your underwear!"

The last request earned a visible flinch out of the boy as he ran off, but he continued on without fail.

"My baby boy... Oh, you've grown up so much." The young woman held a hand to her heart, letting out a sigh as Ash ran off once more towards another adventure. It was difficult, letting him go. The light of her life, always disappearing to somewhere new. But, that was the price of letting her child follow his dreams. Something that she would never trade away.

* * *

The path to Mt. Silver brought Ash through the vibrant Viridian City, which was just a step on the way towards the Pokemon League Reception Gate. The walk through Route 26 didn't take long at all, and the aspiring trainer quickly made his way to the gateway, which completely blocked off the path to the Indigo League itself.

A deep breath left Ash's lungs, the boy's fists closing tightly at his side. It would be a lie to say he wasn't the least bit nervous, but hardened black hues betrayed his thoughts of hesitation. Ash made his way inside the sliding double doors, entering a short hallway that led directly to the Indigo League. A single desk stood near the entrance with a receptionist sitting still, and two rather large guards in police uniforms stood further ahead, each blocking off a single door.

"Excuse me?" Ash approached the desk, holding letter in his gloved hand. "I need to get to Mt. Silver. Could you tell me which way to go?"

Despite his polite plea, the man's stoic expression didn't soften a bit. An eyebrow raised, in fact, in disbelief. "Sorry kid, but that route is strictly off limits! Access is only allowed to those with expressed approval; certainly not to a kid your age."

"Well you see, I kinda already have it!" Ash answered, handing the envelope over to the man.

Still incredulous, the attendant opened the slip to take a look at the letter inside. It read as followed;

 _To Whom It Regards:_

 _I am writing to express my formal consent for Ash Ketchum, a Pokemon Trainer from Pallet Town, to be allowed to enter Route 28 and continue to Mt. Silver beyond it, where I have given him approval to hone his skills as a Pokemon Trainer. I'm aware this may seem like a bit of a bizarre request, given his age, but I would like to add that he has quite the list of accomplishments, including being a former Champion of the Orange League and the Kanto Battle Frontier, as well as a number of high placements in official Pokemon League competitions. I would stake my name in confidence of Ash's ability to take care of himself and implore that you accept my request._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Professor Samuel Oak_

The man pursed his lips as he read the letter over, still skeptical as ever. "Well, I'll be darned... I don't know how a kid your age could get permission to go to a place like that, but if Professor Oak's authorized it, I have no choice but to let you through." The letter was set down on the table, and the attendant turned to the guards down the hall. "Allow this trainer access to Route 28 immediately!"

The man on the left stared, equally skeptical, but stepped aside promptly, showing Ash the way out. "Right this way, young man."

The door was held open, cueing a wide smile to spread across the trainer's face, his eyes positively lit with excitement. "Thank you!" Ash parted with a slight bow of his head, rushing off towards the exit to the next route. "Alright! Here goes nothing!"

He stepped out of the building after clearing the checkpoint, reflexively reaching to hold his cap down over his eyes as the bright sun shone down from above. Once his eyes had adjusted to the outdoors, Ash found himself face to face with a small wilderness, closed together between looming rock walls that hung over either side of the area. Gritty colors and appearance contrasted strongly with the fields and woods ahead that were lush and green with vitality.

All of that, though, absolutely paled in comparison to what laid ahead. Over the trees and land masses before him was a sight that was truly breathtaking. Emerald hills over the landscape towered atop one another, scaling higher and higher to transition into purely rocky cliff sides and caverns, topped off by solid white snowcaps topping off the treacherous, monolithic mountain that was Mt. Silver.

Just the sight was enough to make Ash feel tiny, evidenced by the teen's fists that were closed tightly at his side, slightly shaking in disbelief. "You've gotta be kidding me... That's Mt. Silver!? Man, it's even bigger than I remember!" The trainer exclaimed in awe, accompanied by an agreeing utterance of disbelief by the Pikachu holding onto the back of his head. Neither had gotten this close to the peaks the last time they'd visited it.

"Well, I guess we better get started, Pikachu! We've got a whole bunch of Pokemon to see!" Ash announced, making his way into the woods that led to the summit. He marched onward with a spring in his step, just barely containing his excitement that was just too much for words.

A huge mountain for him to explore that he had all to himself, tons of powerful Pokemon, and all the time in the world to train and learn more about his own teammates. It could hardly get any better than this! The journey hadn't even begun, but it didn't stop a big goofy grin from spreading across the trainer's face.

Charcoal eyes darted left and right to observe the area, taking in the sights of wild Pokemon that were, frankly, rather unusual. One would expect an area like this to be populated with bug Pokemon, Rattata, or Pidgey. Instead, there were Ponyta and Rapidash drinking from a small nearby pond where Poliwag and Poliwhirl splashed about. An Ursaring striking a nearby tree which bore an assortment of berries that soon fell from the branches. A Heracross that was sucking the sap from the very tree fled to another, wings buzzing loudly as if to warn against conflict. Even two Donphan were butting heads with one another, each struggling for superiority.

A few inhabitants gave Ash and Pikachu wary stares, putting their daily routine on hold in suspicion of the odd sight of a human venturing into the area. Others ignored him, going about their business.

"This is weird," Ash voiced aloud to his partner, intently observing his surroundings. "I've never seen a wild area without people that had so many different types of Pokemon!"

A rustling in the bushes went unnoticed by the eager trainer, though the subtle sound hadn't slipped past the ever sensitive ears of his electric typed companion. Both perked up, narrowed eyes scanning left and right. It quickly faded into obscurity amongst the chirps, rustles, and various sounds of Pokemon going about their day, leaving Pikachu to drop his guard. It was probably nothing worth concerning himself with.

Another rustle, this time a good deal louder, came from above. Ash stopped in his tracks, his eyes and Pikachu's alike darting towards the trees above. "You heard that, right...?" He turned his attention to the mouse atop his shoulder, who nodded. Alert eyes scanned the canopy above, just barely catching sight of a grey blur.

"Well, it's probably just a wild Pokemon... I'm sure it's just shy because we're ar-WAH!" The trainer let out a startled yelp, stopping dead in his tracks as he found himself face to face with the stealthy culprit.

A slender Pokemon stood before him, baring blueish-grey fur, a red feather upon its left ear, piercing fuchsia eyes, and short, sharp claws on the end of each of its arms. Staring down the duo, the creature let out a fierce cry of its own name in warning. "Sneaselll!" Its claws clashed together several times in a threatening motion, slender legs bringing it closer to Ash and Pikachu. Neither were familiar around here, and far as it was concerned, neither were welcome. This route had done just fine without any human interference, and that wasn't about to change.

"Now that's weird... Sneasel usually aren't out in the middle of the day." The trainer mused, puzzled by its appearance. "This place is even weirder than I thought it'd be... But, anyway, I guess we're not getting through here without a battle, huh?" Ash's eyes lit up, his words clearly betraying his attitude. That familiar fire was beginning to burn up in him-the thrill for a good battle. A smile spread across the boy's lips as he adjusted the cap upon his head, raising a fist to shoulder height in a dramatic gesture. "Alright, Sneasel, I'll accept your challenge! I wanna see just how strong the Pokemon around this place are! Let's go, Pikachu!"

Pikachu hopped off of his perch, landing on all fours opposite of Sneasel. Both of his cheeks discharged electricity, casting a bravado from the small unassuming mouse.

The dark type didn't budge, waiting patiently for Ash and Pikachu to make their first move.

"Alright, Pikachu! Start this off with a Thunderbolt attack!" Ash began the battle with his usual introduction and Pikachu took the cue right away.

His ears stood up on end, electricity dancing along his body before launching in an explosive bolt towards the Sharp Claw Pokemon. It tore through the air in jagged patterns, sure to hit its target.

Or, at least that's what Ash would have thought, but the blast hit thin air - Sneasel had disappeared and taken the form of a grey blur. Before either of the two could process what had happened, the dark type had crossed the field in mere moments before striking Pikachu with one of its claws, passing it by with a Quick Attack-an attack that lived very much up to its name.

"Huh? You gotta be kidding me! That's one fast Sneasel!" Ash stared in disbelief, plainly gawking before he finally managed to collect himself. "Alright, Pikachu! Try to hit it with Iron Tail!"

Pikachu was temporarily stunned, but quick to recover from the sneaky hit, his strong legs allowing him to jump high into the air. "Chuaaaa...!" He chanted from above, gathering strength in his tail to cover it in a shining layer of steel.

"PIKA!" The limb came down like a ton of bricks, striking down into the ground where Sneasel had stood. But once more, it had sprang away at the last second, leaving Pikachu to create a large explosion of dust in the collision's wake.

The debris cleared to reveal the mouse standing in a small crater, turning his head every which way in confusion. He'd barely seen it move... It left the mouse flustered. It was very rare that another Pokemon outclassed him so sharply in speed.

"Pikachu! Look above you! Up in the trees, it's moving around on top of the branches!" Ash called out, his own eyes following the speedy Pokemon in place of Pikachu's.

When the latter looked upward, he found Ash's call to be right. Sneasel had already made it into the trees, leaping from branch to branch with remarkable athletic prowess.

"Now, give it your best shot! Knock it outta the trees with every Thunderbolt you've got!"

Pikachu's eyes narrowed upon its target, letting out a loud cry that was followed by a stunning bolt of electricity. The bolt didn't take long at all to reach its would-be target, scorching the bark of the tree as Sneasel had swiftly swung to another branch. Pikachu narrowed his eyes, becoming somewhat frustrated with his opponent. Not one to give up, though, he prepared himself or another bolt.

"Chu!"

Another bolt was launched, breaking straight through a branch as it barely missed its target.

"Chu!"

A third was fired, scorching a number of leaves above, and Sneasel had abandoned the canopy to jump in from above, eyes dead set on Pikachu as he approached the land bound electric mouse. "Pikachu, it's coming right for you! Go and give it an Iron Tail!"

This time, Pikachu would hit it. Beady eyes narrowed, focusing intently on its adversary, as his tail once again was covered in metal. A mighty jump launched him towards Sneasel as Pikachu twisted his body around, ready to smash his tail into the typically nocturnal Pokemon.

Sneasel promptly opened its mouth wide, greeting the electric mouse with an ear-splitting shriek, barraging Pikachu with a painful Screech attack.

Pikachu recoiled immediately, tumbling to the ground, his sensitive ears overwhelmed.

His opponent didn't waste a second to take advantage of this, lunging down towards Pikachu with its razor-sharp claws drawn.

"Pikachu! Quick, look out!"

The mouse was holding his head with both paws, doing his best to regain his composure when Ash called out a warning. By time he looked up, though, the sly Pokemon was right in his face, challenging Pikachu's gaze with a snide smirk. That was the last thing Pikachu saw before two painful slices sent him rolling across the dirt, reeling from the damage amplified by Screech.

While Sneasel rose to its feet unharmed, its opponent lay face down in the dirt, struggling to stand.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted, each of his fists closing tightly enough to scratch his palms. This was no good... Sneasel was running circles around Pikachu, and it hadn't taken the slightest bit of damage yet. _'Things are gonna get bad if I don't come up with a plan, quick...'_ Ash lamented in silence, eyes narrowing as he pondered the situation. _'That's it...'_ The teen came to a conclusion, shouting out to the electric mouse once more. "Pikachu! Do you think you can keep going, buddy?"

Stubby paws pushed Pikachu back onto all fours, tiny beady eyes trembling while Pikachu did his best to ignore the stinging pain. "Pika Pika!" He was still in the game, and had no intention of giving up! As soon as Ash gave him an order, he was ready to follow, and there wasn't any long wait before that order came.

"Use Quick Attack to speed yourself up, and start climbing the trees like Sneasel did!"

The vigor behind Ash's words gave Pikachu a second wind of vitality, allowing him to dash off in a speedy yellow blur that climbed up the bark of the nearest tree, immediately hopping to the next tree with speed that would make an Arcanine jealous.

Sneasel, with all of its pride in craftiness and agility, wasn't going to take that sitting down. A grey blur followed, quickly scaling the bark before leaping after its fleeing target.

"Keep it up, Pikachu! Just keep on running!" The trainer watched on with a budding smirk, putting all of his hopes in his strategy succeeding.

Pikachu didn't relent, hopping swiftly from one tree branch to the next. Sneasel wasn't far behind, though, getting closer to its target with every leap. Its silver claws were bared, ready to strike down Pikachu as soon as it got the chance.

Ash, however, had no intention of letting that happen. "Now, Pikachu! Stop right where you are and use Iron Tail!"

Pikachu took heed in the midst of a leap, grabbing a hanging branch with both paws to stop his descent.

Sneasel had already made its latest jump, coming closer and closer to the mouse with no means of stopping. There was nothing it could do as it watched Pikachu swing back, using the momentum to bring on a full-fledged Iron Tail.

"Chuaaa... Pika!"

The metal limb struck home, knocking the wind out of a very stunned Sneasel as it was sent flying into the nearest tree, dealing it another sharp pain as it slid down the bark to the ground below. Pikachu got off easy, swinging down from the branch to land on all fours.

"Alright! We did it!" Ash pumped a fist in the air, already celebrating their success.

He had spoken too soon though, it seemed, as the dark type slowly pulled itself to its feet, huffing in a haggard attempt to regain its breath.

If Ash didn't know any better, he would say that his jaw had dropped past his knees. "What? Iron Tail didn't work!?You've gotta be kidding me..." Sweat rolled down his forehead, eyes narrowed upon the recovering opponent. "If they keep going like this, there's no way of knowing who's really gonna come out on top..." He reached to adjust the brim of his cap, determined to stay in control-of his own emotions as well as the battle. "You can do it, Pikachu! I believe in you! Finish it off with Volt Tackle! Full power!"

Pikachu took off, his entire body bursting into a brilliant glow of electricity as he closed in on his opponent, intent on hitting it with every volt of electricity he had.

Sneasel stood like a Stantler in headlights, knowing full well the consequences of standing still and taking the hit. Instead, it leapt clear over its opponent, soaring airborne from behind a very confused Pikachu, who had skidded to a stop when his opponent was nowhere to be found.

The other Pokemon's small mouth parted wide, charging an icy blue, chilling sphere of energy.

"Pikachu, look out behind you! Use a Thunderbolt as fast as you can!"

The mouse swiftly turned his head, looking just in time to see Sneasel fire off a fearsome Ice Beam attack. A shriek followed, along with a brilliant electric shock that met the beam halfway.

Freezing winds and hot electric bolts sprawled off every which way, creating a dangerous tempest in the wake of the clash. Though, the power struggle quickly began to turn one-sided with Sneasel's Ice Beam losing ground, soon being overwhelmed completely by Pikachu's more powerful Thunderbolt.

The creature shrieked loudly, its entire body lit by the powerful electric shock, before falling to the ground below. Thin wisps of black smoke trailed from its singed body... But, its skinny arms were still pushing it back to its feet, and Sneasel was looking angrier than ever.

"Man... I can't believe this. It still won't give in!" Ash sputtered, once again amazed by the wild Pokemon. This time, however, his confidence didn't waver. _'I know that Pikachu's more powerful than Sneasel now... That's my way to win! If I could just get one more good hit on it, we'll have this in the bag!'_

Once again standing on its hind legs, Sneasel launched itself at Pikachu with a blinding Quick Attack, closing the gap between the two in mere moments. And as quickly as it came, it was gone, soaring far over Pikachu's head into the air.

Beady eyes frantically looked left and right, but the crafty Pokemon was nowhere to be found. He had expected a swift attack from the front, or even from the back. A subtle sound caught his attention, though, no sooner than Ash would call out in warning.

"Pikachu! Look out behind you!" Ash shouted, having a clear visual of Sneasel, who had jumped above and behind Pikachu, preparing a chilling orb between its jaws before firing another Ice Beam.

This one came in faster than Pikachu could think to respond, striking the mouse directly in the back. A pained hiss left him through clenched teeth, and Pikachu was hardly able to move as a chilling sensation ran through his every nerve, leaving the entire backside of his body feeling numb... And, watching on, Ash would be able to see why.

Pikachu's entire back had been frozen solid, covered cleanly in a blocky layer of ice. Try as he might, the electric mouse was unable to move much at all, encumbered by the weight of the ice, and half of his body felt rather numb to boot. Pikachu winced, thoroughly irritated to find himself defenseless against Sneasel.

Who, speak of the devil, was swooping in from above, both claws glowing and extended for a particularly devastating Slash attack. Ash could only watch on in horror, unable to act as his partner stood defenseless in the wake of a potentially finishing blow. _'C'mon, Ash, think... There's gotta be some way to break outta that ice...'_

Then, realization dawned on the trainer, just in the nick of time. "Pikachu! Break out of that ice and finish it with Iron Tail!"

A mischievous smirk formed on the rodent's face, every bit of vigor in his system doing its best to overcome the numbness to unleash a full-scale Iron Tail. Luckily, only moments passed before the metal-coated extremity burst out of the ice, shattering it all into a million pieces!

Much to Sneasel's dismay, who was already closing in on Pikachu in mid-leap. The creature's eyes widened to the size of saucers as it found itself unable to stop its descent, making it the ideal target for Pikachu's retaliation.

"Chuaaaa..." Pikachu growled, readying his hips before throwing them around in a spin, slamming the limb directly into the dark type's chin. With the strike came a hearty scream of his own name. "Pika!"

The jarring hit sent the unconscious Sneasel flying, sliding across the dirt before landing in a slump. Pikachu landed on his hind legs, one foot placed before the other in a dramatic, battle-ready stance. Huffs and puffs left the exhausted Pokemon, though, showing that the intense battle had clearly taken its toll.

His beaming trainer didn't hesitate for a moment, running over before scooping Pikachu into his arms, cradling the fatigued victor with care. "Oh, Pikachu, you were awesome! That was a really tough match, but I just knew you could pull it off!" Whether Ash knew it or not, he was smiling cheek to cheek, irises positively glowing over the awesomeness of that battle. A tough struggle from the moment he stepped foot into the area was not what Ash had been expecting.

"I guess this place really is gonna be a handful, huh...? Just think, if all the Pokemon are super strong like that... Ohhh, I can't wait! Let's go, buddy!" The Pokemon Trainer gushed, reaching for the brim of his cap before turning it backwards, running off into the woods towards their destination. But, of course, not without a hearty cheer from his smaller companion first.

* * *

Ash and Pikachu continued their trek through the lively path that was Route 28, battling their way through the forests and ponds that blocked them from their true destination. Every challenge they were met with was more titanic than the last, and the variety of Pokemon running about gave Ash and his team a run for their money.

Soon, the sun began to set, basking the entire horizon in a brilliant orange glow. Diurnal Pokemon began to retreat to their hidden homes, bug types crawling into the trees above.

The enthusiastic teen was just making his way out of the forest now... Not looking quite so enthusiastic, after all. He held Pikachu in his arms, who was marked with quite a few scratches, and tired dulled eyes showed the fatigue of a long day of traveling, with plenty of battles to boot.

"Oh, man..." Ash exhaled, his eyes turning up towards the colossal mountain before them. Its green and grassy plateaus reached about as high as the clouds above, and the snowy peaks reaching about as high as the eye could see. Ash was sure his jaw would have dropped to the ground had he not already seen it from a distance. "Up close, it looks even bigger... I sure hope we don't run into anything tough in there tonight, huh, Pikachu? I'm already beat."

Ash's complaints were quickly met with an answer in the form of a call of his nickname, along with a stubby paw pointing forward.

"Pikapi!"

Lo and behold, not far down the path was a sight for sore eyes; a Pokemon Center, not at all far from the entrance to the cave.

"Ahah... There's a Pokemon Center here? Alright! Talk about luck, huh, Pikachu?" The trainer made a dash for the building before him, all prior exhaustion momentarily slipping away. The glass double doors slid open, allowing Ash to enter the building.

The center, eerily enough, was almost entirely empty. There was a video phone and PC off to the side, couches and a coffee table, and most notably, a desk facing the entrance. Behind it stood a single Nurse Joy, hands clasped together in front of her beneath the desk. She greeted the trainer with a signature Joy smile, innocent and maternal in nature. "It's good to see you, Ash. Welcome to the Pokemon Center!"

Both of the boy's brows raised, his head tilting slightly in confusion. "Huh? Uh... Thanks, Nurse Joy, but how in the world did you know my name?" Ash questioned, approaching the counter in slow, cautious steps.

"Well that's simple, Ash!" The woman chimed. "Professor Oak had already let me know that you'd be arriving and coming to Mt. Silver to train! Given where I'm stationed, it's my duty to care for and look out for the rare trainer that comes into this area! With such a dangerous wilderness up ahead, you could imagine that a trainer's well-being is my first priority, as well as their Pokemon's!"

It was in the midst of her explanation that Joy noted the scratched up Pikachu lying in the boy's arms, who looked positively exhausted. "Oh, and it looks like your Pikachu is in the kind of shape to require that kind of attention, immediately! Perhaps you should leave the rest of your Pokemon in my care, as well?"

Ash glanced down to his weakened partner, nodding his head before setting Pikachu on the counter. "Yeah, that's a good idea. The Pokemon are really tough out there!" His remaining five Pokeballs were withdrawn as well, placed into the tray sitting on the counter.

"That's certainly true, so I would hope that you're very careful out there. The Pokemon inside the mountain only get stronger! I wouldn't want you to come back down here hurt, or possibly worse, so try not to get ahead of yourself. I was told how hot-headed you could be." The young woman quipped with a coy smile.

Not that there was any absence of truth in her teasing.

"So, I suggest you fill up on dinner before heading to bed, so you can get started bright and early tomorrow at your best! There's some soup prepared for you in the guest room provided. Now, don't stay up too late!"

"Hot headed, huh?" The male's face fell, marked cheeks flushing in embarrassment. It figured that would have to be thrown in with everything else. "Well, that sounds good to me! Trust me, Nurse Joy, you won't have to worry about a thing!" He reached to pat Pikachu on the head, earning a coo from the mouse.

"I'm going to leave you with Nurse Joy for the night, alright Pikachu? You get some rest, too!"

"Cha~!" Pikachu promptly answered, ready to be taken into care. With that, Ash made his way for the hallway towards the back of the center, waving to the two. "Awesome. Good night, guys! See ya in the morning!"

Not before long, the stars were the only lights in the sky, save for the moonlight that shone in through Ash's window, basking the messy-haired adolescent in a faint, pleasant glow. He'd already made his way into bed, staring out the window with both arms folded behind his head.

"Man... So, this is it, huh?" He spoke aloud, to no one in particular. "I am excited and all... But, looking at that mountain, it's kinda hard not to feel a little scared." An unusual thing for him to admit, he felt. It was the sort of thing that he would only tell Pikachu. But, his little yellow companion wasn't here right now.

It felt odd without him, really. Even in times when he was away from just about everyone else, the electric rodent was always a constant. "At least Pikachu'll be with me..." Hazel tinted eyes turned off to the side, eyeing his league cap that hung on one of the bedposts.

"...Yes. We'll get out there and be the best Pokemon Masters in the... Whole world..." He declared drowsily, interrupted by a yawn. Ordinarily, sleeping at a time like this would be very difficult for the boy from Pallet. But, the fatigue of a long day's work hard worn on him and he drifted soundly off to sleep. A slumber that would lead into tomorrow; the beginning of a brand new adventure!


	5. Hitting Rock Bottom

The morning sun crossed over Kanto's horizon, signifying that the morning had arrived. Ash began to stir, letting out a rather loud yawn as he awoke. Clearly, waking up at sunrise wasn't something he did often. "Guess it's time to get up..." The teen sat up in his temporary bed, stretching his arms high over his head before dragging himself to his feet. The initially drowsy trainer received an odd burst of energy, however, when his cap was fitted upon his head, followed by his jeans, jacket, gloves, and shoes. Something about the iconic outfit sent adrenaline rushing through his veins, and Ash was ready to go.

Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, he made his way to the front desk. Nurse Joy was already wide awake, standing nat the front desk. Pikachu sat atop it, a full tray of Pokeballs beside him. His ears perked up at the sight of his trainer, a curved smile spreading across his lips.

"Pikapi!" The mouse chanted, thrilled to see his trainer. He was greeted with a pat on the head, which earned a happy coo in response.

"Morning, Pikachu! Sleep well, buddy?" Ash beamed as he clipped the spheres to his belt, outstretching his arm to allow Pikachu up to his perch. Pikachu promptly dashed up to his shoulder, nuzzling his cheek against Ash's in an affectionate manner. "I guess that's a yes!" Ash remarked with laughter. "Thanks for the help, Nurse Joy! I guess we're gonna get going, now!"

"You're very welcome, Ash. But don't be too hasty!" The Nurse placed two items on the counter. "Here's a canteen and an energy bar to get you started! You wouldn't want to begin on an empty stomach, would you?" The teen scratched the back of his neck with an embarrassed chuckle, clearly having forgotten. "If you're going to thrive up there, you're going to have to be more careful than that! Now, the spring water from Mt. Silver is incredibly pure, so you should have no problems staying hydrated with this! If you run low on provisions, please feel free to visit at any time! There'll always be a bed and a meal here if you're in need!"

"Thanks a lot," Ash replied with a respectful bow of his head, grabbing the canteen and the snack before heading off towards the door. "Goodbye, Nurse Joy! I'll see you soon!" With a wave, Ash departed, heading into the great outdoors.

A short walk led him to a small wooded area, parallel with a riverbed that stretched around the western border of Route 28. The chilling air brought on quite the sensation when coupled with the welcoming warmth of the sun as well as the fresh pine scent that permeated the area.

"Well, guess it's time to get started! Come on out, everybody!" Ash shouted as he threw five Pokeballs into the air, releasing his entire team. Charizard was released, then Pidgeot, Lapras, Sceptile, and finally, Gible. "Good morning, guys! Now that we're up, let's warm up and wake up with little jog! What do ya say?" The group clearly wasn't as enthusiastic as their trainer, as Charizard let out a loud yawn and scratched its stomach. "Oh c'mon, it isn't that bad! Follow me and Pikachu!" He began to jog along the dirt path, soon to be followed by his team.

About an hour passed and the group soon made its rounds, coming back around to the Pokemon Center, where they'd begun. When Ash turned to check on the group, he found some to be faring better than others. Sceptile had handled the exercise quite easily, currently leaning against a tree with its signature twig in its mouth. Charizard and Gible didn't fare as well, both panting from the jog, but they were recovering nicely. Pidgeot and Lapras looked to be raring for more, as an hour of flight and swimming respectively was second nature to the two. Pikachu had finished the exercise comfortably, if not without a shortness of breath that likely wouldn't last long.

"Alright, guys! Time to chow down and get some energy built up for later!" The trainer slung his backpack off his shoulder, quickly rummaging through it to find a portion of the Pokechow he'd packed. He quickly set up a bowl for each of his companions, leaving them to eat. "Alright! Chow down, everyone!" Ash announced, peeling back the wrapper of his energy bar before taking a big bite of his own.

The group soon finished their meal, and were all promptly recalled to their Pokeballs, save for Pikachu of course. "Okay... I guess this is it!" Ash stood to full height, turning towards the colossal landmark. A brisk wind blew at the coattails of his jacket, causing it to billow dramatically in a way that was quite fitting to the moment. Majestic mountaintops stood tall, craning over the horizon as if to challenge Ash to scale it, to conquer the challenges that lie within and throughout. Needless to say, this challenge would be met with absolute boldness and certainty. Gloved fingers reached to grip the brim of the red cap, chocolate eyes shimmering in pure excitement. He could feel his blood boiling - every nerve in his body was restless in anticipation. A wide smile spread across the boy's features, reaching from cheek to z-marked cheek. "Mt. Silver..." He started, a whisper quickly turning into a dramatic shout, "HERE WE COME!"

* * *

"So, any guesses why we're here?" The query came from a violet-haired young man with sharp emerald eyes, baring a white Team Rocket uniform. Of course, this was none other than James. Sweat dripped down his brow and his fallen features reflected fearful anticipation of the meeting as he trudged down the hallways of Team Rocket's headquarters, feet dragging him unwillingly to what could be a very unfortunate meeting for the trio.

"Well, _obviously,_ the boss is going to praise us for all of our hard work and excellence! Why else would he call us in to see us personally?" Jessie, the magenta-haired, self-declared leader of the group chimed, throwing her arms to the air in dramatic emphasis.

"With our record, you've gotta be jokin'. We haven't brought back a single Pokemon since we got to Sinnoh! Chances are, I'll be surprised if da boss don't give us da boot." Meowth remarked in his strong accent, head hung much like his cohort, James. "Maybe he called us in so he could kick us out on the double."

"Now, that sour attitude won't get us anywhere! You two better pull yourselves together before we get in there, or the boss might punish you for talking that way, or worse, punish me for it! So pull yourselves together, or we're _all_ going to regret it!" James and Meowth were met with a glare that may as well have come from a Gengar, and promptly cowered in turn.

"Y-yes, ma'am!" James sputtered out, having flinched in face of her infamous temper.

Rolling his eyes, Meowth nodded along. "Whatever ya say, _boss._ " The two complied just in time, as they'd found themselves face to face with the double doors leading to Giovanni's office.

Jessie hesitated, a bit less confident than moments before, before twisting the knob, entering the dimly lit office.

Giovanni sat stationed in the center of the room behind his desk, His fingers were linked atop the desk, his expression unwavering with a characteristic emotionless gaze that immediately sent chills down the trio's spine.

Beside him was a dark-haired woman with ruby eyes framed with rounded glasses, standing motionless. It was the same woman they had spoken over the phone, when she had called them back to Kanto to begin with. On the opposite side of him was someone not so familiar; a tall, aged man in a lab coat, with bushy hair and a grey mustache, and an expression equally terrifying as Giovanni's. A monocle was placed over his left eye, further adding to his unusual appearance. Behind the head figure himself was a large screen, showing nothing but buzzing static at the moment.

Doing her best to talk over the lump in her throat, Jessie managed to speak first. "You... Wanted to see us, sir?" Her eyes turned on the boss, attempting to spot some kind of hint in his composure. Yet there wasn't a single sign of emotion, neither happiness nor anger. That was truly one of the most troubling things about Giovanni. He was impossible to read. A business-like composure was kept at almost all times. Worse off, that composure being broken was equally terrifying.

"I have something to discuss with the three of you. We've been keeping tabs of your exploits in Sinnoh," he went on, causing the hearts of the trio to nearly sink to their stomachs. "While you had little success in your endeavor to expand a Team Rocket branch in the region, you have brought us across some interesting details." The screen in the back began to play clips behind him on cue, showcasing shots from the Sinnoh League tournament. First came a clip of the Pitch-Black Pokemon, Darkrai. It felled a Magmortar in a few simple but potent moves, lighting the ambient room with a flashing Dark Pulse attack. "The winner of the league was using a Darkrai, as I'm sure you're aware, a legendary Pokemon that's exclusive to the Sinnoh region-a very interesting finding, indeed. What's more is that he was in possession of a Latios. Someone with that sort of talent in capturing mythical Pokemon is certainly of interest to Team Rocket."

Jessie, James, and Meowth visibly cringed, nearly going blue in the face over what they perceived to be their next mission. "Are... We supposed to go after Darkrai?" James barely whispered, not so eager to pursue someone so daunting. After seeing even the twerp fall so hard to him, such a thought was unthinkable.

"I have a feelin' dealin' with that thing'd end up with me havin' a very unpleasant catnap," Meowth added in, equally skeptical of the idea. As soon as their fears were voiced, though, Giovanni continued.

"Our sources will look into this matter further. However, what's more is that the boy you've spent so much time and money tracking-" The mentions of said time and money came out in a hiss, irritation briefly sneaking into his tone before slipping away. "-had managed to defeat his Darkrai, and even his Latios, consecutively."

The screen began to play more clips, focusing on the boy's climactic battle with the mysterious man. Gible's Draco Meteor rained down on the field before it fell victim to the wrath of the mythic Pokemon. Torkoal was shown being downed in a single blow. Sceptile, though, soon made its appearance, felling Darkrai in a single sequence of Leaf Blade attacks. Soon after was Pikachu clinging to Latios' back-the same Pikachu who they had sworn capture of for so many years. Their promise to their leader that would make all of their efforts worth their while. Consecutive Thunderbolts were dealt to the creature in the background, a testament to the mouse's mettle.

"I've come to the conclusion that this 'Ash' may not be such a waste of time, after all. You've chosen quite the interesting target for your efforts. However," His eyes narrowed, black irises glowering upon the trio of misfits. "The amount of money you have wasted in your exploits and the sheer number of failures has been unacceptable." The trio cowered in his wake, not daring to speak a word in protest. Every word he spoke was true, and there was no denying it.

"So now, I'll turn your attention to my assistant, Matori. She will explain the rest." He gestured to the woman standing beside him, who laid a manila folder down on the desk, opening it to reveal the files on Jessie, James, and Meowth.

"Despite your failures, you three are known for being especially loyal to Team Rocket. In addition, your pursuits have taken you all over the various regions around Kanto, giving you quite a bit of knowledge on your surroundings. These factors have led us to show a bit of forgiveness, but under a few conditions. You will be trained extensively as higher ranked members in Team Rocket, which means you will be receiving a promotion. To ensure your success in future missions, you will also be provided with new Pokemon and more advanced equipment to aid you in Team Rocket's objectives. In return, we will expect nothing but success in what we ask of you. Do you have any questions?"

The three appeared to be flabbergasted, nearly floored by the information that had just been relayed to them. They were actually being _promoted_!? It was like a dream come true, though none of them dared to get into one of their excited outbursts.

Jessie bowed her head to their superiors, speaking first once again. "We truly appreciate it... But yes. Who's that geezer over there?" She pointed with a gloved hand towards the elderly man, who hadn't budged an inch since the conversation began.

She quickly regretted her remark when met with a glare from Giovanni, but Matori was the first to speak, shouting at the redhead. "Do NOT speak to that way!" She glowered at the three as a group, contempt etched into her facial features.

Giovanni raised a hand, quieting his aide. "That's enough, Matori. This is . He is one of Team Rocket's top-ranked scientists and he will be overseeing you three in upcoming missions as well as providing you with the technology necessary to help you succeed."

"You'd do well to show me more respect in the future." The scientist added, scowling at the trio. "Aside from your primary target, there will be a number of missions required of you on the ground and I expect total cooperation and efficiency in doing your part. You've no need to worry yourself with any technological details. I'll provide you with all that you need to help Team Rocket grow and accomplish its objectives. Understood?"

"Sir," Jessie replied, bowing her head in respect, and James and Meowth mimicked the action. "We can promise you total success."

"Indeed," James added, raising his hand in a salute to Giovanni. "You've no need to worry about anymore failures!"

"When we're through, da whole world'll know and fear the Team Rocket name!" Meowth finished, feline eyes glowing with mischief. They'd been given a second chance, and the three resolved that they would succeed this time - and extend their reach to the stars above.

* * *

Meanwhile, back between Kanto and Johto, Ash had entered Silver Cave, marking the beginning of his newest adventure yet. The caverns were long and dimly lit, making for a rather interesting trek for Ash and Pikachu. What's more was that wild Pokemon could be found every which way. They posed quite the challenge. Each were every bit as powerful as the Sneasel they had faced, though many were far sturdier due to the nature of the Pokemon inhabiting the caves. One battle after another tested the mettle of Ash and his friends, and eventually, their hard work paid off as there was soon a light at the end of the tunnel.

A literal one, at that. Ash was forced to hold his hat down, shielding unadjusted eyes from the sudden drastic change in lighting. "Hey, look at that, Pikachu! Looks like we found a way out!" The teen let out childish laughter, running for the exit. It was a little peculiar. He'd been so eager to enter, but the first sign of the outdoors practically beckoned Ash to it. Maybe this cave training thing would take some getting used to...

The exit let to a small plateau above the route below, featuring a rocky cliff side that climbed up to the next highest ledge. Some grass and foliage matted the edges of the flat surface, making for a rather pleasant place for Ash to take a break. He made his way into the open area, stretching his arms over his head as he basked in the warmth of daylight. "Hey, not bad! I guess it can't hurt to stop here for a bit, right?"

Pikachu nodded his head, craning his head back as he soaked in the comforting warmth, long ears folding behind his head. "Pika~!" He cooed, stretching as well to soothe the faint soreness that had been dealt to him through multiple challenging battles.

"We shouldn't stop training now, though..." Gloved hands were placed upon the trainer's hips as he briefly pondered his next course of action. "Hey, I know!" The light bulb had gone off in his hand, and he reached for two of the spherical devices on his belt, tossing both of them into the air. "Charizard, Sceptile! Come on out!"

On one side of Ash, the large winged lizard appeared, letting out a huff of hot flames from its mouth. Charizard stood battle-ready, both of its arms folded over its beige-toned chest. The inferno on the tip of its tail roared loudly as ever, a sure sign of its energy and health.

Sceptile appeared on the opposite side, promptly inserting its signature twig between its lips, chewing on the small plant. Golden eyes turned towards the other powerhouse present, locking with aqua hues. Before Ash could even utter a word, the challenge had been silently declared. Sceptile had heard stories of Ash's ace in the hole. Tt had been glorified for its strength and tenacity in every description.

While Charizard hadn't been around to hear any such thing about the Forest Pokemon, its gaze said it all. It was being presented and it looked tough enough, even if it was a grass type. Challenge accepted.

"Alright! I guess you guys're ready, so let's get started! Sceptile, use Quick Attack, and Charizard, you use Steel Wing!"

The latter flapped its wings, quickly taking to the skies as the two extremities began to glow, taking on a silver shine.

Sceptile judged its altitude to be a bit too great for an effective head-on attack, but needless to say, that wouldn't stop the speedy grass-type. It quickly leapt onto a boulder adorning the rock wall, jumping from one height to the next before launching itself at Charizard, blurred silver light trailing its form.

The soaring fire-type didn't relent, letting out a loud ferocious cry as both wings swung towards Sceptile, sure to land with devastating impact.

Both combatants finally crashed, steely limbs colliding with the entire body of Sceptile who compensating with speed where he failed in power. The aerial clash made its intensity known with a booming shockwave, forcing Ash to guard himself from a gust of wind and dust. The two broke apart moments after, allowing Sceptile to fall to the ground below, skidding before coming to a halt. Charizard pulled back in the air, letting out a huff. So far, the two seemed evenly matched.

"Man, talk about power..." Ash commented under his breath, marveling at the strength that had been displayed so early in the battle. "Charizard, you start using Flamethrower! Sceptile, use Quick Attack to dodge it!"

The fire type complied, craning its neck back before throwing its head forward, unleashing the inferno towards the ground. By the time the ground was scorched though, Sceptile had been long gone. Fierce blue eyes scanned the ground, finally spotting it standing near the rock wall. A roar followed another burst of flames, striking the boulder behind Sceptile, who had jumped out of the way. Charizard didn't relent, though, spraying a continuous stream of heat along the wall as its opponent scaled the rocks, jumping from one targeted location to the next.

The higher he jumped, though, the closer the flames came to scorching its body. The residual heat was becoming uncomfortable, and Sceptile decided to leap forward, heading straight for Charizard with its Quick Attack. The assault crossed the dragon with amazing expertise, landing a weak blow before coming to a halt on the ground below.

"Sceptile, use Leaf Storm!" Ash shouted, counting on the grass type to stage a powerful counter attack. Each of the seeds upon its back lit up in succession, gradually charging the powerful attack. But, it wasn't fast enough, shown by yet another torrent of flames that threatened to swallow Sceptile. Of course, it wasn't going to take that sitting down. Powerful legs sprang the grass type into the air above, completely avoiding the peril. By now, it had found the opportunity to attack. The Forest Pokemon let out a cry, letting loose a potent flurry of energized leaves that headed straight for Sceptile's winged adversary.

At the last moment, Charizard managed to swoop out of the way of the blast, narrowly avoiding what could have been substantial damage. Cycle of leaves soared past it, only to crash into the mountainside behind it. They razored through, lodging themselves among some rocks and dislodging others. Those went flying, a number of larger ones striking Charizard in the back. The fire/flying hybrid cried out in pain, hovering uneasily before managing to regain its position in the air.

Ash stared on, caught completely off-guard by the occurrence. Rocks proved to be a weak point for Charizard... That was interesting. "Okay, Charizard, Flamethrower! And Sceptile, use Leaf Storm, now!" The dragon above opened its mouth wide, gathering heat before launching a brilliant flame towards its opponent below.

Sceptile responded in kind by countering with its own powerful move. Each of the bulbs on its back lit up brilliantly, quickly gathering energy that culminated in a brilliant spiral of shining leaves, colliding directly with Flamethrower. The powerful winds behind Leaf Storm managed to push back Flamethrower quite a bit... But it would only last so long. One leaf after another was incinerated by Flamethrower, slowly eating away the attack in a fierce struggle between the two moves.

"Both of you! Give it all you've got! Don't hold back one bit!" Ash shouted, throwing two closed fists outward in dramatic encouragement. As climactic as the struggle was, though, Sceptile was losing ground. His typing just wasn't cutting it. The two poured more power into their attacks, lighting the battlefield with brilliant splendor, sending flares and scorched projectiles every which way. Finally, the attacks erupted, going off in a deafening explosion. Smoke was thrown across the plateau, crossing Ash and Pikachu with an unpleasant wave of heat.

The debris soon began to clear, first revealing Ash and Pikachu, the latter with his arms crossed over his body. One eye opened, finally, free of the sting of the aftermath. Sceptile and Charizard became visible soon after, both retaining their original positions. The dragon above was marked with a few burns and scratches, still raring to go. Sceptile, however, wasn't so lucky. Its arms were crossed over its chest, one eye wincing from the impact. It was covered in burns, its body trembling slightly from the damage it'd been dealt.

"Sceptile...!" Ash uttered, just barely loud enough for Pikachu. The worry showed in his eyes, but he refused to shout his concern, knowing full well how much pride played a part in this battle. _'This is no good... Sceptile looks like it's on its last legs here. Charizard's fire type moves just give it too much of an advantage.'_ Ash was lost in his own thoughts, oblivious until Pikachu pointed forward, shouting to get his attention.

"Pikapi!"

Ash turned his sights toward the two Pokemon, spotting just what Pikachu had been pointing out. Sceptile's body had been enveloped in a luminous green glow. "Hey, hold on... That's Overgrow!" Ash shouted, recognizing the ability immediately. That meant it was at its limits. This was its chance, if it were to have one. "Sceptile, get in there and use Leaf Blade!"

Shrugging off the pain, the grass type didn't waste a moment, springing off the ground with its powerful legs to close the distance between itself and Charizard. Each pair of leaves adorning its forearms seemingly merged into one, taking the shape of a shining scythe of natural energy. Both shone with great radiance, clearly powered up by Overgrow. "Sceeeep... TILE!" It cried out, slicing Charizard across the chest with both blades, overcoming the fire type with remarkable speed.

"Now, Charizard! Use Seismic Toss!" While Ash did have his eye in helping Sceptile overcome his weakness, this training was meant to benefit both titans equally - and he wouldn't shortchange either by holding back a bit. Still reeling from Leaf Blade, Charizard corrected itself before lurching forward, wrapping both of its arms tightly around Sceptile's body. Startled, the Forest Pokemon began to struggle, trying to squirm its way out of the other's grasp. It proved fruitless as Charizard soared higher, holding an iron grip.

"If Sceptile doesn't do something, he doesn't have a chance..." Ash mused to himself, staring upward at fire type climbing the skies. The boy squinted as the burning sun shone into his eyes, holding his cap down to block out the bright light. "...That's it! Sceptile, use Leaf Storm! One more time!"

While the consecutive uses may have become tiring by this point, desperate times called for desperate measures. The golden seeds lining Sceptile's back took on a bright glow, gathering energy. But, the powerful grass type move wouldn't go off without a struggle.

Charizard began its standard procedure for its Seismic Toss attack, turning into a full loop that was enough to make the weakening grass type dizzy. Several more followed, adding to the dull headache that plagued the grass type. Fortunately for it, the seeds on its back continued to gather energy, and not a moment too soon, as Charizard turned straight into a dive, heading for the ground below.

Finally, the grass type unleashed his wrath, revealing a brilliant twister of natural energy. The blast launched at point-blank range, enveloping Charizard in a ferocious beam of light.

A deafening explosion made everything else seem insignificant, forcing Ash and Pikachu to once again shield themselves from the impact. Sceptile was sent careening towards the ground below, just barely able to catch its bearings and skid across the scorched ground, clawing its way onto all fours. It was clearly barely hanging onto consciousness, with various burns and scratches covering its body. The smoke cleared to reveal Charizrd standing on its hind legs, likewise marked with a number of scorched marks. Unlike its opponent, though, it still seemed to be hanging in there, fiercely staring down its adversary.

Normally strong legs trembled, barely supporting the body of a creature whose heart was willing to fight but body was unable. Narrowed eyes refused to leave Charizard's gaze, bared teeth clenched in determination. Soon, Sceptile's body gave in, allowing it to fall to the ground and fade from consciousness. Charizard had won.

Ash didn't hesitate to rush over, kneeling down to his fallen Sceptile. "Man... That had to hurt." He reached to sling the creature's arm over his shoulder, walking it towards the cliff side. "But you put up a great fight... You too, Charizard! Awesome job! Take a good rest, alright?" The dragon nodded, letting out a fiery huff before laying down upon the ground of the plateau. Sceptile was set against the wall, hunched over unconscious.

The trainer slid his backpack off his shoulder, unzipping one of the pockets before rummaging through it. "Here... I've got just the thing to fix you right up!" Ash pulled a small blue fruit out of the pouch - an Oran Berry. "Here... Eat this, and you'll be feeling better in no time!" The fruit was held up to Sceptile's mouth, who was beginning to come to consciousness.

It took a bite out of the berry, feeling its stamina slowly return to its body. "Hey, you're feeling better! That was an awesome battle, Sceptile!" Ash praised, only to be shrugged off as the grass type stood at its full height, immediately leaping up the cliff side to stand on the highest ledge. Down below, Ash stared momentarily before nodding his head. "I guess you want to be alone right now... I understand." He nodded to the Pokemon above, turning his back to give it some peace.

"Alright, everyone! Let's get some training done!" His remaining three Pokeballs were thrown forward, releasing Pidgeot, Lapras, and Gible. "Are you guys ready to get tougher, or what?" Ash pumped a fist in the air, displaying enthusiasm that his companions so obviously shared, each of them letting out a cry of agreement.

Meanwhile, the grass type watched down from above, leaning against the mountainside behind him, chewing on his signature twig. It watched on with a disinterested gaze, only able to focus on the battle that it had just lost. To put it simply, it was overwhelmed. The last thing it had expected out of this training session had come true and on their very first day of exercises. Not only did Charizard boast a twofold type advantage over himself, but its power had been simply incredible. It was ertainly stronger than any fire type it had faced, and in all honesty, posed a greater challenge than even the Darkrai he'd felled no more than a week ago. Even May's Blaziken paled in comparison. While he hadn't been completely helpless, he was certainly outmatched. That was more than enough to wound its pride.

It continued to watch the others as the day went by, engaging in fierce battles and training exercises, most of them socializing all the while. While it did look fun, he could admit, there was no use in training when he'd had the wind taken out of his sails. All Sceptile could do was ponder the match, analyzing the events at every turn. Day turned to night, and it hadn't moved from that spot, except to come down for dinner. Still, it stood at the foot of the cliff, keeping to itself even after the other Pokemon had returned to their Pokeballs for a good night's rest. A gentle campfire burned, and only Ash and Pikachu, pardon Sceptile himself, were still awake.

Ash lay back in his sleeping bag, arms folded behind his head with charcoal eyes staring blankly at the stars above. Like his stubborn companion, he found it very difficult to sleep when there was something on his mind. That match today... It had been a rather brutal one, and it was obvious Sceptile wasn't happy.

"Man... He really took it hard," he spoke aloud, catching Pikachu's attention.

"Pika," the mouse replied, who was resting his head on Ash's chest. He felt badly for his friend. He always knew the grass type to be extremely prideful and he'd certainly earned his stature.

"I've gotta find a way for him to fight it... To give Sceptile a fair shot." He would have to at least put Sceptile on equal footing with Charizard. "But how...? He can fly and he's a fire type. Sceptile doesn't have any moves to deal with that." The teen's mind began to wander, contemplating the battle just as his Pokemon was. As powerful as Leaf Blade was, it proved fruitless against such an opponent. Quick Attack was useful as always, but too weak to deal any definitive blow on its own. Leaf storm was powerful, but risky to use, and still weak against fire and flying types. Though the last move did deal some damage to Charizard indirectly, when dislodged rocks and boulders had hit it following the explosion.

"Wait a sec..." Ash jolted up, both eyes going wide in realization. "...That's it! Sceptile, come down here!" He shouted to the cliff above, catching the Forest Pokemon's attention.

It made its way down in several swift jumps, landing beside his sleepy trainer.

"I think I've got an idea on how to give you a better shot at beating Pokemon like Charizard... It's just a hunch, but it might work! What do ya say? You willing to give it a shot?" Ash proposed, raising one of his fists to Sceptile with a smile curved onto his lips.

"...Tile!" After a brief pause, Sceptile threw its own armed forward, bumping elbows with his sitting trainer. Whatever Ash had come up with, he trusted would be good enough. Whatever it took to overcome this obstacle would be worth the effort.

"Awesome! Then we'll try our best, starting tomorrow!"

* * *

Lilycove City was absolutely thriving. Dawn's fingers gripped tightly to the railing, a wide grin on her face. Resting on her head and shoulders, Piplup likewise let out numerous chirps, just as ecstatic. Hanging onto her ankle, Buneary seemed star struck. The whole group was eager to begin the business for which Dawn had been given her ticket to Hoenn: pokestyling—to the next level!

With her bag already packed and upon her shoulders, it was evident the girl had learned plenty on efficiency in luggage while traveling from her journey through Sinnoh. All the same, within the bag were two very special outfits; whether they were necessities or not depended upon whether one understood their purpose. One belonged to Buneary and the other to Piplup. The normal type's was covered in glitter and the most girly of pinks. The starter's, on the other hand, was leather and had a hard edge to it. They would be doing photoshoots and shows here. Dawn, in all likelihood, would be showing along with them. She was very excited—she wouldn't be competing for a Ribbon Cup while down in Hoenn, but the chance to show in the curious kind of contests they boasted would be fun.

Besides, she'd been a little bored and lonely at home. It'd do her good to get out and about.

"All ashore that's goin' ashore!"

That was Dawn's cue!

Walking off the ship, Dawn easily spotted her mentor among the crowd. Incredibly beautiful and keeping a Lopunny at her side, Paris stood out.

"You made it! Good to see you again," the pink haired woman greeted.

Dawn waved, as did Piplup who was upon her shoulders and Buneary who trailed at her feet. "It's good to see you, too! So, let's get started, huh?"

"Of course." Paris turned, gesturing uphill and northeast of the pier.

The two girls began walking, exchanging pleasantries and news all the while. Paris explained that Dawn's pokemon would be doing some promotional work, but that it shouldn't take her from home too terribly long. She also complimented the younger girl, pointing out that she only seemed to be getting prettier as time went on. Of course, Dawn was torn between being embarrassed and automatically but truthfully complimenting Paris in turn. All in all, they got along swimmingly.

Lilycove was beautiful, Dawn realized. It was open but not rural. Though she'd been in plenty of cities, she'd grown up in Twinleaf Town. It was always exciting to visit more urban areas. She wondered what she should pick up for her mother. Maybe some of the foreign fashions? What about her other friends…? It'd been a while since she'd talked to Brock, she knew. Maybe she should get him some cologne with a cheeky note about it helping him with the ladies? Her mind turned to Ash, then. Perhaps Paris noticed her slip in conversation. She'd openly discussed her other gift options, but the moment the mention of Ash passed her lips, she got a goofier grin. He'd probably do best with some new gloves, she joked, brushing off her sudden wish that he was there for this. He'd know his way around Hoenn since he'd been there already, but she didn't know how he'd feel about all of this high style business.

However, Dawn was as much a battler as she was a fashionista, and her pokemon were no different.

Piplup let out a chirp, pointing to an empty training field as they neared their destination. The contest hall was momentarily forgotten.

"It's been a while since we battled, huh?" Dawn muttered. She looked over to Paris. "Do you mind? We usually use Mom's whenever we want, so I feel bad about telling them no." Besides, she wanted to, as well.

Paris shook her head. "I wanna see what you can do! Go for it."

Nodding, the coordinator and her team made their way to the field. Paris waited on the sidelines, her arms crossed.

Putting Piplup down, the bluenette grinned. "Alright, Piplup, spotlight and center field! Hydro Pump straight down! Buneary, use Ice Beam on the Hydro Pump!" Following her instructions, Piplup was rocketed into the air. As he ascended, his tower of water turned into a pillar of ice thanks to Buneary. Dawn nodded. Right. She knew what to do from here. "Buneary, use Bounce to join him up there!"

"Neary!" she called, quickly reaching the top of the tower.

"Piplup, use Spinning Bubble Beam!" the girl called. "Buneary, freeze them with Ice Beam!"

Twirling in the center of the tower, Piplup obeyed. Soon, there were beautiful frozen spheres atop the tower.

"So, she's going to play like she's an architect today, huh?" Paris mused.

"Lop," the normal type agreed.

Soon, the building continued. "Ice Beam!" Bridges were formed. "Hydro Pump!" Another tower. "Dizzy Punch!" Arches and windows were forced into the building. After half an hour, a dazzlingly beautiful two-tower castle stood before them all. Dawn held the exhausted Buneary and Piplup, the two little pokemon panting and looking proud of themselves. Paris walked around the base of the tower, touching the surface of it reverently.

"It's incredible!"

A shadow passed over Dawn's face, blocking out the sun which shone over the top of the tower. "Thank you! They're really… good…" She looked up.

Atop the clear blue spires, a single white creature stood. It leered down at Dawn, red eyes intense. However, as soon as she noticed it, it leaped off into the bushes on the side of the field. Dawn stood for a moment more, confused.

"Dawn!" Paris called out again.

The coordinator snapped out of it. "Huh? Sorry, I saw a weird white pokemon!"

"Well, Wingull are pretty common around here—but they're in Sinnoh, too!"

"It definitely wasn't a Wingull," Dawn muttered as she and Paris exited the field. The tower would melt shortly, but there were drains installed on those fields that would take care of it just fine. After returning Buneary and shifting the way she held Piplup, she got out her pokedex. In a minute, she found her pokemon.

The girl quietly assured herself of what she had seen: "An Absol, huh?"

"Well, we're here, Dawn!" Paris exclaimed, gesturing to the contest hall. "But… we should visit a pokemon center first, haha! We need our little models in top condition!"


	6. At the 'Top of the Food Chain!

Soon morning came, heralded by the shining light of the sun crossing over the mountain. Sunlight shone over the small clearing, stirring a particular Pokemon trainer from his slumber. Try as he might to shield his eyes from the morning sun, it was no use.. "Alright, alright, I'm up. Man, the sun's gotta be the worst alarm ever." His eyes turned to Pikachu, who slumbered beside him. "...Okay, the second worst alarm."

Ash stood, letting out a loud yawn as he stretched his arms high over his head. A short walk brought him to a creek flowing over the edge of the plateau. He knelt down, splashing a bit of water onto his olive skin. His hands dipped under briefly, soaking them in the brisk body of water. This, combined with the chilly morning air was enough to wake the trainer up completely. He turned back towards the campsite, only to find Pikachu and Sceptile rousing from their slumber as well. "Morning, guys!" The two were greeted with his signature goofy grin and responded in kind. Pikachu chimed the same message in return, and the Forest Pokemon simply gave his trainer a nod.

"Guess it's time to get started. Okay, everyone, come on out!" Ash made his way over to his backpack, grabbing four Pokeballs before tossing them forward. Pidgeot, Lapras, Charizard, and Gible appeared, each looking wide awake, ready to start the day. "Okay, we're all gonna start training now. I'm going to split you guys into pairs. Lapras and Gible, you guys work on dodging and accuracy together at the creek. Pidgeot and Charizard, I want you guys to work on your attacks and aerial maneuvers together at the front of the cave. Pikachu, Sceptile, you're coming with me!" The group nodded along, turning to their partners to get to work.

Meanwhile, Ash donned his cap, jacket, and backpack before making his way into the cave. "Sceptile, we're gonna try to work on the rocks in here and see if we can find any clues to you learning a rock type move. Sound good?" He was met with a nod, and the two stopped at a spot Ash deemed sufficient. "Now, let's go! Pikachu, use Iron Tail to knock some rocks down!" Pikachu obliged, leaping up high to strike the cave walls with a series of blows, shattering stone with his solid steel extremity. Several boulders were dislodged from the walls, falling down towards the trio of companions.

"Sceptile, just do what you did when you fought Charizrd!" Sceptile looked dubious, but was quick to comply. Hazel eyes narrowed, focusing on each of the rocks as the grass type raised his arms above his head. A faint glow began to surround him, a strange sixth sense making itself known to the Pokemon. He felt in harmony with the stones, somehow. As quick as the sensation came, though, it left and he was forced to leap out of the way of a falling rock. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted another falling towards Ash.

Before the male could even think to react, a boulder had been split in two right over his head, each half falling harmlessly to the ground. Sceptile landed with grace, the leaves on his forearm glowing brightly from the cleanly executed Leaf Blade attack.

Still recoiling from what unfolded before him, Ash shot a grateful smile to his Pokemon. "Man, that was close... Thanks a lot! Did you make any progress or figure anything out?" Sceptile paused, hesitating before turning back towards the wall of the cave. It was pummeled once more with a series of frustrated Pound attacks, dislodging several more chunks of stone. The Forest Pokemon did his best to harmonize with the chunks of rock, hoping to exert some control over them the same way he was able to with grass type moves. Unfortunately, though, he wasn't having much luck.

Many more attempts followed, leaving the cave floor littered with sliced boulders, broken up rubble, and a couple of very frustrated individuals. Letting out a sigh, Ash climbed to his feet. "Alright, this isn't going anywhere." Ash lamented, his voice weighed down in disappointment. "Guess we should head ba-"

Before the word could leave Ash's lips, the ground began to rumble, giving way violently to none other than a roaring Onix! Its eyes looked strained and tired, showing the signs of a very angry, irritated Pokemon. An earth-rattling roar followed as the rock snake lunged towards Ash, Pikachu, and Sceptile with the sort of malice that only a truly enraged Pokemon could exhibit.

Ash shouted at the top of his lungs, his heart racing at the sight of the titanic creature heading towards the trio. "Let's get outta here!" Ash turned on his heels, running for the campsite, only to feel his heart sink as the rocky leviathan's long form was blocking the path. Dark hues darted left and right, searching desperately for a sign of salvation. Lo and behold, a source of light could be seen towards the other end of the cavern. "I think I can see an exit... Let's make a break for it!"

Meanwhile, the adolescent's scream quickly alerted his other Pokemon, who gathered at the entrance to the cave. Charizard and Pidgeot hovered above, scanning the area before taking off above the cavern. Lapras took off down the creek in the same direction, with Gible riding on her back. Onix began to thrash about, slamming its head on the cave wall. The impact dislodged several more boulders, sending them down towards Ash and company.

"Look Sceptile, it's using Rock Slide!" The moment he made the observation, a rock fell painfully close to his backside, forcing him to abandon the thought and run ahead. _'No time for that, Ash. We've gotta get out of here!'_

Ash and his two companions sprinted out of the remainder of the tunnel, finally coming to a halt when they entered broad daylight. The rumbling and rattling finally came to a halt, leading the trainer to believe that Onix had given up his chase. On the other end, he found all four of his remaining Pokemon surrounding the exit, having been waiting for Ash's escape. Upon finding their trainer in one piece, the four seemed to relax, relieved that he hadn't been hurt. Ash was bent over his knees, letting out an exasperated sigh now that he had the chance to rest.

"Well, what's all this commotion? I could have sworn I heard a pissed off Onix. I guess you are the cause of that, aren't ya, boy?" A deep, gravelly voice could be heard, nearly scaring the Pallet trainer out of his socks. He turned to find himself face to face with the one thing he'd never expected - another human being up in the mountains. He was a tall, burly man, sporting a white martial arts uniform. His face was creased and aged, amber eyes betraying his old appearance, full of life and energy upon first glance. He definitely appeared to be of the mountains; his beard was unshaved and hair tied back behind his head.

Ash reached to scratch the back of his neck, flashing a sheepish smile. "Eheh... Yeah, I guess I was. I was trying to figure out how to teach Sceptile here how to use a rock type move." He gestured to the grass type beside him. "But, I guess Onix didn't like all the noise..."

The older male raised a brow. "Well hittin' around rocks certainly isn't going to get you anywhere. But, still... I'm surprised to see someone your age up here. Ya gotta be awful tough to rough it out in - or to even be allowed here! Unless you snuck in?"

"Oh, no!" Ash waved his hands in front of him, quickly denying the notion. "I got permission from Professor Oak to train here. I'm trying to get stronger and learn more about battling so I can become a Pokemon Master!" Ash reached for the brim of his cap, adjusting it out of habit when he spoke of his dream. Realizing that neither had properly introduced themselves yet, Ash quickly corrected this. "Oh, and I'm Ash Ketchum. This is my partner Pikachu, and my other pokemon: Sceptile, Pidgeot, Charizard, Lapras, and Gible!" He gestured to each pokemon respectively.

"Nice to meet ya, Ash! I'm Randy, a blackbelt trainer who lives up in these here mountains. If you're looking to become a Master, then you chose a pretty good place to toughen up." He paused, studying the trainer and his teammates alike. They had flocked to his defense rather quickly, so they must have been well trained. "...Ash. What would you say to a battle? I want to see just how tough your Pokemon are!"

Ash's black hues glistened, the boy's heart already beginning to race at the thought. This guy looked like he's been up here for heck of long time. If he was able to live here among so many powerful pokemon, just imagine how strong he could be! "I accept! Ready whenever you are, Randy! I'm not gonna lie, battling someone tough as you is pretty exciting!" Ash ran a good distance to allow for a battlefield between for the two, standing in a wide stance opposite of Randy. Ash's Pokemon had scattered to the side of their makeshift arena, each eager to get in on the action. "Okay, ready when you are!"

"We'll have a three on three match," the blackbelt announced whilst raising three fingers. "I want to see what your pokemon are capable of. Now feel free to choose your first pokemon!" He held a pokeball in his palm, waiting patiently for the younger trainer, meeting him with a stern gaze that was almost unnerving in discipline.

"Right!" Ash nodded, pausing momentarily before turning to his team. "I want you guys to watch this battle, alright? We're about to go head to head with someone really strong!" The group nodded. Ash looked between each of his pokemon, soon making his first choice. "Lapras, you're up first!" Ash pointed toward the improvised battlefield, and the Transport pokemon soon made its way opposite of Randy.

"Lapras? Interesting choice for this terrain... Poliwrath! Time to battle!" A pokeball was thrown with vigor, bursting open to release the water/fighting type hybrid. "Poliwrath!" The creature chanted its name in a bellowing cry, flexing both of its arms, fists raised over its head. "You can make the first move, Ash!"

"Alright, we will! Lapras, start off with Surf and lead into Body Slam!" Before his opponent could get a handle on what he'd planned, the water type let out a high-pitched cry, conjuring a small tidal wave that swept from under his body, carrying him onto the current just above the battlefield. Soon, gravity did its job and his heavy body was falling towards Poliwrath. It and its trainer were equally stunned. Sure enough, the attack was successful. Poliwrath let out a pained grunt, struggling before pulling itself from under Lapras' body.

"I have to admit, that was a pretty odd move you just made... Not bad." Randy complimented, which left a smirk on Ash's lips.

The young trainer brushed his thumb quickly under the bridge of his nose, a bit proud of the combination himself. "Hah, thanks! But we're just getting started!"

"Don't get too cocky. It may get the better of you! Poliwrath, use Mind Reader!" Poliwrath's eyes fixated on Lapras, each emitting an eerie purple glow. Ash grit his teeth, brows furrowing at the situation he was now in.

 _'Now they're gonna have an easier time landing hits... I've gotta do something!'_ He pointed a finger forward, shouting his next command. "Lapras, use Ice Beam, back to back! Don't let it get a hit on you!"

Lapras let out a loud cry in response, charging a chilling sphere of energy in his mouth before firing it towards Poliwrath. Poliwrath made a quick leap to the side, avoiding the ray completely. Still, the assault continued, several more freezing blasts homing in on the defending water type. The fighting type ducked, jumped, and leapt from rock to rock with impressive agility, avoiding every single attack. It seemed quite nimble for such a burly Pokemon, but Ash didn't have time to be frustrated with this, as another command bellowed through the mountain air.

"Poliwrath, use Rock Slide!" Randy shouted and Poliwrath threw its arms upwards once more, conjuring a rather daunting attack. A series of boulders and rocks appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, levitating above the field before raining down towards Lapras. Needless to say, this would end very badly if Ash didn't think of something quick.

"... Lapras, use Water Pulse! Shoot all those rocks outta the sky!"

The Pokemon opened his mouth wide, firing off a pressurized sphere of water towards one of the boulders, bursting it to pieces. Another blast followed and a number of more after that shot into the air, blowing away one incoming rock after the other. Lapras exhibited excellent marksmanship, knocking every single rock out of the sky. Ash let out a sigh of relief, but said relief was short lived.

"Dynamic Punch!" A throaty yell from the martial artist caught Ash's attention, but by the time he could think to call for a counterattack, Poliwrath had lunged toward Lapras, throwing a powerful haymaker toward the ice type's head. The punch connected, sending the aquatic Pokemon reeling from super-effective damage.

"Lapras!" Ash called out, inwardly cringing at the damage. That Poliwrath looked really strong - and Lapras was part ice type, too. "Are you alright?" He was far from it - Ice Beams fired wildly every which way with no target at all, and Lapras' eyes were glazed over with an eerie fury. Dynamic Punch had caused confusion. "Lapras, try and snap out of it!" Ash pleaded, just before being forced to duck under a stray beam that came inches away from freezing the poor trainer.

"Let's finish this! Poliwrath! One more Dynamic Punch!" The Tadpole Pokemon didn't waste a moment, rushing towards its opponent, ducking under a stray Water Pulse as it pulled back its fist, winding up for a devastating final blow. The attack struck true, sending the Transport Pokemon reeling across the battlefield. He finally landed on his side, the swirls in its eyes indicating lost consciousness. Lapras was out of the battle!

A low growl left the trainer from Pallet. He'd lost the first round. Not only that, but he had lost by a pretty wide margin. Still, he managed a smile as he held out Lapras' pokeball, returning him in a flash of red light. "You were awesome, Lapras. Thanks for putting up a good fight!" Although he'd shown his thanks and put on a nice face, it was very transparent. Sweat was dripping down his brow, and his gloved hands were tightened into fists. He'd gone into this confident as ever, but this Randy guy had stomped him out at the very beginning. Still, it had only just begun. Now he would just have to try twice as hard!

Ash's other Pokemon looked on in shock. Seeing Ash lose so decisively wasn't something they witnessed often. This guy must have been something special. "You guys are pretty tough... But, we're not backin' down yet! Pidgeot, you're up next! Let's show 'em what we're made of!" Ash turned to the avian, pointing dramatically towards the battlefield. He was answered by a shrill battle cry as Pidgeot spread her wings wide, soaring over the battlefield before maintaining steady flight over Ash's side. _'That was no good... He creamed us. I'm gonna need to really be serious now. No more goofin' around!'_ Pitch black brows furrowed, Ash's expression hardening with determination. One of his hands reached up for his cap, gripping the bill before sliding it to the back of his head. The older man raised a brow at the gesture, but anyone who knew Ash would know that this could only mean one thing - Ash meant business.

"A flying type... Good choice. But type advantages won't decide this battle! Poliwrath, Mind Reader!" It would be much to Randy's surprise, though, that Ash was one step ahead of him.

"Pidgeot, Quick Attack! Now!" Unlike Lapras, Pidgeot took no time at all, its body surrounding herself in white streaks of light before crashing straight into the water type's stomach. Poliwrath stumbled back, having lost concentration needed for the attempted move.

"Use Rock Slide!" Randy called out once more, and his orders were followed. A number of boulders appeared once more, heading straight for the flying type that was already close by. Ash, though, wasn't going to take that sitting down.

"Pidgeot, use Aerial Ace, now!" Once again, Pidgeot became shrouded in light as she pulled up towards the sky, entering a loop that allowed her to avoid the rocks completely. A final boulder was very close to hitting the flying type before she disappeared completely. Before Randy could think to respond, Poliwrath was struck in the stomach once more by a smoothly executed attack from Pidgeot. She quickly pulled back into the air above, gaining distance from the formidable water type.

"Now! Let's finish it! Use Sky Attack, now!" Ash shouted to the heavens, pumping a fist into the air with vigor. Large beige wings were spread out on each side of Pidgeot as she charged her finishing move, a vibrant white glow overcoming her form. After several seconds, Pidgeot took off with speed that seemed to nearly cause a sonic boom, generating a strong wind that bellowed down over the battlefield. Poliwrath was doing its best to regain its composure, climbing to its feet in preparation for the incoming attack.

"Fight back, Poliwrath, use Dynamic Punch!" The blackbelt roared, shouting encouragement to his Pokemon. Energy began to gather in the hybrid's fists, accumulating in what could be a devastating counterattack. Before the fist could be swung, though, Sky Attack struck home, overwhelming the battlefield with a booming explosion.

The smoke soon began to clear, revealing Poliwrath to be unconscious. Satisfaction was reflected in Ash's smile and his tension seemed to fade. While the first round hadn't been at all in his favor, Pidgeot had picked up the slack quickly, delivering a flawless victory. The trainer's morale was back, and he didn't plan on letting up now. One pokemon down meant there were two more to go!

"Return, Poliwrath!" Randy held out its pokeball, returning the unconscious Pokemon before throwing another sphere. "Impressive! But let's see how you handle Primeape!" Ash was greeted with the Pig Monkey next, whom let an angry huff out of its flat nostrils the moment it entered the arena. It hopped around on its short, shackled hind legs, both fists raised in front of its body.

"A Primeape... I have a feeling it's only gonna get harder from here." Ash noted aloud, reflecting on his own experiences with the pokemon. He'd raised one himself - though 'raised' could be used loosely. His had quite the temper and plenty of power to match, making it rather difficult to handle. Like with Poliwrath, it was probably best to overwhelm it before it had the chance to stage a furious assault. "Alright, Pidgeot! Round two! Take Primeape on with Aerial Ace!" Ash threw his arm forward, pointing towards the opponent, and Pidgeot quickly pursued. A quick loop increased her momentum, making success a sure thing as she swooped down to crash into the fighting type.

"Primape! Roll out and use Thunderpunch!" Randy shouted loudly, pulling his arm back before punching into the air with remarkable might. So much so, that it might be comparable with the power of his Primape. The pokemon's tiny eyes narrowed as its opponent closed in within an arm's reach, its arms tucking into its body. It rolled to the side at the very last second, leaving Pidgeot to pass through thin air. The bird frantically checked left and right for its opponent, having no luck. A cry from her trainer caught its attention first.

"Pidgeot! Look out!" But it was too late. The air was pushed from her lungs, a sharp pain striking through her entire body. Primape's fist was buried into her stomach, the limb dancing with sparks of electricity. A deadly uppercut had landed, sending the bird sprawling across the battlefield.

"Pidgeot!" Ash called out, nails digging into his palms as he had watched his proud pokemon sustain a painful blow. "Hang in there, and fight back with Quick Attack!" The avian flapped her wings, correcting her flight just as she skirted the ground. A quick turn brought her shooting back towards Primeape, silver light trailing her that gave her the appearance of a comet. Before it could fight back, the Pig Monkey was struck hard, being thrown backwards off its feet, with the flying type still in pursuit. Both of its fists tightened, preparing for the command that was sure to come.

"Primeape, Assurance, now!" Both of its arms were brought over its head, fists linking as its attacker came closer by the second. A feral shriek cut through the air, both fists being smashed brutally into Pidgeot's head. The flying type was rattled, crashing before skidding across the dirt. Ash's jaw dropped, charcoal eyes trembling at the sight of his ally being completely subdued.

"What the heck was that!?"

A smirk spread across Randy's bearded mug, muscular arms crossed over his chest. "That was Assurance! A dark type move that's meant to be used as a counter-attack! When it's used after Primeape's received damage, it comes down on you with twice the power! Perfectly suited for a seasoned fighter like itself. If you plan to defeat us, you're going to have to be more thorough than that."

"Then we will be! Pidgeot, use Quick Attack to get outta there!" Ash threw a hand towards the sky, and Pidgeot followed, shooting off in a trail of silver light. _'Primeape fights a lot better when we're close up... We can't give it the chance to land a hit like that again!'_ Ash watched with satisfaction as Pidgeot escaped, his mind racing to try to concoct a strategy that could bring the fighting type down. His thought process was cut short, however, by a booming shout from his opponent.

"Use Rock Slide!"

Once again, a barrage of rocks was thrown towards the escaping flying type, intent on knocking her out of the sky. "Keep using Quick Attack to dodge it!" Already in her stride, the avian didn't waste a moment in weaving between boulder after boulder, several times coming within inches of being scraped by the careening projectiles. But years of flight and experience had benefitted her well, and it hadn't taken a single hit.

"Primeape's gotta be a bit tired out, now... Now's our chance! Pidgeot, Hyper Beam! Now!" The flying type's beak parted, many particles of light gathering into a sphere the color of the sun. Soon after, a brilliant beam of energy was launched, cutting through the air at incredible speeds before crashing into Primeape. The battlefield was covered in smoke, forcing Ash to cover his mouth to keep any stray ashes away from his mouth. The debris soon cleared, revealing Pidgeot flying above, who was still catching her breath from the overwhelming blast.

"That oughta do it!" Ash spoke to himself aloud, satisfied with the success of his counter attack. His eyes turned to their opponent, though, who was lying in a heap in the bottom of a small crater. Small twitches indicated its consciousness, but it looked to be unable to move. "Awesome job, Pidgeot! You really held your own out there!" Ash shouted in praise to the bird above, who was currently recovering from the draining attack it had dished out.

"Use Rock Slide!" A sobering shout boomed through the air, followed by Primeape pushing itself to its feet. Another huff of hot air left its flat, pig-like nose, fierce eyes centered on its formidable opponent. Despite Ash's hopes and suspicions, it wasn't down for the count just yet. For all he knew, it may have been faking its pain all along. Black irises trembled, teeth grit in frustration.

"Pidgeot, you gotta get back in there! Finish it off with Sky Attack!" The avian didn't waste a second, spreading both of her beige wings outward, once more gathering light into the core of her being.

Another angry screech from Primeape echoed through the air, followed by a flurry of boulders being thrown towards their flying target once more.

"Man, this guy really likes using rocks, doesn't he?" Ash muttered, briefly pausing on that thought before recalling the urgency of the moment. "Pidgeot, now!" He'd nearly been too late, watching on as Pidgeot just barely ducked under an incoming rock. She shot forward, ablaze with the same brilliant light. She ducked and barreled past multiple stones, coming closer and closer to homing in on her opponent. Eyes comparable to those of a hawk centered in on the Pig Monkey pokemon, intent on pursuing it with laser-like focus.

This would be her downfall, as a boulder came flying seemingly out of nowhere, crashing directly into Pidgeot just under its beak - her functional blind spot. Ash could only watch in horror as his Pokemon had its focus knocked right out of her, finally being pummeled by several more boulders. The devastating blows took their toll, leaving an unconscious Pidgeot to fall limp to the ground.

With frustration etched into his features, Ash held out a Pokeball, calling back the knocked out Pokemon in flash of light. "You put out an awesome fight out there, Pidgeot... Good job!"

His gaze then turned to Randy, hardened hues not faltering in the face of his overwhelming opponent. Despite the disadvantage he was at, he continued to express defiance.

"That Rock Slide's a pretty nasty move! I could probably use somethin' like that." He momentarily turned his gaze to Sceptile, who seemed to be watching the battle intently. Maybe, just maybe they were sharing the same train of thought right now. "...But, I have one Pokemon who Rock Slide won't be able to beat! Gible, it's your turn!"

The short, stout dragon type waddled his way onto the field, wearing the same vacant expression he always had. The man opposite of Ash bore an amused smile, arms still folded over his chest.

"A ground type! Once again, a wise move, Ash. But do you think your Gible has what it takes to withstand our fists of fury?"

"I know Gible does, and we'll show you! Gible, use Rock Smash!" Ash punched through the air as he called for the move, sharing heated enthusiasm with his Pokemon, every bit as excited as either of the two combatants. Gible followed his lead, leaping forward towards Primeape with a glowing fist. His stubby arm was thrown forward, aiming to land the first blow of the round.

Randy and Primeape, however, had other plans. "Big mistake! Primeape, let's show them how dangerous we really are up close! Use Close Combat!" The older male roared, throwing a fist forward with great force, much like Ash had done. Primeape immediately sidestepped the blow, pulling back his own fist before throwing the first punch.

A coy smile ran across Ash's lips, a giddy feeling of success growing in his chest. "Just what I was banking on! Gible, bite down on that punch, now!" He'd invested his hopes in an all-too-familiar tactic with the Land Shark Pokemon, who opened his mouth at the last moment, catching the fist between his powerful jaws, much to Randy's dismay.

The Blackbelt grit his teeth, both brows raised in bewilderment. What sort of tactic was that!?

"Now! Draco Meteor!" A grin had broke out on Ash's face as he shouted, excitement positively shining off his features. Sharp teeth sunk into Primepe's fist, hoisting its entire body above Gible himself. His jaws made a forklift seem delicate. A brilliant orange glow formed in the center of his body, quickly growing into a light that shone brilliantly out of the corners of his mouth.

Before Primeape could even think to act, an orange sphere of energy launched it into the sky, carrying it high above before the orb hit a high point. The launch was followed by an earth-rattling explosion, raining down a multitude of energy blasts onto the battlefield that fell like meteors. Primeape came crashing down last, singed rather harshly and completely unconscious.

"...Not what I was expecting. That's quite the powerful grip your Gible has, Ash! You caught me off-guard. And I'm guessing you planned that counter all along, didn't you?" His coy smile was mirrored by Ash - the returned gesture affirming Randy's suspicions. A gleam of mischief went off in Ash's eyes.

"You bet! We're just full of surprises!"

"I can see that. Well... You're not the only ones! Hitmontop, let's show them!" The martial artist drew his arm back, winding up before lobbing the Pokeball towards the fray. It burst open, revealing a blue and beige Pokemon that stood atop its head, balancing on a spike atop its skull. "Once again, Ash, you can have the first move!"

"That's fine with us! Gible, use Rock Smash!" Ash threw an open palm forward, and Gible didn't hesitate in leaping towards his opponent. Radiant light surrounded his arm once more, energy gathering before being applied in a punishing blow to Hitmontop. The fighting type was sent spinning across the battlefield, tracking oblong paths in the dirt as its speed picked up from the momentum of Gible's attack. The attack had been seemingly ineffective, drawing a gasp from Ash.

"Now, Hitmontop, keep on going and use Rapid Spin!"

Arms and legs quickly became nothing but a blur, swinging back towards Gible nearly faster than the eye could see. The Sand Shark was knocked into the air before his trainer could say a word, leaving Ash stunned, to say the last.

"Man, that's fast!" Ash uttered aloud, his mouth hanging open in sheer surprise. If he lost his focus again, though, it could cost his partner dearly. "Gible, burrow underground for a Dig attack!" The small Pokemon immediately dived towards the ground headfirst, rapidly paddling his arms in a motion that allowed him to burrow under the dirt.

"Hitmontop, you use Dig, too!"

"What!?" Ash shouted out, watching as the spinning top began to accelerate, acting as a drill that plowed straight into the ground below. The boy stared on through gritted teeth, for once being on the receiving end of a surprise strategy. While he had been losing this match, up until now it seemed to be through a delivery of skill and brute force, rather than unusual counter-attacks like his own. This was beginning to seem more uncertain than before... But, that was no reason to give up. "Gible, bite down on it as soon as you can!"

The two combatants continued to tunnel underground, leaving the entire bout in their hands as their trainers could only watch on from above the terrain. The suspense left Ash unusually tense, his stance widened and fists closed tight. If he wanted to get the jump on this guy in any way, he'd have to use everything he'd learned up until this point. Hoenn's Drake of the Elite Four had taught him to clear his mind during battle and focus only on the match at hand. He would have to pay extra attention to catch on to whatever transpired now. A stressed sigh left Ash's lungs, both eyes closing as he attempted to regain s sense of calm.

Underground, Gible was chewing through layer after layer of dirt, burrowing rapidly through the soil towards where Hitmontop had been. Not before long, the dirt around him began to tremble. A sound akin to a drill seemed to be getting ever closer, the soil before him sounding more and more shallow. A spinning top then burst through the dirt, heading straight for the dragon type with frightening speed! Gible opened his mouth wide on cue, waiting until just the right moment to clamp down on the fighting type, chomping down on the spike on its head with razor-sharp fangs. This was its opportunity to stop Hitmontop dead in its tracks... Or, so Gible thought.

Still trapped by Gible, Hitmontop began to spin and accelerate, throwing its poor opponent for a loop as he was spun around endlessly, slammed against one wall of dirt after another. The spinning top turned up towards the surface, continuing to drill upward without missing a beat.

Up above, the two Pokemon soon burst through the ground, only to reveal Gible latched onto Hitmontop's horn, spinning about in a frenzy as he held on for dear life.

"Okay, maybe that wasn't such a good idea... Gible, let go! Get outta there!" While Ash desperately called for his Pokemon to escape, Randy made a similar command.

"Throw Gible way up high, Hitmontop!"

The two Pokemon executed their commands simultaneously, with Gible freeing his teeth from his foe, and Hitmontop bucking its head into the air. Gible was sent flying above as a result, leaving the fighting type just above ground in the burrow below. Tiny stubby arms flailed, making a very futile attempt by Gible to regain his bearings. Watching from below, Ash threw his fist into the air as he shouted for another move.

"Gible, fire right back down with Dragon Pulse!"

The stout dragon's mouth parted wide once more, becoming the bearer for a bright, potent teal sphere of energy that charged in mere moments in the creature's infamous maw.

"Giii... BLE!" A high-pitched cry sounded as the blast was sent plummeting towards the Earth, closing in on a still-grounded Hitmontop, still hanging just out of the hole it had dug up. Alas, it was too late, and the Dragon Pulse attack struck with devastating impact. Gible landed on his hind legs, standing sure as ever waiting for the smoke to clear.

"That oughta do some damage!" Ash celebrated aloud, confident as ever as he waited to see the result. The sight he was greeted with, however, wasn't quite what he'd hoped for. Hitmontop had emerged from the small burrow, returning to its usual headstand stance. Pardon the occasional small scratch, it seemed to be totally unharmed. "Man, you've gotta be kidding me."

"Sorry, Ash, but it'll take a lot more than an attack like that to take down Hitmontop! Now, strike back with Triple Kick!" The fighting type didn't waste any time in hopping onto solid ground, winding up before breaking into a spin that made the one from before look docile. Gible did his best to jump out of range, but he was met with three solid kicks, two from each of its legs and a final blow dealt from its spiked tail. The final strike sent him reeling, flying towards the solid rock cliff beside the battlefield.

"Gible! Look out!" Ash shouted in warning, leaning forward heavily as if he wanted to aid the soaring Pokemon. He looked like he was going to hit the solid surface, hard. The trainer grit his teeth, bracing for impact... Only to find himself staring in disbelief. "...Huh?"

Rather than rolling over in pain, Gible had landed just fine - just in the way he would want to, in fact. His eager jaws had latched around a large rock that stuck out from the cliffside. Gible chewed on the stone with enthusiasm, seeming to have completely forgotten about the battle. Ash slapped his hand against his forehead, letting out a groan of embarrassment "Oh, Gible... Do ya have to do this _now_?" Just as the complaint passed through his lips, however, an idea struck Ash. "...Gible! I want you to put those jaws to work and take that rock with, you, alright! Go right for Hitmontop and just trust me!"

The dragon complied at once, chomping down on the stone to dislodge the majority of it from the wall. Short, but powerful legs launched him towards Hitmontop, rock still held between his jaws. Randy could only watch with interest, his mind attempting to contemplate just what Ash had in mind here. What difference was a single stone going to make against a fighting type?

"Now, spit it out at Hitmontop!" Ash called out the next phase of his maneuver, and his Pokemon quickly complied. Utilizing his powerful mouth, Gible spit the rock towards his opponent with great force, turning the stone into a projectile.

"You should know better than to use a rock against a pokemon like Hitmontop, Ash! Hitmontop, use Triple Kick to crush it to bits!" The fighting type winded up, readying itself to decimate the stone, and hopefully land a hit on Gible as well. But, Ash had other plans in mind.

"Now, use Rock Smash!" Ash declared, dark hues glimmering with excitement. The command drew surprised expressions from Randy and Hitmontop alike. Gible didn't waste a moment. His small arm began to glow, raising above his head before crashing down upon the large stone, which had come within mere inches of the defending fighting type. The rock was crushed into bits, showering Hitmontop in dust and debris. It recoiled out of shock, stopping its spinning completely.

"Now's your chance! Bite down on Hitmontop's head!" Being a ground type, Gible was hardly hindered by the debris and he chomped down on the spike atop the fighting type's skull once more. "Now, use..."

"Not so fast!" Randy shouted, interrupting Ash's command. "We're not going to allow you to use that Draco Meteor trick again! Hitmontop, use Rapid Spin to shake it off!" As the Spinning Top Pokemon prepared itself to counter, Ash called out the remainder of his command.

"...Dragon Pulse!" Compared to Draco Meteor, it had much shorter charge time, which allowed Gible to quickly launch the teal sphere of energy from his jaws. The blast enveloped Hitmontop, sending it soaring across the battlefield along with it, with dust and smoke thrown up in its wake.

"Hitmontop, use Bide!" Upon hearing the command, the fighting type began to glow, skidding across the ground before finally coming to a halt. It winced from the blow, but was able to shake off the damage nonetheless. The development caused Ash to grit his teeth, black irises trembling as he began to understand the meaning of this development.

"Bide... This is no good! If we don't wrap it up now, we're done for!"

Punching the air once more, Ash cried out his next command. "Gible, finish it with Rock Smash, now!" The dragon type vaulted forward once more, striking the Spinning Top with remarkable vigor. Hitmontop continued to careen back, turning into another spin. Clearly, that wasn't enough to finish it off. Ash grit his teeth in frustration, sweat beginning to drip down his brow. _'Oh man... We're in trouble! Bide's gonna go off any second now!'_ Ash's patience was slipping away, the boy being fully aware that his next move would decide the battle.

"Gible, use Draco Meteor!" The trainer from Pallet threw caution to the wind, throwing an open hand to the sky as he called for what may very well be his last attack. The stout Pokemon turned his body upwards, focusing all of his draconian energy into a single point at his core. The center of his body began to glow brilliantly, slowly rising before firing out of his mouth in the form of a large energy sphere. The attack soared high into the skies, hovering just as it had before bursting. A multitude of smaller orange blasts rained down on the battlefield, several of them homing in on Hitmontop.

Ash leaned forward, black hues entirely focused on their opponent. This was it... This had to work! What he saw, though, gave him a feeling of despair in the pit of his stomach. Hitmontop had begun to glow just as he was pummeled with the blasts. Smoke surrounded the fighting type, only to be blown away into mere wisps as a brilliant red blast of energy fired out of the debris, homing in on Gible with such speed and ferocity that no one could think to react. The dragon could only stare blankly like a Stantler in headlights, hit head-on by the counter-attack.

"Gible!" Ash shouted in worry, watching as the small Pokemon was sent flying, careening towards Ash before being caught in his arms. Soon, the smoke began to settle, allowing both combatants to observe the damage. Hitmontop was somewhat scorched, but still steadily standing. Gible, on the other hand... His eyes had turned to swirls, and he'd lost consciousness. "Oh man..." The teen whined, managing a smile as he pulled out the creature's Pokeball. "You put up a great fight, Gible. Thanks a lot!" Red light enveloped the creature after Ash's usual praise, returning him to his capsule.

Ash's eyes turned upward towards Randy, admiration shining in his eyes. He maintained his smile; one with a hint of sadness. But, behind his disappointment was an overwhelming feeling of exhilaration. His limits has been tested, just the way he liked it. "I guess I lost... You guys were incredible! Thanks for the awesome battle, Randy! You, too, Hitmontop."

Randy returned his victorious pokemon to its sphere, then making his way over to Ash. "For someone so young, you put up a hell of a fight. It'd be my honor to battle again someday!"

Ash beamed up at the rugged veteran, wearing a smile that only Ash Ketchum could wear after such a scathing defeat. "It was my honor to battle you! I hope we get to battle again someday, too!"

The blackbelt wore a warm smile, nodding before turning towards the campsite. "That would be fantastic. But, I'm out on my lonesome with purpose. So, I'm going to head out now. Maybe one day you'll come across me again." With that, the elder man grabbed his bag, turning to head deeper into treacherous jaws of the cave.

The adrenaline of battle was still coursing through his veins. A smile was still plastered on his face that wouldn't leave. It was enough to make him question his own thought process, but that notion quickly fled. "I won't lose next time." Ash whispered under his breath, looking to the rodent that sat atop his shoulder. "Let's go to the Pokemon Center, buddy!"

Pikachu offered his trainer a sympathetic smile, reaching to gently pat his marked cheek. "Pika!"

The two made a speedy departure to the small hospital sitting at the foot of the caverns, leaving the three defeated Pokemon with Nurse Joy to recuperate.

"Thanks, Nurse Joy!" Ash bowed his head slightly in respect, flashing the pink-haired woman a smile before turning on his heel to stroll outside. The scent of pine and fresh air greeted him, once again welcoming him to the outdoors. Nature wasn't alone, however, as his remaining Pokemon had stood outside waiting for their trainer. Charizard and Sceptile had been waiting patiently, and Pikachu was already accompanying him. "Wasn't that an awesome battle, guys?"

He was met with a silent nod from Charizard and Sceptile and a hearty cheer from Pikachu. "Even if you weren't in it, I'm sure you guys learned something from it!" His gaze drifted over to Sceptile, who met it with certainty. He could see it in his eyes. There was no doubt Sceptile had been paying close attention - even moreso than Charizard or Pikachu.

"I think I figured out how you could use Rock Slide." Sceptile nodded, all but confirming he was on the same page as his trainer. Before the matter could be discussed any further, a series of rings could be heard from the Pokemon Center.

"Ash Ketchum, your Pokemon are finished healing! Please come inside to retrieve them." Nurse Joy's voice blared over an intercom, prompting a smile from the trainer.

"Alright, guys. Let's go pick our friends up! We should probably congratulate 'em for a job well done, too!"

Ash spent the remainder of the day playing with his Pokemon, allowing them to recharge and regain their morale after a hard day's match. The tightly-knit group finally succumbed to sleep, hearts full of happiness and faces recovering from the laughter. They dreamed pleasant dreams of future battles and future victories.

Soon after, morning arrived once more, the warm arm of the sun nudging the sleepy teen out of his slumber. After a few failed attempts at evading the its lure through tossing and turning, Ash gave in, he and Pikachu awakening to begin the new day. Breakfast came and went, and after waving off Nurse Joy, Ash departed to a grassy slope atop the first tier of the mountain, which was sparsely detailed with the occasional patch of grass, even a spring flowers gracing its presence.

"This'll make a great place to train," he mused aloud, reaching to gently adjust the end of his red cap. "...And the weather's perfect!" A soft breeze caressed the field, blades of grass and flower petals dancing as the metallic capsule was gripped, being tossed into the sky. A flash of light pooled together in the form of Sceptile, the lime-colored Pokemon landing gracefully on his hind legs.

"Alright, Sceptile, time for us to work on Rock Slide!" Sceptile's posture shifted, a battle-worthy stance assumed by the grass type. "Now, if you think back to how Primape and Poliwrath pulled it off... They only controlled the rocks when the attack started. After that, they'd fall freely and the rest'd work on its own. So I think we'll give that a shot!"

"Tile!" The Forest Pokemon chanted in agreement. Many attempts ended in failure, bearing very little fruit. The duo kept at it, though, never being ones to give up. The sun soon reached its height in the clear blue sky, and small steps were being made. Pebbles were beginning to move, in a similar process by which leaves were supernaturally manipulated by his inherent abilities. Trainer and pokemon alike toiled, working tirelessly through the day to reach the proverbial pot of gold.

By the time the sun began to plan its nightly slumber, Sceptile had made wonderful progress, willingly tossing rocks around. The work was a bit sloppy, but more than enough to leave his trainer with a beaming, un-erasable grin. "Hey, looks like you finally pulled it off! Awesome job, Sceptile. Now, what do ya say we get something to eat? All this hard work's got me starving!"

He was met with a curt nod from Sceptile, whose bravado was quickly cut short by a rather loud growl from his stomach. Face reddening, the stoic pokemon quickly avoided eye contact.

A chuckle left Ash as he reached for his remaining four pokeballs. "I'll take that as a yes. Alright everyone, c'mon out!" The spheres were all tossed up in tandem, releasing the remainder of Ash's team. "Hey guys, Sceptile here managed to learn a new move!" He was met with cheers and cries of congratulations from Pikachu, Pidgeot, Gible, and Lapras. The one pokemon that caught his leery gaze, however, was Charizard. Rather than shouting his approval, a brief look of approval was cast. Hazel eyes locked with teal, holding momentarily in a gaze that needed no words. He would expect a greater challenge next time around.

"Okay, so what do you all say we go in for dinner!" Ash rallied the team, only to nearly get trampled in the process. A third day had passed under the unpredictable skies of Kanto and Johto, lending Ash and his Pokemon a tad more experience, a new technique, and an inch of humility. While the fruits had been great, however, today was only just the beginning.


	7. Fight or Flight

Mount Silver's lower steppes were speckled with small ponds and crisscrossed by lively streams. In one of these refreshing baths currently swam Lapras, the babble of a low series of waterfalls providing a background to the water type's melodic cries.

Ash, for his part, sat atop the Transport pokemon's back, a bit dusty from earlier battles but pleased to see the ice type so in his element. "You sure are having a great time in there, huh? If I wasn't afraid of turning into an Ash-cicle, I'd wanna join in!" he gleefully pointed out to Pikachu.

The previously placid waters were abruptly breached by the snarling maw of a Gyarados, who was greeted with a screaming teenager and his squealing mouse alike. Dilated eyes stared into the angry face of the Atrocious pokemon, whom snapped blindly at where Lapras lay, only to chomp down on thin air. Lapras' swiftness in water, along with the waves accompanying Gyarados's surfacing, helped him avoid a nasty bite.

"That's just our luck," Ash lamented, clinging to one of the spikes atop Lapras' shell. "I thought we'd be taking it easy… But, we really don't have a choice, here! You ready to show it what we've got, Lapras?"

Lapras let out a cry of affirmation, turning towards Gyarados. And, not a moment too soon, as he spotted a brilliant Hyper Beam already coming their way. The water type promptly ducked his head, just barely avoiding the stream of destructive energy that exploded far off behind it.

Gawking at the expanding smoke beyond the battle, Ash swallowed a lingering breath before turning his attention back toward Gyarados. "It won't be able to move right now, Lapras! Hit it with an Ice beam!"

Lapras did just as told, parting his mouth to fire a freezing beam of energy towards the large sea serpent. The bitter cold caused the defenseless Gyarados to roar out in pain before diving back under the surface.

"Good one, Lapras! That look like it hurt. But, still… We've gotta be careful. It could be anywhere, now that it's hiding out underwater!" Ash's eyes darted left and right across the cavern, looking for any sign of disturbance.

Not before long, the long tail of the Atrocious pokemon surfaced, surrounding itself in a water cyclone that sent ripples and waves through the small lake within the mountain. The limb was swift to slam into Lapras' side, earning a cry from the pokemon as he bounced across the water.

Ash clung to the shell below him for dear life, with Pikachu tucked under his arm. "I think that was Aqua Tail! Man… If we take more hits like that, we'll be in serious trouble." Soon, Lapras had regained its composure atop the water, and Gyarados had once more exposed itself above the surface.

"We can't let it keep attacking like that! Try to keep hitting it with Ice Beam!"

Lapras did just as told, parting his maw to fire one Ice Beam after another, each barely missing their target each time Gyarados writhed and dove out of range. Even so, the chilly attacks had left their mark. Part of the water had frozen over thanks to each of the Ice Beams, forcing Gyarados to burst through a sheet of ice. Clearly, it wasn't very fond of waters that were quite that cold.

"Great, now what…?" Ash's teeth gnashed together, black orbs following the creature's frightening head out of the water. When his gaze darted back to the ice, a lightbulb went off in the trainer's head. "I've got it! Lapras, use Water Pulse on the ice near Gyarados! Full power!"

Lapras let out another cry, making it clear that his words were acknowledged as a glowing sphere of water formed in front of his mouth. The orb was fired at the snow-white sheet, causing a booming explosion that sent sharp shards and chunks of ice flying every which way. The assault's main victim was Gyarados, who let out a cry as it was pelted with the combination attack.

Sadly, it seemed this just wasn't enough. After bearing the assault, the Atrocious pokemon closed in, eyes dead set on Lapras, Ash, and Pikachu. An ear-splitting roar heralded their fate. It was done playing games.

"If this keeps on, we're done for…! Pikachu! Thunderbolt!"

Feeling every bit as desperate as his companions, Pikachu crouched before unleashing a brilliant bolt of electricity towards Gyarados. "Pika… chuuu!" The mouse's wrath was unleashed upon the serpent, causing it to recoil quite a bit. Unfortunately, he hadn't been cautious enough to leave Lapras' back.

"Hey, Pikachu… Could ya be a little more careful next time?" Ash struggled to suggest, laying charred on Lapras' back. The Transport pokemon let out a whine of agreement, golden sparks still dancing along his form.

"Pikachu…" The mouse apologized, rubbing the back of his head. Spotting that Gyarados was still conscious and ready to strike, he opted to leap into the air, preparing another Thunderbolt. "Pika…!"

This time, he wasn't so lucky. Gyarados' tail swung towards the mouse, coupled with a violent cyclone that slammed brutally into the tiny pokemon's body. Pikachu was sent reeling, flying across the body of water before landing on the land near the mouth to the cave. Swirls in his eyes indicated defeat.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted in worry, watching his best friend land out of bounds. He hardly had time to worry, though, turning to spot Gyarados nearing himself and Lapras. Heart pounding in his chest, he clung to Lapras' shell. "Uh, Lapras…? I think we're in trouble here!"

A glowing golden orb forming in Gyarados' maw confirmed Ash's fears. A Hyper Beam was only seconds away from firing, which meant Ash and Lapras were seconds away from living up to the former's name.

Lapras let out a whine of defiance, eyes shut tight. This couldn't be it. They couldn't become fish food after all they'd worked for! Her horn began to glow, circled by residual sparks from Pikachu's earlier attack. Static electricity began to course through the spike, culminating before launching towards Gyarados in a golden flash of light.

Countless volts of electricity coursed through the water/flying hybrid, drawing a roar of pain that replaced a charging Hyper Beam. Sizzling and weary from the super-effective attack, it stared daggers at Lapras.

"Hey, awesome! Looks like you learned Thunderbolt, Lapras! Awesome job." Ash congratulated, growing cocky with their momentary triumph. "Man, I didn't even know you could learn electric attacks."

Gyarados, however, clearly felt different. Its tail dipped beneath the water, rushing forward to kick up a current under the Transport pokemon. A twister shot out from below the water, carrying Ash and Lapras high into the air.

"Wah! Ah, man…! We're in serious trouble, Lapras!" Ash clung to the pokemon, arms holding to his neck for dear life. Being tossed about was no fun for Ash, and being scraped by the rough winds was no more enjoyable for the pokemon. Luckily enough, the trainer had an idea by then, "Lapras! Brace yourself, and use Surf to launch yourself off of Gyarados's attack!"

Willing to try anything at this point, Lapras let out a melodic cry. Gushing water formed under his body, resulting in a wave that launched him off the cyclone. Better yet, they were sent flying towards Gyarados.

"Now, use Body Slam!"

Lapras took advantage of its momentum, slamming his heavy body into Gyarados's head.

The trainer atop its back braced himself, feeling the wind knocked out of him when they each hit the water. At this point, he could have sworn that his stomach turned upside down. "Ah, man… That was a close one!" Sitting up atop the hill, he turned to find that the Atrocious pokemon had fallen unconscious.

"We really beat 'im… Thanks a lot, Lapras! I owe ya one!"

Lapras let out a cry of approval. Not before long, they'd made their way to shore, where Ash had stopped off to rummage through his backpack. Several Super Potions were foraged, administered to Pikachu and Lapras alike. The latter was back to full health, and Pikachu had come back to consciousness.

"It's great to see you guys doing well… I wouldn't've made it out of there without both of you. And, man, Pikachu, you really missed it! I think Lapras took a page outta your book and learned Thunderbolt! It really saved the day!"

"Pika-Pika!" Visibly stunned, the mouse was quick to congratulate his larger friend. Even if they'd cut things a little close, everyone came out of it just a little bit stronger! All's well that ends well, after all.

* * *

Stepping high, Ash weaved his way among the jagged rocks. They were far off the trail now, but a wild inclination had overcome Gible, and Ash figured it would be easier to let the dragon complete his mysterious task rather than fighting it the whole while. Besides, he was only a little resentful of the way Pikachu so skillfully hopped from rock to rock and the way Gible burrowed among them.

"Must be nice," he pouted. The tops of the stones were too pointed and narrow for a human to walk on them, much less have a hope of hopping across without face planting. The rocks were also too close together to make for good walking space. "Gible, could you hurry up?! What are we even out here for?!" The whole area had a pleasant, earth aroma, but surely Gible wasn't out here just to smell the rose quartzes!

"... Hm, are there any of those out here?" the trainer asked, distracted. He looked at one of the nearby boulders, curious. He didn't know much about rocks and jewels, but he knew quartzes were pretty. Maybe it'd make a neat present to send back to Mom! He snickered, half tempted to send some to Brock, too, with a note that it'd help with the ladies.

His mind was brought back to the situation at hand when a flash of blue and yellow caught his peripheral vision.

"Pika!"

Ash turned, watching Pikachu chide Gible. The dragon had a dusty rock as big as he was lifted. On the opposite side of the rock, clearly distressed and pissed off, was a Larvitar.

"Vitar larvi larvi larvi!" the miniscule ground type chattered, glaring down at Gible who stared obliviously on. Or, at least, Ash had thought it was oblivious. Judging by the way it very suddenly started to shake its head, Gible definitely knew someone else was trying to claim his rock and wasn't prepared to give it up at all.

"What are they even fighting over?! A rock?!"

When a voice answered, Ash almost fell down, circling to seek out the speaker. After a moment, he realized it was just his Pokedex. Fishing it out, he listened to the rest of its explanation. "-bentonite clay. This mineral is capable of absorbing water and has been valued by humans who partake in pica. However, some ground and rock types consume it in an attempt to build up tolerances to water type moves."

Pleasantly surprised by this knowledge, Ash had to wonder how Gible knew the mineral was out here. Did it have a distinct smell to ground types? Regardless, it seemed that they would have to battle over it. "Alright, Gible, let's get ready to-Gah!" The trainer threw his hands over his ears as Larvitar Screeched. Pikachu followed suit, but Gible's stubby arms were unable to do much. "Man, that' thing's shrill! Gible, use Rock Smash!"

Dropping the bentonite stone hastily, Gible hopped on top of the rock and then slammed his hands into Larvitar's head, earning a brief cry of pain from the mountain dwelling pokemon.

In short order, though, it sniffed before glaring at Gible again. Its mouth opened wide, a dazzling white sphere forming before it shot out, blasting Gible in the face and sending it flying backwards.

"Whoa!" Ash blinked, unable to believe what he'd just seen. "Was that… Hyper Beam?!" No way, only fully evolved pokemon knew that move, right?! "This just got serious. Gible!"

Shakily standing to his feet but expression portraying no pain, the ground type barked back at Ash.

"Listen, you've got to use Draco Meteor while it's recovering!"

"Gib!" Staring at the sky and opening his maw wide, the little dragon type soon summoned down a rain of draconic energy to pummel the opposing pokemon.

Larvitar took each blow, unable to move due to the energy used up in Hyper Beam. However, as soon as its strength was renewed, a nasty snarl left its muzzle. It rushed towards Gible on all four limbs, glowing with dark energy. When its Payback attack landed, Gible faltered, another nasty blow landed.

The trainer's brows furrowed and turned his cap around. Tiny as they both were, this battle was getting rough. "Gible! Use dig!" If Larvitar couldn't get to him, that'd help out a lot.

A hearty snort was heard from their opponent before it slammed its foot into the ground. Pikachu jumped into Ash's arms, in no mood to be hit by the Earthquake attack Larvitar just set off. Ash was jostled by the moving stones, some sinking and disappearing into the earth and others jutting up suddenly. "Youch!" he called, slammed sideways by the sudden splitting of a boulder. He was only momentarily aware of the beautifully gleaming pale stones within the rock.

"... Gible!" That Earthquake had to have done a number on him! He'd been mid-dig when it went off!

Soon, the little dragon surfaced, snagging Larvitar's foot and shaking the other pokemon quickly before releasing it to slam into a freshly surfaced stone. All the same, it panted. Gible was nearing his breaking point, as was Larvitar.

"All of this for a dirt sandwich," Ash lamented.

"Pika," the electric type agreed.

Suddenly, Gible shook, growling his own name at Larvitar. The wild pokemon looked disinterested, apparently unbelieving of whatever the other said. However, a glow began to overtake Gible. It spread over his whole body, soon making it hard to even look at him.

Ash couldn't help but grin. "He's evolving!"

True enough, when the light faded, a bigger, more ferocious looking pokemon remained where Gible had once been. Gabite was better equipped to obtain the bentonite. "Gabite!"

Fist out, Ash grinned. His Pokedex went off as he called out, "Rock Smash!"

"Dual Chop learned."

Gabite looked towards Ash, confused.

"Oh… I guess Dual Chop replaced Rock Smash. Alright, let's use Dragon Pulse, then!"

Larvitar had no interest in being hit by that attack. Another Hyper Beam left its mouth. The two attacks met, white and blue wavering in the air. Soon, the two energy attacks unstabilized and exploded. The roar drowned out all other noise.

When Ash was able to orient himself again, he found himself painfully sprawled on top of the rock that had been split, the exposed jewels digging uncomfortably into his back. Pikachu was already alert, ears flicking and eyes set towards the battlefield. The trainer sat up, looking out to the field. Larvitar laid motionless on the ground, not knocked out, but wiped from the Hyper Beam. Gabite, on the other hand, was stirring, still raring to go.

"Gabite! Finish it with Dual Chop!"

Two quick slashes with his energized arms finished the battle. Larvitar rested uneasily.

Ash walked over, working out kinks in his back as Pikachu continued to shake his fur, working out debris. "Great job!" he praised, patting Gabite's back. The pokemon paid him little mind, though, seeking out his prize and returning with it in short order. As the dragon ferociously tore into the mineral clay, Ash spoke up. "Hey, Gabite." He looked up. "Give half to Larvitar."

A snort told him exactly what Gabite thought of it.

"It found it first," Ash chided.

Clicking its teeth, Gabite hesitated before using Dual Chop to split the rock. Giving the smaller portion to the still unconscious Larvitar, he greedily gobbled down the rest.

As he polished off the last of his portion of the bentonite, Larvitar looked at the surprise that awaited it. It was moved, squeaking as if to ask them if it was really its to keep. Upon getting a nod from Ash, the Larvitar followed suit and gorged itself on bentonite. Belly full, the little rock type let out a happy chirp to the trio before running off.

A nostalgic smile crossed Ash's lips. "Hm… yeah, run on home, huh?" He wondered how that Larvitar he returned here all those years ago was doing. Did it have a family now? How big as it? Had it evolved? "Let's head back."

* * *

Unbroken by canopy, the warmth of high noon shined down upon Ash and his team. A hard earned lunch weighed delightfully in their stomachs. For some, the lull of sleep was hard to resist. Ash didn't even try; he and Pikachu were sprawled upon a sun baked rock, perfectly content and cozy sprawled out. Lapras, meanwhile, warmed himself on the sandy shores of a clear river, occasionally splashing himself with water when he felt dry. Gible was thankfully deep sleep. He twitched on occasion, chasing some elusive quartz in his dreams. Sceptile, on the other hand, remained vigilant, preening his tail every few moments as he soaked up the sun as grass types were wont to do.

Above flew Charizard and Pidgeot. Both felt better lightly working off their meal rather than waiting for it to slowly digest in sleep. As such, the avian drifted behind her draconic teammate, taking advantage of the way his latent heat could create an easily navigated updraft.

Pidgeot did wish she had Charizard's natural ability to do this. While she was an incredibly strong flier, it was tiring to battle the wind if it wasn't on her side. If she could manipulate breezes like this, even the longest of flights would be a piece of cake!

The fire type seemed to notice her jealousy and snickered. In turn, and quite naturally, the flying type took offense, clicking her beak rather harshly to pointedly ask just what it was that he thought was so funny. The exchanged turned to bickering as they flew around and around the small peak of the cave the group had just traversed.

So caught up in their argument and so lulled by lunch and the pleasantness of the day that they failed to notice some of the mountain was no longer joined to it, but levitating. The trap was already sprung by the time they realized what was going on. Someone's Stealth Rock rained down upon them, triggered like a Feraligatr's bite instinct by the lightest of touches from some unfortunate fool.

The smaller stones were swifter, cutting through the air like pins. Charizard bellowed. His roar cut through the air as he steeled his leathery wings, cutting at the larger rocks as they flew towards him. Likewise, Pidgeot chirped furiously, injured and confused. Her own Steel Wing made short work of the remaining stones from the surprise Stealth Rock.

Their assailant didn't bother to hide itself any longer. Chuckling-or, what passed for chuckling for a sentient bell-the cocky looking Bronzong levitated forth from the sparse foliage on the slope.

Pidgeot hesitated, mind reeling as she recalled seeing no Bronzong before now, only Bronzor. Why? Was their area the unusual thing-or this particular pokemon?

Having no reservations like inquiring so much about the nature of their opponent, Charizard could only think of the bitter scent of metal upon the air and in his flaring nostrils. He belched flame, signifying to Pidgeot that he would quickly attend to this matter and giving Bronzong its one and only warning. Snarling, he jetted forward, leaving his flying companion behind.

Charizard snatched up Bronzong, flipping and rolling in flight to set up a Seismic Toss.

As he headed towards the ground with the guerrilla heavy weight, a curious sensation overcame him. He veered, unable to right himself. The ground was approaching too quickly. What were these lights?

In the distance, panic ran through Pidgeot. Twin spheres of light danced around Charizard, confusing him. The Seismic Toss-ruined thanks to Bronzong's Confuse Ray-faltered. The duo crashed into the slope and she watched, unable to do much else at the moment. The steel stranger rose quickly, seemingly unscathed by the failed move. Charizard struggled to get his bearings, stuck on all four limbs and erratically turning his head. He spat fire but hit nothing, save frostbitten earth.

Crumbled debris from their impact scattered downhill. Pidgeot's eyes followed their trail, taking everything in. With her hawkish eyes she saw Sceptile looking upon them, judging the situation-the sounds must have alerted him-before he ran off. She knew he was going to get Ash; otherwise, being the battler he was, he would have joined the fray.

For now, though, this battle was in Pidgeot's claws. She would not fail. Though Charizard could never pass for a Pidgey and only a fool would mistake him for a Pidgeotto, she would protect her flock-her teammates, now.

As Bronzong used Confuse Ray again, she narrowly dodged by using Aerial Ace, all the while furiously seeking a solution to her current conundrum. She was perfectly capable of taking down any soft skinned opponent-she would wager she could even take down those with shells or scales! This, however, was foreign. She did not tangle with steel types regularly.

All the same, she was swift. So, she used a quick attack to avoid the Bronzong's Heavy Slam by a wide margin. She clicked her beak, noting the formless manner in which it attacked. It seemed young and yet it already had an adult's shape. She wondered what this would mean for the battle. Would her opponent be stronger than her?

She liked to think she was cleverer, though. She just needed time. For now, she settled for turning on the youngster, sending sparks across its blue metal shell with a Steel Wing. The effects were negligible, and as she flew a measure away for her own safety, she noted the use of Iron Defense.

Her physical moves would now be all but useless.

Thankfully, the cavalry arrived.

"Pidgeot!" Ash called.

This momentary distraction cost her. A Heavy Slam sent her spinning, brown form without direction. At the last moment, she righted herself, barely skirting the mountain with her tail feathers. She cawed, letting Ash know she was fine.

"Charizard," he called after confirming the first battler was fine. He looked to Sceptile, who, aside from Pikachu, was the only pokemon he'd left out as they ran from their makeshift campsite. He couldn't send Sceptile in against that thing and he wasn't sure if Pikachu would be any good, either.

As if sensing Ash's doubt, Charizard snored. He emitted a stream of fire as if to prove his point of being capable. And, behold, his aim had increased, for the Flamethrower was skyward bound!

Yet, it was sent towards his ally.

"Charizard, no!" Ash berated all too late. "Pidgeot, you've got to dodge!"

The flying type flapped herself higher, willing the fire to not burn her. Somehow, it didn't. Her eyes widened, watching as the flames panned out, conflicted before dispersing into the breeze which was now warmer, akin to how it was when she and Charizard flew together. Unfortunately, there was no time for her to marvel over the newly unlocked move.

"Quick attack down!" Ash commanded. He listened to the Pokedex continued to rattle off about the new move as he carefully watched Pidgeot dodge yet another Heavy Metal from Bronzong. "Heat Wave," he muttered. "That's a fire type move…" Grabbing onto his cap's brim to ready himself mentally for the turning point of the battle, Ash almost smirked. That was all she needed. Pidgeot was powerful and clever; given a single good tool, he knew she could take care of this new opponent. Now, they'd prove it. "Pidgeot!"

Her attention flicked down to him.

"You've got listen to me! Do what you just did! You used Heat Wave! It's the only way you'll beat this guy!"

Trusting in her trainer, Pidgeot copied her previous movements down to the same desperation and force of will she'd exhibited. Then, she felt it. It started off under her belly then spread out to the tips of her wings, churning the air around her like a dozen tiny twisters. It felt magnificent! This must have been the power Charizard felt, aware of the conflicting cool air from the mountain meeting and fighting and failing against his fiery breezes. It ignited a second wind within her.

She let out a battle cry.

Swooping towards Bronzong, her talons locked onto what might pass for a handle atop the giant bell, her scorching gale crashing into it as she landed. It let out a thunderous chime, a melodious roar. As she released her opponent and flew to a safe distance, she felt proud.

"Alright! Great work!" Ash cheered. "Let's circle around for another!"

Panic was clear upon Bronzong's face. It stiffened, uselessly summoning another Stealth Rock.

As she came to her conclusions about the nature of the Pokemon she would shortly defeat, something like pity entered her heart. It had to be newly evolved, tricked by that rush of energy into believing itself invincible. Yet, if she knew nothing else thanks to a certain electric rodent friend of hers, it was that evolution was not everything.

Training, however, could be.

Her talons hooked onto the ornate details of the Bronzong's shell. As her weight and the blisteringly hot winds her Heat Wave had summoned to surround and support her crashed into him, she hung on for a moment. Down, down, down, the steel type fell. Then, she let go, satisfied to let it crash into the earth hideously and tumble away upon seeing the swirls in its eyes.

She let out a final chirp, a warning of sorts and a particularly good one liner if anyone who spoke Pidgeot was around to hear it. Unfortunately, Charizard was the only one nearby and he was still working himself out. As the others began to try to navigate up the slope, the bird landed beside her recovering flight partner.

As Ash patted her plumage and praised her efforts whilst comforting the orange, fully evolved starter, Pidgeot cooed, boasting a bit and perhaps not so politely rubbing it in Charizard's face that she could now master the skies like he did.

Charizard snorted. Birds and their need to prove aerial superiority.

* * *

The boy's laughter echoed through the empty air as he held on tightly to his fiery dragon. The orange pokemon glided, dipping and rising in turn to make the ride down to the Pokemon Center more fun. It wasn't often he indulged in just a bit of silliness, but Ash was his friend. It was time they just had a laugh together.

Besides, he liked making Pikachu squeal at the way he showed superiority in the air. Speed and tricks were right up his alley and Pikachu was loving it.

But, naturally, on Mount Silver, that did not last for long.

Charizard was spinning, tree line and sky tossing over each other over and over again. The dragon felt an incredible ache along the side of his stomach. What in the world had hit him? What was that screaming?

… Ash!

Spreading his wings to keep the trio from crashing in the trees. Still, he touched down onto a hardy branch, all the while snarling and clacking his teeth at the distant Onix. The big behemoth had hit him out of nowhere! Where did it even come from?

"That Onix… it's the one from the cave," Ash muttered as he and Pikachu stepped off and onto the tree branch they hoped would be safe enough. "Use Steel Wing. That should scare it off."

Charizard took off, wings gleaming silver. However, it was countered, the two moves sparking with friction and force. Charizard strained, strength waning.

Ash likewise gritted his teeth. "That's Iron Tail! Charizard, hit it with Flamethrower to make it back off!"

The Onix did, writhing. After a moment, though, it was ready to attack. It did; Rock Tomb rained down upon Charizard, who dodged several rocks, but dozens of others hit him, battering him down and eventually grounding him. The fire type roared, spitting fire, as its assailant neared where it lay prone.

"Charizard!" Ash yelled. "C'mon, you've got to-" The boy's eyes went wide as the dragon's tail glowed blue and it span, sweeping away with rocks. Though still injured, his fury had been fully manifested. Between being frustrated with the tide of the battle and the need to protect his friends, Charizard had truly become ferocious.

"-has learned Dragon Tail."

"Right," Ash chattered back to Dexter, not bothering to take the Pokedex out of his backpack. "Try it on Onix!"

Charizard needn't be told twice. The rock snake let out a screech of pain, backing off as it tried to sort out what move had just been used against it. It settled for Iron Tail, metallic end rapidly headed for Charizard.

However, Ash would give it not time to rest or return fire. "Seismic Toss! Don't pick it up, just throw it!"

Catching the Onix's tail and only skidding a bit from impact, the fire type smirked. Exerting all his strength, he lifted the tail and quickly lowered it, sending a rippling whipping effect down the snake all the way down to its head. The booming crack of rock against rock as its head rattled against the ground signaled the improvised Seismic Toss's effect.

"Finish with a Dragon Tail!"

Letting out a mighty roar, Charizard took to the air, clearly laboring. He dived, tail glowing until contact was made. Debris shattered around the small crater created by the impact, but when the dust settled, Onix was unconscious.

Ash began shimmying down the tree. "Great job, Charizard! Way to go!" Running over, trainer and starter alike praised the exhausted fire type. "Here, let's fix you up, huh?" Spraying the pokemon with a potion and giving him a Sitrus berry to ease the pain, Ash then put his hands on his hips. "Hm… It might be better if we walk down. You're probably tired."

Looking almost insulted, the fire type snorted. Ash was getting a ride down, whether he liked it or not now. The dragon's pride was not to be trifled with.

"Alright, alright, we can ride if you're okay!" Ash agreed, scratching the back of his head. Soon enough, the trio were flying down to the Pokemon Center again.

* * *

Muted by the thickness of the pine needles resting above them, the trilling clang of metalized tail against hardened claw reached only Ash's ears as he kept watch over the battle. The Iron Tail and Slash attacks canceled each other, causing Ursaring's arm to sling back and Pikachu to nimbly twist to right himself before landing on the ground.

His eyes widened. "Pikachu, it's going for Thrash, back off! Quick Attack!"

Needless to say, the fleet footed mouse very quickly dodged the enraged foot falls and slashes of the brown bear, both breathing quite heavily by now. Ursaring's fur was a bit charred from taking a Thunderbolt head on earlier and Pikachu's trust wavered towards the big pokemon, recalling the nasty Feint Attack he'd taken at the creature's hands.

"Alright… Pikachu, let's-whoa, dodge, dodge!"

The ground split under the Ursaring's Hammer Arm attack, its eyes never straying from Pikachu's arm even as dizziness overcame it. Confusion did nothing to deter the beast.

"Come on, let's try Volt Tackle while it's out of it!"

Sparks danced over Pikachu's body before he took off for the normal type, dashing up its arm and eventually headbutting it. The little electric type skidded as the titan fell. When Pikachu righted himself and Ursaring did not, Ash realized the wild pokemon was paralyzed.

Grinning and forming a fist, Ash nodded. "Finish it with a Thunderbolt."

Nodding back, the yellow mouse gripped his hands and summoned a bolt of lightning. "Pika-chuuu!"

When Ash could see again-the pillars of plasma never stopped being blinding-he was satisfied to see the Ursaring was out of commission. "Let's get out of here," Ash urged, picking up his tired partner. The recoil from Volt Tackle had taken a lot out of him. However, as they walked downhill, Ash's Pokedex went off. "Hm?" He took it out, curious.

"A new move has been learned. The move Electro Ball has replaced Volt Tackle."

"Aw, man, Volt Tackle was really useful, too," Ash pouted. "Ah… I guess we can learn to work your move set without it, huh? Shame you can't learn more than four moves, haha!" Ash joked with Pikachu, who chirped back in bitter agreement.

Dexter spoke up again. "Actually, the four move rule applies only to unlearned pokemon and League regulations. While you would be disqualified in any official match where you used more than four moves, it is the potential of some pokemon-particularly those who are fully evolved, to-"

"Wait, so Pikachu can relearn Volt Tackle?"

The momentary lapse in response made it clear the artificial intelligence was upset with Ash's interruption. "Yes. That is what I was saying. Do you need anything else obvious clarified?"

"Since when has this been a thing? I've only ever battled… people…" He furrowed his brows. Wait, now that he looked back on it, he did think some things that hadn't added up at the time were suddenly making sense.

"The most infamous case of a pokemon breaking the four move tradition is Gym Leader Sabrina's Alakazam. It knows six moves and many owe its success to its mental efficiency and Sabrina's psychic abilities unlocking the potential within the pokemon more easily than it would have otherwise been achieved. Lance, the Champion, has a Dragonite which knows eight moves; it should be noted that Lance is both much older and more experienced than you."

"Gee. Thanks, Dexter," Ash grumped.

"That is the highest confirmed case, as are all others. It is generally believed that the most moves a pokemon can learn is eight. However…"

"Hm?" Ash looked down at the Pokedex, Pikachu inquiring as well from where he perched on Ash's shoulder. "However what?"

"There is an unconfirmed case of ten."

Ash was floored. "Ten moves?!"

"The Champion of the Orange Islands is reported to sport a Dragonite with ten moves. This is unconfirmed with League authorities-the Orange League is generally quite self-regulated, like all other sovereign region's Leagues-but it could be owed to the peculiar nature of some of the islands." The Pokedex paused. Its screen briefly flashed, showing Pikachu's data-particularly, its region of origin. "If this is true, you have no chance of learning ten moves." Dexter then showed Ash's trainer's data. "You'll be lucky to relearn Volt Tackle."

"Lucky?!" Ash snapped. He clicked the Pokedex shut, snorting angrily. "I'll show you lucky… Pikachu! We'll relearn Volt Tackle, won't we?! You knew it before, which means you were born to know it! It's your birthright!"

"Pika! Chu." Hopping down from Ash's shoulder, looking proud and eager.

The trainer's confidence wavered. "But… how do you learn it again?"

"Chu…"

The two stood for a time, Ash's hands on his hips and Pikachu's ears folded back lowly.

"I've got it! We'll combine Quick Attack and Thunderbolt until we recreate Volt Tackle!" he insisted. The trainer cracked a grin. "We'll figure it out. I know it!"

The electric type blinked before nodding. With that, he dashed off, bounding off a tree. However, when it came time to gather up the electricity for the Thunderbolt-

Crack!

Ash ducked, dodging the swift falling of a struck pine tree. He gave Pikachu a thumbs up. "Hey, it's fine! Let's try again."

The next time, Pikachu was able to retain the Thunderbolt for a time… but it exploded before he impacted upon the tree he was targeting, resulting in another felled. Again and again he tried, but there were negative results. Soon, they'd blazed a trail towards their base of operations, Volt Tackle slowly forming.

Finally…

"Alright!" Ash cheered, watching as the coat of electricity kept, not wavering, nor threatening to give way even as Pikachu ran. The Quick Attack changed… the trail was no longer gleaming white, but a tail of residual charge. Upon impact, the pokemon recoiled. Picking the exhausted pokemon up, Ash chuckled. "Good job, buddy!" Ash could hear his Pokedex in his bag, but he didn't need to get it out to know what had just happened.

"You learned your fifth move!"

* * *

Far away, deep within Team Rocket headquarters, a myriad of monitors and computer screens flashed periodically in an otherwise poorly lit room. Bony fingers clicked diligently away at keys, eyes hidden by spectacles darting between the visuals on display. Buried in his work, the man was quite startled at the click of a parting door. Turning from his work, he was greeted with the sight of three shadowy figures. Two were more or less the same height, while the third was dwarfed by the others.

"So. Have you come across anything new?" A feminine voice questioned, gloved fingers resting on the individual's hip, drumming on her figure with a certain urgency. The cold and reserved tone betrayed her.

"Ah, yes!" The less-than-intimidating man seated across the room stood, posture straight and formal. "We've been watching the leads that our espionage equipment have allowed us to come across. Pokemon have been withdrawn and deposited in Professor Oak's laboratory in Pallet Town and we were able to trace his destination." Turning toward the monitors, he gestured to a map of Kanto that was on display. A highlighted path ran from the home of the pokemon authority towards the northwest. "The receiving center is stationed outside Mt. Silver, southwest of the Indigo Plateau."

"Excellent." A man stepped out of the shadows to get a closer look at the display, brushing a lavender bang astray. Emerald eyes gleamed upon the destination, a grim glee building in his chest. "Finally, we'll make it known that we're not a group to be trifled with."

"Ahem." The man spoke up, at the risk of sounding insubordinate. "I applaud that objective, but it might be in your best interest to know… Those mountains are far from safe. Powerful wild pokemon riddle the area in numbers great enough to bring the league to close the area to the public. It would be wise to exercise caution when traversing the area." And, it went without saying, that any trainer who could survive in such a climate was worth acknowledging as a threat, as well.

"Ya got no need to worry about dat." The last of the three stepped forward, paws folded behind its back. A sinister curved smile was fixed upon the pokemon's lips, parting only for him to exhibit his unusual talent of speech. "We've got all dat unda control. That twoip is gonna finally see the real powuh of Team Rocket!"

"Yes," the spectacled man stepped down, choosing not to argue. "Just be aware that Mister Giovanni wants you available, in case he has need of your services. It would be best not to be gone too long."

"Oh, don't worry. We'll be in and out before it can make a difference. He won't know what hit him." Lips decorated in crimson curved into a smile. Their time to shine had finally arrived.

* * *

A narrow tunnel had gone on for quite some distance, and Ash had sworn his eyes were adjusting to the lack of illumination. Was that a good thing? Probably not. Soon enough, though, a light at the end of the tunnel become apparent. "Hey, Pikachu! Check it out!" A chuckle left the trainer's lips as he rushed towards an end to the nightmarish maze he'd gotten himself mixed up in. "Looks like we finally found a way outta here!" Joined by a cry of joy from the mouse, he was quick to exit the cavern.

Before Ash, then, was a welcome sight. A large open cavern spanned a decent enough width, complete with the open blue skies above. "Alright! This'll be a much better place to train! Looks like we finally lucked out." Smiling from ear to ear, he placed both hands upon his hips. "I guess we should get right to it, then!" Reaching for his belt, his hands lingered before grabbing two of the metallic spheres.

"Gliscor, Heracross! Come on out!" Each pokeball was tossed, bursting open to reveal each pokemon respectively. Heracross landed on his hind legs, letting out a cry of its name. Gliscor balanced atop his large, scorpion-like tail. Each happily greeted the trainer, waiting for whatever his command might be.

"Alright, guys. Time to get down to business! What do you say we start out with a battle between you guys? I bet you've both gotten stronger since I last saw you at the ranch, right?" Ash raised a fist in the air, only to be met by cries of affirmation from both pokemon. "Great. Then let's get started!"

Each pokemon stood opposite of one another.

"Alright! Let's see what you can do! Gliscor, use Fire Fang! And Heracross, you use Focus Punch!"

The Fang Scorpion pokemon bounced off of his perch, taking to the air before gliding down toward Heracross, his mouth lighting ablaze for the inevitable attack he would make on the other. Heracross responded in kind, crouching before launching towards Gliscor with buzzing wings. A fist was drawn back, glowing with considerable power stored. Soon, the two came within mere inches of the other, and Gliscor parted his mouth to gnash down upon its opponent. Not quite fast enough, though, it seemed, as a powerful punch was dealt to his jaw before it had the chance.

Gliscor was sent tumbling through the area, making the best of his aerial mobility before spreading his wings to come to a sudden halt. Cringing in pain, he was quick to shrug off the damage.

"Gliscor, you use Stone Edge! Heracross, you try to dodge it and use Horn Attack!"

Good. This was where it excelled. Gliscor's pincers were thrown outward, two belts of sharp stones conjuring out of thin air to orbit around his form. With a cry and a toss of his arms, the volley of rocks was launched towards the Stag Beetle pokemon. Meanwhile, the latter's wings spread, buzzing loudly as he took off into flight. Various haphazard movements allowed him to avoid each barrage heading its way. It took little time, then, to close in, a glowing horn jabbing into Gliscor's chest.

"Now, try another Fire Fang!"

This time, Gliscor was ready. Still within close range of his opponent, Gliscor parted his jaws before clamping down on Heracross' head, setting the pokemon ablaze with the super effective attack. Not one to waste the opportunity he was presented with, Gliscor tossed the bug type roughly towards the ground. The latter was sent reeling, making use of his buzzing wings to land safely upon the ground below. A defiant cry was uttered, letting Gliscor know he wasn't done yet.

"You guys are doing great!" Ash cheered from the sidelines, a grin spread across his features. The battle had been pretty intense, so far! Both of his pokemon were holding up well. "Now, let's get serious! Heracross, you use Megahorn! And Gliscor, you use Giga Impact!"

Still hovering above, Gliscor surrounded himself in swirling orange streaks, launching down towards Heracross. A purple aura took over his form, glowing brighter as his velocity grew. Of course, the Stag Beetle wasn't going to take this sitting down. His horn took on a brilliant white shine, brandished like a knight's lance as the pokemon leapt forward, clashing with Gliscor center-stage.

The two pushed back and forth, struggling to overcome the other in strength. Ash was forced to raise an arm in defense, bracing from bellowing wings that emanated throughout the small cavern. Soon, though, the victor made itself known. "Hera… Cross!" The bug shrieked, pushing through the multicolored barrier to slam his horn into Gliscor's body, sending the latter pokemon reeling.

"Gliscor…!" The other pokemon grunted, still tumbling through the air. Though immobilized by Giga Impact's exhausting effects, its aerial prowess still proved handy in allowing it to escape further damaged. Nonetheless, it was growing frustrated. No matter how hard it seemed to try, Ash's veteran pokemon seemed to outclass it in both strength and speed. Teeth grit together, golden orbs narrowed upon the Stag Beetle pokemon. There had to be a way to win this.

Standing on the sidelines, Ash looked between both of his pokemon, growing aware of the intensity the match was generating. Each was staring the other down, looking increasingly stubborn to win. "Things are getting heavy in here," Ash remarked, answered by a nod of agreement from Pikachu. "Guess they really wanna go all out… Alright, let's try that again! Heracross, Megahorn! Gliscor, Giga Impact!"

Repeating his previous move, Heracross ducked before launching himself at the airborne pokemon, his horn shining bright for yet another strike. Swirling shades accompanied Gliscor, gravity aiding his descent to smash into Heracross once more. The two continued their struggle of pushing against the other, each doing their best with their pride on the line.

Gliscor's teeth gnashed together, frustration growing as he was failing to overtake the other. Even giving everything he had, he'd seemed to hit a brick wall. His entire body was occupied with holdings its own. Surely, there had to be some other way to win this…? Though, the only limb free was his tail. Maybe it could make a difference?

Raising the end of its scorpion-like tail, Gliscor put in all the focus it could while still holding his position, swinging the limb forward to jab it into Heracross' upper body. The barbs on his tail suddenly took on a bright purple glow, venom coursing through and permeating into the Stag Beetle's body.

Heracross let out a cry, parting from the collision as a numb, unpleasant sensation began to take over his form. Landing on all fours, he felt himself succumbing to the effects of poison. Purple static buzzed along his form, giving his condition a visual outlet for those on the outside to see.

"Hey, check it out! Gliscor learned Poison Jab! Congratulations!" Ash cheered, only to have his attention stolen away by a furious red glow. "Huh? What's that?" Looking over, he found the source to be Heracross. "That's weird. Wonder what that's about." Reaching for the red device inside his pocket, Ash flipped it open.

"One of Heracross' abilities is Guts. When suffering from a status ailment, the pokemon in question gains a considerable boost in attack power."

"Oh, right! Paul's Ursaring had that ability, too. So that means Heracross is stronger than ever!" For that matter, both pokemon seemed to be at their peak. At least, in spirit. Both had been revitalized by a turning point in the battle, and both looked more stubborn to settle things than ever. "I guess they really wanna muscle each other out… Okay, you guys! The same moves, one more time!"

Both took their cue, with Gliscor plummeting down surrounded by orange and purple streaks of light, and Heracross launching forward with a powerful Megahorn attack. Both clashed in the center once more, putting out more power than ever before.

This time, however, a vibrant red glow swirled with the bright light of Megahorn, granting Heracross the power strike Gliscor, tossing him off of his horn. The latter was sent flying towards a nearby wall, slamming into the rocky surface. When the debris cleared, swirls had formed in his eyes. Gliscor was out of commission and unable to battle.

"Man, that was intense…! You guys were great!" Ash rushed over to a huffing Heracross, giving him a pat on the head before rummaging through his bag. "I can tell, you've gotten a lot stronger! And you're still as hardy as ever, huh?" He complimented, feeding the pokemon a Pecha berry.

"Cross!" He happily accepted the fruit, quickly freeing himself of his poisoned status. Along with coming out victorious, he'd been thrilled to engage in such a fierce battle!

"You alright, Gliscor?"

Golden eyes parted, spotting Ash cradlings his form. Still sore, in body and spirit, he let out a huff. "Gliscor." Even after learning a new move, he'd come up short. It was hard not to feel a bit sour, to say the least.

"Hey, don't sweat it! You put up a really great fight there, and you learned a new move! I guess close-up fights of that kind just aren't your strong point, yet. Plus, Heracross has been around longer than you… But hey! That just means we'll have to train harder! You'll keep getting stronger, in no time! Don't let that get you down, alright?"

"Gliscor!" The Fang Scorpion chirped, taking well to Ash's words. At the very least, he'd gotten a little bit stronger, and found a good battle partner! From here, things would only get better.

* * *

The sun hovered just above the canopy. Ash looked down upon it from the cliff he'd strayed onto. A path to the side would lead him back down to the Pokemon Center. But, for now, he had one final battle of the day to carry out before he turned in.

"Swellow, Staraptor, come on out!"

The two flying types took to the air before seeking perches. Swellow landed on the ground beside Ash, feet tucked neatly under her body. Staraptor landed on a barren, dead tree, weight only barely supported. The trainer looked between the sleek and the stout birds, a smile upon his lips. "Alright, guys, I'm gonna see how you're faring with a battle!"

"Star!"

"Wellow."

Nodding, Ash watched them take off, gliding upon the air.

"Okay, Staraptor, use Aerial Ace!"

At once, the brown bird took off for Swellow, wings beating furiously.

"You, too, Swellow!"

However, no matter how quickly Staraptor beat his wings, Swellow was faster. She made impact, feet pressing down upon Staraptor's back.

"Hm," Ash paused, considering the options as the two birds separated. "Staraptor, use Quick Attack. Swellow, you use Double Team."

By using Quick Attack, Staraptor was able to land his hit, sending Swellow flying. By the spinning, falling Swellow became two which became three which became four, all saving themselves before they hit the canopy below. Bathed in the orange light of sunset, the mystery of the true Swellow was only compounded by the failing light. Both birds relied upon sunlight.

"Aerial ace, Staraptor!" Maybe he'd land a hit, even if there were four… but he couldn't leave Swellow a sitting duck. That wouldn't happen in a real battle. "Quick attack, Swellow!"

Staraptor's eyes strained, looking for the slightest hint of which Swellow was real as he approached the party of four. He studied the stroke of their wings, eventually figuring out three of them lacked the fluid motion of the fourth. Upon that one Staraptor closed in.

Unfortunately, the Swellow was able to dodge by using Quick Attack, flipping in the air to come around behind Staraptor as the grey bird's massive wings swept through its doubles.

"Steel Wing, Swellow!" The trainer gritted his teeth, watching as the blue bird drew closer and closer to Staraptor. Finally, her wings folded in a brief interlude before it would deal out pain. "Close Combat, now, Staraptor!"

Like a switch, Staraptor flipped, claws extended and latching onto Swellow's own. The duo tumbled, Swellow's Steel Wing failing in her panic. They'd been so high in the sky when they started, but now they plummeted. All the while, Staraptor pounded Swellow with his wings, giving the other bird no rest.

As they neared the trees jutting up from the valley, Staraptor released Swellow, saving his own skin. Swellow likewise pulled up, though she was clearly weary. Whatever advantage she had with speed was now negated by her injuries.

"Swellow, let's try Quick Attack, again. And, Staraptor… see if you can finish up with Brave Bird."

Swellow tried. However, as slow as Staraptor was compared to her, the other bird could just take a hit better than Swellow. As such, Staraptor came from behind, ramming into the Hoenn native flying type. Soon, the two skidded into the ground on the cliff, Ash inches away from getting caught up in the wreckage.

Swellow stilled, unconscious. Staraptor panted, worn out.

Ash walked over, chuckling. He squatted beside the bird, patting it. "Well. I think someone got a little cozy back at the ranch. You're gonna have to work on that speed, buddy!"

Staraptor turned his head away, embarrassed. "Raptor…"

"It's fine. We came up to train, remember?" He looked towards Swellow, then. "And, Swellow's endurance… definitely going to have to make her tougher." Nodding, he returned both. "Thanks guys, great job!"

* * *

Another brisk afternoon had come to the rocky cliffs of Mt. Silver, which meant another prime day that would inevitably be full of training. Ash stood atop one of the slopes, just outside of a cavern leading back into the innards of the mountain. "Alright! About time you've got some one-on-one training…" Ash smiled down at a pokeball that was held within his grasp, winding up before throwing it into the air. "Infernape, come on out!"

A flash of light quickly took the form of a bipedal fighting type, indiscernible chatter following the pokemon's appearance. Infernape turned to Ash, expectant and eager to begin whatever training the boy likely had in mind. Sure, battling wild pokemon was a great workout, but he had to have had something in mind to simply call Infernape out on his own.

"Bet you're ready to get started, huh? Today, I came up with something a little different. There aren't a ton of fighting types up on the mountain… So, how about you get some exercise by sparring with me, instead? Ya might have to take it a lil easy on me…" Lest he end up needing to be dragged down the mountain in bandages. "But, it could be fun! That way, you'll be able to keep your fighting style in top shape! What do you say?"

"Fernape!" The simian cried, a fist raised in front of him that said it all, even if Ash couldn't quite understand his words. This was unconventional. All the same, though, this should be fun! Ash seemed like he was in pretty good shape. He'd even endured the pokemon's own rampages back before it had evolved. If he was hardy enough to take that, then it wouldn't weigh on Infernape's conscience to spar a little with his trainer.

"Great! Then, come at me! I wanna see how tough you've gotten since the league." Ash challenged, widening his stance and crouching slightly with both arms raised.

"Ape!" The pokemon lunged at Ash, throwing a restrained punch that was caught with a quick correction of Ash's forearm. Bearing a small grin at the boy's swiftness, the pokemon threw a few more jabs, each barely ducked and parried by Ash, if not without a few painful scrapes.

"Hey, not bad! You've gotten pretty fast. Now, heads up!" With that warning, Ash threw a punch towards the shorter primate. The blow was swiftly dodged, followed by several more attempted strikes. All were blocked and ducked with impressive prowess on Infernape's part, followed by a couple of strikes in return. Soon enough, Infernape did manage to land a punch on Ash. Watching the boy recoil, he quickly retracted his fist.

"Man… Talk about power. That kinda hurt!" Ash massaged his sore cheek, even still managing to crack a grin. Headstrong as ever, though, he dove right back in, trying to return the favor. Playful strikes and the occasional kick were exchanged between the two, echoed by the stealthy sounds of strikes thrown, and the occasional grunt or yell of one of the participants.

Sooner or later, the exercise caught the ears of an intrigued observer. Loud, heavy steps could be heard from inside the cave, growing nearer and nearer to the light of the outdoors. Ignorant to being noticed, Ash and Infernape had come to a halt after a rather invigorating sparring session.

Breathing heavily, Ash wiped sweat from his brow before standing upright. "Wow… That was great! I wouldn't wanna fight you in a real battle, that's for sure! You're really getting stronger, Infernape." Chances were, he'd walk out of this with a couple of bruises, but Ash was hardly one to complain. At least, right now. His pokemon were his first concern, and Infernape was holding up well.

"Ape!" A bit less winded, but still in a fighting mind, the hybrid agreed, hopping energetically from one foot to the other. For someone who wasn't a pokemon, Ash had held his own. Though, his focus on their results didn't last long. Slow, ground-shaking steps caught his attention, bringing his yellow orbs toward the nearby cavern. His instincts proved correct, as a fellow pokemon stepped out of the shadows.

"It's a Hariyama!" Ash's eyes followed Infernape's, now lying upon the rotund pokemon standing opposite of the two. It certainly wasn't one he'd seen before; he hadn't even known there were any of its kind up in these mountains. Watching its restless movements, Ash quickly came to a conclusion. "Hey, Infernape! I think this Hariyama wants to pick a fight with you!"

"Infernape!" The pokemon nodded, baring a grin when a nod from the fighting type confirmed his trainer's suspicions. It was likely that the other shared his sentiments. The presence of a powerful fellow fighting type was probably rare, and it would be silly to turn down such an opportunity.

"Yama!" The Arm Thrust pokemon bellowed, stomping down with one foot upon the rocky surface before the other. Crouching, it awaited the first move from the pokemon and his trainer.

"Then let's go! Infernape, use Flamethrower!"

"Ape!" Infernape shrieked, parting his mouth to let loose a scalding stream of flames toward the other pokemon. Hardly the fastest pokemon around, Hariyama was bathed in the heat, obscured from sight until orange lights and black soot faded away. It stood strong, bearing little more than a few scratches on its body. It brushed its belly with one of its large hands, seemingly unaffected.

"You're kidding! Flamethrower didn't do a thing!" Ash gawked, soon interrupted by a beep of his pokedex. Drawing the device from his pocket, he was answered with Dexter's robotic voice.

"One of Hariyama's abilities is Thick Fat. This reduces the damage of fire and ice type attacks."

"That figures… Flamethrower isn't going to help us." Ash noted, only to catch the pokemon charging out of the corner of his eye. It rushed toward Infernape, one arm drawn back, clearly ready to be thrown towards the other. "That's Arm Thrust! Infernape, dodge it!"

Quick footwork and acrobatics allowed Infernape to spring out of the attack's range, landing atop a small boulder that adorned the battlefield. Though he'd avoided damage, that attack had seemed quite powerful. Infernape and his trainer would definitely have to be careful.

"We'll have to use speed… Infernape, use Mach Punch!"

The Flame pokemon quickly obliged, crouching before lunging towards Hariyama, a glowing fist brandished that was thrown toward the other with remarkable speed. The punch landed its mark, hitting Hariyama clean in the face. The latter pokemon skidded back a bit across the ground, uprooted by the punch. Infernape would look on in awe, though, as the other appeared to be only marginally winded by the move.

Breath quickly left his lungs, a brutal Arm Thrust smashing into the simian's chest in return. Gasping for air, the fire type was sent reeling before regaining his footing further away from Hariyama.

"Man, it can really take a punch…!" Ash observed, visibly impressed. It seemed stamina was this pokemon's strong point. This time, he was coy to the pokemon's next move. A sweep of Hariyama's arm had kicked up a curtain of sand and dust, threatening to surround Infernape.

"It's using Sand Attack! Infernape, dive underground and use Dig!"

Infernape wasted no time, leaping before quickly burrowing under solid rock. Quickly burrowing through the ground before emerging within mere inches of his opponent. A striking uppercut was dealt out, knocking Hariyama clean into the air. Landing with questionable balance, Hariyama grunted in pain.

"Nice one!" Ash cheered. "That oughta do it!" Relief soon turned to horror, though, as the heavy pokemon lunged forward, catching Infernape's body on its remarkably large arm. After knocking the wind out of Infernape, Hariyama swung his arm forward, tossing the Flame pokemon across the battlefield. "Infernape!"

The fire type pulled himself to his feet, canines bared. His attack were only doing so much, and just two hits from the sumo wrestler had left him short of breath. Hardy as ever, though, he let out a battle cry. He was sure that Ash would figure out a strategy that would lead them to victory.

"It takes hits way too well… The way things are going, it'll just keep coming back at Infernape!" Though it had put on an impressive display, it was quickly finding itself cornered. "We'll have to go for broke. Use Flare Blitz, now!"

A whip of the fire type's head surrounded his body in a roaring blue flame, preparing him for the brutal assault that would follow. Infernape threw itself at Hariyama, crashing into the other in a brilliant blaze. The sheer momentum pile-drived the recipient into the cave wall, ending in an explosion of flames that covered its form.

Unfortunately for Infernape, who was currently dealing with the move's recoil, Hariyama hadn't been done in. Dislodging itself from the stone, Hariyama let out a battle cry as a strike was thrown toward its opponent, striking him in the face with its open palm. This time, however, it didn't stop there. Multiple blows followed, quickly overwhelming Infernape.

"That's Close Combat!" Ash identified the move, swallowing before throwing a fist forward. "Don't give in! Try to fight back, with Mach Punch! Back to back!" Infernape followed, teeth grit as a glowing punch was thrown, once more hitting Hariyama in the chin. Another blow followed, striking it in the gut. Another punch was thrown, this time met with another opposing strike.

The two pokemon met each other blow for blow, initially appearing even. When Infernape spotted an opening, however, a sweep of Hariyama's leg knocked into his shin, throwing him off balance. Two more kicks followed, pushing the tiring primate on the defensive.

A gleam in the Flame pokemon's eyes followed, a brilliant fighting spirit igniting in his guts. Instinct took over, allowing Infernape to strike like lightning. Precise punches and kicks pummeled Hariyama, swift attacks slipping by the slower strikes it dealt out. A roundhouse kick sent it skidding across the gravelly surface once more, vision growing weary in the face of the assault.

"Hey, check it out, Pikachu!" Ash beamed, watching the battle turn around before his very eyes. "Infernape's fighting just like he was when we were training! He must've learned Close Combat, too!"

"Pikachu!" The mouse cheered, congratulating his teammate. By now, Infernape had created some distance between himself and his opponent, its posture less than ideal and its breath racing.

"Now's our chance!" Ash threw an arm forward, yelling at the top of his lungs. "Now, finish this up with Flare Blitz!" Another fiery film surrounded the pokemon, bolting forward like a shooting star that slammed into the larger fighting type, ending in a fiery explosion.

Ash's arm reached up to cover his mouth, guarding it from smoke and soot that flew his way. Coughing several times to clear the sting from his throat, he waited for the dark veil to clear.

Soon enough, it did. Infernape stood in the middle of the clearing, hunched over. Laying before him was the challenger, Hariyama, who had been knocked out cold. Victory had been snatched after bordering on the verge of defeat.

"Infernape! That was great!" Ash let out a chuckle, sprinting over before catching the tired pokemon in his arms, spinning Infernape in his arms before setting him down. "That battle looked like a real tough one. You held your own out there, big time! Guess our training paid off after all, huh?" He winked, more than proud of the fruits of their labor.

"Infernape!" Tired and weary, but proud all the same, the fire type agreed. He'd kept his honor.

* * *

The sun had set over the horizon facing Johto, and a temperate summer time breeze had cast over the mountainous area, marking night time's dark embrace. The starry skies made for quite the camouflage for a pitch-black vehicle that traversed the atmosphere with a low hum, keeping it well out of the eyes of the law. It hovered in circles around the jutted cliffs of Mt. Silver, ever vigilant for some sort of target.

"They did say he was out here, didn't they? It feels like we've been looking for over an hour…" A frown had fixed itself on the features of an emerald-eyed man, the orbs darting left and right across the surface of the titanic mountain from the security of the small airship.

"Dey sure did. But he could be anywhere in dis mess o' rocks. We could be out here all night for all we know." Meowth quipped, fitted with a pair of x-ray goggles that scanned over the very same area. Even with their state-of-the-art technology, scraping through such a cluttered area was no fun.

"Whining won't help. Just keep your eyes peeled! If we know the kid, he should at least be awake." Jessie interjected. Ash wasn't exactly a night-owl, but judging by their experiences, he wasn't the first to fall asleep here. "...Which means, he should have some sort of light out."

Lo and behold, an ember burned in the distance, lighting up a small area near the foot of the mountain. Standing out like a glimmering star among the scenery, the fire left a gleeful smile upon each of the agents' faces.

"Looks like we've found our target."

Down below, Ash sat on a mossy rise at the bottom of Mt. Silver, propped up against the rocky wall of one of its cliffs. Before him was a roaring campfire, where Pikachu sat adjacent to him. Feeling at peace, he smiled, folding his arms behind his head. "Ah… Can ya believe how long we've been here, Pikachu? It feels like just yesterday, we got permission to come up here."

"Pika!" His electric companion agreed, basking in the warmth of the flame. The journey had been strenuous, to say the least, but he was sure his strength had grown a great deal. He couldn't wait to see the results!

"We've really come a long way. Just wait 'till we head back down and-"

An explosion of black, lung-scratching smoke interrupted the youth, shrouding the entire area in its murky grasp. Ash and Pikachu coughed violently, waving their arms in a feeble attempt to rid themselves of the smog. "What the heck is that!?" Ash barked, guarding his mouth.

"Oh, just a couple of familiar faces!" The voice of a young woman bellowed, turning Ash's eyes toward a large boulder nearby, his ears picking up on the voice he'd come to known all too well.

"It's been a lil' while since we've seen ya, so we thought we'd drop in!" A catty voice coupled with a heavy accent added in, just as irritating as ever.

"We're honestly a little hurt. You didn't forget about us, after all this time, did you?"

Ash's stomach turned in a familiar mixture of annoyance and disgust, the boy's teeth clashing together. Standing to move beyond the smokescreen, he found himself face to face with the trio of Rockets, each standing atop the large rock with their usual grandiose flair. This time, however, they looked a little bit different. Rather than sporting their usual wear, Jessie and James were sporting pitch-black uniforms, matching from head to toe, pardoning the red "R" on their chests.

"Team Rocket!? You followed me all the way out here…? Man, you guys never give up!" Bitterness rang in his tone. This time, he really thought he'd gotten them out of his hair for a while. "Look. We're stronger than ever, now, so why don't you just do yourselves a favor and leave?"

"Pi-Pikachu!" Darting up to his trainer's shoulder to be free of the smog, Pikachu agreed.

"I'm offended. You really don't know us better than that?" Jessie feigned hurt, dramatically resting a hand atop her forehead.

"Don't be fooled, twerp. Things are a little different, now."

"You guys aren't the only ones who've toughened up! Da three of us got a big promotion! And we're gonna make ya wish you never messed with Team Rocket!"

"What're you talking about!? You guys are the ones who always start fights with us!" Ash barked, quickly losing patience with the trio. New gear or not, this all had gotten old.

"But that was the old Team Rocket. We have a bone to pick with you."

"...So allow us to reintroduce ourselves!"

Another explosion went off behind the group, starting yet another rendition of something all too familiar.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"Make it double."

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

Ash raised a brow at the trio, raising his hand over his mouth to fake a yawn "What do you mean, new? You're just back to the old motto! Can't you find a new way to bore us?"

Jessie's brow twitched. Suppressing her well known temper, she went on. "But, you don't understand. You don't know what we can do, yet. As if you could wrap your twerpy little head around it."

"And this time, we're going to take Pikachu, and all of your precious pokemon!"

"But, just to show ya how generous we are, we'll play by da rules. We'll beat ya fair and square, and then take all yer pokemon. How does that sound, twoip?"

"You'll never steal Pikachu and the others! But a battle sounds fine with me!" Ash yelled back at the gang, a fist raised in the air. "Whenever you're ready, come and get me!"

"Don't say we didn't warn you. Wobbuffet?" Jessie snapped a finger, answered by a red flash of light taking the form of the Patient pokemon. Eager as ever, it saluted her. "Wobbuffet!"

"It's your turn, Carnivine!" James tossed a pokeball forward, only to be ensnared by the affectionate grass type. Letting out a squeal, he tossed it toward their opponent. "Not now, Carnivine! We've trained for this!" Brushing that embarrassment aside, he bore a smirk.

"That goes double for me! Pikachu, go! Swellow, I choose you!" The electric mouse quickly joined the fray, and a tossed pokeball released the flying type. She let out a caw, eager to fight.

"Now, Pikachu! Thunderbolt!" Ash called out, beginning the battle in his usual fashion.

Pikachu let out a shriek, unleashing a vicious bolt of electricity that cut through the air.

"Wobbuffet, use Mirror Coat!" Jessie called, her command answered almost immediately. The psychic type threw itself into the bolt's path, surrounding himself in a multicolored veil. The electric attack crashed into his form, pushing him back momentarily before a thrust of his form launched the attack back with twice the power.

The frightening flash of electricity was quick to make its way back, enveloping both of Ash's pokemon. "Pikachu! Swellow!" Ash called out in horror, waiting for the smoke to clear. Both emerged with a number of burns, one worse for wear than the other. "Are you guys alright?"

Pikachu winced, pulling himself to his feet before regaining a battle-ready gait. "Pika!"

Swellow, however, hadn't been so lucky. Having taken the hit from a super-effective attack, she struggled to shrug off the pain. Stubborn and hardy as ever, though, she persevered. "Swellow!"

"Now, Carnivine! Bullet Seed!" James put a hand forward, quickly joined by the cry of the Bug Catcher pokemon. Opening its wide maw, it spit out a volley of energized seeds toward Pikachu. The electric mouse was pelted with them, letting out a cry as he stumbled back under the shower.

"Don't let it get away with that, Swellow! Aerial Ace!" The flying type quickly took to the air, turning into one of her signature loops before closing in on Carnivine. The gentle breeze was cut like an ocean wave split by the hull of a boat, making way for Swellow's speedy assault.

Tutting and wagging his finger, James interjected. "Careful, twerp! Carnivine, use Power Whip to catch that bird brain!" Two vines shot out from the grass type's neck, each glowing a bright purple color. They wrapped around the bird's aerodynamic body, moving with her momentum to swing her before tossing her towards a nearby cliff face. Tried as she may, Swellow was only able to somewhat slow its impact.

"They weren't kidding…! They really are stronger!" Ash's teeth grit together, brows furrowing. "But, that won't stop us! Pikachu, use Quick Attack on Wobbuffet!" The mouse wasted no time, righting himself before breaking into a silver-tinted sprint. In no time at all, he'd closed the gap, smashing his body into the other, sending it reeling and flipping through the air.

"Good, now help Swellow out, by using Iron Tail!" Just landing from his encounter with the psychic type, Pikachu sprang into action once more, hips twisting as his jagged tail took on a silvery coat. It soon slammed into Carnivine, sending the pokemon flying into the air.

"Good! Now, Swellow! Use Quick Attack on Wobbuffet!" Growing frustrated with her opponents, Swellow let out a shrill cry, furiously beating her wings before zipping in towards her opponent.

"Wobbuffet, Counter!" An orange aura surrounded it, shielding it when Swellow's beak crashed into its body. A repelling force smashed into the bird, sending her sailing once more into the air.

"Hang in there, Swellow! Use Quick Attack on it, again!" Stubborn as ever, Swellow cawed before swooping in once more, surrounding herself with a silver light that trailed her form.

"I think the twerp's losing his head." James let out a chuckle brushing a bang from his eyes.

"I guess all dis time away from da rest of da world made him a little loopy!" Meowth cackled.

"Well, if the twerp wants to throw the match, that's not our problem. Wobbuffet, Counter!"

Meanwhile, a snide smile had curved its way onto Ash's lips. Coy as ever, he didn't stop there. "Now, change that into an Air Slash attack!" Watching the trio's jaws drop, Ash witnessed Swellow do just as told. The bird came to a screeching halt, opting to furiously flap her wings, unleashing several swirling orbs of energy spun about by wind. They barraged Wobbuffet, earning a cry of pain from the Patience pokemon.

James' eye twitched, his patience wearing thin. No matter. They'd make him pay for his insolence, soon enough. "Don't let them rest, Carnivine! Use Bullet seed on Pikachu, once more!" Carnivine let out a cry, its large mouth parting to barrage the electric mouse with explosive seeds.

"Pikachu, dodge them with Quick Attack!" Pikachu wasted no time, darting to and fro to avoid the shower of projectiles, hopping from rock to rock, followed by a gleaming trail of light that carried him safely out of the attack's range. "Good, now keep it up, and use Electro Ball!"

Still making use of his momentum, Pikachu vaulted into the air above, building up electricity on the tip of his tail. "Pika, Pika, Pika, Pika…" He recited the syllables of his name, the vibrations of his small frame building up a brilliant golden sphere behind him. "Chuu… Pi!" Soon, it had grown to the size of a beach ball, and it was launched toward Carnivine.

The grass type stared into the blinding light, awestruck. Far from fast enough to dodge, it took the powerful electric attack head-on, emerging from the resulting debris unconscious. As soon as it had appeared, it was removed in a flash of red light, returning to its pokeball.

"Great! Now, it's two on one!" Not letting the opportunity slip by, Ash threw a hand to the air. "Now, let's finish this! Pikachu, Electro Ball! Swellow, Aerial Ace!" If Wobbuffet was dealing with two different types of attacks, then it couldn't deflect both of them, could it? Pikachu jumped up once more, flipping over before firing a brilliant ball of electricity. Swellow followed, turning into a loop before launching forward, aligning herself with Pikachu's attack.

What should have been a look of horror on Jessie's face was anything but. Cherry red lips curved upward, parting to call a single command. "Use Destiny Bond!" Wobbuffet surrounded itself in a purple glow, standing still as it took the two powerful attacks head-on. Swellow had already been moving too fast to stop, and Pikachu could do nothing about his own attack. The combined force knocked Wobbuffet out-cold. Though, unfortunately for Ash, it wasn't the only one.

A similar purple light surrounded Swellow and Pikachu, promptly rendering the two unconscious. Ash gawked, eyes wide at the sight. "Pikachu! Swellow!" Gritting his teeth together, he returned the latter before walking to pick up the former. Brow twitching, he stared the trio down. That was the last thing he would have expected.

Jessie, James, and Meowth reveled in laughter, hands on each of their hips as their gaze turned toward their sworn enemy. "Surprised? We told you we were in a whole other league."

"And now we've beaten your precious Pikachu. You might as well make things easy, and hand your pokemon over, now! Unless you want to continue embarrassing yourself." James added. All of their hard work was paying off. They'd started turning the tables on Ash! Revenge was proving to be all too sweet.

"You may've beaten Pikachu, but not my other pokemon! We're still gonna beat you." Ash yelled back, adamant as ever in holding his ground. He reached for the brim of his cap, flipping the headwear backwards in his usual dramatic fashion. Two pokeballs were then thrown forward. "Staraptor, Gliscor! I choose you!" The two airborne pokemon made their appearance, hovering above the battlefield. Spotting their opponents, they needed no explanation.

"No skin off my bones, then. Magneton, it's your turn!" James tossed a pokeball, letting out the electric/steel hybrid. It let out a synchronized shriek of its name, hovering above ground.

"Get them, Yanmega!" Jessie called on her pokemon next, unveiling the large insect.

There was only a brief moment of calm as all the flying or levitating pokemon looked at each other. James then cracked a smile. "Magneton, use Electric Terrain!" The pokemon let out an ear-straining screech, unleashing a golden ragnarok of electricity along the mountainside. Stray bolts danced from the ground, forcing Ash to jump out of harm's way once or twice.

While the move itself wouldn't do much, the presence of some much latent electricity would be sure to make Staraptor nervous, the Rocket assumed. And, in a pinch they could always have Magneton land to make use of the extra energy.

"Whatever you're planning isn't gonna work!" Ash warned, pointing a finger forward. "Gliscor, use Fire Fang on Magneton!"

The ground type glided forward, momentum from his impact rocking Magneton a bit. The metallic pokemon reeled upon being bitten, less than pleased with the flames dancing upon its form.

Jessie's frown deepened. "Yanmega! Use Ancient Power on Staraptor!"

"Quick Attack to Dodge!"

While Staraptor successfully managed to dodge the largest and thus most damaging of the rocks, a few did nick the bird. The major advantage, however, was the increase Yanmega felt from the use of the move. It had unlocked some temporary wells of strength in the bug type.

"We're going to have to nip that in the edge," Ash muttered. "Gliscor! Use Stone Edge on Yanmega! Staraptor, you use Close Combat on Magneton!"

"Counter it with Sonic Boom, Yanmega!" Jessie ordered.

James was too late to give any orders. Staraptor pounded Magneton with his wings and talons, pressing the steel type down until a final batter of his wings sent it crashing into the earth. Meanwhile, Gliscor's stones hit their mark, though they were slowed and rendered less damaging due to the Sonic Boom, which was able to take Gliscor off guard.

"Fine! Magneton, stay down and use Lock On!"

Jessie grinned. If James had in mind what she thought he did… But, she had the battle at hand to focus on.

"Staraptor, use Brave Bird on Yanmega!"

Flapping his wings mightily to fly higher, the bird eventually folded his limbs, headed straight for Yanmega.

"Zap Cannon on Staraptor," James called out.

At the same time, from the ground below, Magneton fired off an enormous burst of electricity.

Ash's breath caught and he urged his voice on. "Gliscor, block that!"

Amidst the chaos, Gliscor obeyed, swooping in to take the blow meant for Staraptor… at very little cost to himself. Aside from the sheer impact of having that much energy tossed to him at once, he seemed to be unaffected. It was as if he'd been shoved, really… which only served to frustrate James to the point of pulling his own hair.

Jessie gave him a disapproving look before attending to her own portion of the battle. "Fine, Yanmega, defend yourself with Steel Wing!"

While Yanmega tried valiantly, the velocity of Staraptor was simply too much. Slamming into his opponent with overwhelming strength, both went skidding across the-thankfully-fading Electric Terrain.

Deciding to not let up, Ash called for another attack. "Gliscor, use Fire Fang, again!"

"Scor!" Chomping down on the Magneton once more, it was clear this time that Gliscor meant business. Vampire-like fangs slammed down upon the metallic surface, lighting it ablaze.

Realizing Yanmega was momentarily dazed, the trainer once again took advantage of the situation. "Close Combat, and one last Fire Fang!"

"Not so fast, Silver Wind, Yanmega!" Jessie instructed.

The Silver Wind trailed behind Staraptor as he went to join Gliscor in doling out punishment to Magneton. The pale gray breeze obscured the trio as one portion of the battle led to its conclusion. Yanmega enjoyed another temporary burst of power…

But, seeing as the fading of Silver Wind showed the defeat of its ally, would it be enough to manage against both of Ash's pokemon?

Not if the trainer could help it.

"Let's finish this! Staraptor, Aerial Ace! Gliscor, Giga Impact!"

Leading the assault, Staraptor surrounded himself in a bright blue blaze, crashing into Yanmega, which sent it tumbling. By the time it knew what was happening, Gliscor was upon it, surrounded by a swirl of purple and orange hues.

"Alright!" Ash praised, giving a thumbs up to the clearly exhausted Gliscor and the fatigued Staraptor.

Fuming, Jessie returned her pokemon, following the example James had already set. "You little brat! Nidoqueen, I choose you!"

"Nidoking, let's follow through!"

Wasting no time, Jessie called an order before Ash could open his mouth. "Toxic Spikes!" Nidoqueen opened her mouth wide, firing a multitude of poisonous projectiles. Each of them rained onto the field, sinking into the ground below in a purple mist.

"Great. Now, we'll have to deal with that if we don't wrap this up." Eager to finish this, Ash continued. "Staraptor, use Aerial Ace on Nidoqueen! Gliscor, try Fire Fang on Nidoking!"

"Nah-ah-ah!" James taunted, wiggling his finger. "Nidoking, hit 'em with a Double Kick!"

Rather than getting to sink his fangs into the Nidoking's hide, Gliscor got a face full of kicks. Thankfully, though, Staraptor's Aerial Ace landed true, sending Nidoqueen stumbling backwards.

Feeling desperate, Ash called for a more forceful set of moves. "Giga Impact! Brave Bird!"

Before it could strike, however, it seemed that Jessie's patience had run short. "Nidoqueen, end it with Blizzard!"

The sudden snowstorm blew the two flying types back. Covering his eyes to protect them from the heavy hitting clumps of snow, yet still desperately trying to see what his pokemon were doing, the trainer was despaired to see… nothing.

It was all harsh noise and frost.

However, as quickly as the storm had blown up, it ended. His pokemon were nowhere to be seen, he realized with fright, as he shook off snow. He brought out their pokeballs, wildly firing each until they both returned their proper contents from under the snow. Opposite him, the two ground types stood, snow sliding off their bodies.

"What a mess," James muttered, stomping his boots to get the snow off himself.

"It got the job done," Jessie bit.

Sweat dripped down Ash's brow, despite what the frost-ridden battlefield might have one believe. The campfire had been subdued by Blizzard, leaving the battlefield quite dim - in spirit, and in reality. _'This is getting bad… They weren't kidding about changing a whole lot. And now my last two pokemon are gonna be poisoned, too.'_ A chuckle left Ash, a grin appearing that very much betrayed the situation. "I guess this really is our test, huh? Well, we're still gonna win! No matter what!" Showing defiance in the face of troubling odds, Ash tossed his last two pokeballs forward.

"Heracross, Infernape! I'm counting on you!" Each pokemon appeared in a flash of light, standing among the snow. Each let out a cry of pain, suddenly permeated with toxic goo that slipped through the ground below. Infernape let out a cry in response, hunched over and ready to battle. Heracross, meanwhile, had been surrounded in a faint red aura.

"Sorry, guys… But I need you, now! Let's show Team Rocket just how tough we are!" Ash rallied the pokemon to battle, answered by two cries of agreement. As always, they were eager and willing to fight on their trainer's behalf. Especially if it was for his protection.

"Now, Infernape, use Dig, and head for Nidoqueen!" The Flame pokemon leapt forward, digging under the surface to burrow towards the other pokemon. With any luck, he'd land a super effective hit.

"Nice try, twerp. Nidoqueen, Earth Power!" Jessie's call was answered with swiftness, the large poison type striking the ground with her fist. Cracks formed along the surface, trails of golden light shining through the snow. An explosion erupted underground, sending Infernape soaring into the air above. Definitely hurting from the super effective attack.

"Don't give in! Hit it with Flamethrower!" Ash called next, stubborn to avoid giving them momentum in the battle. Recovering quickly, Infernape parted his mouth to unleash a stream of fire, further melting away the snow blanketing the battlefield.

"Don't let that through, Nidoking! You use Flamethrower, too!" James interjected. Nidoking did just as told, letting loose another wave of heat. The two attacks collided, erupting in a scalding explosion that seemed to make the battlefield uncomfortably hot. Peppering it with ashes.

A growl of frustration passed under Ash's breath. "Heracross, hit it with Focus Punch!" The Stag Beetle pokemon took initiative, zipping across the battlefield to deliver a powerful punch to the distracted Nidoking's face. Caught off-guard, the pokemon stumbled back, wincing in pain.

"Don't allow that to go unpunished! Use Double Kick!" Letting out an irritated roar, Nidoking rebounded, slamming one of its taloned feet right into Heracross' chest. Watching the other recoil, it followed up by swinging its body around, rocking his form with a strike of its tail.

Meanwhile, Infernape let out a cry of pain, suffering the creeping, stinging wrath of poison flowing through his body. Unfortunately all too familiar with this sensation, thanks to Paul, he persevered, golden hues turning on Ash. More or less begging to let him back in on the action.

"Don't let it get to you, Infernape! Hit 'er with Close Combat!" He didn't need be told twice. Springing back into action, he entered with a right hook, leaving Nidoqueen no time to rest under the assault of coordinated punches and kicks. A roundhouse kick to the chest sent the pokemon skidding back, reeling and hurting.

"Don't take that from that primate! Use Earth Power!" Although, Jessie, like her comrades, still held something of a soft spot for Infernape. Even they had their limits on cruelty. All the same, victory was their priority. Besides, once they took it off of Ash's hands, they could give it a rightful home!

Oblivious to her trainer's thoughts and motives, Nidoqueen struck the ground once more. An earth-shaking force ran through the battlefield, letting loose slivers of golden light before erupting under Infernape.

This time, though, he was prepared. Springing out of the explosion's range with athletic prowess, Infernape landed back closer to his trainer. Just as soon as he'd avoided danger, though, a rush of stinging pain overcame him, reminding him of that ever annoying poisoned status.

Of course, this battle was continuing on a different front. "Heracross, Stone Edge!" The insect spread his buzzing wings, conjuring two belts of rather sharp rocks that circled its form. With a cry, he launched them all forward, pelting Nidoking with the onslaught. A grunt of pain and an explosion followed, obscuring the poison type.

"Nidoking, show them your strength with Megahorn!" The burly pokemon stampeded out of the debris, its head lowering to point its horn towards the bug. The extremity took on a brilliant white glow, growing in size. Ready to deliver a devastating below.

"Heracross, you use Megahorn too!" Ash threw an arm forward, pointing towards the other. Heracross bowed his head as well, his own horn taking on a brilliant white glow, mixing with the red aura surrounding his body. With a call of his name, he launched himself at Nidoking.

The two pokemon clashed in the center of the makeshift battlefield, horns colliding in a furious explosion of might, expression of their raw power dancing around them in currents of air. It was enough to ruffle hair and clothes. Shortly, Heracross pushed Nidoking back, wings buzzing behind him in a show of force.

Disappointed by the lack of victory on Nidoking's part, Jessie decided to take over. "Nidoqueen, use Superpower!"

Ash noticed the poison type charging towards the fire type. "Flamethrower!"

Despite the billowing flames flowing over her, Nidoqueen continued. Soon, the struggle turned to Infernape grappling with Nidoqueen as he was slid back. The torrent of flames ended as Nidoqueen lifted Infernape and then slammed him down.

"That was actually a pretty good idea!" James chimed. "Nidoking, you use Flamethrower, too!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Ash snapped. They were in a tight spot and he wasn't about to back down now, not when they were all so close! "Heracross, Hyper Beam!"

There was so much noise: the scraps of Infernape returning to his feet, Nidoqueen's gurgling snarls, and the all-consuming roar of Nidoqueen's flamethrower being consumed by and further igniting Heracross's Hyper Beam.

Ash's ears were ringing when the blinding white light faded. As his vision steadied and he saw Nidoking still standing, but only barely so, he realized the ringing was not his ears.

"Jessie and James reportin' in," Meowth took over, aware the other two might need to speak for the battle. "Uh huh. Yes'sa. Yeah. Okay. Right away." Clicking off on the headset, the Scratch Cat Pokemon looked up to the duo. "We gotta go. Zager wants us right now."

"Right now?!" Jessie spat.

James returned Nidoking, not willing to fight right then. "Come on. We've got bigger fish to fry."

And, stunned, Ash could only watch as the trio ran off before letting his backpack slide from his shoulder to fish out medicine. "Man… that was close."


	8. Hitting the Ground Running!

A hard fought battle against a new-and-improved Team Rocket had proved tiring, for Ash and his pokemon alike. Soon after the trio of thieves had fled, Ash took the opportunity to doze off, falling into a very content slumber. Night soon turned to morning, seeming just about as ordinary as any other day… At least, it did for a little bit.

A body-rattling boom knocked Ash unpleasantly from his slumber, forcing a startled yelp from the adolescent as he jerked awake, only to topple over and land face-first, still constricted by his sleeping bag. He muttered something incoherent, muffled by the earth before pulling himself upright.

Pikachu was quick to voice his complaints, none too happy to be woken in such an unwelcome manner. Never mind that, though, what was that noise? His beady eyes turned toward the cliff side, noting pebbles that fell from the closest heights above them. That was unusual.

"Sorry, buddy. I didn't wanna wake up like this either. But, I'm sure you heard that, right?" He pulled himself out of the sleeping bag, quickly donning his jacket. Before he could do much more, a couple of Teddiursa came running by, completely ignoring the boy and his pokemon that were just being stirred from slumber. A couple of Ursaring followed, watching over the smaller pokemon as they fled the scene. A few Phanpy followed, scurrying onward.

"Hey, what's with all the pokemon? Is it breakfast time already?"

Pikachu gave his trainer a deadpan stare, having no words. "Pikapi!" He pointed, trying to bring Ash's attention toward the heights. More pebbles tumbled over, accompanied by another loud crash. A loud roar could be heard, forcing Ash and Pikachu to cover their ears.

"Man, that's loud! If it keeps up, I'm gonna get a major headache!" Ash whined, hopping to his feet before donning the rest of his outfit. "Let's go check it out, Pikachu! Whatever's going on up there, it can't be good!" Answered by a cry of agreement from his companion, Ash dashed toward the source of the commotion.

A couple of scaled rocks later, and Ash was crawling over the edge of the nearest elevation, following Pikachu, who'd already made the climb with ease. "There… Now we can find what's causing all thi-" A flurry of purple rings interrupted the trainer, forcing him to yelp and duck under the assault before scrambling out of harm's way. Letting out a sigh of relief, he climbed to his feet. "That was a Dark Pulse!" Finally gaining his bearings, he caught sight of the culprit.

A mad Tyranitar stood atop the precipice, crying loudly before slamming its powerful tail into a nearby tree, splitting the bark like a twig. Aipom swung from the branches, making a quick acrobatic escape from the rampaging pokemon. A Donphan had seemed to enter the fray, spinning into a Rollout attack to put its destruction to an end.

Another barrage of dark energy, however, pulverized the ground between them, cutting the pokemon's attack short.

"That Tyranitar's really on a rampage!" Ash grimaced, watching the various smaller wild pokemon flee. "Hey! Cut it out! They didn't do anything to you!"

The Armor pokemon turned its gaze towards the duo, hues doubling at the sight of Ash and his Pikachu. It'd stopped in its tracks, seemingly paralyzed in their wake. Lowering its guard, it seemed to grow docile in Ash's presence. Still, one couldn't be too careful in a situation like this.

Ash, of course, wasn't the type to show that caution. Slowly approaching the large beast, Ash held his hands outward. "Please, Tyranitar. You're gonna hurt other pokemon like that! I'm sure something's freaked you out, but you've gotta take it easy." Step by step, he moved closer, intent on soothing the destructive pokemon.

Moving closer, though, only seemed to frighten the pokemon more. It let out a cry of warning, stepping backwards away from the trainer. While hesitant to attack Ash, it was none too happy to get close.

"I'm not gonna hurt ya! If there's something bugging ya, we want to help!" Ash was joined by a cry of agreement from Pikachu, who clung to his trainer's shoulder. Again, they stepped forward.

Tyranitar let out a roar, panicking before firing another purple barrage of rings, soaring over the duo's head. While the Dark Pulse missed, the stray attack collided with overreaching rock, unleashing several boulders that plummeted down toward Ash and Pikachu.

The duo gawked up like a pair of Stantler in headlights, speechless in the face of certain doom. Neither of them wanted to be smashed flat like pancakes! It seemed that was their fate, though, until a blinding beam of light shot over their heads, blowing the falling rocks to smithereens!

Two pairs of dark hues turned toward the source of the ray, leading them to an oddly familiar sight. "It's another Tyranitar!" Ash gawked, letting out a breath of relief. "We woulda been toast if it hadn't saved us… Hey, Pikachu! Check it out!"

A healed but noticeable gash upon her side and an expression of maternal kindness upon her face, it was none other than the Tyranitar which mothered the one rampaging now. She recalled Ash, not one to forget the face of the one who returned her precious child to her all those years ago. "Nitar!" she cried, brief calm broken by her attention turning to her fleeing son. "Ty!" she quickly barked to Ash and Pikachu before rushing towards the panicked pokemon.

Cutting off her full grown child with her own mammoth body, Mother Tyranitar barely kept her son from running. She grunted, weight of him heavy against her.

Startled and scared, the Tyranitar belched energy, startling his mother also.

Ash furrowed his brows, walking towards Tyranitar with a tense Pikachu on his shoulders. "Tyranitar… what's got you so upset, buddy?" However, the moment Tyranitar caught sight of the duo, it whirled.

The thin of its tail caught Ash, sending him flying and rolling across the ground. Pikachu recovered better, landing so as to stand protectively before Ash.

"Pika!" the electric type pleaded.

Then, the sky broke, quite literally. A void of boggling purple and black spread across the sky, letters of some lost language brought to life dancing down. A leader could be determined, speeding to dance around Tyranitar's head.

Half confused from his heavy landing, Ash could only watch, dazed, as one of the Unown circled around him.

Then, his world was a battle field and he felt proxy to emotions that were not his own. It was all fear and self-doubt. The chanting of dozens of voices filtered through his mind as well.

"Calm him! Calm him! Calm him!" they cried.

".. The Unown," Ash mumbled, watching with mild horror as Tyranitar the son was attacked by black figures. He spotted Pikachu likewise looking on with him. "We've got to save him again," the trainer realized. "Let's go! We did it before, we can do it again!"

A barrage of glowing pellets fired out of the twisted abyss, falling like hail upon Ash, Pikachu, and Tyranitar. The Armor pokemon began to flail wildly, acting in futility to ward off the assault.

"Is that Bullet Seed!?" Ash covered his head with each of his arms, none too happy with the rain of energized seeds raining down upon him. A cry of pain, though, pushed Ash's pain to the backburner. Tyranitar had roared in protest, attempting to guard itself just the same.

"Tyranitar!" Not hesitating for a moment, Ash lunged for the Armor pokemon, grabbing hold of its spiky shoulders. Hugging to its form, he took the brunt of the attack raining from above. Canines clashed together, a hiss passing Ash's lips as his back was assaulted in Tyranitar's place. "I won't let 'em hurt ya…! But we've gotta fight back! I know you're strong enough!"

The pokemon gawked at the boy taking his blows, speechless. Its breath hitched in its heavily guarded chest, anxiety fleeting. Once again, Ash was giving his all to save him…

The rain then came to an end, and the pain dulled with it. Exhausted, Ash slid down the pokemon's hide before standing upright. "That wasn't fun... "But, things were only just get started.

Tyranitar stepped backward, cowering as three looming shadows hovered over it, along with Ash and Pikachu. The duo turned to face the giants, only to find Team Rocket towering over the three. Each of them wore their usual despicable sneers, leering down upon the Armor pokemon.

Ash's expression bore disgust. "Oh, great. Now we're dealing with three _giant_ losers!"

As if the large specter had heard him, Jessie's hand rose high, heralding a flurry of purple missiles to rain in from above, toxic ooze trailing their paths as they descended.

"That's Toxic Spikes!" Ash's face fell, fear building in his gut as they came closer. "Pikachu, Counter Shield!" The electric mouse wasted no time, skidding forward before flipping on his side. Spinning along the rocky anomaly of a surface, Pikachu shrieked before unleashing several wild bolts from his form. Spinning along with the rodent, the electricity began to form a cyclone around the group, crackling as each collided with the spikes. Diffused poison fell around the group in a mist, rendered harmless in the wake of Pikachu's makeshift barrier.

"Now I get it…!" Sclera going wide, Ash turned towards Pikachu, who now stood upright. "These are attacks from the battle last night! Tyranitar musta overheard it all and gotten scared again! That's why he was going wild!" He turned back toward the large pokemon, holding a hand out to him. "They're not gonna hurt you, alright? We won't let that happen!"

Tyranitar's eyes followed the trainer, dark orbs trembling. The abstract landscape still left his heart racing, entire form uneased. Though, at least Ash was there… Its large hand reached out to the boy's, about to show his trust in the ones that'd kept him safe so many times. Hues turned upward, though, catching James' hand being thrown forward. Accompanying it was a terrible flame, colossal in size and threatening to consume all three of them.

"I know my name is Ash, but I'm not lookin' to get turned into it!" Ash panicked before quickly regaining his bearings. Throwing a hand forward, he called out. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

"Chu!" Pikachu cried, leaping in the flame's path. A blinding path of electricity cut through the air, colliding with the scathing flame. Soon enough, electricity won out over fire, driving stray flames off to the side.

Though, the trio hardly had time to rest. A flurry of cold winds and snow barraged the landscape, forcing the group to huddle together. Ash held onto Tyranitar tightly sheltering Pikachu under his arm beneath his jacket. Shuddering in the cold blanket of snow, he persevered through numb fingers and a bitter nose. "Man… No matter what we do, it just keeps coming!" Doing his best to preserve warmth, he looked up to the pokemon. "We're not gonna make it fighting on our own like this! You've gotta help out, Tyranitar! You can do it!"

" _They're gonna do it again…! I can't stop them!"_ A voice echoed from above, bringing two pairs of eyes upward. It sounded quite like one they'd heard years ago, if not a bit deeper.

The pokemon trembled, shielding Ash and Pikachu from incoming snow. Tried as he might, though, Tyranitar cowered under the freezing blanket, petrified.

"I know you can! You've gotten stronger, Tyranitar… Ever since you were born, I saw you grow. And you sure as heck have, now! You've evolved and everything… I know these guys scare you, but you're bigger than them!" Dark hues locked with the pokemon's, brows furrowed.

The onslaught didn't end, still. A mangled mess of iron outgrowths shot from the sky, coming mere feet of striking Ash and company. Caging them under the barbed mess, they brought attention to three more figures replacing Team Rocket. A short man with a bowl cut, a larger, brutish figure, and a tall man with a sneer. "Those're the poachers from last time!"

Cowering away from the enclosing steel, Ash was forced up against the pokemon's natural armor. "Those guys are gone now. They can't bother you anymore! And neither can Team Rocket. We can fight them too, but you're strong enough! Please, just give yourself a chance!" Ash pleaded, holding to the larger pokemon. "Pika Pika!" Pikachu joined, shivering under Ash's jacket.

Large, sharp canines gnashed together, closed eyes quivering. It hated this. It hated its fear of others ruining its life… Of hurting its friends, and family. They couldn't get away with that!

They wouldn't. Shut eyes parted to become a determined glare, eyes turning up toward the sky. Large, trunk-like arms shattered steel, breaching the cage around them. Rock-like jaws parted, allowing a brilliant orange glow to grow between sharp fangs. Light drew to a singular point, culminating before spewing from Tyranitar's maw as a massive Hyper Beam, blowing the wasteland to smithereens. The poachers were engulfed in light, and the entire abstract world with them.

Moments passed; it was difficult to tell just how many, but soon, the light faded, and Ash found himself back in the real world, sitting on the seat of his pants, with Pikachu sitting in his lap. "Uh… What happened? Are we back now?"

The sight of two Tyranitar, accompanied by Mt. Silver's heights, answered his question. The younger, more distressed one stood closer, looking much more at peace, now. Letting out a content roar, he smiled upon the boy. Finally, everything was as it should be!

Likewise, Ash had found peace in its own. Tears began to sting the boy's eyes, dripping onto the gravelly surface as he sprinted toward the pokemon, leaping into its arms. "Tyranitar! It's really you! Man, it's great to see you again!" He chuckled, absolutely thrilled to be united with his former companion. Reaching to rub away his tears, he smiled up at the pokemon he'd hatched. "You've grown a whole lot… Hard to believe you were just a lil' egg when I got you, huh?"

"Pika, Pikachu!" Pikachu cheered, leaping up to stand on the pokemon's spiky shoulder.

Tyranitar's battle-scarred mother let out a happy cry of her own, thanking Ash and Pikachu in her own way. Seeing your own child on a frightened rampage was horrid, to say the least. Once more, they'd proven themselves reliable.

The son himself spoke next, speaking in intelligible roars. Unlike before, though, he seemed happy as ever. His past fears of the terrible trios had been once more put to rest.

"I guess you're really feeling better now, huh?" Backing off just a bit, Ash smiled. Though, he couldn't quite understand what was being said. Scratching his cheek, he cocked his head.

As if on cue, one of the floating characters crashed into the back of Ash's head, drawing a yelp as the latter was knocked to his knees. It was an all-to-familiar face - the "g" Unown they'd met some years ago.

"Oww…" Ash whined, noting that his mind felt rather fuzzy. Much like Misty had complained when she'd befallen a similar fate. With the pain came a strange, unspoken knowledge. "Hey, I get it now… You wanna come with us, Tyranitar? To get even stronger, so you can protect yourself and your friends?" Ash beamed, climbing to his feet once more.

"Gahr!" The pokemon growled, forming as much of a smile as he could. Smiling sadly, his mother nodded in agreement. As much as she loved spending time with her son, it'd been a good few years since he was returned. That, and it might be for the best to let him spread his proverbial wings. She approved his decision.

"And you think it'd be good for him to live his own life, right? That must be really hard for you. But I promise I'll take great care of… Nah. We'll all take great care of each other! Right?"

"Pika Pika!" Pikachu cried in agreement, waving his paw from atop the Armor pokemon.

"Gah!" Tyranitar raised his arm as well, also on board.

Now becoming equally aware that this was goodbye, Tyranitar turned back towards his mother. Approaching her, he entered a final embrace. The latter's tail coiled around, comforting the son.

None too soon, it seemed, as tears began to fall from the child's eyes. Nonetheless, it smiled, it made a wordless promise to stay safe. Surely, with Ash's company, everything would be alright!

"Hey, don't worry. I'll have to stop by again sooner or later, so you guys can catch up!" Ash flashed a thumbs up to the duo, close to becoming misty-eyed himself. Holding back a quivering lower lip, he earned the duo's consolation before reaching for a pokeball. "Alright… Pokeball, go!" In his typical fashion, Ash tossed a pokeball forward, enveloping his old companion in a red flash of light. The pokeball landed on solid ground, beginning to wobble.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

 _Ping!_

Dashing to grab the sphere, Ash righted himself before holding the pokeball up high, grinning from ear to ear in his usual trademark pose. "Alright! I just caught… Tyranitar!"

"Pi-Pikachu!"

And so, with a heart-stopping, tear-jerking reunion, Ash has renewed his bonds with yet another one of his pokemon. Tyranitar's fears have been put to rest once again, and his confidence has built just that much more! Managing a difficult goodbye, Ash has added yet another trusty teammate to his roster, and so, has come just one step closer to becoming a Pokemon Master!

* * *

After the zenith of the rock's lazy arc up was reached, it tumbled down, landing soundlessly in the waiting vine. Bulbasaur dropped the pebble as quickly as the grass type had caught it, catching another and then another. Pikachu let out delighted squeals, keeping count on the little poison type's progress. Ash, meanwhile, kept an enthusiastic smile on his face, in awe of Bulbasaur's dexterity.

"Man, you know, if you ever decided you wanted to go into show business, I think you'd have a real-HEY!"

Ash only saw it after it happened, but a Linoone had his backpack and was making a hasty retreat.

"Get back here!" he snapped, beginning to running after the thief. Pikachu and Bulbasaur quickly joined in the chase. Soon, they entered a particularly lush section of the forest. The chase ended as Linoone dropped Ash's backpack in front of a Golduck. Off to the side, a Natu watched eerily.

Raising his fist and stomping a foot forward, Ash was already ready to scrap. "Give me my bag!"

"Saur," the grass type instructed, raising a vine to pat Ash's shoulder. It looked up, giving Ash a very intent glance.

The trainer calmed before frowning. "... you're gonna take care of it, then?"

"Bul."

"...okay."

As Bulbasaur stepped forward, making its intentions to battle for the backpack clear, the Golduck jerked its head towards the Natu.

The little flying type flapped its wings, taking off to hit Bulbasaur with a Peck attack. At least, that was the intention.

"Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf!"

Grinning, the little grass type did a bit more. It had been a while since Ash had seen it in action and it had learned a new trick. "Saur!" it cried before a flurry of leaves blinded Natu. When the bird struck where its target had been, there was instead an empty space.

Seeing that the Bulbasaur had escaped due to Natu's temporary lack of sight, Linoone frowned before using Rototiller to get under the ground, planning a surprise attack. Bulbasaur was taken off guard, but something about the change in soil texture on the turf made it feel more secure. All the same, the Slash attack from the Linoone took Bulbasaur by surprise, earning a cry of pain.

"Vine Whip!" Ash commanded, already impressed by what it had done to the Natu. Where had it figured out to use its leaves like that? Maybe after dealing with all the pokemon on the ranch it had learned to do what it had to?

Obedient but clever, Bulbasaur picked Linoone up, tossing it at the just recovering Natu.

"Right… they've got to avoid getting hurt or hurting each other, but Bulbasaur can go nuts like this," Ash realized, finding justification for why Bulbasaur wanted to handle this on its own. "Nice job, Bulbasaur!"

The Golduck's patience ran out. It lifted a webbed hand, using Disable. Only Bulbasaur's shocked expression alerted Ash to a move even being used. He brought out his Pokedex, quickly registering the move and then grunting in frustration. Well, that effectively crippled them for a bit. Didn't it?

Golduck, however, had no time to waste as it headed straight for Bulbasaur with an Aqua Jet. At the same time, Linoone rushed towards Bulbasaur again.

"Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf!" Ash commanded, hoping perhaps Bulbasaur could outpace the two if they were blinded once more.

The grass type waited a moment, seeing what the Natu would do. Luckily, it played right into Bulbasaur's hopes. As a Confuse Ray headed its way, it finally used Razor Leaf. The Golduck adjusted its movements, trying to pursue as leaves obscured its vision. It was no good, though. The Confuse Ray struck the water type, blurring its vision. It lashed out blindly… striking the Linoone.

"Lin!" it cried out, confused as to why its boss hit it.

"... Duck?" it inquired after realizing who it hit. "Gol!" Seeing red, the Confuse Ray seemed to have unlocked extra psychic potential in the Golduck. As it used Confusion, Bulbasaur was unable to dodge. Natu was quick to follow in with a Peck as Bulbasaur reeled, barely avoiding a nasty headache but suffering a direct blow from the bird. Linoone brought in a third blow, Slashing the grass type.

"Oh, man, Bulbasaur isn't gonna last much longer," Ash realized. "Bulbasaur, use Leech Seed… on Natu!"

The bird recognized its name and looked towards Ash, making a perfect opening for Bulbasaur to cast its seeds upon the bird's back. As it flapped its wings and Teleported away in blind panic, the grass type already felt relief in the stolen energy entering its body.

Linoone moved in again, hoping to properly execute Play Rough. Bulbasaur tried to dodge, but was simply unable. Thankfully, Golduck was too confused at the moment to do much more than fall rather painfully onto its face.

Desperation mounting, Ash called out for the big guns. "Bulbasaur, let's try Solar Beam!"

Bulbasaur's bulb began to glow, charging.

In the meantime, Linoone was dancing around its leader, attempting to shake the Golduck out of its confusion. It was all for naught, as by the time the Golduck was aware of the world, a beam of photo-energy was headed straight for the duo. As the blinding beam faded, a second, pink, energy cascaded towards Bulbasaur.

Natu's Psychic sent Bulbasaur reeling. Three of the four combatants struggled to return to their feet… but Bulbasaur had an edge; Natu continued to feed its energy into the enemy. So, only Golduck and Linoone failed to remain on their feet.

"Let's see if Vine Whip's active yet," Ash gambled, nodding to Bulbasaur.

Sure enough, a vine was sent sailing towards Natu, snatching it up. The Bulbasaur tossed it roughly towards its peers. There the three thieves lay unconscious.

"Saur!" Bulbasaur cheered, supplying Ash with his backpack.

The trainer grinned. "Aw, thanks! You're the best!"

"Pika!" the electric type agreed.

* * *

"Awesome job, Bayleef! I can tell you're really getting a lot stronger!" Ash applauded, strolling along through yet another chilly cavern after a long day of training. Alongside him were Pikachu and Bayleef, who was marked with a number of scratches, huffing to regain its breath.

Even in her tired state, though, the grass type seemed to positively glow at the praise, a bounce in her step forming when it was known that her hard work was worthwhile. Especially in Ash's eyes. "Bay! Bay!" Despite the reflexive urge to nuzzle against her trainer, Bayleef opted to continue walking, tired and eager to return to their camp site. Today had been rather tiring.

The low batting of wings and high-pitched chatter soon caught the trio's notice, their eyes turning toward the mouth to one of the more narrow parts of the cave. A number of figures swooped out of the shadows, circling the group. Shrieks and swipes urged them all to take a more defensive posture, ducking under vicious assaults before finally getting a good look at their assailants. "It's a bunch of Crobat!" Ash blurted, swinging his backpack off his shoulder to wave it in the face of a few, forcing them to make further distance between themselves and the trainer. "We've gotta fight 'em off! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt! And Bayleef, you use Razor Leaf!"

"Pika!" Pikachu shrieked, throwing his arms out as a brilliant ray launched from his body. Several of the Crobat were electrocuted by the outpour of volts, flapping violently to make distance between themselves and the mouse. That was, ones that hadn't already fallen unconscious.

"Bayleef! Bay!" The grass type launched a flurry of sharp leaves from the large growth atop her head. A number of the poisonous bats were cut by the assault, letting out displeased cry before assaulting Bayleef herself. Multiple Wing Attacks assaulted her, earning a cry of pain.

"Bayleef! One of 'em's coming in close! Hit it with a Headbutt!" Ash warned, swatting away what he could. Though, he was dealing with some trouble himself, suffering an Air Slash attack that knocked the wind out of him. Floored by the pressure, Ash let out a cough, doing his best to regain his bearings. By time he'd come to, a single bat was coming right toward him, leaving him speechless. Staring into the face of his attacker, Ash found himself helpless.

That was, if not for a bolt of lightning that struck out before him, toasting the violent pokemon. A sigh of relief left Ash's lungs, which had been denied oxygen in the terrifying moment prior. "Thanks a lot, Pikachu. I owe you one! Now, keep your eyes peeled! They're not done, yet!"

The quadruped took Ash's advice, finding her face to face with one that looked ready to sink its fangs into her. Gritting her teeth, Bayleef threw her head forward, giving the Crobat a bit more of a bite than it could chew. Sent reeling by a fierce Headbutt, the pokemon crashed into the cave wall, falling unconscious.

"I think we've got 'em on the ropes, guys! Keep it up!" Ash called out, announcing their victory. Perhaps a moment too soon. The few remaining Crobat hung above, pulling back from the three before parting their mouths, spewing several sprays of Toxic goo toward their intended prey.

A collective cry could be heard from all three. Ash, Pikachu, and Bayleef had been doused in poison, each hissing from the unpleasant sting. Ash sat up, ignoring the pain running through his arm, where the goo had landed. "This is getting bad… Pikachu, ward 'em off, with Thunder!"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu unleashed his brilliant wrath upon the swarm, firing off a powerful stream of electricity that rendered each of the Crobat unconscious. Soon, he collapsed, lying beside his trainer.

"Man, this stings… Are you guys alright?" He looked between each of his pokemon, who nodded. Though, it was unconvincing. They had gone blue in the face, and it was pretty likely that he had as well. Beginning to feel light-headed, he pulled his backpack off to rummage through it. Stuffing a hand into every pocket he had, the boy's queasy stomach dropped. "We… Don't have any Pecha berries. I think we're out of Antidotes, too! Oh, man… That's no good." He coughed, feeling none too good from the seeping poison that had fallen upon his skin. "I… Guess I'm not as tough as a pokemon is. You guys're handling that poison better than me, right?"

That was all that mattered, really, to him. As long as his pokemon were safe, then his primary concern was put to rest. Still, that didn't stop his body from overheating, or his breathing from becoming heavy. Sturdy as Ash was, he was susceptible just like any other human being.

"Pikapi!" Feeling none too good himself, he rushed over to his trainer, nudging his shoulder. He couldn't have something happen to him here… They'd come so far together. "Pikachu!"

"Don't worry about me, buddy..! I just need to make sure you guys are alright. We've gotta get you guys back to the pokemon center!" The ailing trainer pushed himself to his feet, trudging toward the light at the end of the tunnel. "As soon as we get there… Nurse Joy'll fix you guys right up!" Stubborn as he was, though, weakening limbs forced him to lean against the cave wall. "Just… Gotta… Keep… Moving!"

It was clear as day that Ash wasn't going anywhere. Bayleef whined, making her way over to support her trainer. "Bay! Bay!" Red orbs quivered, worry building over his condition. She was here to protect him. His pokemon. She should've protected him from that attack. "Leef!" She cried, buckling under another rush of poison. Vision growing weary, she wasn't sure they'd make it far at this rate. Would they wither here? Fall victim to the harsh elements?

Her eyes had shut tight. She had to protect Ash… And Pikachu, too. If she didn't do something now, they were probably done for.

A brilliant glow caught Ash's attention, weary eyes turning to the pokemon supporting him. Black orbs went wide, realization dawning on the trailer. "Bayleef… No way! You're…!" The Leaf pokemon had begun to grow before his very eyes. Barely his size before, the pokemon had begun to dwarf him, obscured by shining light. A single leaf atop her head split into two antennae, and tiny beads around her neck blossomed into large, brilliant pink petals. The light finally faded away, revealing a fully evolved Meganium.

Single minded as always, Ash shuffled through his coat pocket, withdrawing his Pokedex.

"Meganium: The Herb pokemon. Its breath has the fantastic ability to revive dead plants and flowers."

"Ganium!" The fully evolved pokemon cried, unleashing a brilliant pink mist from her petals. A soothing scent enveloped Ash and Pikachu, soothing the pain that plagued them. Toxins faded from their skin, and Ash soon found it far easier to breathe. The stream of pleasant chemicals continued until Ash's muscles loosened, and Pikachu's as well. Breathing in the last of her own production, Meganium felt her own ailment fade as well. Though, she wouldn't be satisfied until she was sure the others were well. "Meganium?" She nudged Ash's shoulder with her head.

Ash let out a breath of relief, a smile spreading across his features when it was evident the pain was gone. "Hey, I feel better now! Meganium, that was great!" This time, he was the one to initiate contact, wrapping his arms around the larger pokemon's neck. "You evolved just to protect us, didn't ya? We really owe you one!" He laughed, finding himself victim to another of its affectionate tackles. "Hey, take it easy! You're a lot heavier now! Aha!"

"Pika, Pikachu!" Feeling rejuvenated himself, the mouse hopped atop Meganium's back.

"I guess we should head back now. We can't risk something like that happening again, huh?" Ash climbed to his feet, turning back toward their intended path. As things always were when Ash Ketchum was around, the group had avoided yet another scrape with certain doom. And, as always, they would push beyond that danger to keep moving forward!

* * *

The black-haired trainer grinned, Pikachu awaiting his choice for battlers. "Quilava, Muk, I choose you!"

The fiery young Johto-native span as it was released, turning to face its opponent. The flames along his shoulders burned lowly and its crimson eyes shined with glee. Likewise, upon materializing from the pokeball's red beam, Muk oozed into position, expression more content but all the same clearly pleased with what was to happen. Each knew their trainer well enough to expect this to end in a battle.

"Quilava, use Aerial Ace! Muk, you try to counter with Body Slam!"

Dashing forward, a whirling wind energy encased Quilava. However, it was overwhelmed by Muk's Body Slam, a virtual typhoon of noxious sludge washing over the little fire type. Thankfully, its Aerial Ace move protected it and its flames from being doused by the partially liquid matter of Muk, but the impact all the same knocked the breath out of Quilava.

"Hm… Quilava, try Eruption! Muk, you use Sludge Bomb!"

"Quiii LAVA!"

Ash realized that perhaps he should take several steps back from the battle field. Seating himself on a cluster of frosty rocks, he watched as the earth under Quilava and Muk rumbled and then parted, artificial-and thus inferior yet still dangerous-lava bubbled to the surface. Muk fired off a Sludge Bomb as it tried in vain to avoid the searing heat of Quilava's attack. Quilava, however, had better luck, leaping to another jagged rock amidst its cool Eruption attack. But, when the sludge landed, it was cooked by the residual heat.

Needless the say, the smell was awful.

"Oh man!" Ash whined, covering his nose with a hand. Pikachu's eyes were watering. It looked around before turning tail, using Ash as a launching pad before scrambling further away from the field, clearly not in the mood to choke on whatever noxious odor that was. "Pikachu, you little traitor! What happened to sticking through anything together?!"

"Pikapi pikachu!" the electric type sheepishly explained, all the while not moving from the top of the tree it'd taken refuge in. That scent wasn't anything to play with.

All the while, poor Quilava looked on the verge of retching thanks to the stench. As the lava finally cooled and hardened, returning the field to relative normalcy, the scent slowly but surely died down.

All the same, everyone but Muk-who was blessed enough to not be able to smell this-remained on guard, breathing hesitantly.

Ash barely dared to breath, but knew he had to call out the next set of attacks. Raising his shirt collar to cover his nose, he did so. "Muk, use Poison Gas! Quilava, use Flame Wheel!"

Ripping across the still soft and ashy laden earth, Quilava made a hasty path towards Muk. The terrible stench of burnt poison once again permeated the air, but Quilava was spared being poisoned. Muk let out a distraught squeal at being hit by the Flame Wheel.

The trainer furrowed his brows, realizing how the heat affected the poison. Quilava was obviously still reeling from the attack, but the sheer luck of not yet having been poisoned… it got him to wondering. "We'll have to keep trying that." His stomach gurgling miserably. "...later. I need to end this before someone gets sick. Quilava, use Flamethrower! Muk, try to dodge and use Sludge Bomb!"

Muk succeeded quite easily. Quilava might not have had a status issue, but the poor creature looked green around the gills. Muk's Sludge Bomb came down heavily on the exhausted fire type, poisoning him.

"Aerial Ace!" Ash called before continuing, "Body Slam!"

Poisoned and nauseated, Quilava's Aerial Ace was actually something that Muk could dodge now. Being Body Slammed seemed to be more than Quilava could handle. The fire type stood after taking the attack, shaking and staring at the ground. Muk looked a bit concerned, actually.

Body and patience snapping, Ash called the match. Quilava wasn't knocked out, but he was to his breaking point. Muk clearly had the advantage. "Alright, good work guys! Muk wins, let's head to somewhere that doesn't stink!" he explained in a hurry, recalling both pokemon. He turned towards his runaway partner. "Pikachu! Let's get out of here!"

The electric type led the way, going upwind of the noxious fumes. "Pikapi pi chu." Ash had the right idea, he decided.

* * *

Sixteen hooves shifted, some pawing at the earth in anticipation. Across the way, a set of clawed feet planted themselves firmly on the ground, awaiting orders with a more relaxed attitude. The trainer looked between the two teams. It was time to give Snorlax a proper workout and it had been some time since he used his Tauros herd.

"Snorlax! Start us off with Ice Punch!"

The big normal type lumbered forward. The herd scattered, only one of the four being caught in the attack and being sent skidding.

"Horn attack, Tauros!"

The remaining three turned, charging at the goliath with all of their strength.

"Protect, Snorlax!"

Though tricky, the big cat-like pokemon was able to successfully block all three Horn Attacks. Its Protect shields looked on the verge of breaking, though.

"Hm. Tauros, Double Team!"

The herd obeyed, the four becoming twelve. Two thirds of the present Tauros were mere illusions, but would Snorlax be able to tell which were which? Time to find out!

"Body Slam!"

While the Tauros duo that Snorlax attempted to Body Slam proved to be false targets, the quake was enough to betray the locations of which Tauros are real and which were illusions. The real Tauros buckled under the tremors while the copies stood still.

"Hm… let's try Fissure, Tauros!"

The illusions and true Tauros alike slammed down their hooves. The combined power of their Fissures was devastating. Snorlax fell down, breathing heavily.

"Rest, Snorlax!"

That order needn't ever be told twice. The pokemon happily slipped into sleep, rapidly recovering energy.

"Alrighty, guys, now you try Horn Attack, again!" Ash instructed. However, he only counted three Tauros hitting Snorlax. One stood off-that was the one he typically used. A bit spunkier than the rest, it had an excellent personality for battling. So, Ash couldn't figure out why it was lingering back-was it embarrassed? Then, his Pokedex went off.

"New move obtained. Tauros has learned Fire Blast," Dexter explained.

"Oh!" Ash smirked, turning to see the distraught expressions of the other Tauros upon realizing their Horn Attacks did only minimum damage to Snorlax and that the pokemon had yet to awaken. "Fine, then. Let's try Fire Blast, big guy!"

Realizing Ash was referring to him, the unofficial lead Tauros perked up, his momentary pouting forgotten. He bellowed, tossing his mane before running at Snorlax, spitting a huge burst of flame.

The Fire Blast definitely worked their opponent up.

"Snor!" the normal type cried out, lambasted with a brilliant stream of hot flames.

"Use Ice Punch, Snorlax!"

An unfortunate Tauros was caught up in the hit and sent skidding, frozen over by the secondary effect of Ice Punch. It was down for the count.

"Big guy, you hang back! You two, use Take Down!" Ash had a plan. Divide and conquer… but the being conquered would be Snorlax!

Both of the bull pokemon collided with Snorlax, each of the three pokemon reeling from the attack. Snorlax stumbled back, and the attacking pokemon shook their heads, doing their best to regain their composure after suffering recoil damage.

"Body Slam!"

The sleepy pokemon's titanic weight came down on one of the recovering Tauros, knocking it unconscious under the weight. Only two Tauros remained.

"Double Team!" Ash called out.

The two Tauros kept moving, galloping as well as bovine could before being joined by a slew of mirror images.

"Ice Punch!" Unfortunately for Snorlax, not a single hit landed. Ash felt the end drawing near and grew excited. This match was certainly testing boundaries… and now it was time to try again. "Okay, Fire Blast! Snorlax, use Protect!"

A furious inferno was shot from Tauros' nostrils, eager to barrage the rotund pokemon once more. A protective barrier, though, doused the flame.

"Now, you use Fissure!" Ash ordered the non-leader Tauros.

The expression of near betrayal on Snorlax's face was almost painful for Ash, but seeing the strategy work-knowing Protect wouldn't be able to save the cornered pokemon-made him proud as well. He'd make up for it by continuing to train with Snorlax, but seeing that the Tauros herd had a new move among them and that their teamwork was great!

"Good work, pardner!" Ash joked, taking on a twangy accent as he ruffled the mane on the leader Tauros.

He, the other Tauros, and Pikachu all exchanged silent glances, clearly unimpressed with Ash's sense of humor.

* * *

"Take Down!" Fists balled excitedly, the trainer watched as Donphan charged at Torterra, squat body moving with unfitting yet pleasing speed. "Torterra, you use Energy Ball!" Likewise obedient, the huge grass type blasted a bubble of green energy towards Donphan, damaging the other pokemon, but by no means halting its assault. All the same, thanks to the mammoth size of the Continent Pokemon, Torterra did not budge from the Take Down, despite feeling some degree of pain from the sheer force... Donphan reeled back, recoiling from its all-out attack.

"Torterra, Rock Climb!" As the grass type obeyed, smashing trunk-like limbs into the ground below. Sharp claws tore into the ground, carving a path towards Donphan with a virtual wave of uprooted earth, and Ash called out a second attack. "Donphan, Defense Curl!" Tossed around by the cascading dirt, thanks to Defense Curl, Donphan wasn't as damaged as he could have been.

"Alright… time for Rollout, Donphan!" On cue, the tight-tucked ground type began spinning over the settled yet loose earth, headed straight for Torterra. "Now, Torterra, you use Leaf Storm!" The barrage of leaves collided with the tusked titan, sending many brilliant shreds spraying every which way in the wake of the spinning pair of tusks. The collision slowed, but did not stop Donphan, whose contact with Torterra's hard shell produced a loud cracking sound.

Ash paused, squinting as he made sure that Torterra wasn't injured beyond typical battle bruises. Seeing that he hadn't, Ash smirked. Time to see how long Torterra could last.

"Torterra, rest up with Synthesis! Donphan, keep using Rollout!"

Particles of sunshine snuck through the greying clouds above the battlefield, basking the Continent pokemon in their rejuvenative glory. The glittering, regenerating Torterra took Donphan's blow. Clearly irritated, the big grass type nonetheless seemed more content than before the preceding blow.

But, Rollout was gaining power.

"Energy Ball!"

It blasted Donphan, bursting in a cascading shower of photosynthetic energy. Donphan let out a grunt, but once more bounced off Torterra-this time, moving the giant!

"Synthesis!"

Donphan's expression of anger at Ash's betrayal told him it was time to give the little elephant some slack. "Hyper Beam."

A brilliant sun-like sphere built between Donphan's tusks, soon turning to pure destructive force.

Just as Torterra was once again restored to full power, the would-be starter was blasted with a full on burst of raw power. When the smoke settled, Donphan was disappointed-Torterra stood, debris rolling off its body and a smirk upon its maw.

"Dang. This is gonna end poorly for Donphan, he's still tired… but Torterra, I need you to use Leaf Storm!"

Once again, the look of betrayal came down upon Ash from Donphan's direction as the flurry of leaves hid and eventually overtook the creature. When they cleared, he was knocked out.

"Well, you guys did great!" Ash praised, walking over to heal Donphan. Torterra cockily used Synthesis again, point made. The former grunted, brushing dust off its form with a swing of its trunk.

"You're both sturdier than ever! Guess we have to just keep working harder, huh?"

* * *

After spending plenty of time up around Mt. Silver's heights, one would probably think that Ash would have adjusted to the bitter climate. However, nothing could have prepared him for the blizzards that pulverized the snowy caps. "Ah, man… I think that's enough for today, Glalie! Don't ya think we should head back now?" Ash suggested through chattering teeth, hugging both of his arms to his chest. Perhaps wearing a vest and t-shirt up toward the top of chilling mountain wasn't the best idea, but it was a bit late to worry about that.

"Glal, Glalie!" The Face pokemon chattered, floating through the snowfall. While it enjoyed the climate a great deal, letting something happen to Ash was out of the question. Hovering towards his trainer, he began to follow the boy back towards the mountain's lower slopes.

Trailing not far behind was an unfamiliar figure. Curiosity ebbed in her heart as the Misdreavus followed the trainer and his pokemon companions. Finally, she worked up her courage to float past Glalie to stop in front of him, frantically chattering. "Mis mis! Dreavus mis! Drea!"

Shaking in a vain attempt to warm himself at this point, Ash turned to the ghost type. "H-Hey, k-knock it off! We're tryna g-g-get down! 'Nd get w-warm!" the trainer chattered, teeth actually clacking, rather than his mouth going off rapid fire. Still, the Misdreavus didn't seem ready to back down so Ash let out a groan. "F-Fine! Glalie, use D-Double Team!"

The Misdreavus happily whirled away as Glalie obeyed, fluttering her lashes in what had to be the happiest Mean Look Ash had seen in a while. She was certainly excited about this match. In any case, the eerie gaze entrapped Glalie, forbidding him from fleeing the battle.

"Icy Wind, Glalie!" Ash bellowed, realizing miserably that his nose was starting to act up. He sniffled.

Misdreavus let out a shiver after the chilling wind hit, though it wasn't all that different from the hail they fought in. She tried her own Psybeam, but-

"Dohge!" Great, now his voice sounded weird. At least Glalie obeyed. This battle was definitely going in their favor… how young was this Misdreavus? It was probably really inexperienced.

Clearly striving to keep up with her opponent, Misdreavus used Power Gem.

"Ithe beam!"

A brilliant orb flickered between Glalie's demonic horns, spraying forward a sickly blue beam of freezing energy. The ray clashed with Misdreavus' own attack, soon overpowering it.

Growing desperate, she summoned a Shadow Ball. The sickly orb of black and purple energy struck Glalie, doing enough damage to satisfy the upstart ghost type.

"Shatho ball?" Ash inquired. He started sniffing again. "Ah, achoo! Achoo!"

Glalie looked back, confused. Was… he saying to attack?! Glalie panicked. Could he learn Shadow Ball!? He could try! The ice type concentrated, trying desperately trying to figure out how to make his own Shadow Ball. Suddenly, a black sphere formed in before him. Joy flowed through Glalie as it struck Misdreavus, knocking the other pokemon out.

Ash's jaw dropped. "You useth'd Shatho Ball!" he croaked. "How'd you even…?! Neverminth, leths heal Misthreavus."

A potion later and she was jubilantly awake, singing her praises for the battle and insisting that Ash and Glalie follow her with a bounce in her step. Or, whatever counted as a step for a levitating ghost. Soon enough, a refuge from the freezing weather was found in a small cavern that sat bordering the mountain's snowy caps. Ash wasted no time in finding refuge there.

Needless to say, the little warm cave Misdreavus led them into was great for Ash to recover in and for them to wait out the storm in. Pikachu had no complaints either, cozying into Ash's lap.

"There must be a powerful bunch of fire types in this cave somewhere to heat it like this," The trainer considered. Maybe he'd eventually run into them! He had a few water types he wanted to train, anyway.

* * *

The bright sun over Hoenn shined down on Dawn and Piplup. The coordinator offered her water bottle to the little starter, knowing he must be as tired as she was after their modeling session. He'd done wonderfully, though. He looked absolutely charming in all that red, yellow, and-

White.

Dawn froze, eyes steadied on the Absol in the middle of the dirt path before her. If she didn't know any better, judging by the familiar way its rich red eyes stared her down, it was the same one from before.

She must have stood there, stock still, for some time, because the dark type stepped towards her. It stood just before her.

Piplup chirped, wriggling out of Dawn's arms.

She realized what was going on. "You… want to battle?" The Absol seemed to come to life, darting away far enough for there to be room for a battle field. The coordinator grinned. "Alright, then! You're speaking my language!" she enthused. "Piplup, use Headbutt!"

The Absol sidestepped Piplup, taking advantage of its Detect move. As the penguin landed on the ground, the dark type's eyes glowed briefly. Its Future Sight attack would land-but not yet.

"Hm… let's try Hydro Pump, Piplup!" Dawn instructed, deciding to take advantage of the short range.

Piplup parted his beak, letting out a high-pitched squeal before spewing a powerful jet of water towards the Disaster pokemon. Absol was pushed back by Piplup's attack. All the same, the soaked pokemon rushed forward. She knocked Piplup back with her Night Slash attack. Despite refusing thus far to evolve, Piplup seemed to be much more powerful than the Absol… but it wasn't giving up.

"Drill Peck!" The coordinator was growing excited, thrilled by the way that her starter insisted on going-all out against the larger opponent and intrigued by the way Absol's solemn demeanor. Piplup trotted forward on his stubby little legs, his beak shining before growing substantially.

However, Future Sight hit just as Piplup was running towards Absol, softening the blow of Piplup's Drill Peck. Absol let out a cry of pain, the powerful flying type attack leaving a nasty bruise under the dark type's thick fur. The cry of pain turned into a yowling, haunting melody.

"... That's Perish Song!" Dawn realized with a jolting start. They had to end this quickly. "Ice Beam!" Piplup followed up quickly, letting out a cry as flickers of cold energy spewed from his mouth.

No good. The Absol dodged with Detect once more.

Dawn frowned, realizing their time was ticking down. "Headbutt!"

Piplup's Headbutt met with Absol's Night Slash, each attack struggling to overpower the other. However, in pressing back and forth-it was surprising how powerful little Piplup really was!-their Perish Song count came to a close.

Like puppets whose strings were suddenly cut, both pokemon fell.

"..." Furrowing her brows, the coordinator walked over, getting out potions.

Piplup awoke first, chirping indignantly as he realized how the battle ended. Once the Absol woke up, it did not fully rise. Instead, it continued to lay on the ground, head lifted and legs splayed, looking towards the coordinator.

Realization struck her. "Oh! Do… do you want to join us?!" A meek head nod answered her. She got out a pokeball, gently tapping it to Absol's head. Once it stopped shaking in her hand, she giddily twirled. "Haha, I caught an Absol!" she cheered. She released the new partner pokemon while getting out her pokedex. "Well, you're certainly a mysterious… girl? Girl."

The dark type let out a sound that might have passed as a snort.


	9. Through the Ire and the Flames

Barely dusted with a layer of soot, Ash's faded blue sleeping bag was nestled flush to Torkoal's huge, hot hide. Along with the trainer himself, Pikachu also warmed himself. The chill of the ice storm the previous evening hadn't reached them under the tangled canopy of trees and insulation of trees. Safe and warm in the midst of the thicket, the trio slept soundly.

However, the dry depths of this forgotten grove could only last so long.

At first confusing it with the smell of a fire place, Ash jolted to wakefulness as he realized the crackle accompanying the scent had no business being that real. Half asleep but fully panicked, the boy quickly assessed the situation. Torkoal's shell's openings had caught fire to a dead branch on one of the bushes and if Ash didn't do anything it would probably run through the grove before the crust of ice outside of it could melt and quench the flames.

"Squirtle, I choose you!" Ash called as Pikachu and Torkoal both awoke. The little electric type dragged Ash's sleeping bag away from the flames as Torkoal looked on, clearly embarrassed. "Squirtle, put out that fire with water gun!"

"Squir!" the former squad member cried before doing such. Soon, only a damp and blackened spot on the bush remained as evidence to the trainer's folly.

Grinning, the trainer patted the water type's head. "Great job, Squirtle!" Realizing this might have made the fire type feel bad, Ash walked over to pat him as well. "Thank you for keeping us warm! I'm a lil' afraid to think of what might have happened if you weren't here, haha…"

Clearly pleased with his reminder of his good work, Torkoal let out a short burst of smoke and a smile. "Tor!"

"Well, we came in here so we wouldn't get turned into ice cubes with the storm last night," Ash mused, putting his sleeping bag away. "But, I guess we should head back to the Pokemon Center to get a weather update and maybe a warm meal… Oh yeah! Here's breakfast! I'll give everyone else theirs when we're all at the Center!" Ash assured, handing out pokechow to those present.

After the meal was squared away, the foursome exited the thicket. The landscape further up the mountain glistened with a thick layer of ice from the storm whereas the lower slopes looked dry in certain parts! The weather up here was weird.

Still, as they crossed a particularly sandy valley-only a sloping, low hill stood between them and the Center now, Ash knew-Ash couldn't help but pause to look at the river which marked their trail. It was slushed; it must be half-frozen up stream.

"Man… let's have a battle to warm up!" the trainer encouraged. The weather was more tolerable here. The air had a nip to it, but it wasn't the wet, miserable cold they'd escaped from previously.

Torkoal let out a huff, content with this decision. Squirtle put his hands on what might pass for hips, cockily nodding.

"Alright! Then, Torkoal, start off with Iron Defense! Squirtle, you use Water Gun!"

Tensing, Torkoal was pleasantly surprised to feel that the water didn't soak him quite as thoroughly thanks to the Iron Defense. However, Squirtle felt slighted. Though the damage was considerable given their typings, the look of relief on Torkoal's face-as if Squirtle wasn't serving up as well as he should have-put him in better form.

No slacking off, the water type mused.

"Great!" Ash cheered, scratching Pikachu under his chin from where the electric type perched on the trainer's shoulder. "Now, Squirtle, you use Hydro Pump-"

The water type wasted no time, prompting Ash to quickly yell out his remaining attack.

"-and Torkoal, use Heat Wave!"

While the Heat Wave did steam off some of the Hydro Pump, what remained was capable of sending Torkoal sliding backwards, knees knocking and looking positively waterlogged. Squirtle looked miffed, discomforted by the sudden heat but not altogether too heavily damaged.

"Torkoal, use Body Slam! Squirtle, you use Skull Bash!"

As Torkoal ran at Squirtle, the blue pokemon pulled into its shell, gathering energy to fully smash its head into the other. Unfortunately for the smaller shelled reptile, the timing for Torkoal's Body Slam leap coincided with the time Squirtle decided to use Skull Bash. The result was jarring for the smaller pokemon.

When Torkoal backed off, Squirtle remained clutching its head.

"Squirtle! You alright out there?!"

"Squir… squirtle squirtle," he insisted, pride still in need of more tending than his body.

Thinking about it for a moment, Ash hesitantly agreed. If Squirtle took another blow like that, though, Ash was calling it all off. Head injuries weren't a joke, after all! "Torkoal, use Iron Defense again while Squirtle uses Rapid Spin."

Gleaming gray, Torkoal stood still as Squirtle once again retreated into its shell, this time rapidly spinning towards the larger reptile. However, the impact must have been jarring as the attack was short lived. Torkoal didn't seem much phased by it, either.

Squirtle once again clutched its head, eyes swirling.

"Hey! You're getting dizzy out there, aren't you?!" Ash demanded.

Squirtle waved it off. He'd faced worse. Besides, how rusty was he?! This was nothing, right?! "Squirtle!"

"Pikachu," the starter muttered, already predicting how this would end.

Raising his fist, Ash called for another round. "Flamethrower against Water Gun! Let's go!"

Torkoal's flame struck true. However, still dazed between the failed Skull Bash and the backfired Rapid Spin, Squirtle wasn't able to maintain a constantly accurate Water Gun. As a result, he was overwhelmed…

And, Torkoal blinked, a little shocked that he had won against Squirtle. Then again, this match didn't seem to favor the other too much. Ah, well, it wasn't like they wouldn't spar again later! Maybe luck would smile upon Squirtle then!

Already moving to lift the unconscious pokemon onto his back, Torkoal gave Ash a happy "Tor!" when the trainer reached him.

"Heheh, good job. Well, let's go get to the Center, huh?"

* * *

Yet another clearing provided refuge from the dark and lengthy caverns, allowing sunshine to come down upon the many rocks and spires jutting from the cave walls. Minute streams of fresh spring water trickled through the parted rocks, glistening under the beams of daylight from above.

"Aw, yeah! This'll be a great place to train! Now, we can actually see more than two feet in front of us." Those caves made for good exercise, and had plenty of pokemon lurking in the shadows, but Ash wasn't looking to strain his eyes today. It was time to focus purely on improvement.

"Buizel, Totodile! Come on out!" Ash tossed two pokeballs forward, releasing both water types simultaneously.

Buizel appeared standing upright, both of his paws folded over his chest. "Bui!" He barked, expression stern as ever. He was more than eager to continue growing stronger.

Totodile, on the other hand, seemed to be taking things a bit less seriously. "Dile! To-to-dile!" It quacked aloud, hopping and prancing about on his flighty feet. He seemed to be energetic as ever.

"Okay, guys! The two of you are gonna have a battle, alright? Let's see what you guys can do!"

A cry from each of the pokemon was consent enough. Each pokemon eyed the other, with Buizel still as a statue, and Totodile rowdily hopping between its feet. The silence was palpable, soon broken by Ash himself.

"Alright, Buizel! Open this match up with Ice Punch! And Totodile, you try to dodge it!"

The Sea Weasel quickly took a more offensive stance, raising a fist that soon was coated in a ghastly blue hue, radiating cold energy. Launching off its foremost foot, Buizel quickly closed the distance between the two pokemon, attempting a first strike with its frozen fist.

However, Totodile proved that its speedy moves didn't come without use. A quick leap brought the reptile clear out of Ice Punch's range. Small feet fluttering, Totodile landed with grace.

Small canines were bared. Was Ash's other pokemon mocking him? None too happy to be dodged in such a happy manner, Buizel lunged forward, throwing another punch toward Totodile.

Totodile landed on one foot, twirling as the attack was swung his way. A dip of his body brought his tail high and head clear out of Buizel's range. Only residual chilly mist touched Totodile, sending a shiver through the creature's spiky spine. Just enough of a wake-up call to allow him to hop out of another punch's way, scurrying feet carrying Totodile away from Buizel.

"Bui… Bui!" The Sea Weasel growled, throwing one punch after the other now. As agile as Buizel was, he wasn't quite equipped to deal with a pokemon that moved so unusually.

"Well, your groove's as good as ever!" Ash let out a chuckle, scratching his cheek. As funny as the sight was, it showed progress. Nonetheless, he couldn't solely root for Totodile. "Buizel, Aqua Jet!"

Humiliated as he was, Buizel grinned. Now, he'd show that speedy croc. "Bui!" He cried, summoning a powerful swirl of water around his form, launching him towards Totodile. Moving with far more speed and sureness than before, Buizel hit his mark.

Totodile was forced back, wincing after taking the first hit of the match.

"Now, Totodile! Hang in there, and use Slash!"

Needless to say, a pokemon needed to know how to take advantage of any split second vulnerability. Even in the wake of taking an attack of their own. Landing on its hind legs, Totodile sprung back off the ground towards the landing Buizel. One arm was raised, quickly swinging forward to strike the Sea Weasel with sharpened claws. The attack hit its mark.

"Great job, both of you! Now, Buizel, Water Pulse!"

Buizel lowered both of his paws to his center of gravity, pouring effort into a bubbling sphere of glowing liquids that soon took a perfectly round shape. With a cry, Buizel tossed it forward.

"Totodile! Stop that attack in its tracks, with a Bite attack!"

Small waves parted in the attack's wake, leading it swiftly towards Totodile. The pokemon's wide maw parted, waiting eagerly for the attack to fall into his trap. And his trap, not surprisingly, did shut when the energized sphere neared his jaw. Strong teeth and muscle crashed down upon Water Pulse, all but neutralizing the rushing water. Mist sprayed from its closed mouth, leaving the jolly gator unscathed.

"Improvising" on his trainer's orders, Buizel let out a grunt before flinging another Water Pulse toward Totodile. Even if they seemed more or less matched in strength, Totodile's ability to constantly evade and neutralize his attacks was growing annoying, to say the least.

Said water type jumped out of the attack's way, barely evading an explosion of water and raw energy. He hopped on a nearby rock next, and then another outcrop after another sphere was thrown his way. After that, he lunged to the next. This simply became a game of dodging Buizel's attacks, flips and leaps allowing him to avoid the full brunt of Water Pulse, only being peppered by pebbles and mist. Of course, such a game could only last so long.

He was struck with an explosive sphere mid-leap, knocked against the rocky wall before sliding down to the ground below. The ring of the explosion shot through his ears, leaving Totodile feeling rather dizzy. Waddling haphazardly about, Totodile began to gnaw on a rock.

"I think that attack made him confused!" Ash frowned, reaching to rub the back of his head. "Totodile! Try to snap out of it! Buizel, why don't you try mixing Ice Punch with Aqua Jet!"

Buizel shot off in a burst of water once more, rocketing off towards Totodile. Adding on to the assault, he raised his fist inside of the jet, coating it with an aura of cold energy. Naturally, the temperature took over the surrounding water, creating something of an imperfect Ice Aqua Jet. "Bui!" Buizel swung his fist forward, crashing a ice-encased fist into Totodile.

"That's gotta hurt." Ash winced, watching Totodile offer little resistance. "Buizel, use Ice Punch again! And Totodile, you try to get back in the battle, and dodge it!"

Thrilled to finally be on a roll, Buizel was quick to rush in for another blow.

Unfortunately for him, Totodile's confusion had finally started to wear off. His mind now clear, the first thing the water type saw was a frozen flist flying his way. Letting out a startled cry, Totodile parted its of its sharp fangs took on a bright glow, doing what they knew best.

Brilliant fangs sunk into Buizel's fist, catching it right in Totodile's mouth. Buizel let out a cry of pain, struggling to pull his arm from the trap. Alas, his efforts were to no avail.

"Is that some kind of new attack?" Ash gawked, noting the glowing fangs. Pulling out his pokedex, he soon got his answer.

"Crunch has been learned. A stronger variation of Bite that can lower defense."

Though, it soon was shown that munching down on a freezing fist came at a price. Shivers ran through Totodile, all the way to its head. The pokemon let out a squeal, tossing Buizel towards the cave's wall before hopping about in pain.

"Yikes. Looks like Totodile gave himself brain freeze!" Ash frowned. "Well, at least ya learned a new move! Now, let's wrap this up! Totodile, use Water Gun! And Buizel, you use Aqua Jet!"

Buizel crashed into the rocky surface, feeling the breath painfully knocked from his lungs. Still, he was stubborn as ever, quickly scrambling to his feet. Ignoring his ailing paw, Buizel obeyed, launching himself at Totodile once more.

The latter scrambled to pull himself together after the chilling headache, parting his huge maw to fire off a pressurized jet of water. The attack collided with Buizel's makeshift missile center-stage, leading to each attack pushing back and forth against the other.

As powerful as Totodile's Water Gun was, though, it only seemed to hold the stubborn weasel back for so long. Intent on proving his strength, Buizel spun about the powerful jet, circling it before managing to crash into Totodile.

The croc took the full brunt of the attack, skidding back before falling unconscious.

"Well, that's a wrap!" Ash called out, roundly impressed with both of the water types. "You're as fast as ever, Totodile! That dancing really helps ya out, huh?" Ash praised, applying a Super Potion to the dizzy pokemon. "And your power's something else, Buizel! You'll be a powerhouse in no time!"

"Bui!" The Sea Weasel crossed his arms over his chest, baring a satisfied smirk. It'd been a hard fought battle, and he was admittedly sore from a number of hits, but he'd still won.

* * *

As much as he preferred being busy to being still, Ash had to admit there was a certain magic to the night sky which could draw him in and lure him to lay for half hours at a time, just observing its beauty. Head to head with Pikachu, the black haired boy traced out imaginary patterns betwixt the stars, recalling constellations he could plan a route by and making up others that caught his eyes.

The symphony of the night sounds lulled him, breathing a slow, steady beat. Overhead, Noctowl circled, wings flapping lazily upon the breeze. Truly, the night was peaceful. A mysterious heatwave earlier in the week-a day or two after the ice storm, actually-brought on the pleasant weather. Ash was really going to have to investigate the mysterious warmth within the caves he felt when he and Glalie were with that Misdreavus.

But, for now, he would just enjoy the night.

… And try to sing. Hum, rather.

At first, Pikachu was curious about the melody, no matter how poorly mumbled it was. However, after recognizing it-Lugia, prophecy, near death-the electric type twisted around to look at his trainer before pressing his cheek to the boy's head.

"Ow! Pikachu!"

The audience was decidedly against Ash's singing.

Above them, however, Noctowl could only let out a hoot of a chuckle at the antics below. However, very briefly, it would see that it also had a displeased audience.

The painful Screech came first, disorienting Noctowl just enough to get its guard down. Then, as he was trying to figure things out, a bevy of stars rained down upon the flying type. After the Swift came the heavy landing of an assailant. It clung to Noctowl, using Leech Life to steal energy.

Ash's attention was upon the owl at once, worry in his eyes. "Noctowl! No!" There were Golbats around him, so many-Ash counted six in all. "Noctowl! Use Extrasensory!"

Hastily, the Noctowl took advantage of his peculiar neck to look back at the Golbat which suckled his life energy. A flash of pink glow from the eyes and the point-blank range of the attack sent the Golbat off Noctowl's back and spiraling, tumbling, crashing down towards the earth.

Five Golbats remained and they had no time for sympathy for their fallen brethren.

One used wing attack, jostling Noctowl. Another used Bite, causing the flying type to flinch and mimic the Golbat from earlier. However, Noctowl righted himself.

"What's their issue… are they bullying him because he's shiny?!" Ash wondered aloud. "Hypnosis!"

Lucking out, as the Noctowl began ascending, two of the Golbats were caught in its tick-tock spell, eyes enchanting the two poison types so that they fell-into a slumber and down to the earth. Three enemies remained.

Talons flexing, Noctowl grew tense as it was approached from both sides by Golbats.

"Use Sky Attack to dodge and go for the one above!" Ash called.

And, just in time, too. The confuse ray intended for Noctowl instead landed on the Golbat which had planned upon using Poison Fang on the bird. However, now confused, the biting Golbat latched furiously upon its kin, tangling the two up. Angry at the other's foolishness, the ray-using Golbat fought back, unknowingly causing their sudden plummet from the sky as they locked feet and lost their ability to fly right.

Though pleased with Noctowl's ability to get rid of so many enemies, Ash was all the same disappointed the last Golbat dodged Noctowl's Sky Attack. "Come on… we can handle this, just one more," he muttered, voice on the edge of a whine. He was worried. How many Golbats were on this mountain? How many might hear the fight and come running, too? "Noctowl, use Air Slash!" They had to finish this.

Still below the Golbat, Noctowl was greeted with a Swift attack as its Air Slash struck up, splitting the breezes and creating dead air without lift before it. Both attacks struck true, though neither pokemon were fully knocked out. Instead, they grew weary-so weary that they wished to glide.

But, for Golbat, there was no easy breeze. The flight down would be exhausting and it would likely collapse upon reaching the ground.

For Noctowl, on the other hand, it was merely a matter of staying away from the lack of breeze it had created and following Ash's voice.

When he landed-his trainer catching him with open arms-the Noctowl could only tiredly hoot.

What a work out.

"Great job, buddy!" Ash praised, having been genuinely worried. He returned the pokemon before picking up Pikachu. "Come on… I don't wanna be here when they all come to."

* * *

Basking in the beaming sunlight by a stream, Corphish and Kingler dipped the tips of their feet in the water, a bit off from the rest of the party. Lunch had been served and the duo had finished their meals early, running off to play after.

"Cor!" Corphish suddenly suggested, stepping off shore and into the stream fully.

Kingler mused, looking back towards Ash. Would their trainer notice if they went missing? It'd be hard to just battle for fun without the other pokemon making judgements about their moves. They didn't want to be critiqued; they just wanted to have a good time! Besides, they hadn't had a chance to just play around this much since they came off the ranch! "King!" the fully evolved water type agreed, stepping into the water as well. In short order, they were both swept downstream willingly.

No one seemed to notice their disappearance just yet.

"Cor! Cor!" the smaller shellfish cheered, claws above his head as their ride game to an end as the stream became shallow and they reached a wide section with lots of smooth, mossy stones.

Kingler grew playful, popping Corphish suddenly with a Crabhammer and sending the younger pokemon skidding across the rocks.

Taken off guard at first, Corphish then chuckled. Kingler wanted to play rough, huh? "Phish!"

"Gler!" the red crab called, battered back by Corphish's own Crabhammer. However, the playful mood did not subside. Using Vice Grip, Kingler lifted Corphish high, noting the way the orange pokemon flailed and used Harden, shocked but not quite mad.

"Phish phish phish!" Corphish chided as he was set back down. Kingler wasn't that big! Why did he act like Corphish was incapable of doing the same as him?!

Taking this as a challenge, Kingler used Harden as well, awaiting Corphish to pick him up. The smaller pokemon hesitated before doing so, straining ever so slightly under the weight of Kingler.

"Cor… cor, corphish!"

"Kingler!" He was not fat; Corphish was just entirely too small!

Laughing as Corphish miserably dropped the bigger water type, Kingler was greeted with a Bubble Beam to the face. Wasting no time, Kingler began the mock battle once more, using stomp to playfully batter the other's rear. Corphish really ought to respect his elders, Kingler teased. "Gler!"

Corphish used another Crabhammer. "Orphish!" he snapped, a bit embarrassed. Elders shouldn't get to rest on their laurels so quickly, Corphish argued.

Battering back with Crabhammer as well, Kingler continued in his merriment.

Another Bubble Beam was blown at Kingler from Corphish, prompting the red pokemon to use Vice Grip to keep his junior in place. Whilst Corphish was flailing, a curious glow overtook him…

And, after it faded, Crawdaunt appeared.

Kingler at once released the seeming stranger. All was quiet for about five seconds. After that, neither pokemon would shut up.

"KING!" "CRAW!" "King king kingler!" "Crawdaunt daunt daunt!"

They danced in place, thoroughly pleased with Corphish's sudden evolution into Crawdaunt.

However, their little party was interrupted by a shill "Pikapi, Pikachu!"

Looking up stream, the duo spied Ash who looked torn between pride and anger. "You guys shouldn't run off! … How was I supposed to congratulate you?" Apparently, Ash's worries were for nothing. Both pokemon rushed over, chattering in their tongues about what exactly had happened. The trainer couldn't stay mad.

* * *

Days of Ash's training ordeal had turned to weeks, and weeks had turned to months, night and day blurring together in the wake of near-constant toiling and hard work. Over time, the adolescent had adjusted to the harsh climate, fingers growing tough enough to scale heights, muscles toughening to handle the mountain, and scars adorning him from unforgiving close calls. One thing he hadn't adjusted to, though, was the cold.

Shivering from the wake of the last harsh snowstorm near the mountain peaks, Ash shuffled from rocks recently scaled toward the nearest cave. The top of his jacket, surprisingly, was buttoned up, containing a very cozy Pikachu. "Man, it's freezing here! There's gotta be somewhere warmer up here… Maybe this cave'll help us out." Putting his complaining to rest, he slipped into the nearby entrance, avoiding the worst of the bitter winds.

Sure enough, the desperate need to conceal his skin from the air around him faded as the cold gave way to warmth. "I think we lucked out, buddy. This tunnel's nothing like the outside! I wonder what's in here, anyway." He unbuttoned his jacket, freeing Pikachu.

"Pikachu." The mouse scrambled to his trainer's shoulder, beady eyes turning left and right as his trainer walked along. Even compared to the lower tiers of the mountain, this tunnel was growing uncomfortably hot. Fire types were all but nonexistent towards the heights, too.

Soon enough, the heat almost grew unbearable. Sweat trickled down the trainer's forehead for the first time in what felt like weeks as he moved onward. "Hey, check it out! There's another path down here." Ash stopped in his tracks, peering down a tunnel that only seemed to journey deeper into the mountain. Notably, a rush of heat basked him coming from the dark path.

"So that's where it's coming from… Guess we might as well check it out, huh?" After spotting a nod from his companion, Ash ventured down a natural staircase forged by stone, spotting a light at the end of the tunnel that gradually grew brighter as he ventured further. Finally, the path evened. Stepping into a wider cavern, Ash lay face to face with the source of the smoldering heat.

The rolling waves of heat wafting off the flame-winged crane made the solemn cavern swelter. Panting, the chosen one looked up from the low peninsula. On either side of him, the waters swirled, low vapors collecting over the surface. Humid and miserable, this was the lair of Moltres, hidden away in Mount Silver.

And the master of the mountain looked down upon Ash, keen eyes unwavering, ancient memory unfailing. He recalled the day he'd been bound and the day he'd been saved.

"It's Moltres…" Ash spoke, his voice notably subdued from his normal loud, sometimes obnoxious tone. Infernos tailing its wings and crowning its head completed the iconic imagery. The same pokemon who'd offered its favor at the Indigo League. The same pokemon who'd warred with its brethren in the Orange Archipelago, where the Earth had nearly suffered certain doom. A daunting pokemon, to say the least. Worthy of fear and respect. Though, Ash only knew one of these concepts. Surely, if there was any ultimate test that this mountain could grant him, this would be it. "Moltres!" He shouted. "I didn't think I'd find ya here… But now that I'm down, I might as well see what we're made of. Pikachu and I want to challenge you to a match."

The ancients were enigmatic, distant, and unfathomably powerful. But, he knew the boy liked to battle, so he could bring himself to be humbled unto that. Looking into Ash's fierce black hues, there was no mistaking the boldness that dwelled within him. The indomitable drive to test himself and improve. If this trainer's iron will had any worth, though, it would have to withstand the legendary creature's smoldering wrath.

"Moltres! Did you hear me!? I want to battle you!" He fanned himself with his hat, growing uncomfortable within mere minutes of entering the cavern. Regardless, Ash refused to back away and leave the cave. Pikachu, likewise, with stood the unbearably hot air. Was this the legendary's pressure ability—or simply his raw power, the heat he possessed within that fiery gut?

"Mol!" Spreading his wings, Moltres finally accepted the duo's challenge. Descending from his royal spire in the center of the room, he opened his beak to begin with a scalding flamethrower, no hesitance in his mind. The dark room was lit ablaze by the brilliant flames, making Moltres appear to be but a towering shadow backed by a bright inferno.

Likewise, the aspiring master felt no need to hold back. Throwing a hand to the air with his usual dramatic flair, Ash called his first command of the match. "Pikachu, use Quick Attack!"

As Moltres arced down, a blistering draft dragging after him, Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder, leaping towards the craggy walls of the high ceiling's cavern to seek to pounce upon Moltres's back. Landing, he avoided the flame bath below. He spared a split second glance, assuring himself of his trainer's safety.

Ash had stepped back in due time, avoiding the flames that had only been spat upon pools surrounding Moltres' throne, the body of water hissing as steam was spat into the air above. A wide smile had worked its way onto the curves of Ash's lips. That had been a close call, but Pikachu had landed right on target.

Moltres flew up, aware of his passenger but equally aware that the Pikachu would not hang on for long. He opened his maw again, spitting out a Sunny Day to aid him. A blinding orb hung right below the ceiling of the cavern, further burdening man and pokemon alike with blistering heat. The temperature this high up proved too much, forcing Pikachu to hastily remove his paws from the bird's back. The rodent slipped off Moltres, eyes glued on his opponent as he fell down.

"Quick attack, again! Stay on the walls!" If he did that, then Pikachu would surely have more foot holds on those ragged walls than he would down towards the ground. Steamy waters dominated the bottom of the chamber, significantly outnumbering sparse patches of rock. Kicking off a spire of stone, Pikachu clung to the gravely sides of the cavern.

Moltres saw this and landed on a nearby spire, eyes glowing as his wings folded inward. An ancient power was used, breaking up parts of the scenery. Glowing chunks of rock manipulated by an odd sort of sorcery were flung towards Pikachu.

Of course, this was nothing Ash and Pikachu hadn't dealt with before. "Iron tail! Knock 'em right back!"

Shifting his weight to his forepaws, Pikachu kicked off the wall as necessary to twist and turn in order to send the boulders flying. He successfully managed to send several off course with his iron bolt-shaped hammer of a tail, and some were even sent careening back towards Moltres.

The enchanted rocks smashed into the pokemon of legend, earning a loud, pained cry.

But, this was a legendary. After fending off so many stones, they simply overwhelmed Pikachu, smashing into the rodent and knocking him off his perch.

"Agility! Agility!" Seeing Pikachu tense as he neared the water, Ash spied a pattern in the falling boulders. He'd only have one chance… "Get up on those rocks, and use Quick attack!"

Using his boosted speed, Pikachu dashed across the falling stones, headed for the slim peninsula of rock he and Ash had begun their challenge on.

He did not make it.

The blast of a Solarbeam knocked him off course, sending him skidding across the water before landing on another small island of rock in the middle of Moltres's steaming lake. The bird had not moved once, watching patiently.

Clearly, they were not going to get dominance physically over Moltres. They'd have to break him down from a distance. That was fine. If he could bide their time until the sunny day wore out, then they could do this.

"You alright, buddy?!"

"Chu!"

"Use Electro Ball, then!"

Pikachu raised his tail skyward, crackling electricity building in a sphere at the broad end. With a turn of his hips, the gold orb shot up towards its target. The hurled bundle of electricity sent the bird flying. They missed—this time. But, they had him on the move.

"Keep going!"

Pikachu grinned. Batter up! He began swishing back and forth, each whip of his tail sending off another Electro Ball towards Moltres. The legendary quickly grew tired of this, circling back around. Several orbs of surging electricity pummeled it, but true to its mythical nature, the legendary didn't slow down.

Tossing his head to and fro, he began using up the last of his sunny day, a monstrously strong flamethrower being torn from his throat. It scorched all in his path, toasting the ground along its way towards its missed target. Another competitor, however, wasn't so lucky. Pikachu's trainer was caught in the onslaught, diving away from the legendary bird's molten wrath. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite fast enough.

"Pikapi!"

"Aaaah!" The bold challenger had been hit square in the back, despite his attempt, lighting his clothing ablaze. Ash quickly snatched at the base of his shirt, tearing it and his jacket off in a frenzied rush. He made sure to stomp out his hat first, his hair's small flames put out with the snatching of his shirt. Though the flames had been extinguished quickly, the distinct scent of burnt flesh lingered like the ugly, fresh burn marks on the teen's shoulders.

"Haaa… aaa," he panted, kneeling down as he rode out the first waves of pain, waiting for the adrenaline rush to numb it a little. A gloved hand dug into the gravel that laid beside him, accompanied by a pained hiss from the injured boy.

Moltres paused, landing on a spire near Pikachu. Its eyes lay intently upon its opponent, waiting for further response from him. Would they continue their battle? Or had its hellish flames done him in?

"Grah… w-what're you waiting on?!" The boy gave Moltres its answer, bold dark hues glowering upon the powerful pokemon. His teeth were bared, gaze fierce. "We came all the in here to—nngh!—battle it out, so battle us!"

The legendary needn't be told twice. Turning his focus on Pikachu, he spread his wings, sending a strong gale through the chambers which sent the electric type soaring. With sunny day's scalding influence fading away, his Hurricane attack was far more powerful.

Nevertheless, Pikachu had an advantage as well. He'd been struck by powerful electric attacks time and again, plaguing his body with a lingering electric charge. With each flap of his wings, Moltres was brewing up a storm, whether he knew it or not. Stray bolts followed the hurricane, lighting the tense airs within the cavern.

And the challenging party would profit off that. The building tempest caught Ash's eye, excitement building in his heart as their opportunity became evident. Emotions built to their peak, caramel pools filling the boy's dark hues as a fist was thrown into the air, a thunderous shout echoing through the cavern.

"Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!"

The electric type leaped forward, bounding off the rocky spires that Moltres soared over, seeking to make distance between himself and the smaller pokemon. It didn't matter. Pikachu was able to keep up with his fleeing target, and soon a boom rang through the mountaintop. Golden flashes of electricity ignited the air between the two pokemon, swallowing Moltres in a blinding tempest.

"MOL!"

A shriek was just barely heard over the distinct boom of electricity, a charred fiery spirit left in its wake. Weary and on the verge of fainting, the flying type fluttered to his rocky nest, exhausted. Landing heavily on his belly, his great neck drooped. He'd been challenged and bested.

But, Pikachu couldn't even take a moment to enjoy the fact he'd just sparred against a legendary and come out victorious. He at once began bounding among the rock spires, landing before Ash with a thud. The boy had put his shirt and jacket back on with difficulty, gloves stained with ichor.

"Pikapi…" The mouse stood at his feet, beady eyes sullen with worry. The adrenaline built in the heat of the moment had faded, and his trainer's condition was now his only concern. Would he be alright…?

Despite his current state and his partner's concern, Ash could only laugh. "Y-You did great buddy! You're pretty banged up, too… let's head to a Pokemon Center, huh?" Looking down upon his victorious friend, he turned toward the exit to Moltres' chamber, eager to cash in on a well-deserved rest. Struggling in his steps, Ash stopped to turn toward his opponent. "Thanks for the battle, Moltres… They don't call you a legendary for nothin', huh?"

The phoenix let out a cry. As bitter as defeat was, especially for a pokemon of its caliber… That kid was special. It was good, at least, to see that he'd grown strong enough to defend himself.

"Chu…"

Pikachu favored a foreleg he'd strained during the match as he walked beside his injured trainer. He was tired. This mountain had begun to wear on them.


	10. Chilling Out and Moving On!

Hey there, everyone! I want to thank all of you for sticking through the story this far, and I promise there's plenty more coming your way! If you're interested, though, I've started hosting a blog for this story, since this site doesn't allow much in the way of fanart. It's on tumblr, and the blog title is another-rxad. If you have the time, check it out? Character designs and fanart should be showing up there when they're relevant. Thanks for your time, and we hope you continue to enjoy the fic!

* * *

He didn't know whether the slight cool of the late winter air was of comfort or pain to him. His shoulders and arms still hurt. The burns were raw and every movement he swore caused a scraping across them with his clothes that just might drive him mad with pain. He felt he'd experienced worse… but it also felt like it was taking forever to get downhill.

It was probably because he was so restricted on how he could move his arms.

"How you doin', buddy?" the trainer checked, tired eyes sliding off to the side to get a peek of his partner pokemon. The little yellow mouse trotted beside Ash on all fours, tail dragging behind him and ears a little limp. Exhaustion weighed heavily on both of them and, unfortunately, the adrenaline of what they'd just done could no longer fuel them. It was only the discipline of someone who was familiar with traversing the wilderness and the will to survive which spurred them on.

It seemed fate would smile upon them once more, though.

"Dreee!"

Ash looked up, squinting to recognize the dark little shape headed towards them. In short order, though, it was clarified. It was a Misdreavus! And, judging by the personality, the same one he'd indulged to battle up on the mountain.

Ash grimaced as she fluttered around them, oblivious and giddy. "Not now, Misdreavus… we're trying to get to the Pokemon Center."

"Mis?" she inquired before floating down by Pikachu. The two exchanged words before her countenance changed. Worry flooded her voice and she rushed forward, path diverging from what Ash originally had planned as their route down. "Dre! Dre dre!"

"Pikapi pika," the mouse assured before following Misdreavus.

"... you're gonna show us a short cut?" Ash realized, smiling. "Thank you!"

So, their journey continued. Though it took them through thick woods and for times Ash worried if he would need to battle thanks to the distant grunts and growls of other wild pokemon. Misdreavus scared them off with ghostly wails. It was likely Ursaring-which would fare poorly for Ash and Pikachu's sake, but worked out nicely against a ghost type. The bears wouldn't waste their time with her, after all.

Eventually, her short cut proved its worth by shaving a whole hour of travel time off their journey! The slopes were gentler as well and therefore easier on the heroic duo.

Sighing as he spotted the orange roof of the Center in the distance, Ash looked to Misdreavus. "Thank you. We owe you big time!"

He was about to walk off when the little ghost let out a whine. "Misdreavus…" She floated in front of Ash, frowning. "Misdrea! Dreavus dreavus!"

Blinking, Ash put two and two together. "Oh! You wanna come with us." He looked towards his arms, wincing as he lifted one to try and reach into his bag. Shrugging it off his shoulders with no promise of relief seemed insane. "I… can't right now." He hung his head before thinking better as pain shot through the chaffed skin on his neck. "Gah!" An epiphany reached him. "Wait! You're a ghost! Hey, if you can float through my bag and get into one of the empty pokeballs, you can come with us right now! If not, I'll catch you once I get patched up!"

It was worth a shot, Misdreavus supposed. Phasing through the cloth of Ash's bag, she searched for a moment. Ash tensed as a distinct clinch marked a pokeball opening. He prayed she hadn't released anyone while the bag was still on his back. However, a wiggling motion told him otherwise. When a ding clarified her successful capture, he breathed a sigh of relief. However, as quickly as that happened, a slight weight was removed from the bag.

"Guess she's in the PC right now. Let's go get patched up and then introduce her to the team, huh, Pikachu?"

"Pika," the mouse agreed, mostly looking forward to the treatment. Misdreavus could be properly introduced after his bruises were treated.

* * *

Days had gone by with little ruckus in the Pokemon Center, routines seldom interrupted by little more than wild pokemon stopping by to be fed. No scars to tend to, and no bottomless stomachs to feed. Nurse Joy had found things to be remarkably easy. Though, that did make things a bit dull in the small hospital. Currently sorting and ruffling files behind her desk, Joy could hardly anticipate what was about to walk through her glass doors.

The fresh, clean aroma of the center was intruded upon by the smell of sweat and burnt clothes, quickly turning the pair of sapphire eyes toward the front entrance. A gasp left the woman's lips, worry building when she spotted Ash limping into the small building. Lacking the usual spring in his step, he made his way to the front desk, resting an arm on the counter top.

"Uh… Nurse Joy?" He started, ignoring the pain that surged through the extremity. "The two of us could use a lil' help." That was quite an understatement, of course, but that was Ash for you.

"Pikachu." Ash's companion leapt onto the counter, though, with unusual difficulty.

"My goodness!" Though the nurse should hardly be surprised; he'd stumbled into the center in less than stellar shape a number of times before; judging by his charred clothing, this had to be the worst case so far. "What on Earth happened to you two!? Here, let me take Pikachu."

She cradled the electric type, clicking her tongue at the bruises and burns that adorned his yellow fur. "Chansey! Please bring a stretcher and accompany Pikachu to treatment!" She called, lightly scratching under the mouse's chin. "You've been through quite the trial, haven't you? Well, your condition is hardly fatal. Just try to relax, and we'll take care of you."

The helpful Egg pokemon scurried in with the appropriate equipment, taking possession of Pikachu before lightly setting him down on the flat surface. "Chansey~!" It chimed, wheeling Pikachu off towards the area where he would be properly treated.

"Hang in there, buddy! I'll see ya soon!" Ash called, answered by a wave of Pikachu's paw. Turning back to the Nurse, he flashed a sheepish smile. Even he was aware of the reputation he'd picked up for getting tied into danger.

"Now you, I'll have to take care of myself. Somehow, you seem worse off than even your pokemon. Take a seat in the other room and show me your injuries? I can't have you leaving in this condition." The Nurse chided, gesturing to a small treatment room for humans down the hall.

"It's pretty wild, huh?" Ash managed a chuckle before regret washed over, punished by an ache in his neck. He sluggishly made his way over to the room, leaving his scorched red jacket behind.

* * *

As a nurse, particularly as a nurse at such a remote vista, this particular Joy had seen more than her fair share of misery. This particularly battered case was more chipper than usual. Then again, she'd discovered that the boy in red was the sole source of sunny bliss on that mountain.

Too bad he'd been blistered by a brighter warmth. "There. Now, you may need to go make some calls… you'll need to make sure those bandages are changed on the regular." Beginning to clean up after the process, she clicked her tongue. Despite his injuries, he kept a smile as wide reaching as the burns he sported.

"Sure thing, Nurse Joy!" The teen chimed, seeming eerily happy to have come back from what could qualify as second degree burns. He was in pain, there was no doubt about it - but his spirits had soared, thanks to the very conflict that had scarred him so. When the reality of who he'd have to speak to crossed him, however, his smile seemed to fade, worry setting in. "Man, Mom's gonna kill me when she sees me like this… But, wait till I tell her that I got it beating a Moltres!"

"Well, I can only imagine how upset your mother would be. You really should be more–excuse me?" The nurse looked up from where she was putting away the waste, carefully into the bio-waste bin. "Did you just say _Moltres_?" Surely he was joking. Right?

Her shock earned one of his typical grins. He hadn't even mentioned that, had he? Ash has recited the fact so many times in his head that whether or not it passed his lips escaped him. "I sure did! Right up near the top of the mountain, it was in one of the caverns! Somehow, Pikachu ended up being the lucky one! He came out of it just fine!" It was hard not to boast about the stunning abilities his partner displayed, returning only with a few bruises and burns. Nothing like what Ash had suffered. It sufficed to say he was just that tough, right?

"That does make sense," she muttered. She frowned. "…that explains why this part of the mountain is strictly off limits to the average trainer, harshness of it all aside." A momentary burst of pride filled her. She was sort of a guardian, wasn't she, then? This cheer in her heart, she nodded. "Right, right, well, you'd better go call your mother. When you're done, your team will be all rested up. I suppose I should get dinner ready for everyone, too…" She did have wild pokemon who knew she was trustworthy to look after, too, after all. The lonely little center was a busy one.

"I can see why. I can't remember the last time I came across pokemon that powerful!" Awed as he was, the observation did serve as a boast; he'd been up in the caverns and heights for months now, and the nurse knew that. He'd survived. Just as much as pride served his ego, though, his stomach needed nourishment too. His eyes lit up at the mention of dinner, and he was quick to hop up off the table, reprimanded for his haste by a sharp pain in his still tender skin. Moving more carefully to the phone, he was quick to dial in his home phone number, waiting not-so-patiently for his mother's image to appear on the screen.

Back in warmer Pallet, Delia had just finished dinner. The only thing that captured her attention more than keeping up with local affairs–when _was_ the next block party?–was the ringing of the phone. More often than not, it was not her ever busy baby boy, but this time…

This time she lucked out.

The screen flashed through, Delia's curious expression blossoming into livid excitement. "Ash! It's so good to see you, honey! How are you? Are you warm? Are you changing your underwear regularly?"

"Hey, Mom!" The boy beamed, thrilled to see his mother's face again. After so much solitude, pardoning his own pokemon and the wildlife, seeing someone dear to him was definitely refreshing. "I'm doing pretty great!" That was answered smoothly enough, though the mention of her embarrassing reminder led to a quick raising of his hands, showing he was quick to try to dismiss the topic. The sudden movement left him with another surge of pain, however, his arms and voice faltering with him. "Mom, I… Told you, I remember to do that now!" He finished with a wince. His t-shirt hid the numerous bandages, but would he be able to keep that agony under wraps?

Motherly instincts ran strongly in Delia–well, the protective, nurturing kind. If there was no need to act overly protective, she was much more relaxed. This was not one of those times, however. "What's wrong?" she inquired, eyes zeroing in. He'd winced when he was moving his arms… "Did you get a broken bone again? What'd you fall off of?!" At least he was at a center, she reminded herself. He'd gotten help. Wait, no, he didn't have a cast. "What happened?"

"I, uh… None of those things! Nothing's broken!" He winced again, this time in the true manner of a scolded child caught doing something wrong. "I just, uh…. Kinda got burnt up a little!" Nervous laughter followed - a sign that he knew that didn't come out sounding nearly as good as he'd hoped. "…But it was from a really intense battle! Nurse Joy said as long as I'm careful, I'll be alright in no time!" It wasn't exactly a lie… Sure, she'd said he should stay off his feet for a bit, but details were details.

"And, how did you get burnt?" Trust a mother to zero in on the loose details. "Who did it? Did you report them? They should really work on the aim of their fire types." She knew training was a fairly dangerous profession, yes, but this was her child and the statistics and expectations of any career be damned for that.

"Well, it… Wasn't exactly a trainer! There are hardly any of them up here!" He was sure Professor Oak had mentioned that when describing the area before he'd decided to come. "The thing is… Pikachu got into a battle with Moltres! We got a little beat up, but we won! Pretty impressive, huh?" Though that did serve as a distraction, he did want her to be proud. After all, he'd defeated a pokemon of legend with a Pikachu! That was no small feat.

"… Moltres…?" Like on the islands. Delia seemed quite for a moment, got up, walked off screen, and was quiet for a moment. There was the distinct sound of angry screeching (why must the universe have cursed her with both a reckless child and then burdening him with… with, destiny?! Fate?! Something!) though muffled through a few rooms. Composure regained, Delia was proud. Not as much as she was concerned, but all the same. "That's fantastic, honey! You certainly deserve a break! Why don't you, Pikachu, and all your pokemon come back to Pallet for a spell?" Her words seemed like an invitation… but they were phrased the same way the offer of a jacket on a cold day was as much a warning as a sentence of concern.

He could even feel himself wince when the scream was heard from the other room. It didn't exactly come as a surprise; while the boy had little to no sense of self-preservation, it wasn't out of this world for someone close to him to worry about his ridiculous exploits. "A break…? But we've been making so much progress lately. Thanks to training here, we were strong enough to do what we just did!" A pout had fixed itself on his lips. Why stop working when it was giving such fantastic results? Heck, if he kept it up, maybe he'd be a Pokemon Master long before he thought he would!

"Aw, but you shouldn't bu–butt up against so many good things at once!" Smooth recovery, Delia. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be recovering, right now?" How prepared was Ash to go up against Mom-logic, anyway?

"I… Guess so." Deflated and defeated, even Ash knew that she had a point there. It was normally his style to rush back in as soon as it was marginally safe to do so. But, with that win under their belts… Maybe it _was_ time for a break. "I just thought I'd keep at it… But, if it'd be best for all of my pokemon, then I guess I'll come home."

She hated to exploit his natural urge to tend to his companions… but she really was worried. "After a rest, you all will be able to fully charge into a new adventure." She winked, trying to encourage him. "Besides, who's going to notice your might up on that silly old mountain? You should be showing off down here!" Where she could keep a better track of him, admittedly, but a part of it was a selfless desire–he wanted to be recognized for his skills, didn't he? Well, that would require witnesses. And, witnesses did not trek through the blinding blizzards of that mount.

"Hey… You're right! I wanna show the world what I'm made of, now!" He chippered up immediately. Hook, line, and sinker. "With all the hard work we've put in here, the next league is ours!" Which one that would be was anyone's guess. Maybe back home? "Alright, Mom… You win! As soon as everyone's fixed up, I'll come home! Besides, I've got two new friends here I want ya to meet!" New pokemon, that was. And not just any wild catches!

"As long as they've got house manners, they're more than welcome here, sweetheart." Satisfied with this outcome, Delia figured she wouldn't press her luck on inquiring about where he was going to challenge next. "Well, if that's all, should I let you get back to taking care of business? …Oh, and don't let me forget! You're going to need a new outfit when you start traveling again!"

"Yeah… I've gotta check on Pikachu and tell him the good news!" The mention of a new outfit… Was actually spot on. He probably shouldn't mention that his red jacket had been thoroughly charred, but she'd find out when he got home. "Oh, right! You think you could, uh… Make the one I wore up here? I've almost outgrown it by now, and it looks pretty cool!" The world hadn't seen it yet, after all. He might as well get to show off on his new journey!

Well, he'd worded it right. The proud parent nodded. "Oh, you are just growing up! I thought so, but I wanted to see in person to be sure! Of course I'll make you a bigger version! I'll make sure your measurements are right once you're home!" Now she'd be occupied while waiting, at least. She'd have to make sure she had the right fabrics.

"Great! Alright, Mom! I'll see ya soon! I'm gonna go tell Pikachu!" He waved to his mother through the screen, eager to head to check on his partner as soon as the call ended. Their training had truly been put to the test, and now they were going to have some much needed rest!

Right on time. The nurse's Chansey tottered around the corner, apparently looking for their guest. She pointed towards the dining area, indicating dinner was ready. If Ash didn't want to lose his portions to a frequenting Machoke, well, he should probably book it.

But, when did Ash ever not get his share at meal time?

* * *

A scorching battle and a call home led Ash to conclude his training up in Mt. Silver's heights, finally calling the headstrong trainer home. After a surprisingly difficult goodbye with the Nurse Joy who had tended to him and his team for so many months, the boy and his Pikachu headed home for Pallet Town. Unlike their usual journey home, this one took little time, only requiring a relatively short flight on Pidgeot.

However, Ash was puzzled by the scenery as they left… how long, exactly, had they been on Mount Silver?! Pallet was lightly dusted with snow, powder and soft. After thanking and returning the loyal flying type, Ash and Pikachu walked towards the porch, snow squelching under Ash's feet the whole time.

"Mom!" he cheerfully cried as he knocked on the door.

"Pika chu!" the electric type chimed after.

In short order, Delia answered the door, letting out a happy giggle as she threw her arms around her boy. "Ash! You're home!"

Struggling to swallow a yelp, Ash hugged her back. "H-Hey, it's good to see you, too…"

Not at all fooled, Delia stepped back, eyes squinting. "You're still hurt. …~It's fine, Mom's gonna take great care of you! Come in and have a rest, I'll put some mint in a towel and put it in the freezer, that should feel good-you said it was your back that was hurt? What about you, Pikachu? Ash may want ice for his healing burns, but what would you like? Maybe a heating blanket, hm?"

Though not quite sore anymore, Pikachu let out a squeak of delight at the thought of having a nice electric blanket to doze on. The luxuries of civilization were long missed!

Ash laughed, listening to his mother. He and Pikachu plopped down on the couch, intending to rest just a moment… but before he realized it, Delia had put his bag away and was asking for his shoes and jacket.

"Huh? Why?"

"You're not going to wear shoes in my house, but you don't have to get up, so I'll take them. Plus, your jacket is soaked!"

Blushing a bit at how much his mother was obviously worrying and doting over him, Ash did as he was asked before turning on the TV, admitting to himself that he was rather eager to catch up on currents.

Returning with the electric blanket for Pikachu, Delia's good mood showed no signs of slowing down. "You want a snack, dear?"

"Oh, boy, would I!"

Giggling, the Ketchum lady returned in short order with decorative cookies and milk.

"Is this Santa and Stantler?" He frowned, recalling the Ponyta cookies that used to come out at- "Is it Christmas?!" Ash barked, shock flooding over him.

"Almost!" Delia assured. "We're about a week away, still! Don't worry! I was waiting on you to come home to sign some Christmas cards for your friends! Professor Oak and Gary are going to come over to spend the day with us, too!" She suddenly frowned. "You've been gone for a while, honey… And, I hope being hurt like you are won't really take the party out of you."

Trying to put her at ease, Ash stood up, waving his arms with only mild irritation in his shoulders as his reward for it. "Hey, hey, I'm fine, see? Haha, I missed you, Mom, so, let's just focus on having a great time!"

Delia's smile softened after the initial shock of Ash's outburst wore off. Then, she reached to his hat, taking it off and gently ruffling the hair under it. "You know, you've gotten pretty tall. You really did need a new outfit." The gentle moment of a mother realizing her child was growing passed almost (almost) as quickly as it had come. "Oh, my! Look at your sideburn-oh, no, those are bangs! Haha, your hair's gotten so long! Tell you what, I'll give you a quick hair cut until the shops open back up after the new year in Viridian!"

Ash reached up, touching the new locks considerately. "Mm, I kinda like 'em. I got used to 'em while I was on the mountain."

"That's fine, but you're definitely going to shave, young man! You look like a poorly written action hero!" she teased, rubbing his cheek so that he could hear the signature scritch-scratch of stubble against skin. "Okay, you can keep that if you really want, but you're going to need to groom it if-"

"No!" he interrupted. He blanched, not quite used to that much change yet. Maybe when he was older he'd grow a beard or something, but right now… earlier this year he'd been without even peach fuzz! That was a little too much change too quickly! Would anyone even recognize him?! "Yeah, I'll shave, I'll shave."

"Heheh, better a late bloomer than never, huh?" the mother tutted before heading to the freezer to fetch the minty towel. "You know you're supposed to wait until the new year for a new look!"

"To tell ya the truth, I never really thought about looks, before now!" Ash rubbed the back of his head, bearing a sheepish smile. Though, as quickly as that thought came, it left in favor of Ash's niche. "Oh, Mom! I've gotta show you the new pokemon that I caught while I was up there!"

"Oh, of course! I'm sure you made some wonderful friends while you were up there! It'd be great to meet the ones who kept you company! Now, as long as they're well behaved…!"

"Of course they are! Just wait till you meet Misdreavus and Tyranitar!" Ash scrambled for his pokeballs in his backpack, eyes glimmering with excitement.

"T-Tyranitar!?" The mother sputtered, already put in panic mode. "Not in my garden! Oh, it'll just ruin all my flowers and vegetables and herbs! Not to mention the damage a pokemon that big would do to the house…! You'll have to take it outside, honey! But, Misdreavus can stay!"

"Aw, Mom. He really isn't that bad! But I guess you're right." The big softie was six… Seven feet tall? The small home wasn't equipped for such a giant. "Alright, then. Misdreavus, come on out!"

A pokeball was tossed inside the living room - much to Delia's horror - before bursting open, spitting out a flash of light. The product quickly took form, appearing as a shadow before fading away. Earning a few turned heads, the ghoul floated about before appearing right in Ash's face.

"Mis!" The pokemon chirped, once more becoming visible. A small, blue specter with pink flowing tips, and a series of red jewels, the pokemon was content to nearly scare Ash out of his socks. "Misdreavus!" She orbited Ash and Pikachu, both of them regaining their composure.

"Man, you scared the he…" Dark hues darted on Delia before Ash continued. "...Heck out of me!" It was clear that the pokemon had a playful side. "Misdreavus, this is my mom! Mom, this is Misdreavus! She helped me and Pikachu get down the mountain after we battled Moltres!"

"Oh, you did?" Delia liked this little one already. "Well, thank you so much, Misdreavus! It's good to know someone's looking out for my babies. The two of them are always getting into trouble!" Delia remarked, much to Ash's dismay. The matriarch attempted to give the pokemon a hug - to little avail, as her arms passed right through the creature. Quickly recovering from embarrassment, she continued, chipper. "Well, Misdreavus, consider yourself more than welcome in our home!"

"Mis! Mis!" The pokemon chirped, happily floating about, even caring to circle around Delia.

"Now, why don't we take your other friend outside?" she suggested.

That was more than enough to send Ash and Pikachu scurrying, the second pokeball in hand. "You've got it, Mom!" Rushing out the door, Ash moved from the neat and tidy yard - even in winter, Delia kept her garden orderly - to the spacious sprawl of unclaimed neighborhood space. "Alright, Tyranitar, I choose you!"

A flash of light illuminated the area as Delia and Misdreavus followed them outside. As Tyranitar materialized, it looked around before suddenly seeming confused. This place looked almost like the mountain! Wasn't the rest of the world supposed to not be cold like the mountain?! Pouting, the goliath pokemon curled his tail around his legs as he sat down.

"Aw, he looks sad," Delia noted, walking past Ash to pat the rock type's knee.

Tyranitar tensed up, looking frantically at Ash as if to ask if this person was safe.

"Tyranitar, that's my mom!" he clarified. "She won't hurt you - she might put us to work hauling firewood if the weather gets much worse, but she's fine!"

Cocking his head, Tyranitar decided to accept Ash's words and leaned over to give Delia quick nuzzle which resulted on her falling on her rear. Misdreavus attempted to catch Delia, but she fell through as humans tend to do with ghosts.

Laughing, Ash walked over to help his mom up as Tyranitar panicked, letting out little growling noises as an obvious apology. However, the growling continued after Tyranitar was soothed by Delia's assurances that she was fine.

"Hey, I'm actually getting kind of hungry," Ash mumbled.

"Mime!" Having opened a side window, Mr. Mime called out to everyone, making it clear that dinner was ready. Before they could even get in the house, the psychic type was carrying a big pot of pokechow outside.

As Ash headed inside to his own dinner, where the smaller pokemon would also eat, he couldn't help but laugh at how funnily Tyranitar reacted to the pokechow. He'd always survived on wild foods, hadn't he?

"Hm! This must be what it's like when a grandmother gets all of her grandchildren for the holidays!" Delia mused. "... and my memory's acting like it, too! Remind me after dinner that you got some letters in!"

Naturally, Ash's mind was on the food. He was happy to wait until after dinner to get his letters.

One in particular was quite interesting he decided. Riley, of all people, had sent him a letter.

The first portion started cordially enough. Riley was oddly formal, as if he had business experience. There was naturally the small talk and Ash couldn't help but smile as Riley talked about how well his Lucario was doing. Then, the wording got… weird. He kept going on about old business and ancient affairs, a dying trade… A shared ancestry, even. It weirded Ash out, the way Riley seemed to be making no sense…

Until he remembered and realized what the man was talking about.

Aura! They had that in common! With this connection in mind, Ash realized Riley was talking about the rare power the two of them shared.

And, that he was inviting Ash out to train it. All in vague wording, still, but with one riddle solved the other subtexts were spelled out even to one who wasn't as book smart as Ash. Riley required no response, wanting to keep the whole affair as confidential as possible due to the secrecy of their skill.

While that was settled, the invitation did have an expiration date. Riley would expect him there for training by mid-spring at the latest. By that time, Ash would need to be training in full for the League. However, if he left sooner, he might be able to press through whatever Riley had to show him - he'd always been a fast learner - and be back in time to train.

The only matter was talking to Delia about it. She didn't even know.

Never controlling, Delia hadn't asked about or looked at the letter until Ash put it down and noticed the solemn look on his face. "Is everything okay, sweetheart?"

"I, uh, got an invitation for some training."

Her lips pursed. "...You just got here."

"I wasn't gonna go until the new year," he clarified, carefully treading the waters. While by no means did he really need to ask permission - he was, by all concerns of Kanto's government, an adult - but… it felt wrong to just leave, to ignore how Delia felt about the whole matter. He wanted her blessing on the voyage just so that she wouldn't worry and he knew things were still good between them.

"You already went off to train - unless it's somewhere in Kanto?" she pressed. If he was staying somewhere local a while, maybe she could get someone to take over weekend shifts and she could take little vacations to spend time with him.

"It's in Sinnoh."

The expression on her face was momentary betrayal, but she quickly grew curious. "Who's the letter from again? Who's asking you to train? Is it Dawn? Oh, it's been awhile since I spoke with Johanna! Oh, you mentioned that you'd gotten to get along okay with that Paul boy; does he want to hang out?"

Shaking his head, Ash did admit that it would be a bit easier on him if it were the case with Dawn. They both loved training and their moms could keep each other company.

"It's Riley."

Mere confusion was upon her face.

Ash took a breath before looking to Pikachu. "Hey, you can't hear anyone else, like, walking up to the house, can you?"

"... Pika." The coast was clear, except for members of the family.

"... He's an aura guardian." Ash spoke again, quickly, before Delia could ask what that had to do with anything. "I'm an aura guardian."

The woman put her hand upon her heart, forced to process this information on the spot. The legends were scarce - the art was all but seen as a myth, but having grown up in Kanto, she'd heard a few stories. But, for Ash to actually be involved in the legend, himself!? "Oh dear…" She managed a smile, however worried she still appeared. "It seems you can never stay out of the surreal, can you?" This just seemed to be the fate of her baby. First being the 'chosen one,' and now a disappearing clan of superheroes. It seemed this was a fate they just couldn't avoid.

At the very least, she was very proud of her son. Accepting his condition, she continued. "Mm, so, how long will you be gone? You're still trying for the League this year, right?"

"I've got until mid-summer," Ash assured. "I've got a ton of time!"

The woman crossed her arms, flicking her eyes to the side. "... you can go, on four conditions."

"Shoot."

"One, you can't leave until after New Years. You are going to spend Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve, and New Years itself with me, Professor Oak, and Gary."

"Sure, I will! Long as you don't make me and Gary do one of those duets like you used to do…"

"That's fine, dear! You are growing older, after all." Such silly days, she knew, were long gone. "Condition number two: you must keep me updated on what you're doing! Not every day… but I just want to make sure you're safe while you're doing all this aura business."

A soft smile crossed the boy's face. "Sure, mom."

"Three! If you happen across Johanna or Dawn, let me talk to them!"

Here, he snickered. "Mom, don't you have their house number?"

"Yes, but Johanna said Dawn's out and about too, so if they're together it'll do me good to know Dawn went home some for the holidays. There's no good mother who doesn't want her baby home during the holidays!"

Deciding the simple albeit silly request was acceptable, Ash nodded with a chuckle.

"Four: when you get back to Kanto, come see me. That's all."

"I can do that!" And, with that matter settled, they were free to enjoy their winter festivities.

* * *

The sun still labored to climb over the horizon, a blurred and flattened buttery yellow blob across an infinite stretch of pale gray-blue melting into the rich abyssal navy of night. The brightest of the stars remained in the sky, ever defiant yet fading in the presence of the sun. Mirroring this, the waters below remained dark, lit only by the eerie distant gleam the jewels of curious young Tentacools and the quick moving light of Chinchou-likely hoping would be passengers might drop their breakfasts off the dock so that it would become theirs.

In this pale ashen blue light, our hero and his beloved starter stood beside Delia, chattering excitedly as the ship began accepting passengers.

"Make sure to call me when you make it!" Delia chided, once again eyeing Ash's bags and wondering if she'd helped him pack efficiently enough. "And, Sinnoh's cold, remember, so, do like you did on Mount Silver!"

Ash let out a laugh, somewhere between knowing he'd miss her and bursting with excitement. The energy had to come out somehow. "Right, right. I'll be fine, Mom, but I've got to go now!" Giving her a quick hug and her giving him a quick peck on the forehead, Ash then darted away… Or, tried to. He still had to show his ticket and PokeDex for identification before boarding.

Still, after he got on the ship, before heading to his room, he quickly looked back over the railing.

And, there she was. His mother stood, tall and beautiful but gently smiling for him. He would be heading north of her. That was how he oriented himself, by judging where he was in accordance to home, to her. It was always "going back home", not just to Pallet Town. She was his launching point, the safe port in a storm.

He hadn't realized how emotional he'd gotten until the ship lurched, departing from the wooden port. "When I get back, I'll show you something cool, okay?!" Ash shouted, struggling to be heard over the massively loud horns announcing the beginning of the journey.

Perhaps Delia heard him. Perhaps she just knew her son well enough to know he was making a promise to come home and see her once more. She believed him, as always. So she waved until the ship was out of sight, swallowed up by the haze upon the ocean the glittering waves caused. The sun had risen now, lighting the world, seeming to apologize for the absence of her own son, as if it might serve as a temporary replacement.

Then she turned and headed home.

Meanwhile, on the ship, Ash composed himself. They'd spent all the holidays together, right? Eating good food and-

His stomach growled. Loudly. The scent of the breakfast buffet they'd set up had been nagging him since he set foot on the ship-never mind the breakfast his mother made him-and he'd only ignored it because his love for his mother outweighed his gluttony. Now that he could do no more right now to express such, the stomach would be attended to.

"Alright, let's drop off our bags and head down to the chow!" Ash cheered, whooping as he ran along, nearly colliding with another passenger. Pikachu only let out an amused sigh.


	11. Forming an Iron Will!

The trip from Kanto to Sinnoh by ferry seemed to last longer than an ordinary day, with excitement building in Ash's beating heart. Nonetheless, he'd arrived in the northernmost region by nightfall, watching the sun sink into the horizon in exchange for Sinnoh's shores. Cool mist surrounded Canalave City, springing from the port's chilly waters. He and Pikachu departed once more for Iron Island, leaving as soon as the connecting ferry allowed.

A second, shorter trip followed, most of which was missed by Ash and Pikachu, as they slept the night away. As soon as they'd woke, the duo rushed to have their fill of the buffet made available to travelers. Not a moment too soon, it seemed, as a voice rang over the intercom just as they were finishing their meal.

"Attention passengers: The ferry has arrived at Iron Island! Please collect your belongings and step onto the pier in an orderly fashion! The bridge to the dock will be lowered shortly."

Quickly wiping his face of syrup, Ash stood, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. "Alright, buddy! You ready to go meet up with Riley?" He grinned, watching Pikachu down the last of the ketchup he'd poured onto his trainer's plate.

"Pika, Pikachu!" The mouse cheered, savoring the taste. Hopping atop Ash's shoulder, he followed the trainer through the crowd. Thankfully, this ferry was less crowded than the one to Sinnoh had been. It wasn't all that difficult for the two to navigate down to the concrete pier that bordered a small cluster of buildings against the rockier portion of the isle.

Slipping past the railing, Ash rushed down the small bridge between boat and land before sliding onto the pier. "Well, here we are! Now where's…" Darting black hues skimmed the populace before coming across a very familiar figure, accompanied by another familiar pokemon.

"...Riley! And Lucario!" Beaming, Ash rushed over to the young man.

"Ah, Ash! It's nice to see you again." The youth bore a smile, his demeanor a bit more reserved than Ash's. "I've come to the pier every day for weeks now, but I'd say it was worth the wait. I'm happy to see that you've accepted my request." Blue hues turned away from the sea, looking toward the island itself. "Now, it'd probably be best if we discussed our endeavor in private. Shall we head to my home on the island?"

"Yeah, sure!" Ash chimed, following the steel-type trainer along as they navigated through tourists, and others visiting the island. It didn't take long to break free of the commotion and fanfare, their path leading them out of civilization's way and into the puzzling maze of coal and stone.

"It took you some time to answer my call. I assume you've been busy?" Riley made conversation, while Pikachu and Lucario stayed ahead, innately more agile than their human counterparts. "If I recall, you were challenging the pokemon league in this region, no? I'd hope that went over well."

"Kinda," was Ash's answer, the boy reaching to rub the back of his head. "I made it to the semifinals at the Lily of the Valley Conference. We came close, but there was a really powerful trainer who took the whole thing. So, Pikachu and I have been really busy training the past few months! This time, we're hoping to come out on top! Isn't that right, buddy?"

"Pika, Pika!" The electric mouse turned his head to the two trainers, flashing a peace sign with his paw. He'd been currently telling Lucario of their endeavors, in which the Aura pokemon seemed to show interest. They seemed every bit as remarkable as they were reckless.

"Well, you've certainly grown," Riley added. Ash stood about a head taller than he had when they'd last met, and there was a certain glow in his hues that hinted at maturity. Or, what passed for maturity for Ash Ketchum, anyway. "I assume in mind, as well as in body? And Pikachu looks remarkably healthy, as well. Continue on your path, and you'll surely prevail."

"We'll do our best! I'm sure whatever we do here'll help out, too." It may be for aura, but training was training, right? "Hey, nothing crazy's gone down since we left right? Wouldn't want a repeat of what happened with Team Galactic, and all."

"Oh, no. It's been remarkably quiet here. Perfect for our own training, but things have gotten a tad dull. Which led to my pondering that brought you here." As if on cue, a small home came into view, catching Riley's attention. "I'll tell you more, once we've some privacy."

Ash blinked, the home both appropriate and inappropriate for Riley. It was beautifully cleaned, though very simple. Flowerless but leafy briars coiled around the cottage. As they approached the door, Ash couldn't help but chuckle at the overly ornate mat. It must have been a present from long ago judging by how worn it was.

"Well, welcome to our home," Riley introduced. Lucario entered his home first, gesturing to the meager living room first and then walking into the kitchen. A hall further down seemed to suggest a bathroom, storage room, a bedroom, and a spare. "The room Lucario's standing in front of will be yours. Right now there's only a cot, but if you see fit to furnish it further, just check with me before putting anything else in."

"So, what are we staying for?" Ash finally inquired, standing in the middle - well, considering the low table surrounded by sitting pillows - standing near the middle of the living room.

Riley smiled. "You, Ash Ketchum, will be my apprentice." Shutting the door behind him, the mysterious man looked very pale, very out of place in his drab, dark clothes and the dark wooden house. "As I'm sure you're aware, the number of humans who can sense aura is miniscule." He knew of people who were dedicated to fighting types, who through years of practice could produce a facsimile of the skill the two of they naturally possessed. "The number of humans who can manipulate it… well, to be honest, I thought I was the last for the longest." With no proper heirs, any hope of the skill being passed down again through a bottleneck legacy had faded from Riley. Then, he found out about Ash.

And, now Riley had Ash here.

"Do you understand? I need you to learn this. It's vital. We can never know when we'll be needed again. But, the training will be grueling. No matter how good a trainer you are, this will be different. Are you still prepared?"

A moment of consideration was given. Then, he nodded. "I'll do it. It's for the greater good, right?"

"Right. Thank you, by the way. Aside from a duty, it is also my great pride to be able to share this. I had to learn on my own… but you don't have to." Gaining a temporarily playful mood, the man turned to the kitchen. "If you act right. Now, go get settled in. I've got something to do."

With that, Ash and Pikachu headed to the room Lucario had pointed out while the fighting type joined Riley. After putting down his bag and rearranging his room just a bit (sleeping bag on the cot for extra comfort, his clothes put away in the closet, and his shoes and hat put away out of respect for being in someone's home) Ash then walked back out.

Waiting on him were Riley and Lucario, seated at the table. The Kanto duo joined the Sinnoh duo at the table, an egg on the table between them.

"Whoa… it's such a deep blue."

"She's yours."

"She?"

Riley nodded. "Inside the egg is a baby Riolu waiting to hatch. This is your first responsibility and your most important test. She will be your partner. All aura guardians have kept Lucario with them and have kept an extremely deep bond."

Here, Lucario barked, clearly agreeing with the deep bond part.

"Oh, wow," Ash gently whispered, reaching out to take the egg in his hands. As he did such, a strange sensation washed over him. He felt… connected, raw and unguarded. It was unsettling yet tender. It washed over Ash for several moments, his eyes wide the whole time before it faded. He realized then that he felt compelled, more than before, to protect and nurture the egg. Was this the bond Riley was talking about?

Grinning, said man spoke. "Well. If I've ever seen such a pleasant reaction to sensing aura, that'd be incredible."

* * *

Thus started what Ash could only describe as Hell Week.

Laying bed on the fourth morning, he waited for the sun to inch high enough for Riley to knock once on his door. (Ash knew better than to sleep in. That'd only add to the day's regime.) Quickly slipping from his sleeping clothes and into his exercise gear, he noted how roughed up his feet had become. If he didn't know how sharp some of the rocks could be, he have gone barefooted for how calloused they were already becoming. By the end of this, he'd probably be able to.

After a quick breakfast of juice, eggs, and toast, the four - Riley, Ash, Lucario, and Pikachu - headed further up on Iron Island to enter the caves. The morning started off with weight training. After Riley realized Ash could easily manage carrying two Geodudes at a time, it moved onto pushing Gravelers around. Ash completed the task with ease. Well, he completed the task in under two hours without cramping up.

Next, they headed into the hills where rocks jutted and for plateaus. Following Riley's irritatingly graceful lead - Why was this man just able to leap effortlessly from rock to rock? - Ash found today he didn't bust his ass a single time on the gravelly ground. While he was on the verge of exhaustion after all that jumping after exerting his upper body to the point he had, it was better to be tired than banged up from falls.

However, Riley would push Ash to his typical breaking point… with the pull ups in the small grove near the house. Trembling arms brought Ash up and then let him down until it was lunch time.

Riley was merciful enough to include time for a nap, which was all Ash wanted after eating and checking on the egg.

After a decently long break, it was time to go swimming. Admittedly, this was equal parts leisure and work. It mixed meditation underwater with fighting waves to stay at sea… and a healthy dose of just enjoying the tide while floating.

The final part of the daily routine was running until sunset in the open areas of the island.

Each afternoon, Ash was given free time. He usually spent it resting and tending to the egg, himself, and Pikachu.

Such was the general routine Ash followed while under Riley's training.

* * *

"Now, your next test." Riley began, standing a decent distance from the modest home, amongst rocks, the rare flora, and the occasional wild pokemon going about its business. "I'm going to have you and Pikachu get in battles with the wild pokemon in the area…"

"That's it? No problem! Pikachu and I'll be fi-"

"Without fighting back."

This stipulation earned two tilted heads.

"If you're going to be properly trained to read and understand aura, you'll first need to read your surroundings. If your aim is to simply defend yourself, you'll be forced to focus on your opponent's movements and predict them. If you can master this art, then you'll be one step closer to honing yourself as an aura guardian." Aware of how daunting this sounded, Riley continued. "Of course, if it's a life-or-death situation, I do expect you to fight back as a last resort. Lessons are replaceable. Life is far more valuable."

Now, this was new. Ash and Pikachu slowly nodded. "Right… That does sound tough. But we can handle it!" As eager as he was, though, Ash was left with one more question. "But, how are we gonna find pokemon to fight us?"

"Oh, don't worry about that." A meager, mischievous smile played at Riley's lips.

Shrugging, Ash ventured off into the rocky maze, arms folded behind his head as he walked around. "He said we can't attack… Wonder how we'll get pokemon after us." Pikachu shrugged, and he continued. "I'll tell ya, this is gonna be weird. Fighting back's always been our strong point!"

Ash's complaints were soon interrupted by a rather loud, metallic roar. Ailing ears caught Ash's attention, turning his orbs toward the source of the screech.

A Lairon stood in the duo's path, one of its tough, armored feet brushing the gravelly rock. Much like a Tauros ready to charge its prey. "Lairrr!" It cried, clearly ready to engage the two. Riley's promise was fulfilled, metallic jaws parting to fire a brilliant silver projectile towards the two.

"That's Flash Cannon!" Ash blurted, eyes rivaling saucers as he dove left of the gleaming blast. Letting out a huff, he landed with his best foot forward. "Man, that was close… We're gonna have to be more careful, Pikachu!"

It seemed trainer and pokemon alike were aware what they were in for. With that out of the way, Lairon let out a roar. Heavy hooves brought the creature charging toward the duo, intent on running them down. Or, so it seemed, anyway.

"Okay, it looks like it attacks in a straight line… We'll just have to watch out for that!" Ash warned, crouching as the silver skinned ran at them. Waiting, Pikachu gracefully leaped over it at the last minute whilst Ash actually momentarily jumped onto its back to run across its metal plated back and land safely on the other side.

As the maze was too narrow for Lairon to turn in, though it was wide enough to allow Ash dodging room, the steel type had to settle for snarling at having been thwarted before moving on.

"Great… I guess it's gonna be like that the whole time, huh?"

"Pikachu…" The mouse nodded. Well, at least that'd been relatively easy. Riley had warned them that this would be difficult. If past exercises told them anything, that warning had not been a lie.

"At least we're good at fending for oursel-" Ash let out a yelp, interrupted by a Geodude flying right past his face. Just a few inches closer and Ash would have been out like a light. "Man, that was a close one…!" Just as he'd been regaining his bearings, a second grunt caught his ear.

"Dude!" Another floating rock shot by, attempting to throw a punch Ash's way.

"Wah!" Ash was quick to duck, wincing as he felt the wind rush by just over his head. His messy bangs were ruffled, giving a testament to just how quick and powerful the small stones were.

"Pika!" Finding himself to be the target of another Geodude's Mega Punch, Pikachu sprang out of harm's way, landing on a stone jutting from the ground.

"Pikachu, behind you!"

Warned by his trainer, beady eyes turning back. Another was already coming his way, forcing the mouse to dig his tail into the ground, springing himself above the attacking pokemon.

"This is getting dangerous!" Ash watched the horde of rock-types circle in on him and Pikachu. "We better make a run for it if we wanna catch a break!" With that, Ash sprinted down yet another pathway, bordered by greater, onyx heights. The Geodude they'd fled from quickly fell behind, unable to compare to the duo's remarkable speed. However, they weren't out of the woods yet, so to speak.

"Geo! Dude! Dude!"

More grunts of the same name gave Ash a sweat, his eyes turning upward towards the rocky plateaus. The same species of pokemon lined the edges, every pair of eyes centered on the trainer and his pokemon. "Oh, great… Now there's more of 'em! Keep your eyes peeled, buddy!"

Rather than catapulting themselves, however, this gravelly bunch opted to lift up boulders roughly their size, tossing them at the duo. "Geo! Dude! Dude!" They tossed in a slow succession.

Two pairs of eyes grew giant, a shared yelp of panic leaving them as they sprung to safety. Following each pair of arms, Ash and Pikachu dodged left and right, managing to avoid harm. Soon, the trainer and his pokemon alike were able to judge by the Geodude's eyes, making cleaner escapes from their Rock Throw attacks. Panting, Ash couldn't help but take a moment to rest his back against the rock wall, panting heavily. "Man… This must be what battles are like, huh?" He huffed, looking to the mouse, who was darting to and fro, covering for them both.

"Pika, Pika," his companion nodded. Though, unlike Ash, he was quite used to the constant pressure. He'd even begun to jump from rock to rock, to make an exhilarating game out of what was causing Ash so much trouble,

"Dude!"

Another cry caught Ash's attention, forcing him to leap forward, barely scrambling to his feet. The call had come from above him, where another rock had fallen. "Okay, gotta remember from now on… I've gotta use my ears, too!" Pokemon typically made noise when they put effort into an attack. Another similar cry caught his attention, forcing him to jump backwards.

Quickly losing breath, he turned to Pikachu. "I think…" He panted. "I think we're gettin' the hang of this… But unless I wanna end up squashed flat, we'd better move!" With that, he sprinted through the rest of the passageway, ignoring the pain in his legs until he was sure they were clear of Geodude. Collapsing onto a standalone breath, he huffed.

"Oh, man…. That was close!" He could have sworn his heart was racing faster than a Rapidash. "But hey… We really… Held out there, didn't we, Pikachu?" He smiled down upon his companion, proud of himself. He was really starting to get the hang of it! If only he wasn't so tired.

"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu cheered, using his signature phrase that came with a victory. For him, this had been a simple speed and endurance session. For his trainer, though, that had been a true test of his perception. With hearing less impressive than a pokemon's, Ash had to put in much more effort.

Luckily enough for the duo, a minute or two of peace passed. Breath returned to Ash's lungs, his heart rate eased, and his vigor had returned. "Man, wait 'till we tell Riley about that! He's gonna-"

Once again, Ash had spoken to soon. A loud, earth-rumbling roar assaulted the duo's eardrums, making each cringe as they turned to face yet another terrifying foe. Towering over the duo like a small skyscraper, adorned with steel plates, the bipedal juggernaut set its icy blue sights on Ash and Pikachu.

Ash swallowed, standing up to face the pokemon, as if it would make him look any taller in comparison. Alas, he was still well within Aggron's shadow. "Guess I shoulda kept my mouth shut…" He exchanged glances with Pikachu, each of them nodding. As always, they would take on whatever overwhelming challenge that was thrown at them together.

"Alright, Aggron! Give us your best shot!" Ash cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting.

He would soon eat those words. One of its arms was raised, its long claws taking on a brilliant silver shine. Metal Claw was thrown towards the ground, threatening to turn them into shreds.

"That Metal Claw's heading right for us! Look out, Pikachu!" Ash yelped, diving off to the side. Dust and debris were thrown his way, clouding him in the grey shroud before Ash scrambled to his feet. The attack had missed its mark, and Pikachu'd landed on the other side. "That was close…! But hey, it looks like we're fast enough to dodge it! We've just gotta keep our eyes peeled!"

His arrogance was, once again, challenged. The giant pokemon turned its hips, its entire tail taking on a similar metallic hue. Once it'd built momentum, Aggron swung its body around, attempting to hit a home-run with Iron Tail.

Pikachu had little trouble escaping, leaping over to land on a rock adorning the darker heights.

Ash, however, wasn't so agile. Staring into the metallic limb that could easily spell doom for him, Ash scrambled for the familiar nearby boulder, climbing upon it to wait for the pokemon's strike. He hardly had to wait, though, the large limb coming right towards him.

"Alright! Here it goes!" Heart pounding against his ribcage, Ash crouched before leaping into the air, springing off the elevation in an effort that just barely brought him out of Iron Tail's range.

Stumbling a good deal before managing to right himself, Ash was sure he'd gone blue in the face. "That was a close one… Hey, Pikachu! Look out! He's coming after ya again!"

Metal Claw struck at the ground once more, though, it was hardly a match for Pikachu's speed. Several more metallic strikes chased the yellow blur, only leaving scrapes along whatever rocky surfaces Pikachu had previously perched upon and a frustrated Aggron in the attack's wake. This continued three more times before Pikachu was finally too high for Aggron to continue pursuing with with physical attacks. Snorting, the steel type turned its attention to Ash, who had been recovering until then.

Horns glimmering something sinister, Aggron turned and charged at Ash. This particular portion of the labyrinth was much wider, perfectly suited to such a mammoth monster… rather unfortunately for Ash.

Letting out a yelp, the boy dived out of the way of Aggron, watching with terrified curiosity as its horns stuck into the stone sides of their trail, his eyes wide in horror. "P-Pikachu, we're ditching!" Ash barked, scrambling to his feet. Seeing a potential escape route, Ash darted for it…

Only to have the silver skinned beast skid in front of him, teeth clacking together. Ash looked back. The way they'd come into this particularly large portion of the maze was blocked by the beast's tail.

"Pikapi!" the electric type cried, jumping down onto Ash's shoulder. The mouse's claws dug into Ash's shoulder as the trainer stepped back at their opponent's approach. Heavy stomps shook the earth and the creature's maw opened.

"... Are you seriously going to use a Hyper Beam?!" Ash squeaked, fear palatable. "Forget this! Pikachu, Electro Ball!"

Quicker than the blast of all-powerful energy could be spent by Aggron, Pikachu had produced and launched his own speedy attack. Between the massive speed difference of the two and - unknown to Ash and Pikachu - Aggron's relative youth and inexperience, the attack was plenty of deterrent.

Backing off while rubbing its face, an escape was finally presented to the duo. Needless to say, they took it, hearing only the rattling echo of Aggron's roar upon realizing they'd escaped. Soon, the trail seemed to come to another wide spot… and just when Ash was beginning to worry, Riley stepped out. A tiny zubat rested on his shoulder.

"Well, given what my little informant told me," Riley began as Ash realized the tiny poison type had probably heard everything Ash did given its sonar hearing, "you did very well. However, you shouldn't gamble with reaction time like that. What if Pikachu's Electro Ball hadn't fired before Aggron's… Hm, we couldn't figure out if it was a Hyper Beam or Dragon Pulse." Shaking his head, the master crossed his arms. "Either way, you're going to learn to read the situation faster. Or, you'll pay for it."

When Riley said he would be a tough teacher, he wasn't kidding. Shoulders slumping, Ash nodded along. "Yeah, I know… We'll definitely do better, next time!" At least it was progress.

* * *

Roughly five days had gone by… and Ash had burned through his food supplies. Miserably realizing all he had left was some rice and bread, the teen meekly turned to the living room, where Riley and Lucario were already eating their moderately portioned meals. Pikachu sat on the counter top, waiting to see what would happen.

"Hey… Riley. Do you think I could maybe borrow some chow… I'll take a ferry to go pick up some more tomorrow…?"

"No." The man continued eating, seemingly unphased.

"B-But, Riley! If we don't get some meat, it's gonna suck tomorrow!" Ash whined. He only knew vaguely how bodies worked from his short time in school, but he knew that working muscles broke them down and you needed meat to make your body better.

"You should have managed your food better," the master continued, lifting his cup for a drink.

Panicking, Ash looked towards the egg. What if he still didn't have food when she was born?! "Are you gonna starve us?! Riley!"

"A new shipment of supplies comes in next week. You can live a few days on bread and rice." Seeing that Ash still wasn't calmed, the man let out a sigh. "If you're really so hungry, you'll forage. Every night, the Zubat and Golbat leave the caves to go down to a beach side groove towards the southernmost point of the island. It's very fertile there. Follow them and you'll have more to eat."

Realizing what time it was, Ash gritted his teeth before grabbing one of the empty bags which previously held vegetables. Heading out the door, he only slowed down enough to allow Pikachu to keep up.

When he got outside, the first of what would become a swarm was already taking to the dull inky-purple sky. The trainer followed, stumbling on occasion over rocks until he remembered where he was and followed the trails he always ran across. Eventually, the path became more tangled and he had to feel and move quietly, listening for the squeaks of Zubat above. Thirty minutes of miserable slow walking in the dark eventually put him far away from the Zubat and Golbat, partially lost.

"Crap," Ash muttered. He slid down, resting. How would he know which way was south? He closed his eyes, concentrating. Maybe… maybe…

He lucked out. A particularly loud screech - maybe a pair of Golbat fighting over something - faintly reached him. He stood up, continuing his path until his feet hit roots and he grinned.

"We should have brought a flashlight," he muttered.

Pikachu glimmered then, realizing Ash couldn't see as well as the mouse could in the dark. Sparks danced over his cheeks and Ash looked around, realizing the bounty of the area they'd entered. He stepped deeper into the grove, grinning. He recognized some of these fruits, plucking the best looking. Soon he stumbled upon nut trees and grabbed as many of those as he could. As they walked on, he saw the Zubat and Golbat he'd followed. Some were gorging themselves on the fruits or nibbling on nuts. Some were on the ground, digging slowly. Eventually, they'd reach hearty looking roots. Some shared while other greedily ate them all on their own.

Deciding not to disturb the horde, Ash went off on his own, digging around by Pikachu's light to find his own food. After his bag was filled with the fruits, nuts, and root-vegetables, Ash decided he was satisfied.

"Well, that was a pain… But it looks like we got to the _root_ of the problem, huh?" A cheeky smile all but nudged Pikachu, begging for some sort of amused response.

All he got was a judgmental glance. And an amused roll of the mouse's eyes.

After a long, miserable trek home, Ash realized he still needed to fix some kind of dinner.

As he entered the house, Riley looked up, not quite surprised, but as if he were mulling things over.

"You didn't wait until daylight to come back? There was nothing to guide you."

Ash paused, suddenly realizing he only came back by what he could describe as a draw along with help from Pikachu lighting their way with his little electric cheeks. His eyes darted to the table where the egg stood. "I…"

Deciding not to speak anymore, Riley only smiled. "You're progressing fine." The bond was definitely building. "Eat your dinner and then get to bed. You're not getting a break tomorrow even if you're hungry." Though, if the boy had gotten the food that grove offered, he should be fine until next week.

* * *

The genteel sanctity of Riley's small home had been abandoned once more for the more rugged isle rows, this time leading Ash and company into a notably dim cavern. Cracks of light dared to shed some visibility through ragged rock, guiding the small group into the center of the chamber.

Without warning, Riley and Lucario came to a halt, turning to face Ash and Pikachu. "Our training will proceed here. I trust that you've adjusted to the limited visibility you've been forced to navigate?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "You've made impressive gains in anticipating and tracking the movements of others. Without fighting back, you've survived well enough. Now, I think it's fair that you'd be allowed to fight back."

"Fighting back? Isn't that just like any other battle?" Ash tilted his head, puzzled.

"Not quite. Your Pikachu won't be doing the fighting. You will." A small smile appeared on the aura guardian's lips. "Now that you can hold your own, you'll fight my Lucario. He's already volunteered to act as your partner, for the time being. In due time, your own will take that place."

"I'm gonna fight Lucario!?" That suggestion deserved at least a double-take from Ash, and Pikachu, too. Tough as he was, squaring off against a fighting type… "You sure about this?"

"Oh, it won't be anything you can't handle. Just trust Lucario. He is remarkably disciplined."

The Aura pokemon nodded, its usual stoic expression traded for a small, coy smile. He turned into a more guarded stance, patiently waiting for Ash to step up to the challenge.

"Alright… You want a fight, you've got one!" A snide smile formed on the trainer's lips, gloved fingers reaching to grip the brim of his cap before flipping it backwards on his head. He stepped closer to the Aura pokemon, raising both of his fists.

Riley would have raised a brow at the unusual gesture, if not for the notable flare in Ash's aura. Gaining a certain competitive spark, it could be reasoned that the cap had some significance. "Remember to focus on Lucario's movements while executing your own. With time, you should come to sense his intentions, and your innate sense through aura will begin to come naturally."

With that warning, the bipedal jackal lunged forward, throwing a punch towards Ash's face.

Watching the pokemon draw closer, Ash had ample time to turn on his feet, sidestepping the first punch, missing it by mere inches. A roar from the Aura pokemon tipped him off again, his right arm raising to block a left hook from his attacker. Despite the numbness shooting through his forearm, Ash had defended nicely enough.

Acknowledging the boy's success so far, Lucario grunted, swinging into what could qualify for a very subdued close Combat. Spiked fists flew, barraging Ash in a manageable flurry of strikes.

Sweating, Ash did his best to keep up, stepping back out of range when he could, otherwise raising his arms to block anything that just came by too fast. Dark hues followed rounder red orbs, trailing Lucario's intentions with every punch that came his way.

Though, competent as Ash was proving to be, he was still a human trading punches with a fighting type pokemon. A very close call drew an involuntary shout from the trainer, sweat dripping down his cheek. _'That's it. I'm gonna show 'em that I can throw a punch, too!'_

Grinning, Ash turned on a heel to regain his balance, throwing a punch straight towards the Aura pokemon. Unable to grapple with the punch like his opponent with opposable thumbs, Lucario simply blocked the punch with his arm. A small grin formed below its snout, canines showing.

Following up on the opportunity he was given, the raven-haired boy threw another punch toward the pokemon's side. Though, the element of surprise hadn't been his, after all.

Lucario dropped to one foot, holding himself upright with the opposite arm. A roundhouse kick was thrown towards Ash, which was only barely avoided by a backwards lurch from the latter.

Ash was more than impressed. Of course, it should go without saying that a Lucario's fighting prowess would be noteworthy, let alone Riley's. Stumbling into balance, Ash struck out with one jab after the next, doing his best to catch Lucario off-guard.

The fighting type held his ground, however, exchanging blows with the boy until even his perception hit a blind spot. A swift hook knocked the trainer in the face, putting the brawl on hold.

"Man, that smarts…!" Ash stepped back, whining as he rubbed his sore cheek.

"You had a good pace, but you became reckless." Riley criticized, interrupting the match. "While putting all of your effort into attacking can be tempting, you need to remain disciplined. Stay vigilant for your surroundings, and strike only when they offer you an opening. Against an opponent stronger than you, you can't afford to lose focus and take hits."

"Right…" Rubbing his cheek, Ash nodded along. Feeling somewhat bashful over his mistakes, he turned back to the Aura pokemon. "Just gotta stay focused!" Once more, he threw a punch.

Riley clicked his tongue. Oh well; Ash would learn one thing at a time.

The two continued their brawl, with Pikachu and Riley watching intently. Lucario took the offensive once more, only allowing Ash to slip in a strike when it had left a notable opening. Growing tired, Ash did his best to stay focused. Continuing to block and dodge, he did his very best to pay attention to Lucario's movements. Slowly but surely, his moves became more fluid, Lucario's shifts and turns making its moves more apparent.

In the midst of the grueling exercise, Ash found his intuition beginning to take over. Lucario's intentions became more and more clear, passing to Ash in what came to feel like a mental link. Chocolate pooled hues grew wide, something of a rush passing through the teen. Lucario's fist swung forward, its aim passing through Ash's mind clear as day. Shifted hips allowed him to pass by a right hook, making way for a swift jab that finally hit its mark. Lucario was hit clean in the jaw, red hues growing wide.

Ash's gloved fist hadn't moved an inch, not once leaving the boy's line of sight.

A wide smile crossed Riley's lips. "Well done, Ash. I'd say it's time for the real training to begin."


	12. Petal to the Metal!

The sun had once again smiled upon Sinnoh on a cold winter morning and Iron Island seemed to remain none the wiser with its more inhabited areas sound asleep. Tourists hid away from the cold in slumber and workers stocking and moving inventory were the lone inhabitants of the otherwise quiet industrial sector. That was, aside from just one hardy individual and his companions.

"C'mon… It's gotta get here soon." Ash complained, impatiently shuffling about the pier. Pikachu had left his shoulder, growing dizzy with all of Ash's pacing, and he sat along with Bulbasaur and Charizard, who had accompanied their trainer on his sneaky little errand. "I've just about had it with snackin' on nuts and berries, by now." Even if it was enough to get by, complaints from his stomach still occasionally pestered Ash. Traveling with Brock had definitely spoiled him.

"Pika…" The mouse agreed. Though that was very much a natural diet for him, he missed the quality cooking he'd grown so accustomed to. Though, his ears soon perked up. "Pikapi!" He pointed towards the horizon. The latest ship from Canalave had climbed into view, growing larger by the moment as it neared the isle's shores.

Ash's eyes grew wide, a smile growing from cheek to cheek as he recognized the incoming freight. "Alright! They made it!" Pumping a fist in the air, Ash cheered. Had the area been more crowded, he certainly would have made a scene. At this point, though, he could hardly care about that. His stomach mattered more than a little embarrassment. And, of course, his teammates did, too. Riley did provide pokechow, but soon, he'd be able to give it in abundance.

"I'm sure glad we decided to call Mom, huh, Pikachu?" He looked to his partner. "I knew she'd set us up with something great!" While he'd survived at least a few days on Riley's instructions, Ash had soon folded. As soon as Delia heard, she was quick to arrange a deal with a store in Canalave, guiding them to send food along with the ferry that often moved between the city and the island. In fact, he'd had to beg Delia not to chastise Riley herself for the conditions of the training. Whether it was simply a mentor, or even a legendary pokemon, no one would mess with Ash on her watch.

Soon enough, the boat docked, allowing Ash and his pokemon to salvage their inventory from inside. Once they'd made their claim, they were quick to depart, with Ash bearing as much as he could, Bulbasaur assisting with his vines, Wartortle stubbornly struggling to carry a box, and Charizard carrying the bulk. Looking to make as little commotion as possible, the group avoided wild pokemon whenever they could, even when that meant calming Charizard from seeking a spar.

"Thanks a lot, guys. Now we won't have to eat like that anymore! I promise you'll get your fill when it's time for us to chow down, alright?"

The trio of Kanto starters cheered, always happy to help their trainer out. Especially when it paid off, like it would now! Each was returned to their respective pokeball in a flash of red light, afterward. Ash and Pikachu rushed their supplies inside the small home, shuffling various containers into their room, doing their best to obscure the supplies amongst his usual storage. "Man… It's a good thing Riley's off with Byron right now. I didn't think we'd ever get a chance to put this stuff in!" He slumped up against the wall, exhaling in relief. "I know we shouldn't go behind his back 'n all, but that was getting crazy."

"Pikachu." As guilty as he felt, he agreed. Well, Ash was growing, after all, right? He needed to eat. That was justification enough for the two of them.

One filling meal of grits and toast - both smothered in butter and cheese - later, Ash was hastily cleaning up the kitchen, making sure to leave as little evidence as to what he and his team had been gorging themselves on. Perfectly timed, the last pot was put away by Ash and the last spot scrubbed by Pikachu just as Riley walked in.

Though Lucario sniffed, perhaps thrown off by the sudden arrival of these new spices, the aura guardian himself seemed vaguely disinterested. Byron must have been lively today. "We're heading down to the caves."

Ash thanked his lucky stars. Riley was none the wiser.

* * *

The next few days went much more smoothly than before. Ash, belly fuller, went through his exercises with much more ease.

During the morning weight training in the depths of the caves, he would nibble on cereal bars with the Gravelers between him and Riley.

Whilst he was jumping rocks, he didn't mind so much falling between them since he could land on his feet and the time he climbed back up could be spent chewing on fruit jerky.

Running across the rocky plains was the best. Rebellious yet hidden, he could gulp from his canteen before Riley. It was intended for water, but the trainer filled it with sports drinks.

It made lunch much more focused on relaxing. While the student noticed his mentor's focus upon the way Ash didn't ravenously devour his meal, the raven haired boy was ever eager with food, so perhaps Riley just chalked it up to the Kanto native finally getting used to a more meager diet.

Truth be told, Ash just knew that after lunch, he'd be able to nibble on some of the thick skinned fruit Delia sent. It was perfect for eating out in the ocean!

And, so, his day wound down nicely. Come dinner, Ash sat outside with Riley for once. The aura guardian had found a pair of lawn chairs in his few stored items and they were enjoying the surprisingly warm evening. With Ash's whole team out, it was rather lively. Charizard lazed, lapping at the suspiciously abundant food… though Riley was yet able to decide whether Ash was getting better at foraging or if something was up. Likewise, Misdreavus occupied herself by floating around Ash as he ate, already full herself; she seemed amused by the messy way Ash ate, getting himself and the egg in his lap dirty. Meanwhile, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Wartortle, and Lucario all discussed this or that over their own meals.

"Ash, watch how you eat," Riley chided.

Merely nodding his head while not really listening - what was Riley going to do, spoon feed him? - Ash slowed down the rate he was shoveling the sticky rice into his pie hole. After a moment, he wondered if he'd plopped some into his lap since there was sudden movement in it. But, no.

It was the egg. It was moving!

"Oh! Oh, man! Oh shii -" Ash trailed off, standing up with the egg but not daring to cuss quite yet. "Shucks."

Frowning at Ash's vocabulary but not inclined to speak on it at the moment, Riley likewise stood. "She's hatching," he happily declared, drawing near. Misdreavus likewise hovered nearby and Lucario, elated and aware that he would have a kin of sorts now, also came over.

Pikachu remained by the others, certain that crowding a newborn might be disorienting. After the aura specialist (and Misdreavus, he supposed) got to meet her, he would also meet the Riolu. Bulbasaur's opinion was much of the same, while Wartortle seemed excited in the same manner a sibling might be about the birth of a baby brother or sister. In essence, he was already thinking about whether they'd be a good battler or not. Charizard tried to pass off as passive, but his indifference was a thin veneer as he reared up onto his hind feet, neck craning to watch what was happening.

"She's really hatching!" Ash cheered, holding the egg delicately but supporting it fully with his arms. Soon, the shell began to crack before it completely burst into bright white light. After a moment, where the egg had been, nuzzled into Ash's chest was an infant fighting type.

"Rio…" Riolu's eyes slowly opened, exposing it to its first view of the outside world. Blinking several times, its large red orbs focused only on the growing boy that held it within his arms. Blinking upon spotting a pair of kind eyes, the pokemon looked to the nearest figure without a sound. Floating by the youth was a floating specter surrounded by jewels. Spooky looking, but it looked harmless enough, gazing intently upon the newborn.

Though, it couldn't help but feel as if there was more present than just these two. Taking note of Riley, and his Lucario next, the pokemon seemed to panic. Cowering into the boy's chest, she began to whimper before crying loudly. That one she saw first… The floating companion… And then more people, and more pokemon! Overwhelmed, her wails were enough to make most present to cover their aching ears.

"It seems… She's a bit overwhelmed!" Riley spoke over the crying, reluctantly holding his hands over his ears. "Perhaps we should take some action to calm her…!"

Ash, as much as his eardrums ached, stayed calm. "Hey, it's okay! These people here… No one's out to hurt you." Smiling down upon the tiny fighter, he gently reached to stroke its back. "You've got nothin' to worry about." Calm and consoling as he could be, he maintained eye contact with Riolu.

The sobbing and whining slowed, and deteriorated into sniffles. It clung to Ash's jacket, gradually calming with his contact. Its gaze turned up towards Ash again, eyes marked with tears that would soon fade away. His aura… It felt kind. Very familiar, in fact. Like they'd been bonded well before she'd popped out of her little blue egg. His warm demeanor was readable enough, and she smiled, nuzzling her little head into the boy's t-shirt.

"It seems she recognizes your aura," Riley ventured to guess. "I'm assuming the large audience was quite overwhelming for Riolu, but you did a good enough job in calming it down." He paused. "Judging by the pitch of its cries, I'm going to assume your Riolu is female. Now, would you like to give it a name?"

"A name…?" Ash brought a hand to his chin, the other resting on the small pokemon's back. He'd never really given one of his pokemon a nickname before. He'd thought about one back when he was trying to decide on his starter pokemon, but ever since… "Uh… I dunno."

Riley's steely gaze averted, looking for some sort of hint. It would be a lifelong bond that Ash would be creating, after all. For the most part, the large group obscured the natural backdrop. Out of the corner of his eye, though, the Aura Guardian spotted a small patch of flora growing from the rocky earth. Tall shrubs roughly a foot tall stood from the ground below, decorated with deep blue petals. Though hardly native to such a rough climate, they seemed hardy enough to survive on the island.

"Ah… Rosemary," he recited the name of the floral plant. "How about Rosemary? They typically represent enduring affection. Fitting for a bond between Aura Guardians, isn't it?" Knowing Ash to not be the type for symbolics, he continued. "The color is quite suiting, too."

"Rosemary, huh? What do you think?" Ash pondered, looking down to the pokemon that he held.

The Riolu stared at him, then Riley, then the plant. Quite liking the pretty arrangement, she let out a bark. Along with it, came a feeling of affirmation that came quite strongly through a seeming mental link. Not one for constructing her words yet, she transmitted feelings.

"I guess that's a yes… Alright! Then I'm gonna call you Rosa, okay?" Ash grinned. It sounded a bit less formal, and more suiting for someone of Ash's vernacular.

"Rio!" She barked again, satisfied. Rosemary and Rosa. She liked that.

"Well then, Rosa, welcome to the group!" Ash chimed. He was feeling like a parent, already. "My name's Ash. I'm the guy who's gonna raise you." Allowing her to get acquainted with her trainer, he looked to the group. She didn't seem to respond to a crowd well. Maybe if they took this slowly…

"And, I'm Riley." The young man introduced himself, his tone soft. Perhaps they could introduce the idea that none of them meant any harm. "I'm training Ash to harness aura. You'll be his partner in training."

She was fixated on Riley next. Like Ash, he had quite a prominent aura. Though he felt a bit less warm and enthusiastic than the other, he seemed kind and well-intentioned all the same. Her heart rate slowed as the second individual was accepted in her mind, making the endeavor just a bit easier on her.

Lucario made a greeting of his own, his voice soft and cautious, as well. He was Riley's partner.

Quickly recognizing the other as one of her own kind, she eased quickly, greeting him in return.

"And, these are all my other pokemon!" Ash gestured to the group, who had tactfully kept their distance, despite wanting to make friends with the new addition to Ash's team. Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Wartortle, Charizard, and now Misdreavus waited patiently.

Rosa began to shudder again, calm faltering over the overwhelming number of new companions.

Ash reached to scratch her behind her ear. "Hey, it's okay. We'll introduce ya one by one, okay?"

Huffing, the pokemon nodded. That'd be easier.

Although her arrival had been a bit more hectic than everyone had expected, Rosa had quickly become a happy, welcome addition to the group. Ash's pokemon had a new teammate to converse with and raise, and Ash had forged yet another bond with a pokemon that would surely stick with him through thick and thin.

* * *

With baby Rosemary in tow, Ash's training began anew.

The morning strength routines now included small Geodudes for her to push around while Ash worked with the Gravelers. While initially she was fairly feeble, she quickly put her fighting type strength to use.

With the jumping exercises she was much less adapt and there were several times where Ash had to dive to save her, but when it came to balancing on his shoulders - as Ash had quickly discovered was the better idea - it worked out fine. Over time, she gained control over limited jumping skill. She was still very short, after all.

During their pull-up sessions, she ended up more interested in push-ups, which Ash also swapped over to in order to make her feel like they were doing the same things. She rather liked mimicking him, much like a child would with a parent.

Come lunch time… Well, it was rather lively with a new baby to tend to with her fussiness concerning food arrangement, but Riley was decidedly less pleased with the larger mess. All the same, everyone had to admit the way Rosa insisted on taking her afternoon nap on Ash's chest was altogether precious.

Unfortunately, concerning swimming, Lucario was of more help. Having a similar body make up, he taught Rosa how to doggy paddle and did the baby sitting while Riley had Ash explore deeper waters. She was rather keen on playing with all the pretty seashells she could find, though, arranging them by color, shape, and size.

Finally, come dinner, the poor pup was tired out every day. Though Ash adored the new member to his team, he had to admit he was glad… Baby pokemon were always a handful.

* * *

The group, now consisting of five rather than four, trekked into yet another dimly lit cavern, led by Riley and Lucario, as always. The grey stones occasionally grazed by beams of light from the outdoors had become a common sight for Ash and Pikachu, often visited for routine sparring sessions. Rosa peered about, tiny pupils dilating to adjust to the youngster's surroundings.

"Now," Riley begin, "the commotion of Rosemary's introduction has passed, and she's had time to catch up to the rest of us. I'd say it's time to return to the more difficult half of your training, Ash. Now that you can sense Aura, you'll have to learn to combat it, and in time, hone it on your own. Today, Lucario will be aiding with that, as well." He gestured to the Aura pokemon, who stepped forward. "The cave will provide him stealth, and he's going to assault you with Aura Spheres. I expect you to catch on, and defend yourself. As always, he'll hold back enough for you to acclimate. I assume you're ready?"

"Defend myself, huh?" A gleam appeared in Ash's eyes. At least this would be fun. "Alright, I'm in!" Dashing toward the center of the chamber, Ash stood, bold and ready. Once again, Pikachu had joined their other companions, knowing that this was one of the few trials Ash would have to face on his own. "Let's get started! Ready whenever you are, Lucario!"

"Now, I want Rosemary to watch this, as well. Soon, you'll need to learn the very same lessons, and in time, you'll be able to do just as Lucario does. Use your eyes, and your aura to keep up."

 _~I will, I will!~_ A high, peppy voice passed through the minds of everyone present. _~You can count on me!~_ The small pokemon hopped in place, chipper as ever. She'd watch Papa Ash, and Lucario, for sure!

Lucario stepped forward apart from the group, eyeing Ash. It was true that he'd grown notably more observant, and healthy, since he'd arrived. But, would he be able to take this task on? One spiked paw was raised, conjuring a glowing point that grew into a teal, vibrating orb. While not his strongest Aura Sphere, it would suffice to start. With a roar, Lucario launched it forward.

"Alright. Here we go!" Ash grinned, widening his stance. The orb was flying his way, growing closer by the instant. One hand was raised over his body, readied before Ash swung it forward. Flesh struck out against energy, sending an odd sensation through the trainer's wrist, and then his spine. The rush aside, the orb was sent flying astray, bursting after crashing into one of the cavern walls.

Riley nodded to himself. "Good. Now, Lucario?"

The Aura pokemon needed no more words. Sprinting, he moved well out of Ash's line of sight, springing from rock to rock along the arching walls. Once he felt his hiding spot was sufficient, he attacked. Both hands were drawn back, unleashing another Aura Sphere with a grunt.

The pokemon's vocalization had crossed Ash's ear, turning his eyes toward the growing light that was headed in from the left. Just in the nick of time, Ash was able to turn on his heels, punching the second attack out of his way. The blast exploded upon hitting the ground, allowing Lucario to move without making much noticeable noise.

This time, Lucario made little noise. Only the quiet commotion of loose rock cracking and falling was able to prepare Ash for an Aura Sphere that was coming his way. "Agh!" He shouted as he smacked a attack aside, only to spot a second coming from further away, and then a third. Each sphere was backhanded, rattling Ash's bones. Lucario seemed to be holding back just a bit less, and Ash's connection to the life force present in each sphere became gradually more vivid.

"Hey, not bad, huh?" He boasted, growing proud of his performance. "Going like this, I'll be sure-" A shout and a complete loss of breath followed. An Aura Sphere had struck him square in the back, leaving the teen to cough and hack. "Ahh… Yeowch!" He whined, righting himself.

An exasperated sigh left his teacher. It was a good thing that patience was his strong suit. "You musn't let your confidence get the better of you. Be more careful next time. Or should I retract some of your rest time from our routine?" He didn't like being harsh; Ash was a good kid. But, if he wanted to learn this serious discipline, then he might have to learn it the hard way.

"N-no way! You don't have to do that!" Ash panicked, waving his hands frantically. That was really the last thing he needed. Not wasting another moment, he turned back around, just in time to swat another Aura Sphere away, and kick another to the side in haste. Wincing as the contact made his shin numb, Ash struggled to lay weight on that leg. He couldn't afford anymore screw-ups.

The lesson continued, with Lucario speeding from one rock to the next, launching Aura Spheres at any interval he saw fit. Ash continued to smack them aside, growing more and more used to the routine, beginning to strike them with greater force with each successful parry.

Now, it was time to move on. "Lucario, Double Team!"

The bipedal pokemon quickly split into many different copies, lining the boundaries of the cavern in a mesmerizing array that threatened to make Ash dizzy. He peered every which way, taking in the sight of the many copies surrounding him.

"Now, sight will no longer aid you. If you want to defend yourself, you must sense Lucario's Aura!" Riley instructed. "Don't allow the onslaught to disorient and confuse you."

"Got it!" Ash affirmed, scanning over the myriad of blue and beige figures that dotted his surroundings. Though, he had little time to judge, as a storm of Aura Spheres flew his way. Closing in like a barrage of shooting stars, they couldn't help but make Ash feel a little overwhelmed.

"I've gotta sense it out…!" Ash's eyes fell shut, eyesight falling second to his sensitivity to aura. With that, nearly all of the incoming attacks disappeared. It was faint, but he sure he felt an entity of aura drawing closer… Soon enough, it came in from the right, threatening to hit him head-on!

"I've got it!" The Aura Guardian in training shouted, striking out at the orb. Still in tune with its ethereal essence, Ash couldn't help but channel his own unique signature into the orb, willing it right back in the direction it came from. Inexplicably dipping into his own aura, he succeeded.

The Aura Sphere was sent flying back towards one of the Lucario. The real deal leapt out of the blast's way, landing with grace after a rather brilliant explosion.

"Excellent," Riley commended. "You managed to not only sense the attack through the many distractions, but placed your own will upon that Aura Sphere. You're one step closer to being able to manipulate aura freely."

"Pika! Pikachu!" Ash's partner cheered, hopping in place from the sidelines. He was really making progress! Usually, it was him and his teammates who were the ones growing stronger under his watch. Now, it seemed to be the other way around! In any case, he was proud.

 _~You did it! You did it!~_ Rosa chimed in, bouncing gleefully.

"I thought that felt kinda weird…" Ash glanced down at his open palm, which was notably sore by now. Pain aside, though, it did feel unusual. Nerves were buzzing, like there was something greater his palm - no, his whole body, had to offer. "I wonder if I could do it now."

He strained his open hand, tensing muscles where the odd sensation had grown. Trying to hone the same phenomenon from moments ago, Ash struggled, teeth bared and grit together. Breath hitched, he was practically growing red in the face before his efforts bore fruit.

"You musn't struggle too hard. Your aura should come naturally, by your will. Assert mind over matter. Control your body's natural energy; don't allow it to control you."

He imagined what he'd done with the Aura Sphere. The inexplicable feeling of two life forces exerting their will on one another. Finally, a tiny, but sure enough brilliant light formed in his palm. Hardly taking shape, a bright blue mass of energy appeared. Dark brown hues were lit over the phenomenon. "Hey, check it out…! I'm doin' it!" Ash laughed, overjoyed and amazed.

Though, as soon as it came, it went. He sighed, finally allowing air an easier path to his lungs. "Ah, man… That stuff's not easy!" Already, he felt a little exhausted. "But, it was pretty cool, huh, Pikachu?"

"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu flashed a peace sign. His own trainer with powers like that of his pokemon… He never thought he'd see the day. Though, with Ash's wild exploits, he shouldn't have really been surprised.

"That was definitely a start. Now you know how to channel your own aura. After this, you'll need to learn to keep a clear mind, and exert more finesse over your creations. I don't expect you'll disappoint me, Ash." Riley's expression lightened. For all of his strictness, and all of Ash's fumbles, he was truly proud. In just a few short weeks, his apprentice was indeed making progress.

* * *

It was dinner time again. Whilst Riley and Lucario already sat at the table, their meals prepped and being consumed, Ash was finishing up portioning out the food to his team. The last to get their share were Pikachu and Rosemary. As Pikachu juggled a bowl of rice, eggs, and vegetables smothered in ketchup, Ash struggled to find the one divided plate in the house. Rosa simply had to have it for all her meals.

Thankfully, Ash managed to find it. As he put down the rice first, the little Riolu watched intensely, making sure her foods didn't touch. Ash had played it safe, deciding not to scramble an egg for Rosa but merely boil one - there was a less of a chance for it to touch anything if it was in one single piece than a bunch of small. However, the problem would come with the vegetables. They were a little drippy, and he knew if it got into the rice -

 _~NO!~_

Rosa would freak out on him.

 _~They're touching, they're touching!~_ she psychically squawked, outwardly doing nothing more than whimpering and holding her paws to her face but blasting Ash mentally with enough emotional energy to just about give him a headache.

"I'm fixing it!" he promised, quickly scooping out the dribbled on rice and putting it on his plate. She seemed satisfied by this and happily took her plate, careful to hold it just so that there would be no chance of the food going over the separation ridges.

With that settled, Ash made his own food, lumping everything together indifferently and headed towards the table, the two small pokemon following him. After sitting down, the feast began.

How Riley loathed how they ate. Ash shoveled everything indiscriminately into his mouth, making a mess. Pikachu swirled all of his food together as if the ketchup were a gravy, getting it all sticky and red before gobbling it down. Rosa lingered between the two methods, carefully eating only one section of her meal at a time but showing that she had learned Ash's poor table manners all the same. "Ugh," he muttered, shaking his hand when a stray piece of rice flung onto his hand from Ash's ravenous speed-eating.

* * *

Giggling madly, Dawn brushed off the snow thrown at her by Piplup. Buneary pointed at her, laughing as well. Absol stood off to the distance with Togekiss, watching it all passively. As the coordinator continued to play with her two smaller pokemon, she suddenly looked around. Crunching snow under her boots, she paused. "Hey… where's Pachirisu? She was here a while ago."

"Toge?" the flying type inquired before flapping her wings and taking off. Absol likewise began fanning out. Soon, the entire group was searching for Pachirisu. After some time, Togekiss came back to them, chirping happily. She'd found Pachirisu…

Who was treed by a Houndour!

"Hey, leave her alone!" Dawn shouted as the quintet stumbled upon the little electric type. Dawn gasped. "She's burned!" She could see the light singe marks upon the white furred squirrel's body. Clenching her teeth, the coordinator frowned. "Piplup, Spotlight! We're going to rescue Pachirisu!"

"Dour?" the little dark type inquired, blinking dumbly.

"Hydro Pump!"

Before it could realized what happened, the fire type was pushed and blown away. When the torrent stopped, Houndour was left unconscious.

"...It's not that strong?" Dawn wondered. Soon, Pachirisu ran down and made itself at home instead on Dawn's shoulder, trembling. "Maybe you got scared… either way you're burnt. Here, I've got a burn heal in my bag!" She assured. After healing Pachirisu up, Dawn turned to the still unconscious Houndour. Pulling out her PokeDex, she went over its moves. "Hm, Fire Fang and Bite… he kept making you flinch after you got burned, huh?" she asked poor Pachirisu. Shaking her head, she decided she couldn't leave it all on its own with no healing items. Putting a berry before it, she figured her share was done. "Let's try to have some fun, huh?"

Soon, the group left. Quilava eventually joined them. She had been sulking in her pokeball earlier, not a fan of the snow… but now that Dawn was finally growing cold, she was happy to warm up the coordinator. Piplup and Buneary were fighting again, lobbing snowballs at each other. Absol rested, allowing Dawn to use her as a pillow. Togekiss slept in a tree with Pachirisu nuzzled against her, actually tuckered out for once.

Soon, the coordinator realized she was also getting tired.

"Hey, let's start heading home, huh?"

"Hound!"

Sitting up, she frowned. "Are you kidding me?" Dusting the snow off, she saw the Houndour from earlier had arrived, wagging its little tail. Figuring he was here to bug Pachirisu again, she quickly returned every pokemon except Piplup before snatching the water type up and running off. "Leave us alone!"

Naturally, the puppy gave chase.

Now, Dawn was decently fit, as most people who engaged in pokemon training in any degree, whether their focus be on breeding, coordinating, or gyms. Even so, the Houndour was quickly gaining on her.

"I said to leave!" she repeated. The Houndour didn't listen. Turning on her heel, she glared at it. "I'm not going to let you hurt my pokemon!"

The puppy whimpered, poking his tongue out.

Furrowing her brows, the brunette crouched. Piplup hopped out of her arms, walking up to Houndour. The two exchanged words before Piplup let out an arrogant chirp, stepping back. Likewise, Houndour stepped back. Dawn stood. "Wait… does it want to battle again?" Shaking her head, she consented all the same. "Fine. Piplup, use Headbutt!"

As Piplup rushed forward, Houndour did as well, fangs coming down on Piplup's head in a nasty Bite attack. Both flinched, though, their attacks clashing.

"Well… it's not particularly strong, but it's got guts," Dawn noted. It was cute, now that she was distancing herself from what it had done to Pachirisu. "Let's try Ice Beam!"

Again, Piplup's attack was met with resistance. Using Fire Fang, Houndour broke apart the Ice Beam. Seemingly distracted, it continued to bite at the ice until it all melted before wagging its tail at Dawn.

"...You're super silly." She couldn't help but laugh. She then blinked. "Hm, you'll just keep pestering people if I leave you here. I'll catch you, then!" Smirking, she commanding Piplup once more. "Alright, let's use Drill Peck!"

The little dark type yelped, being sent tumbling. It used Bite then, retaliating for its injury.

"Bring it on in with Hydro Pump!"

Seeing what was about to happen at point-blank range, the Houndour loudly Howled in vain. In moments, though, it was once again knocked out. Dawn quickly captured it, retrieving its pokeball with little trouble. "Hehe, let's head home! You need some training! In battle and in manners!" Then again...

She looked towards Piplup.

"... I'm not sure how great I am with that."


	13. Wrapping things up! Next stop, Veilstone

Weeks had passed on the rocky Iron Island, and training had gone just as planned, so far. With Rosa acclimating to the group's exercises quickly, it was time to bring her training to the next level. "Alright, Rosa! We're gonna try something new, alright? You've gotten a whole lot stronger, so I'm sure you can handle it!" Ash addressed the tiny fighting type, standing in one of the island's rocky clearings.

 _~Y-yeah! I'm ready!~_ The Riolu chimed, chipper as she was nervous. Hopping up and down, she eagerly awaited instructions.

"You're gonna have your first battle! I'll let you know what you have to do, and you just have to follow along, for now. It can be kinda tough, but we'll start off easy!" Ash instructed.

 _~Battle?~_ She echoed, shuddering a little. Wasn't that dangerous?

"Uh-huh! I know what your moves are, so I'll help you through it! It'll be fine."

Meekly, the pokemon nodded.

More or less on cue, a repetitive chant of "dude" caught the group's attention, belonging to none other than a Geodude that was floating their way. Spotting the one pokemon that seemed to be on guard, it began to bounce along the ground, shaking the nearby rocks and rubble with every hop before stopping in front of the Riolu. "Geo! Dude! Geo!" It challenged, raising its two rocky fists.

"Alright. Let's get started! Why don't you try a-"

A frightened howl interrupted Ash, followed by a loud telepathic wail. _~I-I can't..!~_

Rosa scurried behind Ash, clinging to his pant leg. The way the pokemon hovered over… The mean-looking leer it was giving her. And, Geodude were so heavy! Just pushing one was quite the task for a while… But, now she'd have one flying at her? The thought made her shiver. _~It's gonna hurt me!~_ Rosa whined, her eyes shut tight.

None too surprised, Riley looked to the rock type. "You're free to go. My apologies."

The Geodude grunted before hopping off, puzzled, but none too bothered.

"It seems she expects to be in serious danger in battles. She's legitimately threatened," he explained, having followed the small pokemon's aura through the failed endeavor.

"You're scared to battle, huh?" Ash knelt to the pokemon's level, a small, sympathetic smile on his features. "Hey, it's alright. Do you wanna tell me what's wrong?"

 _~What if we get hurt~?_ She asked simply, her transmitted thoughts marked with dread.

"Hey, I'm not gonna let ya get hurt."

 _~N-no! Someone always gets hurt in battles! I don't wanna get hurt!~_

She really did take this seriously… Maybe she thought the results were serious? "You really think something's gonna happen?" Ash raised a hand to his chin, momentarily thoughtful before a light bulb went off in his head. "I'm gonna show you something, alright?" Pulling back the white sleeve of his jacket, he exposed several notable marks. Three discolored indents lay parallel to one another on his bicep. A particularly visible byproduct of saving his own hide from a rather nasty slash, back up in the mountains. He remembered Delia throwing quite the fit.

Likewise, little Rosemary felt her stomach turn. _~W-what happened there!?~_ Was he hurt?

"That was from something _really_ dangerous. When I was away training somewhere really tough. When I'm really in danger, you know? That's not the kind of thing that comes outta friendly battles.

Still somewhat shell shocked, the Riolu stayed silent.

"Well, y'know how you feel a little sore after doing a lot of exercise?"

Needless to say, their training regimen, while merciful on the youth, had been taxing, especially as it progressed. A little pain came with the game, but she was adjusting. She nodded.

"Well, that's kinda like this," he gestured to his face, where a small bruise had formed, thanks to his rough housing with Lucario. "You get hurt a lil', but it goes away quick! You don't get _hurt_ hurt." He articulated as best as his vocabulary allowed, appearing calm and content as ever.

Incredulous, the Riolu nodded along. Sure, he had a point, but...

"Here, I'll show you that battling's supposed to be fun!" Ash cheered. "Lucario! Could you help me out for a minute?" He turned to the Aura pokemon, a fist raised. "I want to show Rosa what a real battle's like! You and Pikachu, how about it?"

Momentarily silent, Lucario nodded. He and Riley had seen the mouse battle. He would be a formidable opponent, and surely he'd have enough restraint to avoid scaring the pup with too much intensity. Looking to Riley, he waited for his trainer to give consent as well.

"I didn't plan this as part of your training, but I'll allow it. Perhaps it'll give Rosemary some perspective. I'd like to see how Pikachu's benefited from all the exercise, as well. I hope he's learned a thing or two from our lessons?" He smiled. Regardless of aura powers, perception was a very worthy skill, for any trainer or pokemon.

In just a moment, the group had taken their positions. Ash and Pikachu on one side, and Riley and Lucario on the other. Little Rosa sat between the two sides, resting at a healthy distance, so she could observe the battle from a more neutral standard. As instructed, she'd take care to read the aura of both pokemon involved, as well as both of their trainers.

"Rosa! Try and stay calm, alright? I promise, everything'll be alright."

 _~A-Alright.~_ The pokemon nodded, eyes occasionally darting from one side to the other.

"Well then, Ash. We're ready. Show us the results of your training!"

"We will, Riley! Pikachu, use Quick Attack!"

Pikachu wasted no time, sprinting off across the battlefield, leaving a silver trail behind.

Rosa gawked, barely able to follow her honorary brother. Just how fast was he!?

Barely more than a blur, he left Lucario wide-eyed, who only managed to dodge through the virtue of being able to read Pikachu's intentions. Sidestepping the mouse, he avoided punishment.

"Now, Bone Rush!"

Drawing a blunt object formed from pure aura, Lucario wielded the weapon with finesse. Intent on punishing Pikachu's moment of weakness, he swung the club down towards the pokemon.

But, Ash grinned. "Catch it with Iron Tail!"

Like trainer, like pokemon. Small canines bared, Pikachu quickly covered his tail in iron, swinging it upward to meet Bone Club. The jagged extremity hooked Bone Club into its structure, avoiding any damage that Pikachu could have suffered.

"Now, Thunderbolt!"

The spectating Riolu let out a terrified gasp, watching Lucario roar in pain as blinding electricity ran through its body, highlighted with golden flashes of light. That looked pretty painful…

"Bone Rush, Lucario! Knock Pikachu upward!"

Gritting his sharp fangs, Lucario persevered, swinging his club around to slam Pikachu brutally, knocking him high above, and consequentially, freeing himself from the mouse's wrath.

 _~Pikachu!~_ The smallest pokemon of the three shouted, watching him soar sky high.

"Follow it up with Aura Sphere!" Riley commanded loudly.

Both of the Aura pokemon's paws were drawn back, conjuring a brilliant orb before launching it.

"Thunderbolt, Pikachu!"

"Chu!" Pikachu shrieked, launching a golden arc of electricity that collided with Aura Sphere, forming a crackling collision that ended in a loud explosion.

"Use Quick Attack!"

The black veil of smoke made a nice cover for the speedy yellow bullet; or at least it would have, if not for Lucario's talents, but his speed proved superior nonetheless, allowing Pikachu to pummel the fighting type with a dive bomb into its stomach.

"Now, take advantage of that Quick Attack. Use Close Combat!"

Letting out a growl, Lucario bore the pain before throwing a dizzying punch to the jaw that put an end to Pikachu's momentum. Before the mouse could react, he was on the receiving end of a series of punishing punches and kicks. Unable to truly fight back, Pikachu was sent reeling.

"Pikachu! Are you alright?" Ash called, giving a voice to Rosemary's anxiety.

Pikachu pushed himself to his feet, riding out the pain with an extended syllable of his name. Soon raring to go again, though, Pikachu found himself to be in the better condition of the two.

Sparks danced along Lucario, giving an outward manifestation of his hindered limbs.

Riley frowned. "Pikachu's Static ability worked against us… That's a worthy lesson. Even with the eye of an aura guardian, there are some things you cannot predict." Riley looked to Rosemary, hoping that said anecdote would be absorbed.

Relieved for Pikachu's sake, but now worried for Lucario, the pokemon nodded. _~O-okay!~_

"We've got an advantage, now! Pikachu, use Iron Tail!" Ash swung his fist as he made his command, taking the initiative. Even if it was a practice battle, he was as passionate as ever.

"Chua…!" Pikachu started, sprinting towards Lucario as his tail took on a sheen once more.

"Don't give in. Bone Rush!" Riley called, mentally instilling confidence in his partner.

Despite his hindrance, Lucario let out a fierce cry, startling his counterpart. He sounded awfully angry. All the same, though, he continued, swinging his club towards Pikachu.

The two met in quite the fierce clash, superior weight pushing against superior momentum.

Suffering under the numbness of paralysis, though, Lucario relented, allowing the two to split and bounce back from their collision. Brought down to one knee, he let out an irritated growl.

"Let's finish this! Pikachu, use Volt Tackle!" Ash pointed forward, grinning.

There wasn't a great distance between the two competitors, though, for a practice battle, it was likely just about as much as Pikachu needed. Just as excited as his trainer, he sprinted forward, rapidly repeating his name as he closed the tiny distance between the two. Surrounded by a golden aura, he crashed into Lucario, pile driving the Aura pokemon into a nearby rock wall.

 _~P-Pikachu! Big bro!?~_ Rosa shouted out, horrified.

Smoke and rubble soon cleared, showing off the results of the battle. Pikachu bore the crackling recoil of Volt Tackle, just about used to its painful cost by now. Standing on all fours, he found Lucario slumped up against the rock. Conscious, but very well defeated, by this battle's standards.

"That's enough," Riley intervened. "Pikachu's come out the victor. Both of you were impressive." Satisfied, he began to rummage for healing supplies, but not before being greeted to the sight of Rosa running over to assist Lucario. Gently shaking the larger pokemon, she cried.

 _~Are you alright? That looked like it really hurt…! Please be okay!~_

"Now, now. You have nothing to worry about." The aura guardian soothed, handing Lucario a Cheri berry. The latter lifted the berry to his mouth, chewing on the restorative morsel. In mere moments, his paralysis was voided, allowing him to push himself to his feet.

That was when the Riolu was greeted with quite the shocking sight.

"You guys were great! You're both even faster and stronger than I remember!" Ash beamed, praising the group.

Pikachu made his way over to Lucario, smiling widely. _"That was fun!"_ He asserted, raising a paw. _"I guess I got lucky with that paralysis, huh? Your Close Combat really packs a punch!"_

 _"_ _You were excellent as well,"_ Lucario added. A hint of unusual smile showed on his lips as he adjusted. _"In a short time, I found your power to be quite overwhelming."_ As much as it pained him to admit it, if things had gone on, they may have only gotten worse on his end.

 _~Hey, hold on!~_ Rosa chimed in, growing meek after both pairs of eyes turned on her. _~You're… Not hurt? Or mad? You really gave each other a whooping! That's not bad?~_

"See, Rosa? It was all just in good fun! It's a heck of a challenge, but no one's really looking to hurt each other." Ash knelt down beside the pokemon with a smile, reaching to pet the back of Pikachu's head. "We believe in our pokemon and know their limits. Plus, the stronger you get, the better you can protect yourself!"

They allowed the young pokemon to absorb the scene. Both of her close friends - no, her family - had gotten up with little complaints after fighting so hard. And, they all seemed to get along… _~I… I guess it doesn't look so bad.~_ She swallowed, nerves getting the better of her. _~B-but I'm not that strong! How can I battle like that?~_

"Well, you'd have to work your way up! Pikachu and Lucario have both been battling for a _really_ long time. But we can start you off easy! You'll just learn one thing at a time." Looking between his companions, he continued. "Hey, I know. Why don't you battle Pikachu?" After all, she seemed to behave most comfortably with those she knew best. Better a friend than not.

~ _B-but, he's so strong!~_ She shuddered, as if she'd been the one subjected to an electric attack.

"We'll go easy on you. It won't be so bad, alright? Promise!"

The small pokemon's ears perked up, the smallest of smiles forming under its muzzle. _~...Okay! I'll try! I'll get tough like all of you, too!~_ She voiced aloud, letting out an indecipherable bark of excitement as she took something close to a battle stance.

Likewise, Pikachu got down on all fours once more, ready to begin the battling anew.

Ash chuckled before fiddling with his cap, eyes flicking between his two pokemon. "Rosa, you can start us off! Pikachu, I just want you to try and dodge for a bit, okay? Let's try Quick Attack, Rosa!"

Letting out a yip of excitement, the Riolu darted forward, not as quick as Pikachu would be but still impressively fast. Her blow came to land on empty air, her electric opponent hopping out of the way with perfect timing. Rosa pouted.

The trainer nodded. "Good! Now, let's try a move that will make it easier for you to hit! Foresight and then Quick Attack!"

Sight enhanced, Rosa quickly rushed forward, managing to tap Pikachu and earn a squeal of surprise out of him for doing so. Wagging her tail a bit, she felt more at ease. It was almost like a game right now.

"Okay… now it's Pikachu's turn. Rosa, you get ready to use Counter. Pikachu, give her a little tap with Quick Attack yourself!"

"Pika!" the older of the two battlers assured before running forward and skidding to an almost stop just before the smaller. He swept, using his momentum to get Rosa off her feet. Scraped but mostly embarrassed, she quickly got back on her feet and used Counter, paw digging into Pikachu's shoulder. The electric type darted back, putting distance between them.

"Alright! Now, this time… Rosa, you're going to use Endure, okay? It's gonna seem a little scary when you get toss from this, but I want you to learn how to recover."

Sensing her slight panic, he walked until he was a yard from her right side and then knelt down. "I'll catch you if I have to, but Pikachu's going to use Iron Tail real quick. Focus on keeping your body loose so you don't hurt yourself."

 _~A-Alright…~_

Soon enough, Pikachu did as he was told, Iron Tail hitting with enough power to send her stumbling like Ash had told her it would.

Landing heavily, but not injured besides the bruise that would likely be formed - and just as easily dealt with thanks to a potion or two - Rosa's previously tightly shut eyes opened. That had hurt… but she was okay! Getting excited, she stood up, balling her paws up.

Ash's Pokédex went off and he whipped it out, quickly gathering the new information. "...Alright! Rosa, you got a new move! Try Force Palm!"

 _~You got it!~_ she cheered, lunging towards Pikachu. Unfortunately, the contact seemed to backfire. Both pokemon were paralyzed, though for different reasons.

Lucario snickered under his breath in the background.

Unfortunately, that seemed to draw an end to this particular battle.

 _~Noooo! I can't move, help me! I can't moooove!~_ the puppy screamed mentally. Ash quickly ran to her rescue, producing the appropriate berry with much haste. She devoured it ravenously, not very shaken but judging by the fluff in her tail and hackles, clearly displeased. So, they'd have to work on how she reacted to status ailments, then.

Pikachu, meanwhile, unused to any type of paralysis, noted that even though he knew he felt some numbness in his limbs, that he was capable of moving them just fine… it was probably something to do with his typing. Most likely, if the move had been electric, he would not have been paralyzed. But, since it was fighting, it worked through a different method rather than simply shorting out his nerves.

"Hey! You did good! Tell you what, let's find that Geodude. They can't paralyze or poison you! That'll be simpler. You wanna do that?"

Sniffling, Rosa all the same took Ash's offered hand as she nodded. She was still very new to battling… But, she at least trusted Ash to take care of her when she did so, now.

* * *

More days had come and gone, with rigorous training lining the group's routine. With core strength built and battling making Rosa stronger, Riley had moved on to the next important lesson.

"Today, you're going to learn to use aura as a weapon, much like Lucario and the other rare pokemon who can master Aura Sphere." He addressed Ash and little Rosemary alike, with Lucario beside him. "Now that you, Ash, have learned to harness that energy, you'll be shown how to manage and fire it properly. There are a number of stances that are best used to manage your core strength and maintain balance. Rosemary, most of your kind must evolve before learning this. You'll receive special training to allow you to draw on your inner energy quite early. I trust you'll be able to keep up."

Pokemon and trainer alike nodded, ready and eager to receive their next lesson.

"Now, this is the one you'll see most often." Riley began, bending his knees just a bit to lower his center of gravity. His hind foot moved backward, at a right angle to the foremost one. As a result, his body was twisted to the side, with both hands held past his waist in tow. There was just a bit of space left between his palms.

"Hey, yeah! That's the way most Lucario fire their Aura Spheres!"

"Correct." Riley affirmed. "Now, much like before, you channel your aura through your hands, allowing it to form at one single point. Will it into an orb and let it loose once you have." As he spoke, Riley carried through with his motion, thrusting both of his palms forward in a very fluid motion.

"Now," he continued, reassuming the former position. "I'll give you an example myself." Willing a bright light between his palms, Riley quickly shaped into an orb with relative ease. "Ready your Aura Sphere… And fire!" With that, his arms were thrown forward, unleashing the mass of life energy upon a nearby rock. Hitting with the utmost precision, the attack exploded, blowing the small formation into rubble.

"Awesome…!" Ash marveled, a goofy grin spreading across his face. This was way too cool! "I can't wait to pull that off!" He'd be like… A superhero! Like a pokemon himself, even!

"Another method is simply firing straight forward. While it lacks the previous stance's momentum, it allows you to fire just a bit faster." Riley extended each of his arms outward, palms adjacent to one another. An orb of light quickly appeared, shooting from their starting point before colliding soon enough with one of the island's sturdy rock walls.

"Now, then, Ash, Rosemary. You give it a try."

"You got it!" Ash grinned, all too eager before attempting to mimic Riley's stance. His feet rested at something of a right angle, though a bit more sloppily than his mentor had done. Gloved hands retreated to his side, fingers curled. "Alright… Just like last time, right? Here goes nothing!" Tensing his body, focusing on once more pushing his aura to the surface, Ash grit his teeth. What was once senseless vigor resulted in a shining mass between his palms.

"Your posture is sloppy… But that's a good start. Now, concentrate. Allow it to grow and keep a spherical shape. If you can't will your aura the way you wish, it won't be effective."

"Right…!" Ash acknowledged through grit teeth, keeping the attack's proper shape in mind. With just a bit more effort from both hands, he forged a sphere just large enough to live up to its name.

"Got it!" Ash grinned, winding up before tossing the blast forward, much like he would a pokeball. The Aura Sphere flew through the air, turning on quite a notable spin before hitting its target. Augmented by Ash's experience of tossing pokeballs, the attack left quite a mark on the rock it'd hit - or what rock used to be there, rather.

"Yes! Awesome!" Ash's feet left the ground, his fist punching the air. Needless to say, he was thoroughly proud of himself. "Did ya see that, guys? I made my own Aura Sphere! Ahaha!"

"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu marveled, tiny coal eyes glimmering in amazement.

 _~That was super cool!~_ The latter pokemon observing cheered, equally proud.

"Ahem," Riley coughed, notably loud, at that. Slight irritation showed in his features toward Ash's nonchalant attitude. "The sphere came out fine, and your aim was notable. But, not quite good enough. With that kind of curve, your aura might be liable to miss. And… You could have followed the motion better. Keep working to follow the instructions, and you'll improve."

"Hah… Right!" Ash reached to rub the back of his head. Throwing pokeballs was such a habit, that it might have carried over… But, Ash's juvenile ways hadn't faded completely. Leaning over to little Rosemary, he whispered. "Hey, don't worry! I'll show ya the fun way to do it, later!"

Whether Riley had missed the remark or chose to ignore it was uncertain. "Now, Rosemary? I want you to try this, as well. Be sure to follow the stances that I just showed you. Lucario will help you along."

Suspecting that the instruction was a jab at his performance, Ash pouted.

 _~O-okay!~_ The Riolu chirped, standing beside her evolved counterpart.

Lucario took the same stance as Riley, accustomed to his different structure. Once the charging pose was completed and sturdy, he waited patiently for Rosemary to imitate it.

 _~Like… This?~_ She crouched a bit, each of her feet at a right angle to the other. Her paws were pulled back across her frame, moving just a bit too far past her center. She looked to Lucario.

Grunting in what was probably pokemon speak, he gestured to his paws, reminding her of the proper position to gather aura. With the stance's proper position was illustrated, he waited again.

The Riolu corrected herself, holding her paws toward her center, just inches apart.

Finding the stance satisfactory, Lucario continued, forging a brilliant point of light between his paws. Slowing down the process, he gradually formed a sphere, then waiting for Rosa to follow.

She swallowed. This part might be a bit more difficult… Focusing what she knew to be her aura, she did her best to push that power to the surface. A small light began to form with the utmost effort, creating the starting point of an Aura Sphere. Try as she may, though, she just couldn't seem to keep it stable. Instead, the attack shattered, sending bits of aura spraying every which way. Rosa yelped, falling onto her backside out of surprise.

"That's alright. You're quite young, so being able to channel aura at all is impressive. Now, just continue to follow the motions, and you'll be sure to form a proper Aura Sphere soon."

Lucario grunted, wiping ashes from his face after the explosion. This was going to be a long day.

The two fighting types continued to practice, recreating the same phenomenon over and over. Ash, meanwhile, continued his efforts. Each time, though, Ash was corrected by Riley for his stance, much to his dismay. Riley resisted the urge to rub his temple, repeating himself. "I know you're accustomed to your own ways, Ash. But if you're going to be an Aura Guardian, you must learn some measure of discipline. The sooner you learn the proper form, the better."

The boy let out an irritated groan, fiddling with his cap. "Man…" He really wasn't enjoying this formal, super-strict stance play. Compared to his usual penchant for throwing things, Riley's method of firing aura felt so… Unnatural.

"Let's forget firing Aura Spheres, since you seem accustomed enough to that. Just focus on your stance, along with the launching methods. Repeat them, and you'll grow used to them soon.

Ash hung his head, none too happy with the change in plans. "What a bummer…" But, Riley was the teacher after all, and he was giving Ash a valuable gift. Plus, he was tired of being scolded. Moving his right leg backward, he assumed the 'proper' position once more, carrying through with the thrusting of both of his palms, each mere inches from the other. Holding them at a constant distance was a pain, but he tried, tried, and tried again.

The duo's practice continued, carrying along with the shifting shadows set by the sun trudging through the sky and closer to the horizon. Ash had soon grown tired of this exercise, his arms feeling notably numb. Tired and frustrated, he stopped to slump against a nearby rock.

Rosa, meanwhile, had continued to practice the same technique, growing only marginally better in maintaining her aura externally. By now, Lucario's face had been notably covered in soot, much to his annoyance.

"I think that's enough for today," Riley intervened. "We can continue this tomorrow."

* * *

Hands in his pockets, Ash leisurely trailed beside Riley as they enjoyed the singular task on their "off" day. The new shipment of supplies would be coming in, and they'd brought along a cart to help with the task. For now, Rosa and Pikachu sat in it contently as Lucario pulled it along. The morning was chilly but pleasant.

As they approached the pier, Ash could already see the boat docked. Riley weaved in and out among the resort staffs. Their supply lots were much larger, pushed and pulled by Machokes and the occasional Machamp. The party quickly arrived at the grocery barge. Ash released Bulbasaur and Charizard. He'd been able to talk Wartortle into staying behind with Misdreavus to start making room in their pantry section for more food.

As Riley spoke with the supplier, Ash picked up Rosa. Pikachu also exited the cart. Lucario helped Charizard bring the three main boxes into the cart whilst Bulbasaur carefully organized their new batch of medical supplies. Riley returned from the providers with a fresh gas tank.

"...Hey! That's only three boxes! We normally get like… five!" Ash realized aloud.

Riley nodded. "You don't need it from me. I got you more rice and supplements because I'm not sure if all that garbage you've been eating is the best for you." Continuing as if Ash and his own party were not floored, Riley grabbed one side of the handle to the cart, waiting for Ash to take the other.

Riley… knew?! Ash was baffled. "H-How long have you…?"

"I was wondering about two days before Rosemary was born," the aura guardian pointed out before gesturing to the other side of the cart handle. Ash scrambled to get to it, quickly pulling his weight. Then, Riley continued. "I was certain you were getting extra food somehow since you didn't seem overly stressed once she was hatched. However, I didn't get proof until Charizard came back home early one day. It was the day Lucario cut his paw, remember? Lucario saw Charizard get some chips."

Ash resisted the urge to throw Charizard a dirty look. While the big fire type should have taken better care to hide his snacks, it wasn't really the dragon's fault.

"While Charizard did try to threaten Lucario into keeping quiet, Lucario is ever loyal," Riley finished.

At this time, Charizard looked over to Lucario, snorting indignantly that he had been squealed upon. Lucario, however, only had one eye open, glaring back at Charizard from the corner of his eye. After a moment, his little pink tongue poked out and Charizard growled. That was as far as it escalated, though.

"I'm not mad, though," Riley clarified. "You did what you had to in order to survive." He looked at the little Riolu on Ash's shoulder and smiled. "To protect those important to you, measures of deceit become acceptable." He dared to even laugh. "You were very strategic! I'm a little surprised."

"Hey! I'm good with planning for battles! I just had to think spa… spacial… spa…"

"Spatially?"

"Yeah, that! Think like that to organize the food!"

"Well, it all worked out, I suppose. That extra food helped you build up muscle from your punishment."

"...The Gravelers! I knew you didn't switch me up to pushing around Golems for no good reason!" Embarrassed, but pleased that he would be allowed to keep the extra portions his mother was sending him, Ash decided not to push the issue with the larger weights. He supposed it would help him out in the end.

* * *

The mentor's arms were crossed as usual as he leaned, deplorably lazily he admitted to himself, against the rocky walls of the cavern they trained in. By then, of course, it was meant Ash and Lucario. The blue decked Aura Guardian watched keenly as the two exchanged blows. Ash was keeping up. More impressively than that, he was keeping up while blindfolded. Relying primarily upon aura to replace his temporarily lost sight and his hearing; as well as his sense of smell a bit; sweaty jackal didn't smell grand - to keep up, it was clear that the apprentice had learned plenty.

However, the sparring match was probably drawing to a close. Riley could already see a tie was most appropriate. Both pokemon and person trembled, mouths agape as they dragged in heavy breaths. If they kept up much longer, Lucario might go to using aura in his punches and Ash was always quick to follow up. While Riley didn't mind patching them up after they got particularly vigorous in their matches, letting them get that rough again wouldn't prove anything.

"That's the match!" he barked. "It's a tie."

Lucario let out a low rumble to acknowledge Riley as Ash yanked the blindfold off, rubbing at his salt drenched eyes. All the sweat he'd been pouring out collected in the stupid thing. While Ash wasn't particularly fond of laundry duty, even he knew that wretched thing needed a good wring out after this.

"So, is that a good tie or a bad tie?" the trainer inquired, walking over to where Rosa stood waiting with his canteen. Pikachu had taken chattered praises for his trainer.

"A good tie," the mentor assured. Riley quickly went through a mental checklist. Ash could form aura, clearly knew how to fight with it, and even before he arrived for Riley's personal training knew to defend others. The boy even knew where to return if he wanted some more practice. The basics, and a bit more, were covered. Riley was satisfied with this, and realized it would be better if Ash did some growing on his own with just himself and Rosa in regards to aura training. It would deepen their bond, and likely force Ash to get more resourceful with how he used aura. "Well, let's head up to lunch then, shall we?"

"Alright!" Ash cheered, legs feeling like jelly but willing himself to run after Riley, who had a head start thanks to not being in the match area, but standing instead near the entrance to the cavern. Food was an excellent motivator for the boy.

As they exited the cave and walked into the chilly February morning, Riley realized it had been around two months that Ash had been with him. But now... "Ash."

"Huh?" the trainer responded.

"Your training is complete. I'll help you make arrangements to go… You said something about visiting the rest of Sinnoh, didn't you? Or, did you want to go home?"

There was a pause. Ash nodded his head, realizing how long it had been and how much he'd learned. This had been a much shorter ordeal than Mount Silver's training season. Then again, he had someone guiding him this time. "Right. Thank you. And, yeah, Sinnoh… I've got some people I wanna see." He looked to the sky, thinking of Twinleaf. But, maybe he shouldn't head there right off the bat.

"If you decide you've gotten rusty, you're welcome to return. From here on out you can take it easy until the boat comes for you." Riley felt a weight lifted off him. He'd been worried, honestly. What if he hadn't trained Ash? Would the boy have ever learned on his own? What if the day came when the world needed a champion? Not from the Leagues, but from somewhere more ancient and mystic, a hero whose powers could rival those of any pokemon…? Well, now, Riley knew there were at least two chances of it being attended to.

And, somehow, he got the feeling that Ash was more likely to be that champion. He was surprised by the lack of jealousy he felt within his heart. Then again, he'd always found himself to be more of a hermit. Ash… Now, Ash could fit that heroic archetype. Riley was content to merely have trained him.

It took the trainer asking Riley to unlock the house for him to realize how long he'd spent inside his own thoughts. Quickly brought back into reality, Riley opened the door as Ash chattered about this being perfect for his timing, concerning the League in Kanto and the other things he wanted all while the boy pulled out food.

"Don't make a mess!" Riley quipped, momentary tenderness swiftly replaced by his command for order in his own house.

* * *

Soon enough, the ferry to Canalave had docked, its loud horn blaring for the entire island to hear. The docks were crowded and filled as usual, much to a certain small Riolu's dismay.

Clinging to Ash's shoulder opposite of Pikachu, Rosa simply hitched a ride, doing her best to ignore the abundance of people that passed by as Ash approached the boat, with Riley and Lucario in tow. She had plenty of space, though, with Ash's roster surrounding him.

"Well, I guess this is farewell, for now. I trust you'll use the knowledge you've picked up here well, Ash. You've got a very special gift under your belt, now." Looking to the Emanation pokemon, he continued. "And, you, Rosemary. An Aura Guardian's partner is a very important role to fill. As for the rest of you… Ash is quite lucky to have you among his roster. You've done a good job seeing your trainer through thick and thin. We'll miss your company, as well."

Though Riley had set a somber mood, it seemed one party member in particular was having none of that. _~Big Brother!~_ When Rosa jumped down from Ash's shoulder, it was only by Lucario's skill that he could catch her so suddenly. _~I'm gonna miss you!~_ she wailed, hugging the other fighting type tightly.

As if on cue, Misdreavus began the waterworks, letting out a ghostly wail along with it.

Pikachu flinched but waved at Riley and Lucario all the same. After hugging the little Riolu tightly, Lucario returned her to Ash, pausing to send Charizard a playful sneer. Competitive as usual, Charizard returned with what could only be described as a grimace. After a moment the two both chuckled about it.

Bulbasaur's vines slowly weaved out, giving both Riley and Lucario a friendly handshake. Wartortle merely nodded and saluted.

The boat sounded its fog horn, a warning that minutes stood between them and departure.

So, Riley wasted no time, giving a final nod before turning away, hand up one final time for a wave goodbye. "I meant what I said! You'll make a fine Aura Guardian… even if you've got an odd taste in hats."

Ash huffed. "Hey! Who's talking?! You're sportin' a fedora! What is this?! The 20's?!" As Riley grew distant, the trainer grew calmer. "...Thanks. I'll miss ya'." It had been rather nice having a mentor, but Riley's specialty was not in the same area as Ash's dream. Their paths would diverge here. Still, he was quick to cheer up again. "Okay, gang! Sorry, but everyone who isn't shorter than two feet and has volume control has to go back in their pokeball!" Misdreavus let out a huff, clearly targeted by the volume control comment, but she, like the rest of the larger team, returned willingly to their pokeballs.

In short order, Ash was boarded and walking around the deck of the ship, biding time as his portion of the journey would be short enough to not need a cabin to stay in. Making his way to the front of the boat, he rested his arms on the railing. Smiling wide, he peered over the horizon, chocolate orbs glittering with excitement. He adjusted his cap, accounting for the gentle breeze that crossed over his features. "I wonder what we're gonna do now… We've still got plenty of time before the league comes around." It'd only been two months, after all… They weren't in a rush.

"Hey, I know! Why don't we go see Paul? I bet he's gotten a whole lot stronger, too!"

"Pikachu~!" Pikachu chimed, equally excited with the idea. Maybe they could have their promised rematch… Oh, who was he kidding? That was bound to happen. What a way to test their progress!

 _~Paul?~_ Rosa echoed, cocking her head. She hadn't heard of him before. _~Is he nice, too?~_

"Uh… Well, he's an old rival of mine!" Ash stammered, hopping over the question. Maybe it was best he didn't frighten the young fighter. "I told him we'd battle again sometime. Now's as good a time as any!" Adjusting his cap again, he turned back toward the sea. "Alright. Veilstone City! Here we come!"


	14. Getting a little Misdreavus

Hey, everyone! I'd like to take this opportunity to show off the blog specifically for this fic. Its url on tumblr is another-rxad. On top of answering any questions asked and being around for world-building, it'll frequently post art for the story, character designs included. In fact, one of them will be from this chapter, so check it out, when you have the chance!

Also, if you have any questions, commentary, or feedback you'd like to see answered, send it in! We always appreciate reviews, and if there's anything that can be answered, it will be when the next chapter is posted! Thanks a lot in advance!

* * *

Large, teal-tinted wings flapped heavily through the cloudy skies, blowing clouds astray that had dared to come too close to the temperamental Flame pokemon that soared high over Sinnoh. A Charizard glided through Sinnoh's troposphere, carrying his eager trainer and a Pikachu on its back. As hardy as this particular Charizard was, he had been in the air for quite a while, and was beginning to grow tired. He huffed, carrying the duo at a noticeably slower rate.

"Hey, I think Charizard's getting tired," Ash observed, looking down to his companion. "We must be getting pretty close by now… What do you say we swoop on down for a break, huh?"

A grunt of agreement was all Ash needed, followed by a steady decline towards the ground below. Gliding in through the trees, Charizard slowed before it found an empty clearing, skidding to a stop along the grassy earth. Kicking up dust, the dragon dispelled it with a flap of its wings.

Beating away the last of the dirt with a few waves of his cap, Ash hopped down onto the ground below. "Thanks a lot!" He lightly rubbed the fire type's neck, all too grateful for the quick transportation. "Now, take a lil' bit to rest. We can hang out here and have lunch before you get your energy back!"

A huff of agreement was the next thing Ash expected to hear, but another quite familiar sound took that spot. "Ashy-boy?" That same, nasally voice, albeit quite a bit deeper than what he was used to. A spiky, auburn head of hair stood out among a very green landscape, belonging to none other than Ash's former rival. "I never thought you'd be out here!"

"Gary?" Ash turned on his heels, eyes going wide at the sight of the other trainer.

Much like Ash himself, the previous months had left quite a mark on him. Standing at Ash's new height, the researcher sported a new get-up. What seemed to be a white t-shirt was covered up by a dark grey sweater, just unzipped enough to show off his signature pendant. Brown slacks completed the look, both them and the sweater sporting pockets. "You're still in Sinnoh? Shouldn't you be preparing for the Indigo League, right about now? You're not gonna win it by being a slacker." He teased, though, there was a tinge of sincere concern with his words.

Crumpling his hat quite roughly in his tightly closed fist, Ash huffed. "For your information, I've been doing some serious training! We've done some serious powering up." Well, for the most part, he had. At the very least, his other pokemon had exercised to stay in shape. "What're you doing in Sinnoh, though? Weren't ya back home in Pallet not too long ago?"

"You know as well as I do that neither of us stay in the same place for long, Ash. I'm still doing research for Rowan. This time, I'm looking into unusual evolution methods of certain pokemon."

Before Ash could ask anything else, a barrage of loud booming sounds assaulted the group's eardrums, followed by smoke and dust rising above the trees. "What the heck was that!?"

"That's coming from where I was doing my research!" Gary figured he'd spoken enough, proceeding to sprint off towards the source of the commotion.

The other Pallet trainer's expression turned stern. "Return, Charizard!" Ash held a pokeball outward, calling back the fatigued pokemon in a red flash of light. "C'mon, Pikachu! Let's follow him!" Answered quickly by a syllable of the mouse's name, Ash ran off in pursuit.

* * *

A short sprint later and the trio arrived at the foot of a hill. Several Wormadam surrounded it, fretting before some high piled rubble leaning against the hill.

Gary put his hands on his hips. "Sorry, guys… Still no luck on anything delicate to get 'em out. What's with all the noise, though?" he apologized to the relatively friendly bug types. They surrounded him, then, all chatter in their own language at once.

"Are there some trapped in the cave?" Ash asked, getting upset himself. "Pikachu, let's use Iron Tail to -"

"Don't!" Gary barked. "Use your head. If you're not careful in moving those rocks around, the cave could actually collapse." The researcher huffed, exasperated, but not surprised with Ash's haste. "We'll have to find an easier way to get them out, or at least find a different path." Shaking his head, the brunette continued to glare at the rocks, almost willing them to move and free the pokemon who were doing him a favor by allowing him to be so familiar with them. "We've got to get them out, though. Or, at least check on them!"

"Oh, hey, Misdreavus can check on them!" Ash let her out quickly.

Gary's brows rose. "You caught a new pokemon. Huh. Figures, kinda, but I'm not complaining."

Nodding, Ash spoke to Misdreavus, then. "Hey! Do you think you could go in that cave over there? We need to make sure the pokemon inside are alright. If you can, find a way out!"

Letting out a little giggle of agreement, the Misdreavus floated over to and then through the boulders and rocks to get into the cave. As she did, she found a few Wormadam. They approached her. After a short exchange, she explained what she was there for, and the bugs grew more comfortable with her. The young Burmy who had been hiding also came out, grateful they might be saved, though everyone kept their voices low.

Soon, Misdreavus found out why the Wormadam and Burmy were afraid. A low, rumbling growl from the back of the cave caught her attention. As she peered, the Wormadam and Burmy fled. A few of the hiding places were full, so three of the largest Wormadam merely fled as high upon the rubble as they could.

Meanwhile, a Gabite loomed closer, eyes flicking between the jewels upon Misdreavus and the Trash Wormadam which had a bit more shiny refuse stuck to its body than the rest… One of the three largest.

Panic entered Misdreavus's body as the Gabite ran at them, clearly headed up the slope she floated over. If it didn't act fast, those pokemon would be in serious trouble! Forming a Shadow Ball with haste, she blasted the second stage dragon, sending it reeling back.

Showing a great deal of stubbornness, though, it retaliated, assaulting the group with Rock Tomb.

The ghost pokemon let out a shrill squeak, firing off several stone-shaped shots of energy toward the offending rocks. Power Gem obliterated each attack that came their way, though, it required quite a bit of marksmanship from the small ghost. Powerful as it was, defending several other pokemon put quite a bit of pressure on it.

Meanwhile, the rumble inside the cave had caught the group's notice on the outside. "It sounds like something's going on in there. But there's no way for us to tell what." Gary admitted, frustrated with his inability to help.

Gazing on, Ash failed to answer as his eyes fell shut, his usual five senses taking a backseat to a sixth. Aside from the several life signatures surrounding him, Gary, Pikachu, and the wild pokemon included, Ash peered further into a seeming blackness. A faint, unsettling vibe reminiscent of a life force floated about further ahead. That had to be Misdreavus. A sense of anxiety floated among it, as well as a number of other auras that accompanied it. Finally, an aggressive, larger source of aura was stationed nearby. Gritting his teeth, Ash returned his focus to the world around him. "Something's attacking them in that cave! Be careful, Misdreavus!"

Gary cocked an eyebrow at the trainer beside him, weirded out, to say the least. "How in the world did you figure that out?" He stared at Ash, ever incredulous of the boy's odd instincts.

Already sweating, Ash reached to rub the back of his head, letting out a very nervous chuckle. That was right. He hadn't told Gary about that… "Oh, it's… Just a lucky guess! Ahaha…!"

"Whatever you say," Gary answered, unconvinced. "Things never stop being weird around you."

Amidst the dust and chaos, Gabite had burrowed under the ground, escaping Misdreavus' gaze by time the cave had cleared. Where had it gone…? The small pokemon's eyes darted left and right.

Meanwhile, a crack formed from beneath the earth, quite close to a couple of Wormadam that began to scatter when the ground collapse. Gabite shot out, quite ready to assault the frightened pokemon.

Misdreavus let out an angry wail, firing off another ghastly Shadow Ball. Striking the ground just in front of the aggressive Dragon, the blast let off a shockwave that sent Gabite skidding quite a few feet.

Growing increasingly angry, Gabite fired off another round of Rock Tomb, intent on pummeling all the other pokemon that were intruding in its space.

No! Misdreavus fretted. There were too many of them, this time… She had to protect them. She had to stop those rocks!

And, somehow, she was able.

The cave grew quiet. The previous panicked whines of the Wormadam and Burmy turned into slack jawed awe. Even the Gabite looked on in shock.

A bright blue glow surrounded each of the stones, all suspended in mid-air by a powerful form of telekinesis. Opening her eyes, Misdreavus had found that she'd learned Psychic! After realizing what she'd done, the little ghost huffed, eyes still glowing pink. What a bully! One of the rocks was flung at Gabite, sending it backwards and yelping, but the rest just landed uselessly.

… She could move the rocks now! Misdreavus quickly began tossing the rubble that blocked off the exit to the cave, occasionally throwing one Gabite's way when it began to cause a stir again.

Emboldened by their "champion" defending them, the Wormadam also stood up, ready to defend themselves and the Burmy.

"Worma!" they cried in unison as they used Confusion as the Gabite rushed forth.

Meanwhile, on the outside, Misdreavus was making progress enough that the others could see.

"Let's meet her halfway!" Ash cried, quickly climbing up the rubble. If they pulled from the top like she was, it should be fine, right? Pikachu followed Ash's lead, pushing rocks backwards.

"Wormadam, you, too! Let's make a relay line to keep this from collapsing again! Rocks from the top to the bottom and then to the sides!" Gary instructed, taking charge.

Soon, the wall was scattered and the Wormadam, Burmy, and even Ash's Misdreavus came rushing out. Unfortunately, as soon as the pressure was off Gabite, it also came out, hissing and eyes locked onto the glittering Trash Wormadam.

"...It's after whatever sparkling in that Wormadam!" the researcher shouted. "Umbreon, I choose you!" Gary called out, tossing a pokeball forward to release the Moonlight pokemon.

Upon seeing the dark type, the Gabite let out a roar and then used Dragon Rage.

"Phfft, fat chance!" A bit of cockiness seemed to resonate under Gary's tone. "Umbreon, deflect it with Psychic!" As soon as Umbreon did such, the blue dragon fire was flung back at Gabite, who was completely wiped after the intense attacks Misdreavus and the combined efforts of the Wormadam dealt out. "Pokeball, go!" Wasting no time, Gary tossed out a pokeball. In short order, the Gabite was captured.

"Huh? What'd ya catch it for?" Ash wondered aloud as he absently scratched at Misdreavus's chin. Though it passed through her, she appreciated the effort, as shown by a happy wail.

"I'm gonna teach it some manners," Gary explained before checking over all the trapped pokemon. Satisfied with their safety, Gary supposed there wouldn't be any more studying today. "Alright, you guys go calm down in your home. I'll visit later, right?"

"Burm!" "Worma!" they all agreed before en masse entering their cave once more.

With that, the brunet turned to Ash. "That's quite the impressive Misdreavus you've got."

"Thanks! I got her on Mt. Silver. She helped me when I was lost." He bore a sheepish grin.

"Really, now?" Returning Umbreon and putting away Gabite's pokeball, the researcher brought out a different pokeball. "A pokemon from all the way up there's gotta be pretty tough. I'd kinda like to see how it performs, myself."

"Is that a challenge?" Ash inquired, cocking his head.

"Are you going to accept it?"

"Oh yeah."

* * *

Shortly after order had been restored, both Ash and Gary had returned to the open clearing, where they had plenty of space for their match. Misdreavus had gotten the chance to rest from its previous engagement, leaving the tiny specter eager and ready to go. It floated alongside Ash, who stood tall and confident, equally ready to begin the match. "Alright, Gary! Let's do this!"

"You've got it! Arcanine, I choose you!" Gary tossed another pokeball forward. The Legendary pokemon appeared, letting out a loud howl. Spotting the trainer Gary was facing, Arcanine grinned. The last time he'd been involved in a match of theirs, it'd been quite the thrill.

"Then, let's get started! Misdreavus, use Shadow Ball!"

The Screech pokemon opened its mouth wide, conjuring a purple, crackling ball of ghoulish energy. With a cry, it fired the attack towards Arcanine.

"Fire Spin, Arcanine! Get rid of that Shadow Ball!" Gary threw a hand forward.

The large canine spewed forward a blazing twister of fire, willing the attack to swallow the ghost type attack, tearing it to shreds before surrounding Misdreavus itself.

The ghost type was caught up in the inferno, letting out a wail of pain.

"Don't give in! Use Psychic to blow that Fire Spin away!"

Once more, the pokemon's eyes glowed pink, its own mind willing the flames to cower away from its own body before being blown away completely, leaving little more than embers.

"Hit it with Flame Wheel!" Gary called next.

The Legendary pokemon cried out, surrounding itself in a brilliant, bellowing flame, soon taking the form of a ring that barreled toward Misdreavus, having every intention of leaving its mark.

"Don't let it hit you! Counter that with Power Gem!"

Misdreavus let out another burst of its supernatural power, firing off several shining shots that seemed to be shaped like gems, closing in on the attacking Arcanine. The stones pummeled the approaching Flame Wheel.

Secure enough behind the veil of flames, Arcanine was shielded from the brunt of Power Gem's damage. Still, though, the attack was powerful enough to throw the pokemon off-course, forcing it to skid to a halt past Misdreavus.

"Don't give up on attacking it, Arcanine! Follow that up with Thunder Fang!"

Irritated, Arcanine lunged forward again, sinking its electrified fangs into Misdreavus.

"Misdreavus!" Ash called out, cringing as he watched Gary's pokemon gain the advantage.

The small ghost wailed out in pain as golden electricity coursed through its semi-physical form, cringing from the sinking fangs before being tossed back towards Ash. It righted itself, only to cower and flinch from the painful attack. Once its bearings had returned, it glared at Arcanine.

"We've gotta fight back… That's it! Misdreavus, use Payback!" Ash cried out.

Competitive fury boiled in the tiny ghost's metaphorical heart, a dark force within it ready to seek vengeance for the damage she'd been dealt. "Misdreavus~!" She shouted, unleashing an unholy blue ring of energy upon her opponent. Resulting from a prior attack, the move's attack doubled, pummeling Arcanine.

"Not bad, Ash… I guess we'll have to go all out, for this one. Arcanine, Fire Blast, now!"

Arcanine let loose its most powerful attack, then. A brilliant star formed out of flames shot towards Misdreavus, ready to swallow the small ghost in its infernal wrath.

"Use Psychic to blow it away!" Ash suggested, wholly absorbed in the action.

"Dreavus~!" She wailed once more, channeling the full extent of her psychic power to will the fiery formation away. Try as she might, though, her telekinetic push wasn't quite enough to stop Arcanine. Fire overcame the protective barrier, swallowing Misdreavus in its entirety.

Ash threw his arm over his frame, doing his best to guard himself from the uncomfortable heat that splashed past his pokemon and towards him and Pikachu. The latter hopped about to avoid embers, while Ash did his best to stare into the bright flame. "Misdreavus, are you alright!?"

The smoke and embers cleared, revealing a toasted, but still floating Misdreavus. "Mis!"

"Good job hanging in there! Now, use Shadow Ball!"

The ghoulish orb was fired, this time striking Arcanine head-on. Still, though, it persevered.

"Alright! Now, follow it up with Power Gem!"

Misdreavus readied the dazzling shot of energy, firing it from its center jewel.

"Use Flame Wheel to dodge it, and then hit Misdreavus head-on!" Gary ordered.

"Arrrrc!" Arcanine roared, bellowing flames surrounding his form as he launched off towards the ghost type pokemon. A sharp turn in his path towards the other pokemon allowed him to completely avoid Power Gem, leading him straight on course towards his opponent.

"Great… Now we're in trouble!" Ash grimaced. A certain shot of light, though, was captured in the corner of his eye. His dark orbs glimmered, as they always did when one of his off-the-wall plans came to mind. "Hey, Misdreavus! Use Psychic to bring your Power Gem back around!"

A mischievous little grin fitted the small ghoul's face, a bright light surrounding its body. Its supernatural grasp pulled the shots of energy back into its orbit, coming back towards Arcanine as it came close to striking its target.

Soon enough, Gary saw the trouble they were in. "Arcanine! Watch out for that attack!"

Alas, his warning was too late. The attack came from Arcanine's blind spot, pummeling it and dispersing its veil of flames. Sliding on past Misdreavus once more, it slid through the dirt before collapsing on its side. Under the weight of the super effective attack, it'd been knocked unconscious.

Observing their victory, Ash and Pikachu couldn't help but grin and cheer. "Alright! You did it, Misdreavus!" "Pi-Pikachu!" The two pumped their fists in the air, only to have the tired ghost circle them both, chanting happily before disappearing, and then re-appearing right in Ash's face, once more scaring the pants off the unsuspecting trainer.

Even in the face of defeat, Gary couldn't help but smile, letting out a huff that acknowledged the results. "You were great, Arcanine. Return!" Calling back the canine in a flash of light, he approached Ash.

"Well, Ashy-boy. I've got to say, I'm very impressed! You've got a strong pokemon there, and I don't want to get your ego up, but you've really come a long way as a trainer. You should be proud of that."

"Man, thanks, Gary! I-"

"But! You still get a bit too reckless, sometimes. You oughta be careful about that." As stern as he tried to be, the researcher couldn't help but break his facade. "But, I guess if you weren't a little reckless, you wouldn't be Ash Ketchum, now would you?"

The other trainer let out a laugh, scratching his cheek. "I guess I can't argue with that!"

* * *

After a bit more idle talk and making sure both pokemon were fine after the battle, Ash supposed he should get a move on, and Gary knew he needed to get back on task before the day was truly wasted. Getting out Charizard's pokeball, the trainer checked the dragon over before deciding the fire type was in good shape.

"Well, Ashy-boy, I'll be seeing you."

"Same to you, Gary!" Ash bit back, only barely able to keep from snapping at the nickname. He still hated it, but he could almost tell Gary now said it reflexively and not out of spite. Old habits die hard…

As Charizard took off, Gary shouted one last message. "Hey! Don't forget to get your stuff together and be on time for the League! If I show up and you aren't in the roster, I'm never letting you live it down!"

"When have you ever let me live anything down?!" Ash yelled back, laughing. With the happy contentment of having seen an old friend, and having a bit of fun after solving Gary's dilemma, Ash was now focused on making it to Veilstone City to visit another rival of his.


	15. Settling the Score

Good to see you all again! Once again, I'd like to show you guys the content that's coming along with this fic. On tumblr, you can check out the blog another-rxad to keep up with art/illustrations for the story! For this chapter, there's an illustration of Ash's battle with Paul, along with both of their older designs! Check it out, if you're so inclined!

Once more, feedback and reviews are very much appreciated! We're also up to answer questions when we post the next chapter as a Q/A if you guys have any. Hope you enjoy the action!

* * *

After a successful flight in which Charizard only got pissy with Ash once - he made a pun because he got bored and Charizard didn't find it terribly funny - Ash found himself over Veilstone City. The boy grinned as he guided towards the house he remembered as Reggie's and was mostly certain still was judging by the numerous pokemon milling around the expansive property.

The dragon landed heavily, gathering the attention of all the pokemon present. The older and more powerful of which stepped forward, regarding the dragon as a threat. Some recalled Ash vaguely and became conflicted, not knowing the meaning of this appearance. Still others assumed it was merely business as usual. Another pokemon was going to be tended to.

The only one who really bothered to come up to greet them was a little Glameow and it made the mistake of assuming that Charizard wanted to play.

Thankfully, a familiar voice called out to the normal type as Ash's eyes bulged, waiting for the dragon to grow tired of the cat's presence.

"Glameow! Mind yourself!" Reggie chided, wiping off his hands. He must have been cooking, judging by the stains on his apron. Flour and berry smears marked his sleeves as well. "Well, I'll be! If it isn't Ash Ketchum. It's been a while. Can I invite you in for some tea and cake? I'll be busy a moment, but right now I'm watching a Lopunny who lives to tend to the house, so it could get things ready while I serve everyone else their lunches."

Grinning at Reggie's ever welcoming nature, the Kanto native merely shook his head before holding out his hand to the man. "It's good to see ya, Reggie! Actually, I'm here to see Paul! I'm coming through Sinnoh before I head back to Kanto, and I wanted to have a battle with him!"

Reggie grinned. "Oh, well -"

"Hello!" came a sing-songy voice. Walking into the lot was a well-dressed madam, an impossibly small - for its species - Hippopotas trailing behind her. "Reginold!"

"That's not my name," Reggie whined, apparently happy to see the woman but already thoroughly exhausted by her youthful and lively nature.

"And, Ash!"

"...Why doesn't he get a nickname?" Reggie mumbled.

"It's so good to see you both! But, first, Reggie, my Hippowdon had the most beautiful little girl earlier this week - this is she, by the way," the mada explained, gesturing to the little darkly colored ground type. Blinking her long hippo-eyelashes, the calf was clearly rather shy. "Would you be a dear and tend to her while she gets strong? Hippowdon is fabulous with tending to eggs but she still believes once they've hatched they can keep up with her, and, well, I'd like to have that be true!" She giggled.

Reggie let out a sigh before walking over. "Right. Of course. Normal arrangement, then?" Once the Elite Four member nodded, he clicked his tongue to the little ground type. Confused, she let out a tiny squeak before walking towards Reggie. He produced a poffin and that's all it took to convince her that following the man behind the house was a good idea.

"Well! My, my, Ash, you've grown!"

Ash chuckled. "Thanks, Bertha! How've you been, by the way?" He paused. "Oh, speaking of babies…" He was a new father, after all. Releasing Rosa, the little pokemon automatically clung to Ash. It'd be a minute before she was comfortable around anyone at all.

The woman looked over his Charizard and then cast a glance at the little Riolu, muttering to herself for a moment before she answered the boy. "Or, it could be that I've shrunk… Darn you, old age… Hm? Oh, wonderfully, dear! Aaron and I have been keeping things lively, though Flint continues to argue that, upon my retirement, Volkner should become an Elite! The nerve of the boy." The woman crossed her arms. "As if I would retire!"

Ash, tickled by her fiery spirit, slipped into a sense of familiarity with the old woman. Rosa picked up on this. Though she still kept a hold of Ash, she seemed a bit more comfortable now.

"Anyway, enough about Flint's favoritism. How have you been?"

"Busy," Ash quipped, a happy tone in his voice all the same. "Oh, yeah, thanks for flying us here. Charizard, return!" Scratching Pikachu under his chin, Ash continued. "I went training on Mount Silver for a while and now I'm passing through Sinnoh. I picked up a lot of new pokemon, too. This is the newest! Her name is Rosa!" He frowned, hands on his hips. "I was hoping to get a battle with Paul…"

Bertha cooed at the baby. "Well, hello, Rosa!" The grandmother-ly old woman giggled when Rosa shyly hid behind Ash's head from where she was perched on his shoulder.

"He should actually be headed home, soon!" Reggie came in. He looked to Bertha. "I put her in the infant padlock. Kangaskhan is watching her and the other newborns." Looking at the Riolu, he figured he should offer. "Want me to babysit while you -"

Well, Rosa was a mind reader. Furiously screaming no into Ash's head, the trainer quickly declined. "No, thanks, Reggie!"

"Wonderful! Thank you, Reginald." Bertha quipped, finding it fit to leave right about now. Though, she couldn't help but find Ash's interest in challenging Paul interesting enough to stick around a little longer.

"So, what's he been up to, anyway? I remember him telling me he wanted to battle Brandon."

Frowning at the elite's nickname once more, he paused before answering Ash. "Oh, right. The rematch. Paul sought him out again and made his challenge with a clear head. This time, he managed to take down Regice, and tied with Registeel… By then, though, he'd lost all of his pokemon, too. If I recall, Brandon told him to focus on strengthening his bonds with his pokemon before coming back. So, he's been doing just that."

"Ouch… I've been there." Ash frowned, a certain sense of empathy built over the very similar circumstances for their losses. "I wonder what Paul'd do to bond with his pokemon, anyway."

"He's been focusing on training some pokemon that he caught on other journeys before he competed in the Sinnoh League… But, he's never really said why he ditched them to begin with. I know they saw less use after I lost to Brandon, and he started becoming more obsessed with power. I guess they didn't meet his criteria for being great battlers." Reggie frowned, well aware of how terrible Paul's methods and ethics from back then sounded. "But still, he never released them like he has plenty of other pokemon. I guess he was at least somewhat attached."

"Quite some questionable methods," Bertha remarked, stating the obvious. "I hope what he'd been told has made a mark on his views on being a trainer. Staying in that mindset would be unfitting for a trainer as strong as he's come to be." How did the old ground type user know? Well, she may have paid extra attention to Ash's matches during the preceding league.

"Paul's changed." Ash jumped in, stating this with utmost certainty. "Ever since we became rivals, I think we learned a lot of things from each other. Every trainer has their own way of raising pokemon. But, by getting to know each other, you can become better people, and learn even more about pokemon. By time we battled at the league, I think Paul got that, too."

"Well, then." The elder cracked a smile, clearly intrigued. "If that's the case, I'd be making a mistake in rushing to leave so soon. It'd be a real shame if I missed this kind of battle."

* * *

It was within minutes that Paul arrived. Reggie had successfully talked Bertha into sitting on the porch with a snack while Ash helped Reggie feed the pokemon their lunch.

"... Why are you all here?" Paul gruffed, slamming his hands into his pockets awkwardly. While not upset at his rival and the Elite being at his home, he was mildly confused.

"Paul, that's not how we greet people," the elder brother chided.

Frowning and furrowing his brows as he headed towards the house, the teen tried again. "Hi, everyone. What are you doing at my house?"

"I came to battle! How's it been, Paul?" Ash asked, not entirely offended by Paul's gruffness. He supposed that was just a part of the boy's nature. Besides, the more blunt they were, the quicker he got his battle! Judging by the way she clung to his shoulders, Rosa was a bit bothered, though.

"Hippowdon had another baby!" Bertha quipped as Paul headed inside.

He lingered in the doorway. "Again?" he asked, willing himself to be nice about it. She was an elder and very skilled. He had to respect her. Still, how often had she come by to drop off one of her pokemon's hatchlings?! Looking back at Ash, he paused. "... Double battles. Training. I assume the same for you?" The question was almost a threat. The guy who had given Paul so much trouble had better stay on top of his game. It'd be insulting if Ash didn't value his skills the Veilstone native decided all by himself. "... I got further with Brandon."

"I heard!" Ash crossed his arms, done helping Reggie.

Speaking of which, upon hearing his business had already been told, the younger brother shot the breeder a dirty look before grunting.

"It's not like it's a secret," Reggie mumbled as Paul went in the house.

"Aw, is he gonna sulk?!" Ash whined.

However, that didn't seem to be the case. Very soon, Paul returned with a bottle of water. "What's with the new outfit?" he inquired. "It's… bright."

"Yeah, well, you're wearing short sleeves. I didn't know you did that! You've always had on a jacket."

"Someone said I seemed standoffish with the jacket." He shrugged. "Plus, it's easier to train with my pokemon when I'm wearing… I forgot the brand, but it's good for working out." He shrugged. He still wore a similar pair of pants and shoes, but he wore only a shirt in a similar shade of blue to his jacket with likewise appropriate black detailing.

Noting that Paul opened up much more when they were discussing their pokemon, Ash supposed it would be fine to take advantage of that. "Well, this doesn't really help with training, but the red makes me feel cool!"

Blinking, Paul once again shut off conversationally. "Oh."

"... Anyway, I came to ask you for a battle!" Ash quickly recovered.

Nodding, the other trainer seemed to be fine with that. "No items, no less than three pokemon."

"That's fine! I've got four in mind, so let's do four on four! You can switch if you want."

Smirking, Paul drained the half of his water he hadn't previously gulped down. "You mean you can switch."

"... I forgot you could get like this," Ash complained. "Alright, let's get started!"

* * *

Soon enough, the two had made enough distance to the other in front of the house, eager to begin. But, not without Reggie reminding them to move far away enough from the home itself. He knew as well as anyone just how explosive that battles between the two of them could get. Rosa, realizing how lively the battle was about to get, panicked, unsure of whether she wanted to cling to Ash or rest somewhere safely. In the end, she agreed to be baby sat by Bertha, but wasn't comfortable enough for the woman to hold her. Reggie ended up finding her a blanket to essentially hide in while she waited on Ash to finish up.

But, that was what was happening on the porch. The action was in the yard.

Staring down his rival from his own vantage point, Ash grinned. The battle hadn't even begun, and his heart had already started to pound. It was no secret how difficult an opponent Paul was, and their rivalry was particularly potent. Both knew the other's battling style fairly well. However… This time Ash had something up his sleeve. Three pokemon Paul had never seen him use.

Reaching for his belt, Ash winded up before tossing a pokeball forward. "Bulbasaur! I choose you!" The sphere flew through the air, parting to let out Ash's first choice. The Seed pokemon stood on all fours, letting out a cry of his name. Spotting the trainer opposite of them, Bulbasaur's eyes narrowed. He'd heard plenty of stories during his time on the ranch; this guy was no slouch.

"A Bulbasaur?" One of Paul's prominent brows arched. That was a Kanto starter, from Pallet Town. Surely he'd had it on his roster far too long for it to still be in his first stage? "Hmph." Reminding himself that he'd probably never understand Ash's ways, he shook his head before selecting his own pokemon. He tossed the pokeball forward. "Nidoking, stand by for battle!"

The Drill pokemon appeared in its own flash of light, letting out a loud roar. Its purple tail coiled around its body, muscular arms moving about. Aggressive as ever, it was eager to battle.

Adjusting the brim of his cap, Ash started. "Let's go, Bulbasaur! Start with a Tackle attack!"

"Bulba!" The quadruped sped off, quickly stampeding across the battlefield before launching himself at Nidoking in a reckless, full-body tackle.

"...Tackle?" Once again, Paul was puzzled. "You're using a basic attack like that in a battle like this? Surely, you should know better…" As quick as the trainer had been to run his mouth, he shut up. Bulbasaur hit his target, sending Nidoking skidding back with what was clearly a remarkably powerful impact. A prolonged grunt of pain from Nidoking said that much.

"...Use Double Kick." Wonders never ceased. All the same, Nidoking took advantage of Bulbasaur's proximity, reflexively launching himself back at the small grass type. A brutal swing of his foot nailed Bulbasaur, leaving him quite vulnerable to the second that knocked him away.

Knowing his pokemon's limits well, Ash retaliated quickly. "Grab Nidoking with Power Whip!"

Still in flight, Bulbasaur shot purple-tinted vines out of his bulb, homing in on his target with remarkable ferocity. Each of them wrapped around one of Nidoking's arms, refusing to let go as he flew.

This resulted in quite the ugly wake-up call for the poison type, who suffered for the momentum he'd given Bulbasaur. Lurched violently from the ground, he was pulled along with the Seed pokemon before being dragged along the ground. Oh, that tiny bulb was going to pay for that…

"Good job! Now, follow that up with Razor Leaf!" Ash shouted, taking advantage of their momentary edge.

"Saur!" The grass type unleashed a flurry of sharp leaves, pummeling Nidoking.

Paul's lip twitched. Not his ideal start to a match. "Flamethrower!"

Still regrettably pinned to the ground, Nidoking wasted no time. Parting his mouth wide, he shot off a terrible blaze that scorched away the volley of leaves. Bulbasaur was swept up in the fire as well, his vines quickly retreating as he was blown away by the hot onslaught.

Landing on all fours, the grass type winced in pain before regaining his bearings.

"Earth Power!" Paul shouted next. He wouldn't allow Ash's pokemon time to recover.

Nidoking slammed a fist into the ground, starting a fissure that coursed through the battlefield, golden cracks of light sliding through the surface that came closer and closer to Bulbasaur.

"Use your vines to dodge it!" Ash commanded quickly, throwing a hand out to the side.

Two glowing tendrils slammed into the faltering ground below, pushing the small pokemon sky-high just as an explosion of earthly energy erupted under him. The golden burst only served to throw him higher, well out of Nidoking's range.

Or, so Ash thought, at least. "Use Double Kick!" At those kind of heights, the grass type wouldn't be able to maneuver the way he did on the ground. Paul could assume that much.

The Drill pokemon began to sprint, gaining speed before jumping upward. Leaping from below in what could only be described as a stellar feat for a Nidoking, Paul's pokemon vaulted towards Bulbasaur at a far greater speed than Ash could have anticipated. One of its legs struck out at Bulbasaur, and a second strike from its tail followed.

"Since when could a Nidoking jump like that!?" Ash gawked, disbelief etched on his features. "Paul really hasn't been messing around…" He could only watch as Bulbasaur was pummeled twice more, clearly doing his best to ignore the pain dealt out by the pokemon's powerful strikes.

Nidoking started to fall, though, gravity bringing him out of Bulbasaur's range. "Use Power Whip, and grab Nidoking again!" The vines shot out once more, grabbing hold of the pokemon's body.

Paul raised a brow. Surely, he didn't think his Bulbasaur was stronger than gravity's pull?

Indeed, Nidoking was far too heavy to be reeled back in. Bulbasaur, however, wasn't. Dragged along with the Horn pokemon towards the ground, he was never too far from his opponent.

"Now, swing on around, and hit Nidoking with Tackle!"

A shift of the Seed pokemon's weight threw him to the side of Nidoking, who did its best to swipe at Bulbasaur as he came by. Drawing his vines in, he ran with the momentum built by the pull to crash into Nidoking's side. A bit disorienting, but very satisfying, given the displeased cry from Nidoking. With any luck, that'd done significant damage.

"Reckless." Paul chided, then shouted out to Nidoking. "Grab Bulbasaur, now!" Ash's unorthodox and reckless strategies wouldn't go unpunished. Not when he was his opponent.

An angrier cry left the armored pokemon as he grabbed hold of Bulbasaur, securing him tightly in an iron, taloned grip. What's more, it was held upside down, leaving him effectively defenseless.

"Now, Thunderbolt!"

Harsh punishment followed. Bulbasaur croaked and shrieked as hundreds of volts of electricity shot through his system. Golden light endured through the pain, fading to leave a singed starter. Black wisps of smoke trailed from his form.

But, Ash knew just how hardy his pokemon were. Bulbasaur had been with him nearly since the very beginning, and prided himself on being hardy. Grinning, he threw a finger forward. "Now, Bulbasaur! Hit him with a full-on Leaf Storm!"

Bulbasaur's eyes shot open, glazed red eyes regaining focus. Before his adversary could think to distance itself, Bulbasaur cried out loudly, pummeling the Horn pokemon with a brilliant, verdant succession of shining leaves. The flurry sent Nidoking sliding backwards across the battlefield, allowing Bulbasaur to right himself on all fours. Under quite a bit of duress, the Seed pokemon panted. At the very least, he'd earned himself a moment of rest.

Nidoking had been brought to its knees, doing its best to recover after being thoroughly winded by the point-blank attack. Much to Paul's dismay, of course. He knew every bit as well as Ash how vital this resting time was. Growing impatient, he threw a hand aside. "Use Earth Power! Rapid fire."

Knowing full well that Paul didn't tolerate weakness among his roster, the poison type righted itself, letting out a mighty roar. Raising a fist, it conjured golden light between its claws before slamming them into the ground. The ground below them fractured, roughly half a dozen splits spreading along the already scarred battlefield. The usual golden light followed, heralding what could soon be quite the disaster for Ash and Bulbasaur.

"An attack like that's gonna put us in serious trouble!" Ash gawked at the impressive assault, only momentarily stumbling before speaking up. "Start dodging, Bulbasaur! You can do it!"

Indeed, the Seed pokemon was remarkably acrobatic for his species. Springing out of the way of the first explosion, he launched off his hind legs to avoid the next. Flashy golden explosions followed each of his leaps and turns, growing closer and closer to him with each succession.

The grass type hovered over the last mine of energy, eyes wide as it awaited certain doom.

Heart racing, Ash jumped to a quick solution. "Use Power Whip to bounce outta there!"

Glowing vines shot out of Bulbasaur's back, slamming into the unstable ground below. With a push of the impressive tendrils, he was launched forward just in time to escape a last brilliant surge of energy that fired out of the ground. Resenting the deafening boom, he landed.

"Flamethrower!" Paul added, not giving the small pokemon a moment to rest.

Nidoking opened its maw, spewing forward a brilliant, hot flame. This match was over.

Or, at least they thought it was. "Use Leaf Storm, quick!" Ash barked, throwing a hand up.

"Saur!" It cried, raising its bulb to unleash another flurry of glowing leaves.

"Leaf Storm?" Paul quirked a brow. "What's he up to? It doesn't stand a chance here."

"...Now, turn it right up!" The trainer amended. The leaves then took an upward path, turning all eyes on the shining twister. Flamethrower continued on, lighting the tail of the Leaf Storm attack ablaze. Red heat began to consume the verdant green, following the cycle and singeing its components along the way. Meanwhile, Leaf Storm grew closer and closer to Nidoking.

It took until then for Paul to realize just what Ash was doing. "Nidoking! Dodge that!"

Try as he might, though, he just wasn't quite fast enough. Leaf Storm's brilliant energy was eaten up by the Horn pokemon's own flames, making the attack only grow greater as it followed its elemental prey, forcing it to consume Nidoking itself.

Flames bathed and curtained the poison type, forcing Paul to guard himself from the heat. Soon enough, though, the hot veil vanished. Nidoking lie against the blackened ground, trailing gray wisps of smoke. With swirls in his eyes, the powerful pokemon had definitely been knocked out.

"Nidoking is unable to battle!" Bertha called, raising a hand. "The first round goes to Ash."

"Return." Paul grimaced, returning his pokemon in a flash of light. The urge to reprimand his pokemon was strong, but he refrained. "We'll work on improving you later," he compromised.

"You were awesome, Bulbasaur!" Ash gushed, more than proud of the Kanto starter. Though, he didn't miss the pokemon's panting. It'd been through a rough match, for sure.

"Bulbasaur, return!" Ash gained the attention of all of those around him, absorbing the grass type in a flash of light. "Take a good rest for now." He beamed down at the pokeball, placing it back on his belt. "Now… I'll choose you! Wartortle!" The second ball was tossed forward.

"War! Wartortle!" The second stage pokemon appeared, quickly recognizing the plum-haired boy from various descriptions. The venomous at worst, indifferent at best expression said it at all. Oh, this was going to be fun. Reaching into his own shell, Wartortle pulled out a pair of pointed sunglasses, donning them before pointing towards Paul. "Wartortle!" The big boss of the Squirtle Squad boasted. He was going to show this dude what Ash's team was really made of!

"Your Wartortle's got a lot of confidence," Paul noted, reaching for his own pokeball. "I'll be sure to bring that down a notch. Milotic! Stand by for battle!" The sphere was tossed forward.

Shimmering wet scales in the brightest, most brilliant of hues decorated the Milotic which formed before Paul. The creature was clearly muscular yet lithe - serpentine and decidedly vicious judging by the way it clicked her little mouth at Wartortle, a silent warning as elegant as a dagger polished and poised before the strike. Yet, the water type's ferocious nature was momentarily thrown to the wind. "Milo!" She sang, twisting around to face Paul. She slithered over, resting her heavy head on Paul's shoulder whilst the rest tried to wrap around him.

"No! We're battling!" the trainer chided, pushing his Hoenn catch off himself. "If you don't battle, I'm leaving you with Reggie forever!"

That got the Milotic to straighten up. Feelings hurt, she sulked before slithering onto the field. When she gathered herself, she glared across to Wartortle. If she needed to defeat this stranger to keep Paul's attention, so be it.

"Wow," Ash muttered. The Milotic acted with Paul a little bit like how Meganium acted with him. "Alright! Wartortle, let's start off with Rapid Spin!" The turtle retreated to his shell, launching from his position to threaten the sea serpent with a sturdy, spinning armor.

Paul stayed silent, allowing Wartortle to strike and send skidding the loyal Milotic. However, as soon as the attack ended, Milotic rose, looking bruised, but unphased.

"Aqua Ring." A smirk worked its way onto Paul's face as the shimmering blue sphere was formed around Milotic. Mist washed over her form, starting to heal the water type already.

Ash's eyes bulged. "Crap. That's gonna add time to the battle. We'll just have to hit harder! Wartortle, use Ice Beam to try to freeze Milotic in there!"

"Hardly! Milotic, Water Pulse!" Paul retorted.

As Wartortle's Ice Beam jetted forward, it was met with a free rush of water. The two moves met violently, sending a blistering rush of icy wind in all directions and thin shards of ice after the wind. Both pokemon kept intense eye contact, neither impressed with the work of their moves against a strong opponent, yet neither willing to admit this disappointment.

"Milotic is the clean-up crew. I hope your Wartortle has some stamina, or I'll be insulted you went against us with it." Raising his hand, Paul pointed forward, indicating where Milotic's next attack was to go. "Twister!"

A beautiful cry from the terrifying creature summoned a small tornado, approaching the opponent. The dragon type attack ripped towards Wartortle, picking up the turtle and tossing it about in the air.

"Rapid Spin!" Ash decided, hoping it would allow Wartortle to endure the attack and perhaps free him from it.

And, lo and behold, it did. Spinning with the Twister attack, Wartortle was freed earlier than expected, flying freely in the air briefly.

Ash decided to take advantage of this. "Skull Bash!"

"Water Pulse." A certain calm had come over Paul; an assurance, almost.

Wartortle pressed through the Water Pulse, a roaring boom blasting out from where it broke through the wall of pulsating water. Dizzied but not deterred, Wartortle continued on, rocketing down until he broke through even Milotic's veil of water, breaking her concentration momentarily to destroy her Aqua Ring.

Disoriented, but not too terribly injured, Wartortle smugly smirked at Milotic who bore its fangs and hissed.

"Toxic." Paul was still unbothered, and called the attack as if he were sealing the match with it.

"What?! No! Wartortle, Iron Defense, Iron Defense!" Ash called.

It was a gamble, and he'd only theorized about it working before after earlier experiences with steel types and poison types, but now he had to see if it really would work. This wasn't how he really wanted to test it… but what better way to get a real result than a real battle?

Barely in time, Wartortle retreated into its shell and coated itself in a thick layer of metal. As soon as the Toxic attack splashed down on it… nothing happened.

Frustration was evident in Milotic's demeanor. "Mil!" It spat again. "Lotic! Lotic lotic lotic! Lotic!" Its pitch and volume increased until it was just washing Wartortle over in waves of poisonous liquid. Yet, as long as Wartortle remained withdrawn into his metal coated shell, he was safe.

"That's enough." The gruff had returned to Paul's voice. "Use Twister. If Wartortle won't come out, we'll make it regret staying in."

Ash gritted his teeth. Wartortle was already confused. The Twister would only make things worse! "Wartortle, come out and use Rapid Spin again!"

Maneuvering his way out of the Twister as best he could, Wartortle landed on wobbly feet. He'd only last for so much longer.

Ash furrowed his brows. They had to finish this quickly. "Wartortle! Ice Beam!"

"Water Pulse!"

Again, the two moves collided and the explosion of ice crystals covered the yard.

"Skull Bash!"

Paul frowned. What was Ash planning? "Aqua Ring."

Though it tumbled back, Milotic remained covered in its healing water after forming it and being hit by Wartortle.

A faint smile crossed Ash's lips. "Gotcha."

Paul's eyes bulged, realizing exactly what Ash was going for. "Blow it away with Twister!"

"Ice Beam!" Ash cried, thrill filling his heart.

As ice trumped dragon, the Twister fizzled out before it even really started as the Ice Beam overwhelmed it. Strong as he was, Wartortle's ice reached further, trapping Milotic in its own Aqua Sphere.

"Let's finish with Skull Bash!" the trainer encouraged.

"War!" As it was commanded, so it was done. The impact was not only enough to shatter the ice tomb of Milotic, but also enough to knock it out.

Paul huffed. "...It's my own fault for not using you as often as I should, I suppose. You need more work outs. Bad." Well, it wasn't exactly praise, but Milotic seemed to hear it even in her sleep as the serpentine water type smiled subconsciously. "... Pathetic." Was he talking about Milotic's affectionate nature or the fact he was okay with the pokemon being that eager to do as he said and heed his orders?

Regardless, it was time for the next round.

"Awesome job, Wartortle!" Ash praised, doing a double take when the tortoise lacked his usual enthusiasm. Breathing heavily, as well as wobbling about a bit, the water type answered with a curt recital of his name and a smirk. Doing his best as ever to look hardy, he refused to admit his fatigue.

Of course, Ash knew better. "You've done an awesome job. Come back for now!" Holding out a pokeball, he recalled the mid-stage starter, only to be greeted with Paul's next pokemon.

"I hope you're ready." Paul warned, calling on his next choice. "Torterra! Stand by for battle!"

"Terra!" The Continent pokemon cried loudly, towering over Ash and Pikachu. Oh, it was these two again. The large tortoise grinned, taunting the duo verbally. This was going to be fun.

"Torterra, huh… This is gonna be good." Ash couldn't help but smile, however nervous he felt. Out of all of their matches, Torterra was one pokemon he'd never been able to beat. Something told him that he was Paul's starter pokemon, and quite possibly, his strongest.

"We're gonna have to give it everything we've got. Bulbasaur, you're up again!"

"Bulba!" The Seed pokemon cried, staring up at his larger grass type counterpart.

"Torterra, Energy Ball!" Paul elected to start this round. A brilliant, verdant orb conjured in the pokemon's mouth, launching forward. Dust kicked up in its wake, showcasing its power.

"Bulbasaur, Power Whip! Stop that Energy Ball right in its tracks!"

Both of the pokemon's vines shot outward, ambushing the mass of energy. Glowing brightly, they shot inward for a pincer attack. The Energy Ball was neutralized, vanishing in smoke.

"If we're gonna win this, we'll have to take the offensive…! Bulbasaur, Leaf Storm!"

"Bulba!" Another cry preceded a powerful twister of leaves, pummeling Torterra.

Paul seemed unphased. "Torterra, Stone Edge!" A barrage of sharp rocks flew forward.

Ash grit his teeth. That would be an issue. "Use your Power Whip, Bulbasaur! Counter Shield!"

"Saur!" Both of his vines shot upward, lashing about before moving in a speedy, purple-laced trail that nearly became a blur as the rocks approached. Something of a twister of vines lashed out at every projectile, crushing each to rubble as they came by. The attack was nullified.

Paul, then, couldn't help but smile to himself. "You can be so predictable. Frenzy Plant!"

A loud, earth-shaking roar came from Torterra, preluding what was to come. A mighty stomp of its forelegs rocked the ground below them, parting the battlefield with a myriad of thick, spiky roots. Bulbasaur, busy with his lashing vines, was wholly unprepared as he was smacked and pummeled by the roots. Suffering under the radical power of the move, he was sent sky-high.

"Hang in there, Bulbasaur!" Ash shouted, hands cupped around his mouth. "After Frenzy Plant, Torterra won't be able to move… That way, he won't be able to counter us! Use Power Whip!"

"Bulbasaur!" Gathering the last of his might, the grass starter shot his vines outward, attempting to pummel Torterra with them. Surely at this distance, they could get away with that move!

...Or, not. Not if Paul had anything to say about it, that was. "Let them come. Then, use Crunch!"

Torterra wasn't able to recover quick enough to avoid a smack to the face with the vines. It was quick enough, however, to clasp down upon them once they'd hit. Hearing a hiss of pain from Bulbasaur, Torterra took that as enough of a signal to pull on the vines, yanking Bulbasaur out of the air… And right back towards his trainer.

Ash had the breath knocked out of him, unfortunately reminiscent of all of Lucario's punches to the gut. Skidding back from the incredible force dealt out by Torterra, Ash refused to let go of his own pokemon. Letting out a huff, he peered down at the grass type in his arms.

Swirly eyes said it all. Bulbasaur had been knocked out.

"That was dirty and you know it!" Ash barked before thanking Bulbasaur and heaving himself up.

"But, was it a legal move?" Paul snapped back, displaying a sort of biting wit Ash had been previously only vaguely aware he possessed.

Bertha, standing in as referee for this match, hummed before frowning. "Unfortunately, it is very legal. I've got a back doctor who's been loyal to me since I was a little girl and he keeps insisting that throwing a pokemon at their trainer should be grounds for disqualification, but the League still allows it. You should see some of the matches between Cynthia and Lucian when he's been mouthy! Garchomp does enjoy launching things, wahahaha!"

Ash frowned deeply. "And, I thought Kanto just had loose and weird rules for battles…"

"Oh, no, by far, Kanto and possibly either the Orange Islands or Hoenn are reportedly the -"

"Are we battling or talking!?" Paul reminded the chattering duo.

"Right. Okay, Wartortle, this is all you!" He hoped, anyway. With Wartortle's ability to make speedy escapes and perhaps freeze Torterra, they might be able to overcome the brutal beating Milotic had doled out. "Ice Beam!" Ash commanded as soon as the water type materialized once more.

"Stone Edge, shield style."

Though Wartortle was quick, Torterra's connection with the earth around Reggie's home was almost as old as the pokemon itself. As such, the soil responded quickly, producing massive stones to shield the grass type from the Ice Beam. Soon, Torterra launched them.

"Rapid Spin and Iron Defense!" Ash called.

Twirling, Wartortle was unharmed but thoroughly tossed around as it was battered by slick, ice-sheeted stones. Upon exiting its shell, it was clear that the fading effects of confusion the Milotic had imposed were returning thanks to the violent spinning.

"War… tortle…" It looked like it might be on the verge of getting sick.

"Oh, boy," Ash mumbled. Then, he braced himself. This was no time to be getting worried. "Skull Bash!" If Paul wanted to play in the dirt, Ash would just smash right through it.

"This is stupid," the plum haired trainer growled. "Torterra, Energy Ball!"

As Energy Ball was less of a solid than Stone Edge by far, instead of bursting the bubble, Wartortle's Skull Bash instead sent it into the heart of the move. Drenched in grassy energy, the water type flailed in pain before the move was dispersed.

"Finish it with Frenzy Plant," Paul said dismissively.

Still catching his breath from the Energy Ball fiasco, Wartortle was perfectly prone to being covered by the roots, disappearing from sight for a moment.

Ash only went white knuckled, waiting impatiently for his pokemon to return to his sights… and when the turtle did, it was out cold.

"You did your best. Thank you, Wartortle. Return."

"Don't you have anything else up your sleeve? Or, is Torterra going to have to clean up the rest of your team?" Paul slipped a hand into the pocket of his slacks, feigning boredom. While both of Ash's pokemon shown so far were rather impressive, particularly for their evolutionary stage, he had no plans to admit that, yet. Besides, goading Ash was an easy way to get him to battle more aggressively.

"We're just getting started!" Ash didn't give the appearance of flying off the handle. He had to admit, though, his heart was pounding. With its usual stamina and power, Torterra was truly a beast to deal with. If he wasn't careful, Paul's boasting may very well come true. Grinning, he pointed forward. "Alright, Pikachu! It's your turn! Let's show them how strong we are, now!"

"Pika-Pikachu!" The electric mouse vaulted off of Ash's shoulder, landing on all fours. A smirk was fitted on his small, curved lips, excitement building as he stared down Paul's own signature pokemon. Due to Torterra's overwhelming type advantage, Ash had never allowed them to face off before. Now, though, they'd gotten much stronger. He was eager for this.

"Let's go, Pikachu! Quick Attack!"

"Ka!" Silver light trailed the mouse's body as he launched, making a jagged, but rapidly diminishing path towards Torterra. He wasn't quite as sturdy, but he would upset that with speed.

"Stone Edge!" Paul called out. Another wall of sharpened earth was conjured into existence, throwing itself in the mouse's path. However fast he was, escaping this would be tedious.

"Use Thunderbolt, and blow 'em away!"

Still dashing, Pikachu let out an ample dose of his electricity, unleashing brilliant bolts every which way that blasted the stones to smithereens, leaving nothing between Pikachu and Torterra. Having cleared the distance in the meantime, the mouse launched forward like a rocket, slamming his forehead into Torterra's.

Though its body was tough as the mountain that grew atop its back, the Continent pokemon's skull was still susceptible to a meager headache that the collision dealt out. It grunted in pain.

"Iron Tail! Launch yourself back!" Ash knew all too well how dangerous it was to stay within close range of one of Paul's pokemon. There was no chance he'd resign Pikachu to that fate.

Twisting his hips, Pikachu continued his assault. A brilliant light overtook the extremity, creating a painful, jagged hammer that smacked into Torterra's head, launching Pikachu quite a distance.

"You've learned a little," Paul admitted, mildly impressed. Ash had tended to fall into his traps before, one time after the next. This time, he knew better. "It won't save you. Frenzy Plant!"

Eyes locked on Pikachu's shrinking form, Torterra retaliated. Once more, the ground beneath the battlefield tore, breaking away from the deadly roots that shot upward, aiming to smash and ensnare Pikachu.

"Pikachu, look out! Use Quick Attack, back to back! Move between 'em to get to Torterra!"

Falling towards the hellpit of thorny plants, Pikachu could feel his heart rattle his tiny ribcage. Allowing himself an extra burst of speed, he swung onto the highest, nearest root to him before grabbing onto its spineless end. Flipping to avoid its wrath, he launched himself onto the next with his speedy prowess. Bouncing between one plant to the next, he was finding himself avoiding their brutal strikes by mere seconds.

"What speed!" Paul marveled. Pikachu had certainly improved since their last match.

Soon, though, he seemed to be out of luck. One large root was right in his path, ready to swing and knock the small electric type senseless. Busy with his dodging, he'd had little time to notice.

Ash was the first to notice. "Quick, Pikachu, duck! Land on the ground, and keep going!"

Quickly throwing his head backward and belly up, the mouse was only grazed by one of the many thorns, the sting of a cut along his belly gone unnoticed in the flood of sheer relief. Going on to land, he sprinted out of the way of another, finally clearing the air between him and his opponent. He took this opportunity to leap up high, ready and eager to attack Torterra.

The latter, on the other hand, panted, winded from the continuous assault on his tiny target. The roots had already begun to sink back into the ground, giving up on their apparently futile attempts to ensnare Pikachu. For the moment, the large tank of a pokemon was helpless.

And, Ash wasn't about to let that opportunity slip through his fingers. He punched upward, shouting at the top of his lungs. "Now's your chance, Pikachu! Spin and use Iron Tail!"

"Chuaaa…!" Pikachu built up his cry, tumbling in from above in a small yellow ball that was quickly surrounded by a spinning, silver blur. "Pika!" He cried, slamming down his steely tail upon Torterra's head. He lingered, putting every bit of pressure on the other he could muster.

In this case, patience truly was a virtue. "Now, Torterra, Energy Ball!"

Despite the ringing headache, the large pokemon had recovered from his fatigue. Intent on removing that pesky mouse from atop his skull, he parted his mouth wide. A shining green orb formed quickly enough, fired at point-blank range. A booming explosion consumed the two.

A cry of pain followed as Pikachu was launched from the brutal flash, sent flying back towards his trainer. Letting out a high-pitched growl, he skidded across the dirt before righting himself.

Ash frowned. "Even after that, Torterra still looks like it's hanging in there… This isn't lookin' good. We have to watch our every move, and it'll take forever to take it down." The reality of the situation was starting to sink in. This settled it. "I **really** wanted to save this guy for last… But I guess I don't have any choice! Pikachu, come back!"

Looking back to his trainer, the mouse nodded. He still had plenty of stamina, but his gut feeling told him that Ash was making the right call. Returning to his trainer's side, he waited.

"Charizard, I choose you!"

As the temperamental fire type materialized, Ash clutched the brim of his cap before turning it backwards. Paul wanted to see him get fired up? Well, it was time to ignite.

The Flame pokemon roared loudly, at once recognizing its opponent and slamming his thick tail onto the ground to punctuate his threat.

Torterra, likewise agitated and stirred by its new opponent, clacked its beak.

"This is still fine," Paul taunted. "Stone Edge."

"Steel Wing!"

Taking to the air, Charizard's massive form would prove too large to actually dodge all of those boulders. However, the vast majority were destroyed or battered back down by metal coated wings. With the field hazards eliminated, the fire type made a dive for Torterra to dole out direct damage.

"Crunch."

Charizard fell for it. Though its wings beat ferociously onto Torterra's shell, the huge neck of the Kanto starter was trapped in Torterra's mouth. It was a critical hit and left Charizard completely vulnerable. To literally have your throat in your enemy's mouth… what a situation!

And, yet, Ash would make the best of it. "Flamethrower!"

A bath of fire washed over Torterra, purging its resolve and letting its hold on Charizard loosen enough to where the flying type could flee back to the skies, rubbing his neck angrily. The match just got personal.

Paul frowned. Torterra probably had one, maybe two, Frenzy Plants left in him, no matter how many supplements Paul provided the grass type previously. A move could only be used so many times, after all. So, he'd have to make this count. "Stone Edge!"

"Steel Wing!" If Paul was going to open up this chance again, Ash would take it.

Paul gritted his teeth, patiently waiting as Charizard once again overcame Stone Edge and swooped lower. "Frenzy Plant! Hold it down!"

Shock registered in both Ash's face and Charizard's as the roots reached and pulled the fire type down, trapping it.

"Fire Spin!" Trap for trap, Ash wasn't letting Paul keep the advantage. Charizard was more than willing to comply, twisting his head in an arc that whipped up a smoldering tornado of fire.

Torterra let out a surprisingly shrill cry as it became trapped in the flames.

Paul frowned. They were out of those two moves. Now, they had to hope the Torterra could move faster than Ash could get Charizard to respond. "Crunch!"

Rushing forward, it was clear where Torterra was aiming. Only Charizard's head and neck were exposed from the Frenzy Plant, after all!

"Bad move, Paul! Flamethrower, Charizard!"

Despite moving quick enough to send tremors through the yard, the ground type could not out pace Charizard's maw. A river of flames surged forth, mixing with the Fire Spin before engulfing Torterra. Before the flames even receded, the Frenzy Plant did, telling all present what they needed to know before it could be seen.

Or, so they would have assumed.

Trembling, terribly injured, but still determined to battle, stood Torterra. "Tor… Torterra!"

"I need you for later. Take a break," Paul commanded, returning his most likely favorite pokemon. "However, Jynx can standby for battle!"

Lacking any of the charm or grace its species was supposed to possess, this Jynx seemed all business. Indeed, if Electivire possessed all of Paul's thirst for action and Magmortar was his hardy nature, then this Jynx captured his passive, intense persona fully in her passive, judgemental, purple face.

"...What's he got planned?" Ash muttered to himself. Might as well take the bait to see where this might go. "Fire Spin!" Not too strong, just in case this backfired. Charizard did as told.

"Psychic."

Though most Jynx came across as beautiful divas, this one took on a decidedly more powerful personality. More witch than show woman, she captured her enemy's flames and made them her own before casting the embers back at Charizard.

Hissing lowly, but not terribly damaged by the fire, Charizard was made aware of what kind of danger they were facing at the moment.

The Jynx would return blow for blow.

"I'm going to ground your Charizard, Ash," the Sinnoh native ominously explained, crossing his arms and tensing as he spoke. "Jynx, Hail."

Raising her hands to the sky and flicking her wrists, Jynx summoned a blanket of clouds which soon rained down thick, heavy chunks of ice. The field became shrouded in mist as well as hail.

Charizard belched flame at the ice. It was no good. There was simply too much coming down to help him.

"Hey! You're cleaning this up, after!" Reggie yelled out. "I've got baby grass types in this week!"

"..." A bit embarrassed, but still focused on the match, Paul waited to see what Ash would do.

"Okay, Charizard, we're gonna try Steel Wing!"

"Barrier!" Paul commanded.

When Charizard broke through something, Ash realized they'd broken through the Barrier. Nice!

"Barrier! Barrier! Barrier! Barrier!"

Ash grinned madly, listening to the sweet sound of twinkling as the invisible Barriers were broken until the fire type made contact with Jynx. Flying away whilst the witchy psychic type recovered, Ash listened intently as Paul ordered another Barrier. The psychic type's defense wasn't all that great. Maybe he was getting desperate?

He'd never seen Paul desperate, though. Losing, yes, and pissy on occasion, but desperate? The teen was too proud for that.

"Psychic, toss it!" Paul commanded.

As Charizard was thrown through the air thanks to Jynx's Psychic hold, the same twinkling from before could be heard.

Ash's eyes widened. Jynx was throwing Charizard into her Barriers.

They had to finish this. "Charizard, you gotta break out of that! Use Dragon Tail to make it let go!"

Thrashing violently, a brilliant indigo glow shimmered over Charizard's tail. Eventually, the light blue of Jynx's hold was released. Flying freely, the fire type made clear its displeasure with being thrown about like a rag doll by belching a jet of flame into the empty air.

"Save it for the Flamethrower!" Ash insisted.

Snorted, the dragon obeyed before diving down, going to give Jynx a face full of flame, himself.

"Ice punch!"

Charizard rolled his eyes and kept up the flames, unable to see much more than the huge yellow hair of his opponent. He supposed the strange sounds were her faint wails, drowned out by his own attack. However, it would only be when Ash was shouting warnings, telling him to pull up - hardly! He was making this a dramatic finish! - when he realized what that noise was.

Jynx was throwing punch after punch, each melting but protecting her for seconds. As Charizard ran out of air space and breath - he would have breathed another, if what was happening had not happened - Jynx jabbed upward, catching the dragon's jaw. She leapt to the side, dodging the fallen fire type.

Dropping Charizard with a well-placed Ice Punch, the raw power behind the psychic was evident.

"You've kept that southpaw of yours strong," Paul praised, a rarity to hear. Yet, Jynx did not react beyond a passive hum of acknowledgement.

Ash grunted. "Thanks, Charizard… This is why we work as a team, though," Ash lamented. If he'd pulled up, they could have avoided that. Then again, Jynx could have just as quickly used the Barriers to exploit Psychic. He needed someone smaller. Which made his next choice perfect!

"Alright, Pikachu, let's try again! Start us off with Electro Ball!"

"Pika!" the mouse agreed, running onto the field before twisting his hips, producing and launching a sphere of bundled shocking power right at Jynx! For her part, she reacted beautifully. Without being told, she erected a Barrier. Pity was, she was simply a lot slower than Pikachu. Some of the Electro Ball was shaved off, but most of it was just so fast it darted right past the Barrier.

"... Psychic, on the Hail." Considering his options, Paul knew he needed to bide for a moment. Whilst Pikachu was busy dodging the manipulated ice-stones, the Sinnoh native thought ahead.

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail to send them back!" Ash encouraged.

"Pikachu!" Though not all the hailstones were able to be vollied back, those that were didn't do enough damage to entirely justify the move. The movement made him a harder target, and Iron Tail did fully block what came its way.

"Take to the sky with Barriers." Pikachu wouldn't be able to follow, Paul theorized, and from there they could take the battle any way they wanted.

The Hail returned to its normal frequency as Jynx climbed an invisible spire, escaping into the air above the battlefield.

"Don't let her get away!" Ash encouraged. If she got too high above them, she might just might bring down that whole Hail storm with her Psychic like an improvised Avalanche.

However, when Pikachu tried to climb the spires after her, not missing a step, he found a wall was also waiting for him. She didn't intend to let him follow at all, judging by her icy glare.

"Stay up there… and move the Barriers you've made with Psychic to trap him."

"Oh, no you don't! Pikachu, use Quick Attack to get out of there!"

Thankfully, when Jynx was moving the Barriers, they glowed blue. Pikachu bound off each of these, getting himself a little higher in each turn… but there came a stopping point. Eventually, his momentum fell and he hit an invisible platform. He was trapped inside Jynx's Barrier box.

Gritting his teeth, Ash tried to puzzle this one out.

"Jynx, start gathering up the storm. Once it's all held, flood it into the Barriers."

"Not so fast!" Ash cockily shouted. "Pikachu, let's use Counter Shield!"

The mouse at once agreed, spinning vigorously and whipping up an electrical current that was sure to do damage… if only the Barriers Jynx was using didn't have properties similar to glass.

Paul couldn't help but smugly grin as the mouse let out a squeal of pain. The Counter Shield had backfired big time. "There's no escape from those Barriers. Pikachu's too small. If he uses Iron Tail to drop down, the Hail storm will swallow him up. Forfeit."

"I'm gonna wipe the floor with you and your copycat Jynx, just for being too sure of yourselves!" Still, Ash was trying to figure out something else. "... Hey! Pikachu! Use Electro Ball! Just trust me! Then, use Quick Attack to stay out of its way!"

"... Pika." Unsure what Ash had planned, his forever partner obeyed, sending off a ricocheting ball of electric energy. As it bounced around and almost collided with Pikachu, he used Quick Attack to dodge. Soon, there were two yellow blurs in the box, Pikachu barely outpacing the Electro Ball.

Jynx's expression grew puzzled. Were… the Barriers buckling?

Just as she was about to remove one of the Barriers to slide in all the hailstones she'd gathered to throw at Pikachu, the Barrier nearest her burst. Following it was Pikachu.

"Alright, let's use Thunderbolt!"

"Drop the Barriers, put them between the two of you!"

As Jynx's Barrier began descending, the others formed a shield between her and Pikachu's current. It was all for naught. Though the Barriers were glass-like, they were not true glass. Between the raw power of Pikachu's Thunderbolt and the blistering heat they presented after being chilled by Jynx's Hail, it was no wonder they burst. Glimmering in the midday sun now that the Hail storm was dispersed, Pikachu fell, using them as stepping stones to the ground.

"Counter Shield, Pikachu! Let's trap her!"

Listening as soon as he touched down on the ground, and the Barrier shards disappeared just as easily as they'd appeared, Pikachu raced around Jynx. She kept her remaining Barrier, waiting.

Paul frowned. All that telekinetic energy she'd just used up - would that leave her with enough energy to throw Pikachu? He couldn't risk it. He'd have to wait and see what Ash did while she recovered some of her stamina.

"Now! Use Iron Tail!"

With Jynx thoroughly disoriented, Pikachu moved in for the finishing blow.

"Ice Punch!"

Barely swinging around in time, one fist was raised to punch Pikachu, while the rest of Jynx was shielded by her remaining Barrier. Pikachu's wide, flat, metallic Tail laid across them both, bearing down heavily with all his tiny might.

And, with time, Jynx's fist gave and her Barrier cracked.

"Pika!" came the electric type's triumphant cry as the ice-witch slid back, her shattered Barrier disappearing around her. Though heavily breathing, the mouse seemed to have stamina left to him. Which was good, considering Paul had one last, though heavily fatigued, pokemon left.

"Still too difficult to read," Paul berated. It was impossible to work with her. She was too similar to himself, unable to communicate - though, Paul would not be insightful enough to make that particular observation.

"Torterra, standby for battle!"

"Oh boy," Ash muttered, chuckling a bit. "Well, Pikachu, let's see if we can finish this off quick… It should be easy to outpace these big Ursaring-looking jokers!"

His taunt didn't go unanswered. "Watch it, shrimp."

"Who are you calling a shrimp?! You're my height!"

Not bothering to respond to what was now true, Paul focused on the battle. "Torterra, use Frenzy Plant!" Surely there was one left in his starter… And, lo and behold, there was.

The ground was already torn and it parted easily once more for the gnarled roots which Torterra summoned.

As the roots rushed for Pikachu, Ash quickly assessed the situation. "Alright, Pikachu! Let's jump! Use Iron Tail but with Thunderbolt!" Hm, that sounded kind of lame… Too wordy. "It's Iron Storm! That's what we'll call it."

Declining to pester his trainer on his need to name every single technique - it did make things quicker, though - the mouse merely obeyed. As he swung down, the initial slice of his blade-like tail cut down the swiftest root. The rest were fried, burnt by Pikachu's Thunderbolt. Some of the loose earth was thrown as well, reminiscent of Electivire's technique to exploit the ground with its twin tails.

Snarling, these scattered rocks seemed to finally push Torterra to his limits. A bright green glow overtook the creature and his foliage suddenly grew. His Overgrow ability was very much so activated.

Paul snorted, refusing to let out a proper sigh of relief. "Energy Ball!"

"Quick Attack and Iron Tail! Let's hit it out of the park!" Ash enthused, feeling confident again. Both trainers assumed they had just received a second wind, a chance at victory…

But, as soon as Pikachu's sped up Iron Tail collided with the Energy Ball, it exploded in a violent, lime-colored burst of energy, goo, and the scent of fresh cut grass.

"Wonderful," Reggie moaned. At least he had some bug types on the place today that would happily clean off the yard for him.

Silently, Rosa dashed off the porch, going to stand by Ash and cling to his pants' leg.

"Truly! I think it was a tie, though!" Bertha happily chattered. As the dust and shimmer of the burst Energy Ball settled, it could be plainly seen that it was in fact what Bertha assumed. Pikachu had somehow managed to land on top of Torterra's tree, both of them out cold. "Well, it was a good battle, boys, but there are no winners here today! Or, you both are! However you want to look at it!" She paused. Ash seemed rather pleased, retrieving Pikachu from Torterra's branches and praising him. Paul, however, merely kneeled down beside Torterra, whispering something to the huge tortoise before returning him, nary a smile to be seen. Deciding it was appropriate to comment on this, she walked over. "Paul!"

"Hm?"

"Smile some!"

At first, it was clear Paul was about to tell Bertha despite the fact she was his elder, she couldn't tell him to do jack squat about his face, but his fury subsided rather quickly and he looked at the ground. Then, he looked up. For the briefest of seconds, a tiny smile rested upon Paul's lips. Then, it contorted, growing in width and height until it exposed all of his teeth and some of his gums, too. It didn't look like a smile. It didn't even look like a snarl!

Turning away quickly from the abomination she had inadvertently created, Bertha addressed Ash. "So! Ash, I've got high hopes for you. Like Paul, you've improved a great deal in a short amount of time. And I see that your observation skills have improved. I suppose my lessons had their purpose, after all." The elder woman smiled, a twinkle in her eye. "Do you have any plans, moving onward?" While the other competitor was quite talented himself, Ash's spirit piqued her interest. It would really be a waste for such potential to go to waste due to a lack of direction.

"Oh, yeah! In a few months, I'm gonna be entering the Indigo League! This time, I'm going for the gold!" The boy grinned, his sentiments echoed by a cry from the tired mouse in his arms.

"You've still got plenty of guts." Bertha couldn't help but chuckle. "In that case, I look forward to seeing what you can do! In fact…" She reached into one of her large coat pockets. "I'd like to hear from you, later on. Stay in touch, perhaps? I'll admit, things can be a little dull around the league… And getting to hear from a rising trainer would break the monotony. What do you say?" She winked. "I know a thing or two about raising baby pokemon, so I could help with your dear little Rosa!"

"Oh, uh… Yeah! That'd be cool!" Ash chirped, honestly floored. _He_ was being asked to stay in contact with one of Sinnoh's Elite Four!? If that wasn't an honor, he didn't know what was. "The league's not for a while, but I'll have to let ya know!" He fumbled for his XTransciever, pulling it out of his jacket. "Here! From what I hear, these things are something else! Being in another region won't be a problem!"

A brow raised at the high-tech device in Ash's hand. "I didn't take you for one to keep up with the latest gadgets. That's just fine, though. If you have any big news, I'll be eager to hear!" Turning on her heels, she looked to Reggie, and Paul, who was reluctantly busy cleaning up the battlefield. "And, you, Paul. Well, I can always hear from Reginald about your progress when I visit. Try not to get so tense. You might end up missing the big picture, in that state of mind… Still, though, I have high hopes for you, too!" After exchanging numbers with Ash, she felt fit to conclude her visit.

"Yes, ma'am." Paul bowed his head, not daring to argue with someone of her rank.

"Well, I should be going, now that business is done. You'll hear from me soon, Reginald." Folding her arms behind her back, Bertha began to walk off. "I'm expecting great things from all of you. I hope you don't disappoint me!"

"You don't have to worry about that! We'll do just fine!" "Pika-Pikachu!" The Pallet Duo shouted out, a fist and paw raised respectively. That much, they were sure of. Even little Rosa let out a little yip of confirmation. She wasn't sure about Reggie or Paul, but Bertha had grown on her ever so slightly.

* * *

A short time passed, with Ash being talked into helping clean up the scarred battlefield in front of Paul and Reggie's home. The latter, meanwhile, had attended to healing all of Ash and Paul's pokemon, preparing Ash for his next departure. Approaching Ash, who was brushing away some of the hail and ashes from the terrain, Reggie gestured to four happy pokemon behind him. "Well, Ash, all of your pokemon are doing just fine! They've been healed and fed, so you've got nothing to worry about!"

"Hey, guys!" Everyone feeling better?" Ash beamed, answered by several happy cries from Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Wartortle, and Charizard. They all looked fighting fit! "You were amazing in that battle, today! You've all come real far since we first started out. I'm proud of you guys." Turning his head, he looked to his rival, who had made a good effort of avoiding contact and casual conversation with Ash. "Paul! All your pokemon were really amazing, too!"

A curt nod gave about as much enthusiasm as he was willing to offer. "It's good to know you haven't fallen behind. I hope to find the same the next time we battle." While it was more than he was willing to admit, the lavender-haired trainer was impressed with his rival. The days of him leaving the other pitifully in the dust seemed to be long gone. Now he had a credible threat to keep him on his feet. "Don't disappoint me."

Quickly thanking the rest of his team before calling back Bulbasaur and Wartortle, Ash turned to Paul as he was climbing atop Charizard's back. "Hey, that's not gonna happen! We're only getting tougher from here." He adjusted the brim of his cap, now forward again, with a toothy grin. "And, hey! Next time you battle Brandon, show 'im just how tough your pokemon are!"

"Yeah." Paul answered simply enough, tending to his own group. Mostly by pointing out where they all could improve, but as Ash knew Paul, this was most likely a good step forward.

"It's been good seeing you again, Ash!" Reggie piped in, waving to the trio. "And you, Pikachu! Hope to see you again sometime!" He was a bit grateful Rosa had been returned for the flight. He wasn't sure how she'd react to him, so that potential social blunder was avoided.

"For sure! See you guys later!" Ash waved to the two brothers, as well as Paul's pokemon. "C'mon, Charizard! Let's get going!" Pointing forward, Ash braced for flight as the Flame pokemon took off, his wings flapping to kick off a cloud of dust. Much to Reggie's dismay.

Holding his cap down atop his head, Ash couldn't help but smile as he peered toward the steadily setting sun. "Man, that was fun, wasn't it, Pikachu?" He looked to his partner, who chirped in agreement. "Paul's just as tough as ever… And so are we! At this rate, we'll do great at the Indigo League! Now, it's time to go see Dawn and Piplup! So, Charizard, full speed ahead, to Twinleaf Town!"

A bellowing roar answered Ash, as the large dragon sped up through the skies, leaving the various cloud formations in the dust.


	16. Another Clash of Legends!

With clear skies and easy breezes, their travel time from Veilstone to Oreburgh seemed to go by like one of the light, pleasant zephyrs they flew through. But, distance was distance, and muscles could only handle traveling so much of it. So, regardless of Charizard's refusal to slow down, Ash already knew they needed to stop in Oreburgh, lest they have to make an emergency landing in Jubilife. He'd just rather have a break here than risk skidding across the top of one of the skyscrapers by a long shot.

"Okay, Charizard, we made it! I'm gonna get some snacks for us, so let us down, huh?" There. The fire type's pride was spared and Ash would make sure he got some rest, too… Plus Ash might really visit a vending machine if he could find one. When was the last time he had something that was soft and sweet?! All the food Mom sent him on Iron Island had to be cooked, really. Otherwise, it wouldn't have survived the rough ride across the bay separating Iron Island from mainland Sinnoh!

Swooping down in a lazy spiral, Charizard landed the duo in an empty lot not so far from the orange roof of a Pokemon Center. Letting out a yawn, Charizard happily allowed himself to be returned into the pokeball. What meager attention they'd gathered landing had already dispersed, though a few children chattered about trainers and battles, truly inspired by Ash's arrival. Otherwise, it was quiet as Ash made his way into the Center.

What little commotion had been stirred up in Oreburgh's streets went unnoticed here. Like most other Pokemon Centers, this one was, for the most part, quiet and peaceful, pardoning the occasional trainer playfully competing and bragging with one another. Ash smiled at the sight, nostalgic of his prior visits to the health center. Pushing the bitter memory of Paul releasing an Azumarill out of his mind, the trainer approached the front desk. "Nurse Joy? Could you heal my pokemon, please?"

"Of course! I'll get to that right away!" The nurse chirped, reaching under the desk to supply the usual tray. "Just place your pokeballs in the grooves, and we'll have them feeling better in no time!" Getting another look at the trainer, though, she blinked. "I think I recognize you. Didn't you compete in last year's Lily of the Valley Conference?" She could have sworn that she'd seen his face in the headlines a couple of times.

"Oh, yeah! I was." The boy reached to scratch his cheek, suddenly feeling sheepish. "But, I've been here before, too! You healed my pokemon twice when I battled Roark."

"Oh, of course! I'm sorry. I deal with so many trainers every day that it's kind of hard to remember! Well, it's good to have you back here! Now, why don't you go and sit while your pokemon recover?" She took hold of the filled tray, turning back towards the facilities.

"Thanks, Nurse Joy!" Ash bowed his head before turning towards the lounge, with Pikachu perched comfortably on his shoulder. Having just been along for the ride, he was just fine.

* * *

Black-soled shoes clacked against the cobblestoned path leading into the crowded city. A red cloak was conscientiously drawn around the man's shoulders, hiding the man's visage as much as possible from the public. Though, it might be to his displeasure to know that the mysterious outfit only made him more noticeable. The bellowing, grey-blue locks covering his face didn't help matters, either.

Tobias had to admit that since he'd resumed his study into the legends of the regions, he'd gotten to a point where time seemed to slip away from him more and more often. As it was, he wasn't sure how long he'd been in the Eterna Forest, around the Old Chateau.

When he was in Eterna City, he'd heard rumors about a spirit of some sort that was in an abandoned mansion in the forest, the Old Chateau. It certainly wasn't something of the magnitude of the legends that he was familiar with, but he felt it was worth looking into, regardless.

The ghosts weren't really a threat; Darkrai was a good deterrent. While he could hear a high-pitched laughing rather often, he still had not had much luck finding anything beyond the normal Gastly and Haunter; even the human ghosts had had few answers.

That having been said, he did find a fossil of some sort in one of the rooms while he was searching, so he took a moment away from his research, heading southward, towards Oreburgh City.

That's where he found himself, slowly walking from the north entrance to the city, the fossil under one of his arms. He didn't particularly enjoy going to big cities, due to how often he was recognized, but there wasn't anywhere else he could go that could tell him more about the fossil he'd found.

* * *

Not much time passed before Charizard was back at full strength and back in Ash's party, and the rest of his team had been checked on, as well. Stepping out of the small hospital, Ash stretched his arms over his head, letting out a content sigh. "Man, it's good to be out again! I'm getting kinda hungry, though… Whaddya say we get something to eat, Pikachu? We're not really in a rush, right?"

"Pikachu!" The electric mouse cheered. Though, as much as he liked to listen to his stomach, a certain sight had been captured in his beady black eye that warranted more attention. "Pikapi!" He cried, pointing toward the crowded streets.

"Huh?" The boy's eyes were turned in the direction Pikachu pointed, soon doubling in size. "Hey, check it out!" A cloaked man was walking about, looking to be keeping to himself. Long, pale blue hair stood out to Ash. That was one man he couldn't forget. "Tobias!" He shouted, approaching the other.

"Man, is that really you? It's been a while!" Despite his brutal loss to the man, Ash seemed far from bitter. "I didn't think I'd be running into ya anytime soon!"

The man heard his name get called out, wincing. A force of habit… then he recognized the voice. A small smile graced the mysterious trainer's features and he closed his eyes, chuckling a bit as the younger man came over.

"Hmhm. Well well… I must admit that it's quite the surprise to see you here in Sinnoh again, Ash." He hadn't heard of any news regarding the boy since the tournament, and of course he wasn't going to forget the one who managed to take Darkrai and Latios down… even if it had still been a fairly decisive victory in his own favor. He adjusted his position a bit, turning to face the younger man, the fossil still held under his arm. "May I ask what brings you here?"

Likewise, the battle remained vivid in Ash's mind, as well. Maybe just a bit too vivid. "I came here for some special training," he summarized. Its focus wasn't a subject to bring up to just anyone, let alone in public. "And that's done, so I'm on my way to visit a friend! Oreburgh was along the way, so I guess I decided to stop by."

Noting the fossil in the man's possession, he assumed that was the reason for his presence. From the little he'd seen of the man's roster, it'd make sense that he liked to pursue rare pokemon. "You must be here because of that fossil, right? I know some can be found here in the mines!"

Tobias nodded. "I am indeed. I didn't find it in the mines, though; I have been in the Old Chateau in Eterna Forest for the last…" How long had it been, exactly? He honestly didn't remember. "…While. Looking into rumors about the place. I found this fossil in one of the rooms there and I felt it ideal to bring it in for the experts to look at."

Ash tilted his head. "Old Chateau, huh? I wouldn't've thought to find a fossil there."

So, he'd been training, mmm? Interesting. "Well, I wouldn't want to keep you from visiting your friend."

"Hey, wait!" Ash held a hand out. He was already leaving? "Before that… Is there any chance you'd give me another chance at a match? We've been working really hard, and… We really wanna face your Darkrai and Latios again." He and Pikachu looked equally serious about this, intent on proving themselves. They hadn't done all of that hard work for nothing!

As Ash called out, the man stopped. "…You'd like a rematch?" He glanced around. There didn't seem to be many people around… that was good. He didn't like drawing attention to himself.

"…Alright. I haven't done much of any sort of battling since the conference, admittedly, but I'm certain that Darkrai and Latios would like to battle you again. What shall the rules be?"

Ash and Pikachu's stern expressions gave away, the former's heart springing at the answer. They'd get to measure their improvement over the past half a year or so! While he hadn't been expecting it, Ash wholly embraced this chance. "A two on two match!" He didn't want any of the embarrassment of a 0-4 loss, this time. Not that he expected it. "No substitutes for each of us. That sound good?"

"Of course. Singles, I take it?" He actually hoped for that, since he was very unfamiliar with doubles. He stepped off to the side… he figured he could indulge Ash; he normally wouldn't battle in a city, but… well, folks would recognize Ash, and then him; he didn't see the point in continuing to try and hide.

"…Darkrai, let's go!" He threw the Ball, and the Pitch-Black Pokemon emerged, hovering in the air. The dark type pokemon made its entrance, practically swallowing the surrounding atmosphere in a thick, breath-stealing tension. Whispers had already begun over the pokemon's appearance. While it mostly brought terror in dreams, its very presence was enough to stir up unease.

"You got it!" Ash beamed, taking a stance opposite of Tobias. He couldn't help but smile wide, brows furrowing on his maturing visage. Fists closed almost painfully tight, his entire demeanor changed. It was time to take on the shadow that loomed over him for so many lonely months.

"Darkrai… Well, there it is!" He looked to the mouse atop his shoulder, a silent glance exchanged that more than sufficed. If Tobias would use his signature pokemon, then Ash would do the same. "Pikachu, I choose you!"

"Pika! Pikachu!" The quadruped shrieked as he entered the fray, his tone overtly fierce. Fangs were bared, tiny sparks biting at the air around him. He knew this battle would be one of the toughest of his life. Darkrai was a menace he'd seen with his own eyes. If he could take Moltres, though… Just maybe…

What crowd had been in the way had dispersed, and what little company did remain had stood off to watch the match. A public match was interesting enough, and the two involved were familiar faces, after such publicity not even a year ago.

One member of the crowd stepped forward, though, a small psychic type standing at her side, focused on the match. If something went wrong, it would erect a shield to protect her. As the woman who stepped forward began speaking into the camera, the match was moments away from starting. While the full beginning wouldn't be captured, most of it would.

"Roxy reporting in right with the action! It seems we've captured the winner of last year's Lily of the Valley Conference here battling another contestant from the same competition! Is it a grudge match or a friendly battle?! Let's check in!" With that, the report was already connecting with the stations.

Oli, the cameraman, could only hope the news station picked up on Roxy's report. They usually did, but with some lag.

"Alright! Let's do this! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu knew Ash's every little facet and quirk, and his tone was unmistakable. Ash desperately wanted to win this match, and he would do his very best to deliver. Leaping above the ground, Pikachu shouted, unleashing a blinding bolt of electricity. Golden sparks zig-zagged through the air, quickly homing in on Darkrai. If one could tell the voltage of an electric attack, the difference between this performance and the last was palpable. The first move had been cast.

The Darkrai gave a bit of a smirk, aware of his opponent's power. All the same, with an order from Tobias, Darkrai corkscrewed to the side, evading the lighting strike with precision and the narrowest of margins.

Deciding such a small and speedy opponent would fare too well against a move like Dark Void, Tobias called for a different move. "Dark Pulse!"

An arc of inky black energy washed out towards the electric mouse, whose quick thinking trainer - "Dodge it, using Agility! Build up some real speed!" - called out an order, leading him to dodge.

Sprinting left of the dazzling black and purple rings, the mouse was only alerted to his success when minor explosions behind him told him the move went off without hitting him. A few more waves of the pulsating energy later, and Pikachu panted, still running, having dodged them all.

Now, it was time to exploit the speed they'd built up. "Electro Ball!"

Surprised but obedient, Pikachu wondered why Ash didn't call for an Iron Tail, but went for the Electro Ball all the same. Body crackling with electricity, it soon gathered into his long, jagged tail where he flicked it like a tennis player might flick a racket, sending it hurtling towards his legendary opponent. "Pika!"

"Brace yourself!" Tobias called.

Arms thrown up, the impact sent sparks over and through Darkrai's body as he was sent flying backwards. The legendary barely righted himself before he crashed.

"What a powerful attack," the Sinnoh native murmured. The mouse needed to be neutralized, otherwise this match just might be more risky than Tobias had intended. "No choice. Dark Void!"

Gambling, Darkrai created the midnight colored orb in a single hand, pitching it towards Pikachu.

Ash's heart raced. This was what would make or break them. "Use Iron Tail to jump!"

By the width of his whiskers, Pikachu managed to spring himself above the Dark Void. The electric type watched with vivid fascination as the light returned to where the Dark Void had eaten up no light, creating shadow where there was no shade, only for the sunshine to lap back where it rightfully belonged like waves cleaning the shore of footprints.

"Now, use Iron Tail on Darkrai!"

Landing and then darting forward, Pikachu launched himself at the last moment and twisted his body, preparing the assault. "Chua… Pika!"

Grunting, Darkrai skidded backwards from the impact.

Tobias flinched when the impromptu audience roared with applause and praise. He was not in his element; not by a long shot. Still, shaking his head a bit in an attempt to clear it, he tried to focus on what to do. Dark Void was officially off the table; its inaccuracy was far too risky. "Fight back, Darkrai! Ice Beam!"

Though injured, the nightmare-giver shot off the beam beautifully, powerful and on target.

Ash studied his opponent and Darkrai. They - he and his team - had gotten stronger; it was written plainly in the ill-ease of Tobias's face and Darkrai's posture. Still, now was not the time for pride.

As Pikachu took nearly point-blank range damage from the Ice Beam and was thrown across the field.

The trainer's fist clutched. "Pikachu!" Pikachu's defenses simply weren't high enough to really compete with Darkrai, even if they were painfully, tauntingly close to it. "Buddy, can you get up…? You gotta keep moving!" If they wanted this match to continue. If it proved too risky, of course, Ash would back down. Better to train another day than to deal with a tragedy… but the Pallet native had more faith in Pikachu than that.

"Pika…!" Pikachu growled, an unusually painful edge in his voice as he pushed himself onto his feet, striving to ignore pain. "Pikachu!" he continued, making it clear he was ready to battle more.

Smiling proudly, Ash realized where their strength might lie. "Alright! Another Electro Ball. Back to back!" Might as well exploit it in full.

Steadying himself on all fours, the mouse swung his hips, a barrage of Electro Balls pitched from the tip of his jagged tail. Though neither combatant could be bothered to worry about it, the camera captured this scene beautifully. Every trail of sparks down Pikachu's spine, the static dancing across Pikachu's fur, all of it gathering to cluster at his tail and then be released in a ball of light… the ratings would definitely skyrocket this afternoon.

Darkrai's body was tense as he avoided the first of Pikachu's Electro Balls. The second, however, grazed him, sending a numbing tingle through his side. The third landed dead center of his chest, leaving the Pitch Black pokemon shaking.

"Darkrai, don't give in!" He spoke confidently despite his edging nervousness. "Give it all you've got! Dark Pulse, then Dark Void!" Maybe the combination would push Pikachu beyond his limits and result in a benefit for them.

Pained but nodding, Darkrai fired the purple-black waves of energy before pausing to build up the midnight orb once more. The unfamiliar dread of desperation entered Darkrai's heart. How unusually powerful this duo was.

"We're almost there, Pikachu!" Ash encouraged. But, this next set of moves might spell disaster if they didn't handle it right. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Hoping to dispel the Dark Pulse, Pikachu mustered up his strength to the limits in a brilliant, golden flash. The bolts bore down on the rings, light and darkness ripping into each other like ravenous predators, dissipating at contact. The crack of thunder boomed loudly, yes, but the contact - the struggle - of the lightning and the shadows-given-form made so many explosions the audience covered their ears and the audiences at home, just now tuning in, would be in for a miserable dash to turn down the volume once they pressed through the lag time to reach this portion of the battle.

As the dull gray smoke drifted away, smelling of ozone and night dew, a final, all consuming orb of lonely blackness headed for Pikachu, capturing him fully. Within the sphere, barely visible to outsiders, the little electric type fought. Yet, not even he could resist the nightmare-giver's signature move, and the call of slumber overwhelmed him.

"... No! Pikachu, wake up!" The battle was momentarily forgotten. "Buddy!"

Breathing more easily now, Tobias realized he'd regained control of the battle. "Alright, Darkrai! Dream Eater!" Even as Bad Dreams began to take effect, Darkrai unleashed the attack as commanded, draining Pikachu of vitality.

"Pikachu! Wake up!" Ash knew, from the Conference, that his slumber wasn't the fabled one, the cursed sleep… But, between the crushing worry that the battle might go downhill from here and knowing a rest under Darkrai's command couldn't be good, he couldn't help but want his companion awake. "Buddy, please!"

He could see his partner squirming and it was tearing Ash up. Finally, it ended. Swirls released the scrunch of Pikachu's nightmare plagued sleep. Ash was almost, but not entirely, grateful for it. Ash rushed onto the field as soon as Darkrai's Dark Void vanished, scooping up Pikachu. "Buddy… wake up. Please."

Pikachu woke up, tired and frantic. Though his nightmare was proven false upon waking, remorse entered his heart instead of panic. "Pikapi…"

"You did your best," Ash assured, ever confident in his number one partner. "You pushed 'em hard. We've come a long way. Thank you." Winking, he tried to lighten the mood. "We'll finish this, don't worry!" Turning to Tobias and Darkrai, Ash shouted. "We're not done yet!" Gripping the bill of his cap, he fluidly turned it around. In an instant, another pokeball was tossed. "Charizard, I choose you!"

A booming roar left as the pokemon materialized. Charizard's eyes locked onto the floating shadow. Though he had heard the stories from Ash's other pokemon, the dragon would not back down. A snort of ember and smoke trailed from his nostrils. Where others had failed, he was determined to succeed.

* * *

Rubbing her palms where they were still raw from skidding across the yard from dodging a battle gone wild between Mamoswine and Togekiss, Dawn furrowed her brows. "Hey! Mom, do we have any ointment! My hands are really stinging!"

"Oh, Dawn, there you are! Come here, come here! You missed the first few blows, but there's a special battle on most of the stations right now! I think you'll like it!"

Rolling her eyes - she knew at about three o'clock, Jubilife always aired a random battle from volunteers - she decided to walk over anyway. However, realizing who was on the screen, her jaw dropped. Her heart sped up as she realized who he was battling, though, growing anxious on his behalf. "Aw, man, don't let this be like last time…" Plopping down on the couch, the coordinator sat on the edge of her seat.

Johanna smirked, feeling smug. "That little fireball's good at finding strong opponents."

As Pikachu vaulted over the Dark Void, Dawn could only nod in agreement. "Come on, Ash! No need to worry! He's got to have been training! He's absolutely gotten better; he has to have!" She had faith in her second dearest friend!

* * *

Tobias felt a small smile at the corners of his mouth as Pikachu went down… then that smile faded as quickly as it came, and Tobias tensed up a bit; Darkrai still seemed extremely winded, staggering…

"…Rrf." Pikachu had been so damaged from the prior attacks that Dream Eater barely took anything from the mouse. Darkrai was still extremely damaged… and the Charizard was one that he'd never seen before… but he'd certainly heard about it. He knew that that Pokemon was no joke in the power department.

Still, he would not back down. He'd never been pushed this far before.

Darkrai looked at Charizard with a tired gaze, lowering his shoulders slightly. " _…Prepare yourself…"_

"Dark Void!"

His plan was to try and get Charizard down; let Bad Dreams wear it down and give Darkrai a chance to heal up more properly. The Dark-type brought his arms back, hurling the black orb at Charizard.

"Dodge! Then, use Dragon Pulse!" Ash knew Latios was next. This had to be kept in mind while selecting Charizard's moves. Though, it was doubtful anyone knew of Ash breaking the four move limit. That aside, he hoped he made the right choice.

Unlike Pikachu, Charizard could take flight, and would absolutely abuse that. Strong legs began his jump that was carried on by aerodynamics, making him soar above the orb that simply sank into the ground. Sweeping down, he soared closer to Darkrai. Parting his jaws, he fired out a brilliant shot of teal, draconian energy.

Darkrai looked up as Charizard flew up, panting a bit from the exertion… then his eyes went wide as the powerful attack blasted him. The Pitch-Dark Pokemon went flying past his trainer, crashing into a tree nearby.

"Darkrai!" Tobias turned… just in time to see Darkrai fall from a small Darkrai-shaped indent in the tree bark and collapse on the ground, eyes aswirl.

* * *

"Darn it!" Dawn cried out, her television just now displaying Pikachu being enveloped in Dark Void. "Ugh, this sucks!" she complained, every bit as heartbroken as her friends over this development.

"Don't get too discouraged," Johanna gently reminded. "That's a legendary after all. Not just anyone can beat them." The woman paused. "Then again, I'm not quite sure your friend is just anyone…"

* * *

"…Well done…" He recalled Darkrai into his Pokeball, then turned back to Ash. "I can see that the stories about your Charizard are quite true. …We're not finished yet, though. Latios, go!"

The blue-feathered Eon emerged, looking at Charizard… he didn't recognize the fiery lizard, but he did recognize the trainer behind him. " _Ehehe… 'i there."_ His accent was probably not like anything Charizard had heard before. " _I ain't gonna lose to ya, ya got that 'ight?"_ He grinned slightly, turning his neck a bit to pop it.

"Light Screen!" Tobias did not want to take any chances with this; he already knew that Charizard knew Dragon Pulse, and Latios was strong, but not his most durable Pokemon.

Latios flew upward, a shimmering light barrier surrounding him to weaken Special attacks. " _…Bring it, luv."_ He gestured with a hand to Charizard, smirking.

Charizard snorted. _"We'll see about that,"_ he answered with a click of his teeth.

"Light Screen, huh?" Understanding that the move had been instrumental in bringing down Pikachu in their last match, he realized what he would have to do. "Alright, Charizard, we've got to sacrifice Flamethrower. Instead, use Steel Wing!"

Wasting no time, the big orange brute dived for the legendary pokemon, his previously orange wings taking on a bright silver tone. If he couldn't pulverize him with special attacks, then he'd just have to beat him down the old-fashioned way.

Though his fist was clenched, Tobias's face remained impassive as always. "Latios, counterattack with Dragon Pulse!"

Turning upward slightly, the flying type backpedaled to get some space. Inhaling sharply, the blast fired off just as Charizard began to batter the legendary with his metallic wings. Though Latios was sent tumbling in a daze, Charizard was flung away, landing on the ground quite heavily.

Quite frankly, Tobias was astounded at Charizard's strength. Why hadn't Ash hadn't brought the Flame pokemon to the League. It had worked in his favor, though, so perhaps he shouldn't look a gift Ponyta in the mouth.

"Let's try Dragon Tail!" Ash would give Latios no rest.

Rising with the power of his pride and surprising stamina, Charizard let out a bellow of a roar as he flew towards Latios once more. Channeling draconic energy through his tail, he closed in, swinging his hips around to slam the limb brutally into his opponent.

Caught off-guard, Latios was sent reeling.

Soon, a red light overtook the dragon. The secondary effect of Dragon Tail sent him out of the battle. Tobias's eyes widened as Latios was returned and another pokeball burst open.

A very confused Lapras hovered slightly above the ground, looking at the strange black haired youth and the raging fire type, then back to his trainer. The singing cry he released made it clear he was very confused.

* * *

"Yahoo!" Dawn cheered, jumping up and down, the couch forgotten. Charizard had successfully knocked Darkrai out! The threat of Dark Void was overcome! "Oh, man, did you catch them say what kind of match this is?! He might be neck and neck with Tobias now!"

Johanna giggled, playing composed. Truth be told, when Darkrai initially was thrown back by the Dragon Pulse, Johanna had gone wild, too, spilling her orange juice on herself a little. Now, she was thankful her apron was dark. How embarrassing!

"Aw, man, Mom, this is great!"

"Hehe, when it's over, why don't you wait a minute and then call the Pokemon Center in Oreburgh? You just might catch him?" the mother offered.

"... Mom! You're brilliant!"

"Aren't I?"

* * *

"I'm sorry, Lapras," Tobias quickly said, returning the ice type before sending Latios out again.

Though dizzied by the exchange, Latios seemed no worse than he had during the initial attack.

"My apologies. I know this is a two-on-two battle, but my other pokemon probably are considered active." A strange quiet came over Tobias. He was, to himself, very glad none of his other pokemon were released.

Ash was quiet a moment, too, somehow both expecting and shocked to see that Tobias's whole team wasn't legendaries. Surely no man could have that many just to himself! "A Lapras… Right! Sorry, I forgot Dragon Tail could do that," Ash apologized, letting out a nervous chuckle. It did seem to come by chance, after all.

Coughing to focus on the battle rather than the chattering crowd, Tobias pressed to continue. "Come on, let's go on. Latios, use Luster Purge!" After the effectiveness of Dragon Pulse, it seemed sensible to follow up with that. If luck smiled upon him, his own pokemon's secondary effect might pull through: Charizard's special defense might be lowered!

Meanwhile, the Eon pokemon built up psychic power before unleashing it in a powerful beam of pink energy.

"Charizard, Dragon Pulse!"

Time to fight fire with fire. Well, close enough. In any case, Charizard wasn't going to become a sitting duck. His mouth parted, conjuring another furious sphere that fired in Latios' direction.

Naturally, the two blasts collided.

The aftershock of the massive collision sent Tobias' coat flapping in the wind, as well as his hair. The audience yelped as smoke covered the battlefield… then Tobias' voice rang out.

"Giga Impact!"

Latios burst from the cloud, charging at Charizard, surrounded in a purple and orange glow; the Eon looked hurt from the explosion, but he had a fire in his eyes, far more intense than anything seen in their last battle.

" _Taaaaaaake this!"_ He charged at Charizard, hoping to end the battle in one high-power attack. After all, that Sceptile he'd fought before had crumpled with one Giga Impact.

Ash was forced to hold his own under the duress, careful to hold his red cap down upon his waving messy hair. His jacket's tails were tossed every which way, showing the sheer magnitude of this clash. As if it needed any more proof.

Charizard had been thrown back, reeling from the explosion that he hadn't been far from. Though, he came out with his usual perseverance, ready to grapple with the pokemon that was giving him so much trouble.

Though, he was wholly unprepared for the stream of light that shot out of the smoke, pile driving him down towards the earth. Using his wings to cater wind resistance, he stopped himself just before touching the ground, crouching down and riding out the pain.

"That had to hurt," Ash stated the obvious. But, Charizard was still standing. And he knew the dragon's perseverance thoroughly well. Charizard wasn't done. "After Giga Impact, we might have our chance! Charizard, use Steel Wing!"

Letting out another bellowing roar, the Flame pokemon shot into the sky, wings reinforced as he neared Latios. That would show him who really deserved to win.

And, if the attack landed, Ash would continue. "Now, finish it! Seismic Toss!"

Small, but muscular arms wrapped around Latios' body, carrying it high into the sky above.

As Charizard did _not_ go down… Latios' eyes widened. " _…Oh, bugger…"_ He could feel his muscles stiffening up, the side-effects of Giga Impact kicking in, just in time for him to get brained again by Steel Wing, yelping in pain… then squirming as Charizard grabbed him. " _Gah, you bloody lizard, let go!"_

The Eon pokemon would have to deal with remarkable centripetal force as Charizard executed several loops. This was it. This was their chance to finish the match. After that, Charizard plummeted. Just a few more seconds, and the match was theirs.

Latios continued to struggle, feeling more of his body responding as Charizard did his loops…

Tobias grit his teeth. This was their last chance. He had maybe a few seconds before the impact. "Dragon Pulse!" No time for subtlety, he needed the fastest attack Latios had right then and there.

Ash was just about excited enough to scream as he watched victory come just within grasp. As quick as it had come, though, it seemed to slip away with the very power of Tobias' words. "Uh-oh… Charizard! Look out!"

Alas, it was too late. Latios he fought off the dizziness from the looping… and unleashed the powerful blast at point-blank range into Charizard's chest.

Already following through on his motion, Charizard was unable to stop the blast. He proceeded to crash into the earth below, kicking up a copious amount of smoke and dust. The field was shrouded in this gray veil, building undue suspense.

Though Ash very likely knew the result, he hoped for the best. Coughing, he waited for the dust to clear.

Soon, he did.

Charizard lay in a heap atop the pavement, thoroughly shell-shocked by both the blast and the fall. His eyes had shut tight, body unmoving. As powerful as he was, he was unable to quite take a combination like that. At least, after such a grueling battle.

Tobias exhaled slowly as Charizard hit the ground… and, so did Latios. The Eon crashed to the ground, eyes closed… and, he slowly picked himself up. He could not get himself airborne, though; his arms were barely supporting him, and they were shaking.

" _…_ _B…Bloody hell… I-I feel like… I'm gonna hurl…"_ The impacts he'd taken, coupled with the intense battle began wracking his body as his adrenaline had worn off. In almost an instant, Lapras had released himself from his Ball, carefully picking the Eon up onto his back.

Charizard had lost. As had Ash.

" _It's alright… you did very well, Latios."_ The Transport Pokemon smiled slightly, then went over, giving Charizard a Sitrus Berry from a bag around one of the points on his shell. " _…As did he…"_ Lapras carefully nudged the Flame Pokemon's mouth open, dropping the berry in.

Charizard instinctively chewed the berry, a good portion of his injuries fading with the fruit's restorative powers. Teal eyes took in the world again, a bitter regret dwelling in the prideful powerhouse. That was the exact opposite of how he wanted this match to end. However… Latios was a very formidable opponent, and by the looks of the Eon pokemon, he'd only lost by a hair. He snorted, nodding his head to the dragon. In few words, it had his respect.

The commotion had left Ash in the background. The trainer was, to say the least, left with very mixed feelings. The adrenaline had plummeted for him as well, and he couldn't help but feel dejected. All of that training, and they'd still…

Tobias had a bit of shake in his legs as his own adrenaline wore off… he had never come that close to defeat before. The audience's cheering and applauding barely registered as he walked over to Ash, offering his hand. "That was… an incredible battle. Both your Pikachu and Charizard are incredibly powerful…"

Shaking his head, he looked up to Tobias, forcing a smile as he shook hands with the older man. "Thanks! I'm kinda bummed we lost, I'm not gonna lie… But, we've come a long way since our last battle, huh?" That much, he could surely be proud of. Rather than losing six pokemon to the climax, it'd only been two. He looked to the mouse in his arms - a look that Pikachu understood without words. He was grateful. Not just for this match, but the many months that came before it.

Self-appraisal aside, he continued. "It really was an amazing match!"

In all honesty, Tobias was surprised he had won that. He would've attributed that victory to sheer luck. "I… I should probably get Darkrai and Latios to the Pokemon Center… would you come with me?" He knew folks would want to ask questions, and he didn't want to be alone when they did; Ash, to him, had the better personality for that kind of thing.

"Yeah, sure!" Bitter as he may have been in his gut, Ash was sportsmanlike, first and foremost. Looking to the ailing dragon beside him, he held out his pokeball. "Return, Charizard!" Recalling his pokemon in a red flash of light, he smiled. He'd been incredible, as well.

Not bothering with the bustling crowd at the moment, he accompanied Tobias towards the center. "Y'know, our last battle was part of what made us work so hard." Sure, he'd lost leagues before, but none had been quite as sobering as Lily of the Valley. "I guess we owe ya one."

Tobias nodded, walking towards the Center, with Lapras following. The Transport Pokemon offered Pikachu a berry like he had Charizard. Pikachu readily accepted.

"No trainer has ever pushed us like you have. I was certain we would lose that… to be frank, I did not think Latios would be able to recover from using Giga Impact in time…" A hint of a smile tugged at his lips when Ash spoke about their last battle. "Is that so? Well… I'm honored that it was I who pushed you to grow that much." Tobias never considered himself to be a hardcore competitive Trainer, but it was still quite flattering.

"It really came down to the wire," Ash agreed. Maybe he should be taking pride in that. "The way it went, I knew I still had some growing to do." Even after he'd done so well prior.

As they got closer, the blue-haired man stumbled a bit as he heard a rather… unsettling sound. Latios was dry-heaving. Lovely…

"Ah. Pardon me. I should probably pick up the pace a bit." He quickly recalled the Eon Pokemon before rushing on ahead into the Center, leaving Lapras hovering alongside Ash and Pikachu.

Meanwhile, Ash visibly cringed. An odd solution of disgust and guilt caught him. "Yeah… Good idea!" Ash began to walk a bit faster, but not enough to leave Lapras behind.

The Transport Pokemon spoke to Pikachu as they continued. " _…If I may… I have not seen anyone push Darkrai like you did. What's your secret?"_ Lapras kept it to himself, mostly, but he did often feel… inadequate when it came to battling. Seeing such a small 'common' Pokemon battle Darkrai the way he had… it was uplifting, to a degree.

Pikachu, meanwhile, turned to the unexpected guest. Bashful, he rubbed his head much the same way his trainer had before. _"My secret? Well… Ash and I have been training together for a really long time. It's like Ash is saying. That battle made us really want to outdo ourselves, so one day, we could win a league too. We went to the toughest place we could find and just kept going and going."_ It probably helped that Pikachu was an unusual case for his species, but he was a bit too modest to get behind that idea.

Lapras kept pace with the two fairly easily, nodding as Pikachu explained. " _I see… I have been with Tobias for quite some times as well, but… well, I don't battle much. Admittedly, I'm a little envious of you."_

 _"You don't? Maybe you should try to get his attention. If he can understand, I'm sure he'd have you battle more!"_ With pokemon like Darkrai and Latios on his roster, it was surprising that any of his pokemon weren't complete powerhouses. Then again, Pikachu only knew those small bits  
of the man's story.

Tobias had continued on into the Center, getting Latios and Darkrai over to the nurse to be fixed up. Sitting down on a couch near the entrance, he waited for Ash and the others to enter. This was a bit concerning, he had to admit; Latios had never had that kind of reaction after a battle before.

Perhaps he needed to do more training with the others… Darkrai did tend to take the spotlight  
quite a bit.

When the group did enter, Tobias beckoned them over, trying to remain subtle... "They're in to be patched up… Latios should be fine. As for what you said… I agree. We all grow through our experiences."

"Gotcha." Ash acknowledged, nodding to Tobias' words before approaching Nurse Joy, himself. As usual, he pleaded her to take good care, and handed off Charizard's pokeball, as well as Pikachu himself. With that, his conversation with Lapras had to end.

Though, the group wasn't alone for long. Observers of the battle poured in, accompanied by one or two reporters. They were quick to crowd the two competitors, already pestering them with their curiosities.

"Sir," a man started, directed towards Tobias. "Up until now, only your Darkrai and Latios have been shown to the public. Do you have anything to say about the rest of your pokemon?" Needless to say, his roster was a hot topic after the league.

"And, you," Ash was addressed. "If I recall, you'd competed in last year's Sinnoh League conference as well. Compared to then, you've managed to nearly defeat two mythical pokemon consecutively! Do you have anything to say about this drastic improvement?"

Aaaand, here they came. Tobias _knew_ this was going to happen the instant he agreed to the battle. Oh well; it couldn't be helped. He looked at the reporter, folding his arms. "No. I keep them private for a reason; they don't do well with crowds. Kindly _stop asking."_

He supposed he was glad it was Lapras who got dragged out, and not any of the others. Latias didn't like crowds in the slightest, and Cresselia wasn't fond of them, either… the last one would've probably tried to take a bite out of the reporter for pestering him. A hand went on the Transport Pokemon's side as Lapras looked at the reporter.

"Oh, it's just, uh…" Ash put on his biggest smile, raising his hands dismissively. "…I trained really hard and believed in my pokemon! We really doubled down and worked hard to have our strengths cover our weaknesses! That's the key to getting stronger!" That was a good enough, TV-worthy answer, right?

The reporter didn't seem fazed by Tobias' response, though; he followed up with another question. "You completely vanished from the public eye after the Lily of the Valley Conference last year; what have you been doing? Many battling analysts have been wondering why you haven't challenged the Elite Four and the Champion yet. Care to comment?"

Tobias exhaled out of his nose. "…If you absolutely _must_ know, I've been doing what I did for the many years before I took on the League; I've been traveling the region, researching the myths and legends. I do not wish to challenge the Elite Four; I do not care for being in the public eye, and if you were aware of the negative press I was bombarded with after the Conference, I am sure you would understand why I didn't want more. Are you quite finished?!"

A bit of irritation broke his normally calm veneer, and Lapras leaned in to nuzzle him a bit, which did calm him down.

The reporter wrote the response down, then turned to Ash. "And, for you; much like Mr. Drakos, you also seemed to vanish after the Conference. What have you been doing?"

Ash wore a sympathetic smile, surprisingly, catching onto the enigmatic trainer's irritation long before any spectators seemed to. Which said much about the onlookers surrounding the two veteran trainers. _'Man, he really doesn't like this. Poor guy.'_

Happy to take the rap for Tobias, even if his nerves did act up upon knowing he'd be seen on televisions region-wide, Ash did his best to answer. "The thing is… I'm not really from Sinnoh. I went home to Kanto after the tournament to continue training, so I could come out a winner the next time around!" That was a satisfactory answer, wasn't it?

The reporters seemed ready to go into another volley of questions, but thankfully for Tobias, the nurse called him over. He very quickly excused himself, giving Ash an apologetic look as he got Darkrai and Latios' Pokéballs, slipping them into his coat and recalling Lapras. He still needed to get the fossil delivered, after all.

He did whisper to Latios' Pokéball, though, having the Eon send a psychic message. The Eon's accented voice spoke to Pikachu in his mind. " _Oi, Toby says that if you an' Ash wanna talk again, he's gonna be in the Old Chateau in Eterna Forest for a while still after he's done here. Sorry 'bout leavin' ya to the Mightyena."_

The man very quickly made his exit from the Center, knowing the onlookers were still watching, and very quickly went to the museum, dropped the fossil off for study… then left the town even quicker. That had become far more public than he liked, but… still, he felt quite satisfied with the battle. It was certainly food for thought.

"Ahah… See ya!" Ash waved Tobias off, hardly having time to do so before the enigmatic trainer had left the building. This really wasn't his scene. Ash would just have to clean up.

…Or, not. "Excuse me!" Nurse Joy scolded. "I understand you have quite the story here, but this is a Pokemon Center! Not a bed for gossip! Please show some respect for the trainers here and take your business elsewhere!" Her hands had landed on the counter, a bit forcefully for a Joy's demeanor.

A bit of chatter, and agreement that an adequate scoop to catch plenty of news time passed through the crowd, and they quickly dispersed. Despite their humble positions, Nurse Joy's seemed to have quite the voice among the general public.

Meanwhile, Pikachu took notice to relay the message to Ash later, and thanked Latios mentally, if the Eon pokemon could still hear him. Even if they had lost a battle, the duo had at least made a few new friends! Now, if only it hadn't been so painful…

"Thanks, Nurse Joy." Ash exhaled, wholly grateful to the head of the center. While he wasn't quite as antisocial as his new friend, the attention was taxing, to say the least. Now, that was out of the way… Ash had a lot of thinking to do. Maybe he'd start by giving an old friend a call.

* * *

"He lost," Dawn moped. She furrowed her brows. "But… it was closer this time."

"A lot closer," Johanna agreed. She kept her hand under her chin, puzzling through it. "What has your friend been up to, Dawn?"

"Uh…" She grinned nervously. "Actually… I haven't… spoken to him since I left for Hoenn."

Giggling as the Roxy wrapped up her report, the woman continued. "I figured. I spoke with Delia some, though. Apparently he went off to do some training. She was pretty upset at first, but we got to talking about how it is when kids leave the nest." Letting out a sigh, the woman looked to Dawn. "Speaking of which, when are you headed out again? Most Contests Halls are going to re-open in a week or so. You need to head out by the end of the week if you wanna get anywhere on time."

Dawn shrugged. "I don't know. I don't really wanna go anywhere by myself… I guess I could ask Zoey or see what Kenny's up to." He had wanted her to travel with him, right?

Nodding, Johanna recalled her earlier suggestion. "Oh, right! He's probably where he can answer a phone now! Why don't you call Ash! He might know which regions you might wanna visit, hm?"

"That's right!" Dawn got up, headed for the phone… But, it was already ringing when she stepped in front of it! Confused but polite, she answered it. "Berlitz residence, who am I - Ash?! Are you psychic?!" She looked over her shoulder to the television in the living room. He was still on!

"I dunno, are you?" The boy recoiled, eyes widening at the bluenette's face showing so suddenly. "You picked that up _really_ fast. But hey, I'm not complaining!" He chuckled; a little too enthusiastically, at that. Perhaps he was trying a bit too hard to be jovial.

That aside, seeing Ash up close did bring attention to a few things. What was probably identified as a long-awaited growth spurt arrived, leaving him a few inches taller, and filled out, to boot. A few more messy bangs adorned his face below his cap, as well.

"Ha! Though, I do know someone might be!" she joked, referencing her Absol. She'd have to show him sometime. But, for now, a more pressing matter came to mind. Her smile turned to a little pursed frown, one eyebrow cocked. "Hey… you feeling alright?" She tried to look behind him. If there were other still in the Pokemon Center, he might not feel like opening up to her.

"You've got that same look you got when Gible learned Draco Meteor." She pressed a finger to her chin, thinking. "... or was that blind terror we felt back then?" While she didn't register Ash's changes quite yet, it'd probably be even longer before Ash registered hers. A subtle gain of height and a change in clothing sizes - which made shopping difficult to the point of almost asking Paris for help with certain intimate items - marked her own aging.

"Huh? Yeah! I'm totally fine!" A chipper smile marked Ash's features… But it only lasted so long before faltering. "...I guess." He averted eye contact, toying with the brim of his cap.

"A guess is not a yes," she sing-songed. Pausing for a moment, she was torn on bringing up the battle or just asking if he maybe wanted to come over and have some cake or something. If he was in Oreburgh he could probably make it by dinner time! "Hey, tell you what! Me and mom caught your battle on TV just now, so how about you come over for dinner! We can have dessert!" Then, Dawn gave a thumbs up. "Or, you can watch me and Mamoswine juggle again! Like old times!" Did anyone even say that anymore? She probably picked up the phrase from her mom.

Johanna called from the living room. "Were you going to tell me you were inviting him over? I'm happy to have him, but I'll need to run to the store so we're stocked up."

Dawn grinned, trying to ignore being caught running her mouth.

"You saw it!?" Now, that explained her showing up to the phone so quickly… Jeez. All of Sinnoh probably saw that battle. At least he and his team had made a good showing. Before he could truly mope or fret, though. The promise of dessert was enough to catch on.

"Hey, that sounds awesome!" All the tension had stolen his attention until now, but a loud, grumble of his stomach boasted then. "Ahahah… And, if you guys wanna put on another show, that'd be cool, too!" He did remember that experience fondly. After a far more devastating loss, it'd put him in good spirits.

Winking, she nodded. The night was set, then! "Well, me, Piplup, and Buneary - along with a special someone you'll get to meet - just got back from Hoenn about a month or so ago, so we've got some new tricks for you!" she assured. She just hoped she didn't fall down in the heels again. Honestly, flats would probably do better… But, the outfit matched Buneary's and the Contest Spectacular promotional photoshoot shenanigans have been so fun. "But, right, right, back on dinner, we'll start working on it! You just make sure you don't get lost! And, get ready to swap stories, I wanna know how you've been doing!" she 'ordered'.

"You guys were in Hoenn?" Wow, he'd missed a lot while he was gone. "But yeah, cool! I'll head right on over, as soon as Pikachu and Charizard are feeling better!" Ash flashed a thumbs up, feeling himself to be in slightly better spirits, now. "We'll be over before ya know it!"

High fiving the air - surely he would do it back - she nodded. Just to say goodbye now and then hang up to get ready. "Right! See you then, huh?" She was so excited. There were so many changes to show him and updates to give!

Ash grinned at the gesture, mirroring the same with his gloved hand. "Yup! See you!" With that, he pressed the button to end the call. "I've gotta tell Pikachu about this!"

Lo and behold, his timing was impeccable. "Ash! Your pokemon have been fully healed, and are fighting fit! Feel free to pick them up at the front desk!" Nurse Joy called. Having been watching the boy, she couldn't help but smile. After such a spectacle, it was good to see that he was in good spirits.

"Alright! Hey, Pikachu! You feeling better, buddy?" He raced to the counter, holding his arm out for Pikachu to scale. The mouse did as expected, running along his arm before finding a comfortable spot on the boy's broader shoulder, nuzzling his cheek.

Taking Charizard's pokeball as well, he couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks, Nurse Joy! I really appreciate it." He looked back to Pikachu, then. "I just talked to Dawn! Looks like we're having dinner in Twinleaf Town, tonight! That sound good to you?"

"Pika, Pika~!" The mouse cooed, beady eyes shining. It'd be great to have a nice, home-cooked meal! And better yet, they'd get to see Dawn, and all of her pokemon, again! Maybe this day hadn't been so bad, after all.


	17. Touching base back in Pallet!

The travel hours passed by as they ought to have; Ash riding atop Charizard with mild monotony, entertained only by the occasional passing flying type. Whilst Dawn in Twinleaf Town dutifully helped her mother, when she wasn't trying to convince Piplup and Buneary that idly waiting in front of the door wouldn't bring Pikachu to their doorstep any faster.

A knock on the door connected the two parties.

"I've got it!" Dawn could be heard, her voice muffled by the door. It was pulled back to reveal a glowing face and jubilant blue eyes. "You made it!" she greeted, stepping back. Piplup and Buneary mobbed around his ankles, chirping and chattering up at Pikachu. "Come on, guys, knock that off!" she chided, picking the two eager pokemon up. Noticing that Ash had an unfamiliar occupant in his own arms, she inquired. "Oh? Who's this?"

Ash smiled, looking down at the little Riolu who hung onto his jacket tightly with pride. "Hehe, this is Rosa, a Riolu I hatched!" He explained before looking back up. "She's a little shy. Rosa," he started, "these are my friends. Say hello to Dawn, Piplup, Buneary, and Johanna! Don't worry, they won't bite!"

"Hi, there!" Johanna called from the dining area, where she was setting up the last of the table arrangements.

"Well, it's certainly good to see all three of you," Dawn greeted, minding to include Pikachu as well.

The mouse let out a happy chirp before chattering towards Buneary and Piplup. "Pika Pika!"

"Well, dinner's ready if you are!" the coordinator reminded.

That was all that needed to be said to Ash. "Of course! I'm starved!"

As they headed into the kitchen, all of the pokemon except Rosa wiggled free, chattering amongst themselves. Pikachu politely put up with Buneary's painfully obvious affections as the three of them - himself, her, and Piplup - chatted and caught up on their way over to their own portions, where Johanna's Umbreon and Glameow already reclined.

Walking beside Ash, the coordinator tried to be friendly with the little fighting type. "Well! If you think we're scary now, wait 'til you've seen your trainer eat!" she joked.

Rosa cracked the smallest of grins at this, though she stayed buried into Ash's side.

Looking down at her, Ash took mild offense. "Hey! She's already seen me eat!"

About to fire back in play, the coordinator instead stopped. "Wait… are you… taller than me?!" They were the same height last she remembered! And, she'd grown some, she knew it! She had to buy new clothes!

"... I think so!" Shock had run over him at first, but it had quickly turned to cheekiness. "Poor little Dee Dee, she's - "

"Don't use that name!" Dawn whined as they both sat down at the table.

Though pleased, Johanna couldn't help but jump in on it. "My, oh my, did my house just get lively. Haha, it's kind of fun!"

"Speaking of fun," Dawn started, loading her plate up before passing the dishes around, "let me tell you what happened in Hoenn! I did some promotional work with Paris for these things called Contests Spectaculars! They won't be a contest anyone can enter just yet, but trust me, they're gonna be great! Anyway, after we took some photoshoots - actually, I should show you the pictures later of Buneary and Piplup! She was dressed as a popstar and he was a rocker, and - "

"Dawn," Johanna gently reminded.

"... oh! Right. Anyway, I caught an Absol while I was there!" she explained, eyes lighting up. "And, a Houndour when I got back here." She frowned. "Though, it was a lot less exciting to catch him. He kept bullying Pachirisu. He still does, sometimes."

Ash nodded, though his mouth had been full through all of her story. Swallowing, he replied, "Oh, man! So, you're in a magazine now?! That's great! And, yeah, I wanna see them after dinner! In fact, I've got a lot of pokemon to show you!" He started counting on his fingers as Rosa nibbled on a roll.

"Let's see… There's Tyranitar, Misdreavus… and a whole lot of others evolved! Gible's a Gabite now! I'm totally gonna have to show you after dinner! Tyranitar's actually an old friend of mine and Misdreavus helped us out a ton on Mt. Silver! We… Kinda got lost on the way down." Sharing a smile with Pikachu, he continued. "Oh, and Buizel evolved!"

"Buizel evolved!?" The others were momentarily forgotten. Starry eyed, Dawn clasped her hands together and smiled widely. "Oh, man, this is great! I'm so proud - of him and you! I guess I should call him…. Floatzel? Floatzel, now." Nodding, she tried to eat a little more, but now she was just a bundle of energy. Ash was visiting and Buizel had evolved?! Fantastic! "I'm so glad for Gible, too. And, I'm sure Tyranitar and Misdreavus are wonderful pokemon!"

Johanna paused, grinning. "Dawn, you don't even know where or what Mt. Silver is, do you?"

Dawn sunk into her seat, idly poking at her meal. "No," she confessed.

Ash cracked a smile. "It's this super dangerous mountain between Johto and Kanto! It was _freezing,_ but we got super strong up there!" He nudged her playfully. "Keep up your training and I may take you sometime."

"Keep running your mouth and I'll ask Pikachu to shock you awake from a nap again," she threatened.

From where he ate, the mouse lifted his head upon hearing his name before shrugging and going back to eating.

Realizing that the two would banter if she didn't stop them, Johanna tried to steer the conversation. "So, Ash, what are you up to?"

"Well… I've just been training, you know? I was at Iron Island for a while. I should probably head back home after this…"

"What about you, Dawn?" Johanna asked.

"Mom, I'm still trying to figure out a Contest circuit to try," she gently reminded, only half-whining.

"No, honey, I meant, what about the Kanto Contests. Ash might be able to tell you a little bit about the area and if you get lost, he might be able to tell you where to go!" she suggested. It'd certainly make it easier on Johanna. If Dawn was in a region with friends, it would be better.

"Kanto has Contests?!" Dawn exclaimed, truly surprised.

"Oh yeah," Ash agreed, working on his dessert now. "May did 'em while I took on the Battle Frontier!" He paused. "Actually… yeah!" He was trying to get stronger before the next League, so what if the next League he took on was the Indigo!? He already had all the badges, but if he went with Dawn while she was coordinating, he could challenge the gyms again for practice! "So, are you gonna?"

"Gonna what? Go to Kanto?" She thought about it. "Well, I did wanna go with you back then…"

"Great! We'll get to travel together again!" Ash enthused. "I'll challenge the Indigo League!" he decided, sure of himself very suddenly. "Oh, man, I'd better call Mom! She'll be mad if we don't swing by before starting the journey!" he explained, shooting away from the table quick enough to make Rosa yelp in shock.

Dawn giggled at his haste before thinking about Kanto. "Aw, man, I'll get to see Brock, again! Gary, too! Maybe even Professor Oak!" She let out a fangirlish squeal, clapping her hands together.

Shaking her head, Johanna began to clear the table. "Well, good. You two might want to get packing and head out tomorrow, hm?"

"Why so soon?" Dawn asked, furrowing her brows.

Johanna merely smirked. If she knew Delia like their telephone conversations led her to believe, then in three... two… one…

Ash returned. "Mom said as soon as I get back I have to stay at home for at least a day, so if you're okay with that, we can leave whenever," he bashfully explained. She was most likely going to fawn over both of them for a while.

Johanna chuckled. "See? If you two leave tomorrow, you'll still have a week to get to whatever Contest Halls are nearest you, even with Delia wanting to see her baby boy!"

Ash supposed all mothers were the same, in the end. A little embarrassed by knowing how close his and Dawn's mothers were - she even referred to him as Delia's baby boy - he looked off to the side.

"Well," Dawn began. "Are you going to show me your pokemon?"

"Totally! Let's head outside and let everyone mingle for a bit, huh? I don't have Floatzel on me right now, though… You'll see him later! And, Tyranitar, eheheh."

* * *

The bed was crowded. Pikachu slept on Ash's chest while Rosemary slept snuggled to his side; Wartortle and Bulbasaur likewise sprawled on the guest bed. Morning soon came, however, and as the sun shined through the window, Bulbasaur was the first to awake. He felt in a good mood; the solar particles drawn to his bulb helped with that pleasant start.

"Bulbaaa…" The grass type stretched its head out, turning its attention to the slumbering group. He began to nudge Ash's side, doing his best to wake the dozing trainer.

"Huh… Wha…?" He began to stir, eyes opening up to be met with the bright light shining in through the window. "Man… Morning already?" He carefully began to sit up, much to the discontent of Pikachu, who rolled off of Ash onto the bed face-first.

"Pika…"

The grass type's vines extended to wrap around the sleepy Riolu, gently lulling it just above the bed to wake it peacefully. Rosa woke with a sleepy yawn, stretching her small arms over her head.

Wartortle began to wake up too, rubbing its eyes to sit up among the rest.

"Morning, guys!" Ash greeted, a smile forming on his face. Today was the day! They were heading back to Kanto! And to top it off, the sweet aroma of breakfast had begun to drift upstairs.

The teen was quick to get dressed, holding the door open for the Pokemon to scamper out. Ash rushed for the stairs as well, just barely coming short of making the same mistake as last time - he'd almost fallen down the steps.

"Man, that was a close one…" He breathed a sigh of relief. "I wonder if Dawn's up yet."

Dressed in a new ensemble, Dawn walked out of her room and into the hall right on cue.

Seeing that Ash hadn't fallen down the steps like last time, she decided to tease him. "Someone remembered that the first step's a doozy!" she called before descending herself, carrying Piplup, as his little legs wouldn't let him go down the steps easily.

Ash let out a sheepish chuckle at the throwback, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, I'm not doing that again!"

Johanna looked around from the kitchen. "Well, you're both up and at it. Excited?"

Ash made his way to the dining room, taking a seat at the table with haste. His Pokemon followed, gathered around his seat, waiting to be fed. "You bet! I can't wait!" Ash affirmed. He almost wished he was there already! Still, being at Dawn's wasn't so bad. Focused on their plans and breakfast, though, Ash hadn't yet noticed Dawn's wardrobe change.

"Very!" Dawn gave her mother an assuring look as the woman went around to tend to the pokemon while Dawn sat down. "You'll be fine while I'm gone?" she asked, suddenly aware that Johanna would once again be by herself.

The older blue haired woman cracked a grin, standing up straight after serving the non-humans their meal. "Dawn, honey, you know I _still_ have my own life, right?" Humming, she let out a good-natured laugh. "I'll keep in touch."

Ash dug into his meal, listening to the two in silence. He knew this conversation - he often had a similar conversation with his mother before he left home. Like Delia, though, Johanna would surely be alright as she said.

Glad to see her mother was in good spirits, Dawn began eating. "No need to worry then," she muttered. "No need to worry…" As for her outfit, she left it be; Ash would eventually notice, whether it be two minutes or two hours from now.

"No need to worry!" Ash echoed, reassuring the girl. "Mom told me the same thing when I left to go train. We'll call in, no problem!" In typical Ash fashion, he ate as he spoke, coming awfully close to finishing his meal. Ash's Pokemon had dug into the bowls left out for them as well, more than content as they waited patiently for their trainer and his companion to finish.

"Don't talk with food in your mouth," Dawn gently chided, not really irritated, but feeling the need to remind the boy that this wasn't see-food. She was close to finishing hers as well, though she knew there was no point in rushing when Mamoswine had to finish his morning feast.

Ash gave a sheepish smile, coming so close to talking before just nodding and swallowing his most recent bite. She'd asked nicely enough that it didn't bother him, so he complied.

Johanna watched silently, a cup of coffee to her lips. Grinning, she looked out of the window before speaking. "I suppose I needn't tell you, Ash, but Dawn, you mind where you're at in Kanto—they've got organized crime there."

Turning to Johanna, Ash nodded. "Believe me, I know." He started. "I've been dealing with Team Rocket since I've started out as a Pokemon Trainer." Once, they'd even attacked as a group on the S. ! That experience had nearly been the death of him, but it was probably best not to bring that experience up.

The blue haired girl raised a brow. "…We should be fine." Surely it couldn't be worse than the Team Rocket gang they'd come across—a scam here, a theft there… nothing serious. Right?

"Jessie, James, and Meowth've gotten a little more dangerous lately. But we're a lot stronger, and I'm sure together, we'll keep sending 'em packing!" The trio had actually stalemated him the last time they met. If he had Dawn with him, maybe his odds would be better.

"Right!" Between the two of them - their wits, their determination, their teams - surely they would be unstoppable! Or, at least difficult enough to keep down that it wouldn't be worth anyone's time. Efficiency was usually the name of the game for evil, after all.

Seeing that they were both nearly done and that their pokemon had pretty much finished their meals, Dawn stood. "Well, I guess we're heading out, huh?" She went over to give her mother a deep, brief hug.

"You'll do great," Johanna assured as they let go of each other.

"Yeah, looks like it!" Ash flashed the coordinator a grin, and gave her mother a warm smile as well. "Thanks for letting us stay the night!" He slung his backpack over his shoulders, which he'd left downstairs the night before. "Okay, guys! Let's get moving!" The trainer turned to his Pokemon who were chowing inside, calling back Bulbasaur, Wartortle, and Riolu. Probably best not to have her out during a flight to the airport.

Turning to Ash, Dawn huffed proudly. If he was ready, it was time to roll out.

He didn't hesitate to run outside, making his way to Misdreavus and Charizard. "Okay, guys, you ready to get back to Kanto?"

The two nodded. It was quite the trip, but worth waiting in a pokeball for.

"Soon as Dawn's out here to join us, we're leaving!" He returned Misdreavus, as he'd need only Charizard to get to the airport.

Dawn checked the tickets her mother had given her as she came outside, bag on her shoulder and the rest of her team put away in their pokeballs. "This is our first oversea flight…" she muttered to Togekiss.

The fairy type chirped, bobbing her head. "Toge!"

Taking this as confirmation, Dawn settled on Togekiss's back, comfortable with the pokemon's wide stature. She looked to Ash. "Ready?"

If he agreed, then she'd take to the sky. This would certainly be quite the trip.

Charizard took that as the signal to lower his head, giving Ash and Pikachu the chance to climb atop his back. Pikachu sat in Ash's lap, holding onto his trainer's coattails for security.

"You bet!" The trainer affirmed, holding on tight. "Let's go, Charizard!" The trainer from Pallet pointed towards the sky with considerable flare, black hues lighting up in excitement. "Let's head back to Kanto!"

The flying type let out a roar, spreading his wings wide before taking off powerful flaps of his leathery wings. Ash held his prized cap down upon his head, heart already racing in anticipation of what was to come.

Only hugging down further onto Togekiss's streamlined form so that she could attempt to keep up with the Charizard, it took Dawn's party took a few seconds to finally catch up to Ash's. They were on their way, now.

* * *

The most taxing part of the flight was making it through the airport. Without Brock to guide them, Dawn and Ash did a very good job of getting themselves lost. It was only by Pikachu pointing out their terminal that they made it just before their seats were given away to other passengers. After that, it was smooth flying.

The flight stopped being fun, though, the last thirty minutes in.

"Ugh," Dawn complained. "What's going on out there? The pilot said something about turbulence." She hugged Piplup tighter, the poor little penguin completely out of it thanks to the suddenly miserable flight.

Ash, used to riding on Pidgeot and Charizard, was taking it considerably better. "You want the window seat? There isn't much to see 'cause it's storming, but maybe it'll help…?" He shook his head. "Man, it'd suck to be in Cerulean right about now."

However, just as he spoke that, the plane broke through the storm cloud. Dawn breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness!"

"'Bout time! We'll land, soon!" Ash enthused.

"I hope so."

Lo and behold, after fifteen minutes, they were touching down! The forest below gave way to a clearing, and many buildings and homes took their place. Finally, they were home free! The runway cleared a giant space off to the side of the modest town of Pallet.

As they were let off the plane, Dawn let out an ecstatic giggle. "You did great," she murmured to Piplup, though he was still too woozy to answer. She'd then look over at Ash, enjoying being able to stretch her legs. "Man! I didn't realize I'd miss walking so much!"

"Yeah, flying for a while does that, I've heard." Grinning, he walked beside her out of the airport. "Well, glad you do! 'Cause it's a bit of a walk from here to my house!"

* * *

The trainer turned to Dawn, finally getting a real look at the girl for the first time since they'd left. "Hey, that's a pretty cool look for you!" Ash remarked, giving her a thumbs-up. It seemed more casual than her usual wear - it almost looked like his style… If he were a girl, of course.

"Took you long enough," she teased. Fashion wasn't his forte, so she wasn't going to be rude. "Thank you, though. Kanto's a whole different ballpark from Sinnoh, so I decided to dress appropriately." A pink vest over a black, slightly mid-cut tank top and black shorts was the main part of her look. She also sported a belt, a new accessory for her, and teal instead of pink boots. She felt the tiniest bit naked without any hair accessories, but she supposed she looked good anyway.

"Hey, no problem! Makes sense to me." He hadn't thought of that, but Sinnoh _was_ considerably colder.

She gestured to his ensemble. "Though, I never did get around to asking when red became your color. Looks good on you though—heroic, maybe?"

Dawn's remark brought a smile to Ash's face - a cocky one. Good job, Dawn. You went and boosted his ego. "Hah, thanks! I got it after I left Sinnoh. Heroic works for me!" He hadn't considered that, but he had done quite a lot of saving people through his travels. If his outfit reflected that, well, awesome!

He even tugged on the end of his jacket, forming something of a cape out of it. Dawn wasn't impressed. Well… He could look cool when he wasn't trying to, anyway.

"Oh! Speaking of changes, I guess you were training when it happened, but while I was in Hoenn, apparently some professor in Kalos discovered there's actually another type: fairy! And, I've got one! Togekiss! She's actually fairy and flying; people thought Togekiss were normal for years!"

"That's incredible!" Ash enthused. "I remember back when they discovered steel and dark…" He shook his head, chuckling. "To think so long we thought Magnemites were just electric!" Science was incredible, he supposed. "Speaking of incredible stuff, you're about to see my house!" Ash pointed at his home, beaming with pride.

* * *

"Oh, wow! So this is your place, huh? It looks so cute!" Dawn admired the modest, two-story home. There was even a beautiful garden, right outside the house. "It looks like it keeps your mom busy," she remarked, approaching the front door.

"Yeah, and it keeps me even more busy when she wants my help." Ash frowned, recalling nightmarish bouts of chores. Even Pikachu agreed with a sympathetic recital of his name.

With that out of the way, Ash pulled the door open, stepping into the warm, humble home. "Hey, Mom! I'm home! And, I brought a friend with me, too!" Ash shouted, hands cupped around his mouth as he kicked his shoes off his feet.

"Ash!?" A high, audibly excited voice called from the other room. Appearing before the duo and their pokemon in a flash was none other than Delia Ketchum. Large, auburn orbs glowing, she pulled her teenage son into a hug, easily making up for the two months or so that he'd been gone. "Oh, honey, it's so good to see you! And, you, too, Pikachu!"

It took her a moment to register the girl beside her son, but Delia managed to recover from her fumble, quickly pulling back to clasp her hands together. "Oh, Dawn! It's so nice to finally meet you in person! Ash didn't tell me that he was having anyone else over, but you're always welcome here!"

Meanwhile, Ash took the moment of freedom to avert his eyes, fumbling with the brim of his cap. Did she have to go and embarrass him in front of his friends like that…?

Bowing her head just a bit, Dawn smiled widely at Delia. "It's nice to see you in person, too! Mom sends her regards!" Their mothers talked every now and again. As of recently, they were talking more frequently than their children were, not that, considering how busy the two had been, that meant very much.

"Well, it was a little last minute!" she explained. "Thank you, though. It's lovely here!"

Beaming with pride that Dawn had complimented her home, Delia nodded. "Well, I know Ash is hungry -"

"Yep!" he agreed, not even bothering to pretend that he was insulted.

"- but would you like anything?" the mother continued.

"If you've got some soda, that'd be nice!" Dawn followed the mother and son into the kitchen, sitting down happily at the dining table as Delia took to her typical role of hostess.

"So, you're a coordinator, right?" Delia asked once she got sat down. "You're going to do the contests here? I'll try and tune in, okay? Do your best!"

Blushing a bit, Dawn grinned. "Thank you, I will!" She gestured to Ash, since his mouth was full. "Did he tell you he was going to challenge the gym leaders again?"

"Can you do that?" Delia wondered. "I suppose if you two really wanted to, you could ask go Professor Oak about it. He's more familiar with the League rules than me!" she confessed with a laugh.

"He lives near here?!"

Ash chuckled at Dawn's surprise. "He does!"

"That means Gary's here, too!" she sing-songed.

Letting out a huff, Ash poked Dawn's cheek. "You're in casa de la Ketchum right now, you know, not at the Oak's! You could be excited about it," he whined.

Swatting away his hand, she poked her tongue out at him. "I am! It's just been a while since I saw him! Or, heard a poem…"

Grinning at Ash's leftover need to trump Gary no matter what, whether it was a battle or simply a friend's attention, Delia spoke up. "Well, after you two get settled in, I'll get started on dinner while you two go over to Samuel's and invite them over for dinner?"

"Sounds good!" the two chimed in unison.

* * *

Though it was nowhere near sunset, the shadows were growing longer by the time Ash and Dawn arrived at Oak's residence. Quicker on the draw than his female companion, Ash knocked three times, very loudly, on the front door.

"Coming!" came a muffled voice from inside.

In short order, the door was opened. There stood Tracey Sketchit, lab coat smudged with ink and a cup of fragrant coffee in his hands. "Oh! Ash! Good to see you. And, you are…?"

"Dawn!" she greeted as he ushered them in. "Nice to meet you…?"

"Tracey!" Ash explained, jumping into the conversation. "Nice to see you, buddy! How's it going?"

"Pretty good. I'm doing a lot of paperwork right now, so a little break's appreciated."

"Really? Well, me and Dawn came to invite the Oaks to dinner, but if you're here this afternoon, I'm sure Mom wouldn't mind one more at the table! So!" He turned to Dawn, giving her a pat on the back. "You stay here and get to know Tracey and let the Oaks know what's up! I'll be out back!"

"Out back?" Dawn asked as Ash ran off. "Hey!"

"Don't bother," Tracey gently discouraged, certain it would do her no good to go running after Ash. As long as he'd known the boy, when he was determined to do something, there was no stopping him. "Now, your name's familiar… where would I know you from?"

"Well, I traveled with Ash. And, since he knows you, I'm going to assume you've known him for a while, too?"

Tracey nodded. "I traveled with him while he was taking on the Orange Island League. Hey, wait a second… Your mother wouldn't happen to be Johanna, would she?"

"That's her!" Dawn replied.

"That's where I know you! Gary heard about her from Rowan when while working with him, and he told me and the professor about you once he got back!"

Clasping her hands together, Dawn couldn't help but beam. "Gary told you?! And, Professor Oak?! About me?!" She could just die. The poetry man and his grandson were talking about her! Er, talked about her. Either way, she was still very excited.

"Oh? So, are you one of Gary's fans?" Tracey teased. Somehow, he doubted that. There was no way Ash would put up with someone constantly fawning over Gary no matter how well the two boys got along now.

"Hm? I suppose… I'm much more interested in his grandfather, though! It'd be different if Gary would write some poems!"

A little confused by her wording, Tracey nearly spat his coffee out. "I-Interested…? In the professor?!"

"His poetry's amazing!" she clarified.

"Ah, there she is! The girl who truly appreciates my artistic side!" Samuel appeared.

The sentiment was clearly appreciated. "Professor Oak! Oh, man, oh, man, oh, man, oh, man, oh -"

Seeing that there was only one way to calm the girl down, Professor Oak quickly tried to come up with a haiku. "A quiet mouse stays in the house longer than a loud one ever will."

True enough, the girl's frenzy turned into quiet consideration. "I understand… Say, do you have that -"

Handing her a piece of paper that he'd been writing on, Tracey revealed that he'd already done her the favor. "Here, there's the poem. Happy?"

"Very! Thank you both so much!"

With the introduction taken care of, Samuel supposed he should see what the girl was actually after. "So, what brings you to my lab? Hm? I think I saw Ash out back…"

"Miss Delia wanted us to invite all of you over for dinner!" Dawn explained. "Also, Ash and I are going to travel through Kanto again! Er, well, he'll be going again. This is my first time." She clarified with nervous laughter.

"I'm going to go on the coordinating circuit, but his mom said we should ask about what to do about Ash challenging the gym leaders again. Like, if he could even do that?"

"Certainly!" Samuel clarified. "But, knowing Ash, he'll want to battle their superior, personal teams."

"Personal teams?"

Oak chuckled. "Of course! All but the youngest gym leaders have numerous teams, each suitable for trainers of different strengths, though some gym leaders have different responsibilities, so they will only take on trainers below or above certain levels. If you've ever met a gym leader who wouldn't take on someone unless they had certain badges, you know what I'm talking about."

Turning to face the window, the elder continued. "It isn't exactly common practice, but Ash got along decently with most of the gym leaders, so I'll put in a word to let them know that it's fine to do that with him. I'd expect nothing less, quite honestly. I suppose it's good something was said so he got a good, proper challenge."

Tracey nodded. "Yeah, I think he'd like that, if I know him."

Dawn rolled her eyes, fond of her companion but knowing as well as anyone else that he lived for a good battle. "Trust me. He'll probably be singing your praises over dinner."

The relative quiet of the three in the lab was broken when two boys rather than one came inside.

"All I'm saying is that you shouldn't go siccing your stinky Typhlosion on any vague shadows you see!"

"If you and your stupid Umbreon weren't slinking in the dark, that wouldn't have happened!"

"It's called enjoying the sunset! I wouldn't expect a child to take the time to do something like that!"

"Who are you calling a child?!"

Just as things were about to get physical, Dawn unwittingly stepped between the brewing fight. Neither boy was quite angry enough to put their friend in physical danger, so the situation quickly de-escalated.

"Gary! It's so good to see you!"

Smiling brightly down at the girl, Gary greeted her back. "It's good to see you, too! You finally got to meet Gramps, huh?"

"Mmhm!"

Tracey breathed out a sigh of relief. "Boy, I thought they were about to throwing punches."

Samuel nodded in agreement. "At their age now, they might actually hurt each other."

"What are you doing here, though?" Gary inquired, genuinely curious.

"I could ask you the same," Ash hissed. Hadn't he just seen him like, a day or two ago?

Talking over Dawn's head, the brunet quickly answered his ex-rival. "I'm in my house," he quickly reminded Ash. He'd whooped the Ketchum in battles and he'd darn sure whoop the boy on Oak property. "Besides, I was done doing work with Rowan for a bit, so I came here to work on some other _important_ business."

"Hey, we're doing important stuff, too!" Ash bit back.

"Can I talk?" Dawn asked in a flat tone.

"Right, yeah, sorry," both boys apologized.

"Anyway, I'm here with Ash to do some Contests with he tries the League again!"

"Really, now?" Gary's malice disappeared. "Well, I wish you both the best of luck. I mean it."

Taken off guard by Gary's sudden gentleness, Ash fiddled with the brim of his hat before putting a hand on Dawn's shoulder to catch her attention. "Right. Thanks. Well, if that's all, I guess we should head back to my place. Mom should have dinner just about ready."

"Oh, before we do, Ash! I spoke with Dawn about it and she thinks it's a great idea! If you'll send in an official challenge from the Pokemon Center in Viridian City, I'll recommend the gym leaders battle you with their personal, stronger teams!"

"Wow! Jeez, Professor, you're a life saver… Thanks! I'll do that!" Ash gratefully enthused.

Tracey was already by the door, not as caught up in the battle talk as the others. "Well, are we going to the lavish spread Miss Delia's laid out for us, or are you guys going to sit here like knots on a log?"

"Huh? No way, me first!" Ash argued. "Come on, Dawn! Tracey doesn't look it, but he's a big eater, too!" With that, Ash bolted out of the door.

Tracey laughed before supposing it was fine to play around for a bit, and ran as well.

Dawn let out a sigh. "Guys!"

Gary shook his head. "Gramps, I'll just walk over with you. Pointless to run when we're like two blocks away."

* * *

After yet another eventful day, another scrumptious filling meal followed. All guests at the Ketchum house, human and pokemon alike, thoroughly enjoyed their stay. Some a little too much - Piplup had, unfortunately, nearly choked a couple of times in his haste to stuff his face. Perhaps the most amazing part was that he was the one to suffer that fate, rather than Ash or Pikachu.

Each spoke of their own recent endeavors, what with Ash and his battles, Dawn and her pokestyling, Gary and Samuel's research, and Tracey's work at the lab. It was a fun game of catch-up and left Dawn and Piplup feeling very welcomed in Pallet's ever-growing social circle. As the night went on, though, bellies were inevitably filled. They finish the chilly, early March evening with refreshing cups of cocoa. With that, most of the group returned to the laboratory.

This just left Delia, Ash, Dawn, and their respective pokemon.

"Ahh…! Man, that was great!" Ash leaned back in his seat, one hand holding his sated belly.

"Pikachu~!" His best friend cooed, leaning back against one of the table's legs, equally stuffed from the smaller portions Delia had offered him in his bowl.

"Ro! Rio!" Rosa chirped, finishing off the last of her neatly organized platter. Having been in the presence of much mixed company, she'd learned to keep her telepathy quiet when necessary.

"You're not kidding! Thanks so much, Miss Ketchum!" Dawn clasped her hands together, positively glowing. "No offense to Mom, but I haven't eaten anything like that in a long time!"

"Pip, Piplup…" The small penguin weakly replied in agreement. It'd all been delicious! Enough to lead to the poor water type stuffing himself into a stomach ache, unfortunately…

"Oh, of course, dear! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Now Ash," she started, turning to the glutton. "Why don't you show Dawn up to your room? She can have the bed and you can pull out a sleeping bag?"

"Aw, alright." While he really didn't like being the one stuck on the floor, it was really no different than camping out. If anything, a bit better. "C'mon, Dawn! Last one up's a rotten Exeggcute!" Seemingly recovering from his full stomach in the blink of an eye, he darted towards the stairs.

"Are you kidding me?!" Dawn cried, though she raced after Ash anyway.

Delia shook her head as she and Mr. Mime cleaned up, and the teens' pokemon headed up the stairs as well. "Some things never change, I suppose."

* * *

Flicking off the light as she returned from changing in the bathroom, Dawn grinned at the sight before her in the dim, moonlit bedroom. Ash was cozied in his sleeping bag, Rosa sharing it with him while Pikachu made himself comfortable on an extra pillow laid out just for the little mouse. Piplup, meanwhile, furiously patted the bed, a little spoiled and absolutely determined to share sleeping space with Dawn, no matter where they were.

"Excuse me!" Dawn warned, essentially jumping over Ash to get into the bed.

He let out a laugh, shifting so they could talk a bit before they both drifted off. "Nice job! You should consider those pokeathlons in Johto! You and Buneary would stomp the competition."

Dawn propped herself up on the edge of the bed, poking her tongue out. "Yeah? Do they have any games for boys who eat their weight in food twice a day?"

"I'm bulking," Ash defended. He didn't actually know if that was what he was doing. He heard the phrase on a show about fighting types, once.

Confused, Rosemary quirked her brows. Bulking… Bulk Up? Did humans know pokemon moves?! Probably not… She'd ask Pikachu about it in the morning.

Shaking her head, the coordinator decided to leave it be. "Silly me, I forgot that's not your dream at all. It's to be -"

"A pokemon master!" Ash finished her sentence, positively beaming. "And, you still wanna be a top coordinator, right?!" His excitement waned. "Or, a pokestylist…" Somehow, that seemed less exciting. But, this was his friend! He tried to gain enthusiasm back.

"Hey, whatever you do, whether you've changed your mind or not, I'm sure you'll do great!" Suddenly, he hoped she hadn't. Would she still battle with him like they used to if she was a pokestylist all the time?! He didn't recall hearing about Paris and he knew all the great battlers! That meant that wasn't as important to pokestylists as it might be to coordinators.

Unwittingly putting his fears at ease, Dawn clarified her goals. "I still want to be a top coordinator." She paused. "Actually… I really want to win in Kanto, now that I've thought about it." She looked up at the ceiling, noting the barely glowing stickers Ash must have put up when he was very young, and the all but forgotten figurines of various famous trainers and their pokemon. Was that a destroyed alarm clock? Why was it still there?

She continued. "I… kind of want to set my own legacy. Mom's a great inspiration, but after eating dinner tonight and remembering that even Gary only knew me because of my mom - not that I'm one to talk with how I knew him - but I wanna be remembered for me," she confessed.

Ash felt a stirring, a deepening of their similarities. He, too, had a reason to prove himself, to set a line in the sand between himself and a phantom of a man whose shadow he had escaped, and would continue to do so. "You'll do it," he assured.

"When we're working together, we can do anything! Remember what we did in Sinnoh!? We'll definitely reach our goals! So, when I'm a pokemon master and you're a top coordinator, the only people we have to be connected to are each other!"

The trainer sat up, feeling invigorated. He scratched Pikachu under his chin before giving Rosa a tight hug. "And, we'll have done it all by ourselves! Just you, me, and all our pokemon!"

Dawn likewise felt the overwhelming sense of assurance. He was right. He had so much experience. She still honestly believed that he could have made it, had legendaries themselves not spited him.

And, she'd gotten close, too, right? "Right! No need to worry!" So, she pulled Piplup close, hugging the penguin, who adamantly chirped how he believed in himself, Dawn, and their friends.

However, as the hugs ended, Dawn found Ash resting on his elbows, having been watching her. Somehow, between the passionate speech he just gave, his wording, and the lighting, she felt her heart speed up a little.

She felt her face growing uncomfortably hot.

She didn't have time to mull over it.

Ash was trying to lean up, to go in for a high five.

Picking up on his gesture, Dawn leaned over to meet him. Unfortunately, their hands never touched. Ash managed to slip in his silky smooth sleeping bag, causing him to fall onto Rosa, who let out a yip of pain before using all of her strength to knock Ash off of her.

Wind knocked out of him and Rosa whimpering, whatever strange feeling had come over Dawn was quickly replaced by a mixture of worry and mirth. "You freakin' fell on your sleeping bag! Haha, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Rosa, are you okay, haha? A-Ash, what about… I can't believe you did that, haha!"

"Hey, shut up, my ribs are killin' me!" His tone would suggest otherwise, but he was less angry than embarrassed. His pride was always taking the brunt of things, it seemed.

"Riooooo!" Rosa whined.

Delia's muffled voice could be heard from downstairs. "Everything okay up there?!"

"Yes!" both teens called, moving to comfort the little Riolu.

Ash picked her up at once, hushing the pokemon with a gentle whistle, rocking her in his arms.

"We promise, no more horseplay, alright?" Dawn offered, trying to do her part.

That seemed to be enough for Rosa, who had let her eyes fall shut.

With her soothed, Ash paused, putting his hand on Dawn's shoulder before she climbed back into his bed. "I never got my high five… and I've paid in blood for it!" A bit overdramatic, but it was enough to get another giggle out of Dawn.

"Yeah, I don't think a bruise from a baby counts as 'paying in blood'." All the same, she held up her hand.

He clapped his against hers, and with that, they both crawled into their respective sleeping spaces and quietly dozed off.


	18. A Route to Remember

Thanks for making it this far, everyone! It's finally time for Ash and Dawn's Kanto expedition to begin! We hope you stick it through and enjoy their adventure. Of course, it can only improve with your feedback; opinions and thoughts are very much appreciated.

With that said, enjoy!

* * *

After a hearty breakfast courtesy of Delia, Ash and Dawn were all packed up, only Rosa, Pikachu, and Piplup remaining outside of their pokeballs. Standing at the gate of the front yard, the duo waved vigorously to Delia and Mimey one last time before they'd leave the little garden and head towards Viridian City. With a backpack over his shoulder, cap properly fitted atop his messy head, and his trusty sneakers tied snugly on his feet, Ash was eager and ready to go. Dawn was much the same, with her hair properly groomed and her yellow bag slung over one of her shoulders.

"Ash, honey, please don't be late for the League! You two should have plenty of time to go at your own pace, but you know how they are about late entries!"

"I got it, Mom, thanks!" Ash thanked, a little miffed she doubted his ability to keep track of time. Though, he knew it was merely second nature as a mother. With that, he and Dawn started walking down the gravel road.

"And, Ash! If you need anything, anything at all, don't hesitate to call! You, too, Dawn! Johanna watched after my baby boy, so I'll happily return the favor!"

While Ash merely yelled back an affirmative and thanks, Dawn turned to wave over her shoulder, likewise thanking Delia.

"Oh!"

A cold sweat broke down Ash's back as Delia's final, fading yell came. They just had to make it around the corner and they'd reach a street with car traffic, busy enough to block out his mother's yelling.

"Don't forget to brush your teeth and eat properly! Make sure you change your -"

They weren't gonna make it. Ash grabbed a branch above them on the shady path into the main part of Pallet which would eventually lead up to Route One. He pulled it with enough force to cause it to shift and rustle, canceling out the distant calls of his mother.

"Hehe, I used to climb in this when I was little!" he quickly covered.

Dawn quirked her brows before sputtering out a laugh. "Yeah, well, I bet you couldn't now."

"Could so! Like a Mankey!"

"Is that seriously the pokemon you're going to represent yourself with…?" Dawn deadpanned. Somehow, she'd imagined him as something more cool and sporty. Mankey were an odd mix of… non-traditionally cute, traditionally cute, and flat out annoying or terrifying, given their mood. Then again, she'd only really learned about them in school.

"Hey, Mankey's a good pokemon!" Ash argued. Then, reconsidering it, he smirked. "I look more like a Primeape, though." If there was ever an unsubtle brag about his own body, there it was.

"...Your hair, maybe, but it's darker."

"That wasn't what I meant."

Dawn puffed up her cheeks, confused and a little frustrated. "Then what did you mean?"

Bragging was one thing, but actually meaning what he said when he was talking about himself… Gosh, that was actually kind of embarrassing, no matter how good of a friend the person he was talking to was. Scratching the back of his neck with the hand that wasn't carrying Rosa, the trainer dodged. "Never mind. What pokemon do you think I am, then?"

The coordinator tilted her head up, hand under chin. "Hm… right now, the only thing that's coming to me… is a mix of a Raichu and a Lucario?"

Ash rolled his eyes. "Why Raichu?" Clearly Pikachu was the superior choice, right?

Back on the porch, Delia shook her head, watching as the duo rounded the corner and were out of her sight. "Oh, Mimey, I'm so proud. I know I get teary every time, but you can really tell this time! He's growing up…"

"Mime," the psychic type agreed.

* * *

Pallet Town was soon just a background to Ash and Dawn, who'd managed a rather easy walk out of town after managing to leave the Ketchum home. The arcadic fields and placid little homes were replaced by a sprawling myriad of trees. Eventually, even these trees thinned until they were shady oasis in the open, grassy plains of Route 1. Rattata periodically scampered by, as did other commonplace pokemon that weren't quite bold enough to approach two trainers, who clearly displayed three pokemon.

"Huh. This should be an easy route," Dawn remarked, looking about. It was certainly less clustered than the routes on the beginning of her journey. "It seems so peaceful."

An audible laugh left Ash, his free arm folding behind his head. "Yeah, easy for you to say."

"There's no way _you_ had a hard time here. What could've happened?"

"Well, it's kind of a funny story…" He and Pikachu exchanged glances, smiling at the memory, now. "First of all, when we first began our journey… Pikachu and I didn't get along well at all."

Dawn nodded, swearing she remembered Ash bringing this up at some point. Rosa, however, gave the two an incredulous look. Ash and Pikachu, not getting along!? That was kind of scary…

"No matter what I tried, he wouldn't listen to me at all! You gave me a lotta grief back then."

"Pikachu…" The mouse reached to rub the back of his head, as if to give a very late apology.

"...And, I ended up ticking off a Spearow! Pikachu took that one down, which got a whole bunch of 'em mad at us! They chased us all the way down the route towards Viridian City… I tried to protect Pikachu, but I think he finally understood that I cared about him, 'cause he jumped in and blew 'em away with an attack like I've never seen! That was a really close call." He still remembered the way his heart pounded that day. "We've been best friends ever since, though."

Awestruck by his story and its similarities to her own, Dawn couldn't help but look down at Piplup. "Well, I know a thing or two about wanting to protect your starter. Actually, Piplup, I don't even think you were my starter yet!" Dawn realized. "All those Ariados against us… But, Piplup had my back when I needed it!"

"Piplup!" the little water type agreed, rather proud of himself.

"Seriously!?" Ash and Pikachu gawked, slack-jawed. Finding a good deal more meaning in this than their smaller companion, "Too weird… It sounds like the beginning of our journeys were almost the same! Hey… Didn't you say you saw a legendary pokemon when you started, too?"

"Mesprit, yeah!" Dawn clarified. She realized where he was going with this and snapped her free hand's fingers. "Uh, um, not Hoothoot. What was the name of yours? I think it's… not from my part of the world at all."

"Ho-oh, yeah!" Ash's gaze turned up towards the sky. Almost as if he expected the rainbow bird to appear right out of the clouds. "When I saw it, it wasn't even one that Kanto knew about. It showed up after Pikachu defeated the Spearow… We've seen it a couple of times since then."

"It's the… pokemon that revived some other pokemon, right?" Dawn mumbled, not entirely sure of herself. On top of there being so many legendaries, this one was a foreign one. It was only because she'd had some free time as of late that she'd done more personal reading. Lightly glossing over various myths and legends happened to be included, while she was seeking the meaning behind Absol's Pokedex entry. She grinned. "Maybe it came to check on you?" Turning to look towards the sky as well, she instead mused on how that must have looked. "A rainbow after a storm… a blessing after your trial, maybe?" she teased.

"I guess so!" Ash chuckled. That kind of thing just tended to go over his head. Either way, all the coincidences were really amazing. By now, though, they'd passed through the open fields. A small lake bordered their path, just over a waterfall. "Remember this, Pikachu?" He looked to the mouse, who nodded. "When we were trying to run away from the Spearow, we jumped off the waterfall here. I coulda sworn we were gonna get eaten by a Gyarados!" Characteristically enough, Ash laughed.

"...Then we ended up coming out, over there!" Ash pointed to the other end of the body of water, which was now within plain sight. "Then, we got fished out of the water! That's how our friend Misty met us. She was looking for a water type pokemon, but she got us instead." What were the chances of that happening, anyway? "We got off to a rough start too, but I guess we were lucky. All of us… Just getting to meet each other, I guess. I dunno why it happened, but I'm not complaining."

"So, Misty rescued you?" Dawn echoed, imagining the situation. Between the feat itself and how highly Ash seemed to praise her, Dawn was pretty eager to meet Misty. She sounded incredibly cool. "I'm glad she kept you from drowning, though, haha!"

"Sure did. Man, was she mad, though. I ended up using her bike to get away! I never heard the end of that." The boy couldn't help but grin. No matter how much that annoyed the hell out of him in the past.

"I'm gonna guess she never got it back." Though, Dawn wondered why Misty never got her bike back. Was it fried, too? Dawn subtly snuck in a look at Pikachu. Didn't he know he wasn't poison or ice type? Metal wasn't his enemy. She chuckled about her own unspoken joke.

"Nope! The fight we got into messed it up pretty bad." He declined to shudder over all the crap he got for it. "Hey, there's Viridian City! We should be over there in no time!" Beaming, eager to submit his challenge, Ash sprinted off towards the city, with Pikachu and Rosa hitching a quick, easy ride.

"You don't have to run there!" Dawn reminded. Honestly, she was grateful she'd at least kept up exploring, or it'd really suck to have to keep up with him all the time. Despite a little disdain for his need for speed, she couldn't help but admit she was eager, too. The sooner they got to Viridian, the sooner they'd be in Pewter and they could see Brock again!

* * *

As was almost tradition, the first stop in the city was the Pokemon Center. Ash headed straight for the counter, a power walk rather than a run his pace out of respect for being in doors.

"Nurse Joy!" Ash called out. "I'm here to register for the League and issue a formal challenge to the Gym Leaders!"

Having successfully gathered the attention of the few other patrons strictly with his yelling, Nurse Joy blinked and looked around at everyone nervously before turning her attention to Ash. "Oh, well, I'll need to see your Pokedex for a moment, and then I'll need you to clarify in writing what you're wanting as far as a formal challenge." There were certain legal standards that had to be kept, after all.

The other trainers assumed this was business as usual and went on about their own affairs.

Dawn couldn't help but giggle a bit as Ash's bravado was faltered by paperwork.

"Oh." Ash handed over his Pokedex while taking the stationary and pen Nurse Joy handed him. He furrowed his brows before looking to Dawn. "Hey, you like poetry, right? So, you should be good at writing. Can, you, uh, help me write this letter?"

Grinning, the girl nodded. "Sure! Let's step to the side, though, huh?"

The two found a small, slightly secluded area of the lounge to begin the letter in. After a couple of minutes of talking back and forth, they had a nice letter to turn back into Nurse Joy.

It read as follows:

 _Gym Leaders of Kanto:_

 _I formally issue a special challenge for you! I have previously collected eight gym badges in Kanto, so your normal teams are no longer an appropriate challenge for me. I want to take on your personal teams, the ones suited to your true strength! Give me a battle I have to work for!_

 _-Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town_

Upon turning being turned in to Nurse Joy, the letter was accepted after a short review. Ash soon found himself with his Pokedex back in his possession, as well.

"You'll probably need recommendation from someone to get this. Do you have any contacts you'd like to ask to back up your challenge?"

"Professor Oak should be sending out an email for me!" Ash answered jovially.

The pink haired nurse nodded. "Understood. Thank you so much. Will that be all for you two today?"

"Yep! Thank you, Nurse Joy!" Ash chimed, chipper as ever.

With that, the two headed out. To the forest, then!

* * *

"So, is this gonna be better or worse than Eterna Forest?" Dawn joked as they navigated the seemingly endless maze.

Sunlight, filtered through emerald leaves, gave the whole place a jade dappling of light. The scent of all the wildlife and flora - wet with yesterday's light showers and already pointing towards spring - was intoxicating and lovely. Thin, pole-like trees lined the route itself, though ancient, gigantic trees loomed beyond the shrubbery and saplings. Even the path they followed seemed barely tamed, thin dirt over eagerly growing grass.

If winter had ever truly come to put the Viridian Forest to sleep, it awoke from that slumber vigorously.

"Not nearly as long," Ash clarified. "On the other hand… it can be a lot scarier than Eterna if you tick off the wrong pokemon!" He'd take a herd of Stantler over that swarm of Beedrill any day. Thank goodness Samurai had been there the first time.

"That means you, Piplup." Dawn lifted the little penguin away from her, looking him in the eye as she held him at arm's length. He crossed his arms and angrily chirped at her, offended she thought he had so little self-control.

As if he would embarrass himself so soon in front of Pikachu and Ash! He had to act like a big boy, clearly! There was no need for Dawn to chide him like a mother.

Chuckling at their exchange, Ash minded his feet. Between the occasional root on the path and the slight risk of a curious or brave pokemon venturing out of the grass, he had reason to keep aware.

"I wonder if anyone else is here," Dawn mused, Piplup returned to her embrace. "It's so serene. I feel like we're a million miles from anyone else, haha!"

"Just one guy, as far as I know."

Deciding it was quiet enough that most of the wild pokemon were probably nowhere near them, Ash stepped off the path. Dawn hesitated, then followed him through the knee high and sometimes waist high flora. He turned corners, blazing an olive trail as the blades of grass bent to the stepping of their feet, and the limbs of bushes and low branches were gently pushed out of their way.

"Only one?!" she asked, astounded.

Though Dawn felt very confused, and was beginning to grow worried he was getting them lost, Ash truly did know the area by heart. It was home, after all. Or, near enough to it.

"He was a trainer who stuck around to face trainers from Pallet Town. He was here when I first started out." Ash had been prideful, even back then, concerning himself as a trainer. However, the black haired boy had proven himself… after some difficult trials and tribulations, of course. "I kinda wonder if he's still around." It didn't seem likely, but it would be nice to make some more contact in the forest. He probably shouldn't complain. As much as he liked Misty now, it had actually given him a headache to deal with her bickering back then, and Dawn thus far hadn't done much but get his memory racing.

Somehow, that seemed awful lonely to Dawn, who had always traveled with someone. As Ash's shortcut returned to the path, she moved to walk beside him. "Did he live here or something? Or, maybe in Viridian or Pewter?" Why would he stay here though? Did he have young pokemon he was training against starters? Or, did the path beyond prove too challenging? "I'd go nuts if I had to stay in the same area all the time like that," Dawn confessed, not at all finding any appeal in the mysterious challenger's methods.

"Never said. We were too busy battling with Metapods and getting chased by Beedrill." The battle of the ages, clearly. "But, yeah, he's probably long gone by now." There was a hint of sadness in Ash's voice. "... Aw, man! We were supposed to have a rematch, too!" There was a sulk in his step.

"How do you even battle with Metapods?" Dawn was thoroughly confused and at least half convinced that the battle he was talking about had to be the most boring thing since watching paint dry became an activity. Still, she supposed she could comfort him.

As his trainer was too busy soaking in self-pity for a missed match to notice, it was Pikachu whose ears picked up the rustling of leaves. "Pi?"

Rosemary, likewise, had begun to observe the area more closely, her hold on Ash's jacket tightening. She picked up on one scent then another. Something was fishy.

Dawn noticed next, not quite as caught up in her emotions as Ash. Seeing something in the hazy green distance approaching them, Dawn patted Ash's shoulder a few times to get his attention. "What kind of pokemon is that?!"

The "pokemon" stepped forward. Clearly it was the stranger's get-up that had confused our heroine. She hadn't seen anything like that since she'd last cracked open a history book.

"What kind of pokemon is -" As he turned his head to see what she was talking about, the trainer's jaw dropped. "No way!" He was in shock. Speaking of the Giratina, they'd just been talking about him!

While Dawn still confused and Ash was reeling in shock, the mysterious figure reached for their waist and pulled out, of all things, a sword! "HIYAH!" The silver blade was drawn, swung towards Ash in a dramatic overhead motion that would be enough to scare just about anyone out of their boots! … Except for Ash, apparently.

"No!" Dawn shouted, she and Piplup alike worried.

Rosa held onto Ash's red coat for dear life, eyes shut tight with fear. Pikachu's ears had perked, but like his trainer, he didn't seem particularly shocked.

Was there something wrong with these two? They had a sharp blade pointed right at them, mere inches away from Ash's nose!

"Samurai!"

Hand still trembling from where it had fished Mamoswine's pokeball out of her backpack, the girl spat out an answer. "Y-Yes, he's a samurai! Or, dressed like one anyway!" She then looked at Samurai. "Why'd you jump us?!" Dawn demanded, surprise fading into anger. "Get that thing away from him!"

Ash just let out a chuckle. "Man, come on, is that you? I haven't seen ya' in years!"

Samurai lowered his blade, sliding it back into its sheath before lifting the cover of his mask to reveal his face. The mystery man was actually a somewhat brawny teen, looking a bit older than Ash. His smirking expression mirrored Ash's own. "The one and only, Ash. Call me crazy, but I could've sworn you were talking about me!" Turning to the one Samurai considered a stranger, then, the teen continued. "It's the same thing I did when Ash and I first met! I guess it was for old time's sake." Now, back to Ash. "So, you're not traveling with the redhead anymore, huh?"

"If you say so," Dawn mumbled, hesitant to trust Samurai, but feeling like it was silly to be wary of him anymore. At the mention of redhead, though, Dawn put two and two together. Was he talking about Misty? If he was, this guy had been in here since… Oh, man! She knew Ash had been through Kanto and Hoenn, plus she knew about the Orange Islands from Tracey! He'd been in here all that time?! From when Ash was in Kanto through when he was in Sinnoh, and now back in Kanto?!

"That's 'cause I was!" Ash confessed. "Dawn, this is the guy I was talking about before. Samurai's an old friend!" The trainer was extremely casual about it all, enough to worry Dawn slightly. Regardless of his traveling companion's expression of disbelief, he continued speaking to Samurai. "Nah, Misty's back in Cerulean City. This is my friend, Dawn. I'm going back through Kanto and she came along with me!"

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Dawn," Samurai greeted with a warm smile and a nod of his head. "Forgive me. I had to greet Ash like that, but old habits die hard! I'm surprised to see him here again."

"It's alright," she supposed. If Ash wasn't upset, she shouldn't be. "Nice to meet you, too. Oh, right! Ash, if you still want you rematch, I think this is your chance!" Though, she decided to herself, if they used Metapods somehow, Dawn was going to try to find some local pokemon. It'd be so boring!

"You're right!" Ash chimed. He turned to Samurai, a smirk on his lips. "Whaddaya say, Samurai?"

Again, mirroring the trainer's expression, Samurai reached for his belt. "I'd say that's an excellent idea! It's about time we fulfilled our promise! I hope you're ready to stand up to the wrath of my bug types!"

"I was born ready!" Ash quickly answered. He looked to Rosa. "Hey, I'm gonna need my arms, and I don't want you getting hurt or wandering off, so I'm going to put you in your pokeball for a little bit, okay?" The Riolu accepted this and was quickly returned.

"They're back in the groove, I guess," Dawn said to herself, leaning against a tree. She set Piplup down, allowing him to play a little and stretch his legs. However, a distinct click added an extra layer of excitement.

"Absol?" the coordinator questioned.

The white furred dark type snarled, staring into the depths of the forest with her fur bristled.

"Hey, what's up with -" Ash was about to ask when a Pidgeotto darted by, nearly knocking him over. Several Pidgey followed after, and then Rattata and an occasional wild Pikachu. A few unusually swift Oddish also came along, scrambling past the group of humans and their pokemon.

"Beedrill!" Samurai exclaimed as a small swarm of them appeared. That must have been what was scaring the others! But, no, they flew by.

What was Absol so angry about? And, why had all of the pokemon - even the Beedrill - run away? There were no answers, only Absol snarling louder and louder.

And, then the dreadful buzzing, heavy and horrid enough to be felt uncomfortably in everyone's bones, started.


	19. Crouching Rocket, Hidden Warrior

While the two trainers had agreed to their bout, there was something far more sinister taking place in their midst, deeper into the forest. Only a short distance away was a band of familiar misfits - A woman with outrageous crimson hair, a man with parted violet locks, and a Meowth standing on its hind legs. None of them were digging a pit trap, like they were known for.

Oh, no. Jessie was typing away at keys on a keyboard, responding to a multitude of flashing numbers and commands on the screen. James and Meowth were tightening bolts and otherwise fixing up a rather bizarre looking device - a large machine topped off with a radio dish, and screens that looked akin to solar panels, all able to be carried around on treads below the device.

"As soon as you can, start up the device and do your best to harness the energy the machine gathers. I'll analyze it from the mobile lab. I don't want any blunders, do I make myself clear?" A voice spoke to the trio through a laptop, garnering a curt nod from Jessie.

"Of course, Dr. Zager. You have nothing to worry about."

"Good. I'll be counting on you three." The scientist ended with that, disappearing from the screen. The three Rockets chuckled simultaneously. There was no one to get in there way this time.

"Of course, out in the middle of Viridian Forest, who's going to stop us?" James chimed in with his usual dramatic flair, just finishing the adjustments to their wicked device.

"He's probably still up on that mountain, training with his precious Pokemon. As strong as he is, he's no threat to us, now." Jessie concluded, a smirk creeping its way onto her cherry red lips.

"Ya gotta wonda if da twoip's gettin' lonely up there. Or if he's become an 'Ash-sicle!'" Meowth joked, hopping off of the machine.

"In any case, that's not our problem to worry about now. If the legends about the power of this forest are true, Team Rocket will have access to yet another goldmine of energy! Nothing will be able to stop our ascent to the stars above." Jessie threw her hand to the air, the line drawing a side-eyed glance from James.

"Hey, that's my line!"

Ignoring his complaint, the redhead pressed a large red button on the remote, triggering the machine. The treads began to turn, carrying the device around the small clearing as radio waves scanned the area. A multitude of numbers and fluctuating lines appeared on the screen, drawing the attention of the trio. "Seems the stories weren't just stories after all. There's definitely something here."

A devious grin befell the three… Only for their attention to be turned to a rather bizarre phenomenon. The ground below them began to glow, violet rays of energy appearing seemingly out of nowhere! Pidgey and Pidgeotto began to disperse from nearby trees, flying frantically away from the area. Jessie raised a brow, eyes turning away from their developments for just a moment. "Now that's strange. I wonder what could've gotten into them?"

A nasally shriek caught her attention next. "AAAH! Turn dat thing off! It's givin' me a killa headache!" Meowth whined, clutching onto his oddly shaped head. Something wasn't right about their energy excavation, and he could feel it. Quite acutely in fact.

"Don't be silly, Meowth. It won't be much longer before we've harvested this unique energy! Just hold on a little longer." James replied, seemingly in no sort of similar pain. There… Was an annoying buzzing, however. "What _is_ that buzzing, though? It almost reminds me of Jessie when she's mad-"

"What was that!?" The red-haired villain shrieked, already in her cohort's face.

"Uhm… Nothing! I said nothing!"

Meowth held his head, oblivious to their quarrel. "Easy for yous two to say! Just hurry it up already!"

* * *

The entire forest was buzzing terribly. It was like fear given a terrible texture; like rattling down to their bones, iron on steel. But, that was how it was for the humans and they could function despite their discomfort.

Dawn struggled for words, looking to Samurai and Ash. "They're terrified! I thought you said this is where beginning trainers go? What are they running from?!" It had to be something impossibly strong to even affect the humans like this. She hugged Piplup tighter to her.

While the humans were on edge but able to continue, the pokemon were truly suffering.

"She's right," Samurai added. "This definitely isn't normal. Beedrill are prone to attacking intruders, but fleeing is definitely not part of their behavior. Something's very wrong here." He pocketed his pokeball, turning towards where the pokemon had fled from - the source, he assumed. "I've never seen this before."

"Ash, we have to see what's going on!" Dawn urged as she took a cue from Samurai and returned Piplup. Maybe it would ease his suffering. The coordinator then looked to her Absol, who had thus far remained stoic. Dawn returned white furred pokemon, assuming she was hurting even if her strange sense of pride would not allow her to show it.

Pikachu was clutching his head, too, though at this distance it was still bearable to be out of his pokeball. "Yeah, let's go! Hang in there, Pikachu!" Ash said to the mouse, who nodded back. Pikachu didn't like this, but if they could make things better for the rest of the forest, he'd endure. With that, Ash began running towards the source, ducking under the occasional fleeing pokemon.

Samurai followed, hand at his waist in case he needed to draw his sword. "Ash, Dawn! I don't think our pokemon are going to be able to help us here! We're going to have to fix this on our own!" If Pikachu's condition was any indication, proper battles were out of the question.

"I think you're right," Dawn called back, barely dodging a startled Hoothoot. Her blue eyes flickered over to Pikachu; the little guy really was incredibly tough.

The closer they drew, the fewer pokemon there were, and the running got easier for it. Looking up, the coordinator swore she could see the shape of a dish, as if someone were trying to receive or send a signal. "I think we're almost to whatever that is."

"Yeah, I think I see something!" Ash called out in affirmation, soon spotting the device himself. "There, it has to be that thing! Now, who the heck would go and put something like that - … Oh. Great," Ash deadpanned, eyes narrowing as the entire group entered the little clearing. Three very recognizable figures were in the middle of it with the machine: Jessie, James, and Meowth. "Team Rocket! So, you're the ones causing all this trouble." He grit his teeth and shot a glare. "Whatever you're up to, you're scaring off all the pokemon!"

Of course they were behind this, he mentally noted; of course.

"Would you listen to that? The twerps are here," Jessie began.

James and everyone else knew where this was going. "It stands to reason that those pests would be near."

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blasting off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's riiiAIIE, CAN YA TURN THAT STINKIN' THING OFF!"

For once, Dawn was in agreement with Meowth. "How can you do your motto at a time like this?!" However, her real focus was on the fact Meowth asked to have the machine turned off; if she could figure out what it was, it might help them in turning it off instead of waiting for Jessie and James to do it! So, she concluded, it must be hard to turn off if he was asking for help turning it off instead of doing it himself. Also, since all the pokemon were all scared off, the machine wasn't really meant for them. The machine was at least a little automatic since neither Jessie nor James was currently controlling it.

That left a lot of questions, but with all those things considered, unless Team Rocket had backup nearby, she, Ash, and Samurai had the advantage. "What on earth are you doing?!" she pried. Maybe they'd drop a tidbit of information; they'd always done so in the past.

"What _we're_ doing is none of your concern, twerpette." Jessie taunted. But, in true Team Rocket fashion, continued on anyway. "But, since this device seems to have such an effect on Pokemon, I can't see you stopping us this time, so we'll tell you."

"You see," James started, "There have been plenty of stories about strange things coming from Viridian Forest. People with unusual powers. Of course, Team Rocket is more than interested in finding the source for ourselves! With a power like that in our grasp, we'll be unstoppable!" he gloated, still holding a red rose between his fingers.

"…You're crazy!" the coordinator shouted.

"…Hold on!" Meowth interjected, still clutching his skull. "Where's da tall twoip?" It had just occurred to him that Ash and Dawn were on their own, pardon the strange character dressed in scrap metal.

Jessie threw James a look. "Well, well, well, it's just _those_ two, the twerp and the twerpette."

James locked fingers with the redhead, the two of them mockingly making kissy-faces towards the two. "Well, Jessie, I think we've discovered a couple of love-pidoves!" Flamboyant laughter left them both at their own little joke. The last time they had done this was when Misty was around, and it had garnered quite amusing results. What reason wasn't there to try it again?

Widened eyes turned briefly towards Dawn before shooting back to the trio. "You guys really oughta mind your own business!" Ash barked back, cheeks blazing red. Where in the world had they gotten that idea!? "Just shut up and turn off that stupid machine already, or else!"

"Sorry, twerp. But as absolute _experts_ on the subject of love, it's simply our job to know the scoop on your exploits!" Jessie threw her hands in the air, once more inflating herself into something she clearly wasn't.

"Oh please! You guys couldn't hook up a pair of Luvdisc!" Ash shot back, not quite even sure if his retort made sense. He was simply too embarrassed to think that one through. Since when had him and Dawn had any 'exploits' going on, anyway?

"You're the master of something, alright," Dawn muttered. This was just like the incident with Lyra back in Sinnoh; best ignore it, she supposed. "Ash is right, though! Turn it off, or **we'll** do it!" barked the shortest, scrawniest of the trio of heroes.

"Well, you're not really in the position to tell us what to do!" Needless to say, if they couldn't use their pokemon… Well, what could they do? "So why don't you all run along while Team Rocket does what it came here for?"

Jessie crouched down, reaching for what looked like a metal suitcase. "I suggest you take James' advice and get out of here now, while you losers still have the chance!"

Ash found this weird. Since when did Team Rocket give a warning, rather than simply gloating and opening fire? Something was fishy here…

Holding her tongue her tongue despite feeling thoroughly insulted, her eyes widened. Nosy as ever, she didn't miss much. "We can't go anywhere until this place is safe for the pokemon," she said simply, looking to Samurai out of the corner of her eye. If he was anywhere near as good as his title, he'd be on alert, as well.

Indeed, the warrior had noted the strange action too, narrowed eyes turning to Dawn and Ash. Seeing that he wasn't the only one who was suspicious, he gave a nod to the bluenette. "We're going to have to break that thing ourselves." His hands drew ever closer to his blade, ready to react at just about any moment.

Jessie opened the case, reaching in before pulling out some sort of handheld weapon similar to a pistol! The barrel was far too wide to contain any bullets and it looked far too high-tech to simply be a handgun. Regardless, it was enough to scare the wits out of each of the twerps alike, Ash, Samurai, and Dawn freezing in place.

"Now, just to make sure you're out of our hair for the remainder of this operation…" Blue eyes narrowed, a nefarious smirk crossing her lips. Her language hinted away from the device being anything lethal, but it wasn't worth any sort of risk. That much would probably be agreed upon.

She fired the weapon towards the group, letting loose a flashing red laser that was closing in way too quickly for them to be able to dodge.

"GUYS, LOOK OUT!"

In the span of mere moments, Ash threw a hand forward, shouting in warning to his companions as a teal flash of light left his palm, coming up just in time to shield against the projectile. The adolescent grit his teeth together, supporting his wrist with his opposite hand to support a small barrier that held up in front of the group. Sweat dripped down his brow as he attempted to hold his own, slowly losing ground before his hand was thrown up in the air. The laser was thrown up with it, deflected harmlessly into the skies above.

In all of her life, Dawn had never, ever had a gun pulled on her; laser, stun, or otherwise. As such, she simply… froze. She was out of her element, watching with eyes glassy and huge.

Meanwhile, Jessie, James, and to a lesser degree, Meowth all stared on in absolute awe. "Hold on… Since when did the twerp have pokemon powers? Did I miss something here?" Jessie questioned shakily holding the weapon in her hand. What on Earth had they missed?

"I'm… not quite sure." James managed, pausing momentarily before heading for the case as well. "But it's not going to make a difference here!"

"I dun even care if da twerp is Awceus himself right now! Can we just be done with dis ting already!" Meowth slumped over, obviously effectively useless in this engagement.

Oh, god, she couldn't breathe, she— _No! I'm going to calm down._ Dawn focused in on the fact that only Jessie had retrieved a weapon. Was there only one?! What was the reload time; it obviously wasn't rapid fire, clearly—did it have a cool down time? What did it do? Focusing on what she had to figure out, she spoke out.

"Even if they have two—" she couldn't bring herself to call it what it was "—weapons, there's three of us and it isn't rapid fire." She rattled off her conclusions, hoping to give her two companions and edge against the enemy. "It's hard to hit a moving target, too," she mumbled; that she knew merely from battling. Yeah… yeah… they could do this.

Samurai, who had been just about ready before dodge before Ash stepped in, turned his gaze toward Dawn. "For someone who looks like they're about to have a break down, you think awfully fast." And, she was sharp, to boot. "That sounds about right. We'll have to act fast!"

"I won't be beaten," was her simple reply to Samurai. She determined within herself that whatever had just happened would NOT happen again.

As they talked amongst themselves, though, Ash was the one to spot James reaching for another weapon. Drawing a hand back, Ash tensed his muscles, focusing the unusual energy that flowed through his body. A basketball-sized sphere of energy formed in his palm, quickly being lobbed towards James. "No, you don't!"

The blast came within inches of the rocket's head, forcing him to shriek an incredibly girly shriek, ducking to the ground out of the way of the blast. "Nice try, but you missed me, twerp!"

"Dawn, Samurai! I'll hold 'em off! Go break that machine and get this over with!" He shouted out, frowning as Pikachu whined and clung to his shoulder. A gloved hand reached to pet the back of his head, hues trembling in sympathy. "Hang in there, Pikachu… We'll be done with this soon!"

"On it!" she shouted in response. Dawn shared a look with Samurai; if they ran up together, it would narrow the space that Ash had to provide cover for. Furthermore, it would allow them to provide support to one another while trying to take over control of the mysterious machine.

Breaking into a quick run with Samurai at her side before James could recover or Jessie could fire again and ruin their head start, Dawn focused in on the area behind them. What looked like buttons, what looked vital—that would be their primary target.

"Oh no, you don't!" Jessie pointed her weapon directly towards the duo, ready to stop them in their tracks. What she didn't account for, though, was another attack from Ash.

The fear was there, again, but she didn't freeze. Blocking her eyes from the explosion, the running duo quickly entered the control area as Ash covered for them.

"Hey, Team Rocket! Think fast!" Ash shouted, catching the trio's attention. The villainous team turned their heads upward, staring blankly at the brilliant orb that seemingly hovered above.

"That thing's still there?" James gawked, eyes widening as it seemed to grow larger and larger.

"It looks like it's…" Jessie trailed off, sweat dripping down her cheek.

"...Comin' right at us!" Meowth finished, already panicking. It was definitely falling their way!

A collective shriek left Jessie, James, and Meowth as they dove out of the way of the blast, just barely dodging an explosion. Their weapons were sent skidding across the ground towards the teen, right out of their reach. Ash put his foot down on the one closest to them, holding it securely beneath his foot. "Guys, we've got 'em! Try and shut that thing off, quick!"

"There!" Samurai pointed to the control panel, stepping aside to allow Dawn to get a closer look. "I don't know a thing about it - think you could get a read on how to turn it off?" He was hardly acquainted with technology, and there was a better chance that she would at least have some sort of clue. He reached for the sheath of his blade, gripping it tightly. "If you can do that, I'll scrap this thing for good!"

When Samurai stepped aside, Dawn automatically began assessing it. The dials were all in one area, and the majority of the buttons were actually switches—optional things. "I-I think so," she admitted, aware of her limitations, but not about to back down from a challenge.

Finally, she spotted it. There was a warm-up button, clearly labelled—if that was the warm-up button, then— "There's no kill switch!" Of course there wouldn't be. Panicking, she found another solution. They had frequency and speed controls that went all the way down to zero. She turned those down, leaving the machine essentially idle.

There was no longer any harassment of the pokemon. "Off, off, off—" her eyes widened. There was only the stupid start button, but she had to try and… Her luck paid off. The machine gave a final screeching hum before it stilled. The button which started it also ended it.

By the time that Dawn had managed all of this, both rockets had managed to grab Ash by the collar, doing their best to shake the weapon free from under his shoe. Still, he remained defiant as long as he could, trying to shake off the two older and stronger criminals. Pikachu attempted occasional bites at the two, through his pain, but was hardly effective in this scenario.

"Now, to make sure this doesn't happen again…!" Samurai hoisted his blade over his head, placing one foot atop the control panel before jamming the steel weapon into the controls.

Suddenly, though, Pikachu seemed to stop trembling, which quickly caught Ash's eye. That could only mean one thing.

"…Pikachu! Thunderbolt!" That simple command was enough to strike fear into the hearts of the duo. But they could do nothing but watch as Ash braced himself, waiting for the inevitable high-pitched shriek. "Chuuuu!"

Pikachu unleashed his most potent Thunderbolt, every bit of it repayment for the discomfort he'd endured today - and for trying to seriously hurt his friends. Many volts of electricity coursed through all four of them, leaving Jessie and James to fall to the ground in a heap. Ash was covered in marks and soot, but he had long grown used to Pikachu's electric attacks.

…One could only wonder why the same hadn't happened for them.

"Alright, guys! You did it!" Ash cheered, relief washing over the adolescent. Now, the Pokemon could stop suffering, and now they could offer a fair fight!

Sparks and flashes began to flare up, signaling that it was time for both Samurai and Dawn to get away from the machine. "Dawn, let's move!" Samurai shouted, hopping onto solid ground.

"Right!" All too happy to get away from the machine, knowing very well the over-complicated hate machine was probably about to explode. "Let's just get out of here!" With Jessie and James down for the count and Meowth barely coming to, the trio of humans could make their escape. Dawn would just have to go without her own bit of payback. She reached for Ash's wrist to encourage him to make a quick escape with her and Samurai while throwing Team Rocket a dirty look.

The sparks from the device continued to grow more intense, crackling and booming before finally exploding in a combination of fire and debris. Dawn had pulled Ash and Pikachu along just in time. The trainer didn't hesitate in running alongside her and Samurai. He didn't even want to look back. Maybe it was just him, but that seemed like a new low for them - not one that he wanted to think about.

They ran and ran until the trio would be out of sight, finally coming to a halt. "Man…" Ash let out a sigh. "Not the kind of reunion I had in mind. Thanks, both of you." He offered a grateful smile to Dawn and Samurai alike. Both had gotten him out of deep trouble in the past - it figured that it was something that wouldn't change. "You really got us out of a big mess back there!"

"Ha… y-yeah…" Letting go of Ash's wrist, Dawn put her hands on her shaking knees, doubling over her. Now that it was over, the adrenaline waned and her body gave in to the overwhelming situation they'd just been in. Voice trembling, she tried to express her gratitude. "T-Thanks, Samurai…" Crap, she felt like she was going numb. Everything felt unreal, she couldn't even appreciate the fact that had gone off with only Ash getting shocked and covered in soot. The fear was fading, but her body still had to ride out the shock.

At least the forest was alive with the cautious sounds of pokemon activity again.

"Dawn!" Ash rushed to her side, crouching down to place a hand on her shoulder. She looked positively drained. "Are you alright?" Samurai was just about to question her condition as well, but her companion had beaten him to it. Pikachu hung over Ash's shoulder as well, eyes wide with concern. "Pika-ka!"

"No need to thank me," he replied, leaving Ash to check on her condition. "You handled yourself rather well, Dawn. You did as well, Ash." It impressed him, really. The trainer had been rather immature when they'd first met, but he handled a dangerous situation with surprising dexterity and maintained a cool head. Clearly, he had an eye for good companions, too.

"No need to worry." she knit her brows together and gave what passed for a smile up to Ash and Pikachu. She didn't want to see like the weak link, nor very needy. As bad as it sounded even to her, it was partially a matter of pride. Everyone else—from Samurai to Pikachu to Ash—had handled that better than her, she decided, unable to accept Samurai's compliment.

"Let's just get somewhere _safe_. We've burned a lot of daylight - and energy." Straightening up while touching Ash's hand gratefully with one of her own, she gave him a slightly more sincere smile before letting out Quilava. She would have let out Piplup like she intended to earlier, but she didn't have the energy to carry him even if she was in sore need for some pokemon brand comfort. Quilava's cries and chirps were usually soothing enough.

"You know that's when I worry the most." He uttered the predictable reply, but accepted her words. It was still difficult not to be concerned, but he respected her pride enough to let it be.

"Good idea. I have a cabin nearby. You two can stay the night." The warrior offered, beginning to make his way through the woods towards their destination.

Ash gave her a genuine smile when she placed her hand on his. She'd be okay. Ash quickly turned to follow Samurai. "Right. Thanks, Samurai!"

"Oh, thank goodness." Her nerves were a bit frayed. Falling into step behind the boys, Dawn focused on making it to the cabin and doting on her fire type pokemon. The Quilava could smell the sweat and stress on everyone, and made her disapproval of their current state clear with her adamant chirps and squeaks, occasionally speaking to Pikachu as if _he_ should have kept the humans in line.

" _Pikachu, what'd they do?! What happened?! Why didn't you all call for back-up?!"_ she demanded in her childish voice, though it was only a barrage of "quil-quil lav'" to human ears.

A sweat drop ran down the back of Pikachu's head. Though, he couldn't exactly blame Quilava for her fretting. _"Trust me, you wouldn't wanna be out. Team Rocket was using some kind of machine that was gave us Pokemon a killer headache. Ash, Dawn, and this friend of Ash's had to fight them and destroy the thing themselves! It really wasn't pretty."_ Though he had to hand it to the three for doing such an amazing job, no matter what Dawn would have to say about it. _"Don't worry - once they did, I got them good with a Thunderbolt!"_

Satisfied with Pikachu's answer, the pleasantly plump little Quilava wiggled ahead, trotting to keep up with Ash as she looked up at Pikachu. _"Aaaah, okay then! And, good job, Pikachu!"_ Letting her fire burn a bit lower to emphasize her good mood, she snorted black smoke. _"I can always trust you to keep everyone safe and pay back debts where damage is done!"_

' _Hah, thanks!'_ Pikachu rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, mostly out of habit. _"I feel like it's part of my job. To look out for Ash, and everyone else!"_ He smiled at her enthusiasm, sticking to his comfortable perch as she waddled ahead.

* * *

"Is that it?" For a cabin in the woods, it was considerably less creepy and homier than the coordinator would have imagined. The walk had calmed her a good deal; she felt nearly back to normal.

"That's it, alright!" Ash chimed. He had been there once before, so he felt fit to affirm her suspicions. There was a certain sense of nostalgia he felt for it - that was the night before his Metapod had evolved into Butterfree.

Surveying the open area before the cabin, Dawn remembered Ash and Samurai's original goal. "I guess you guys can have your battle in the morning here - or tonight after dinner, maybe?"

"I think the morning would be best. That way our nerves are clear and we'll be well-rested for our battle. We wouldn't want a repeat of our last match, would we?" Samurai shot a smirk towards Ash, recalling Metapod vs Metapod. Surely Ash was smarter than that, now. But with tension this high, who really knew?

He opened the front door, gesturing for Ash and Dawn to enter first.

"Hm. Suits you." Making herself at home, Dawn took a seat at the table, bag sliding off her back and onto the floor. She crossed her arms on the table and put her head down, only to realize she was sweaty and stinky. No way was that going to fly. Already back in the mood of roughing it, she turned her head towards their host. "Does your cabin have indoor plumbing or am I going to have to try my luck at a river?"

While Quilava didn't know every human word even in the common language, she knew the words for water. Chirping in disgust, she waddled off to go sniffing around the rest of Samurai's cabin.

"It does. I've been here too long to not have those kinds of accommodations." Bathing in the forest where bug and water types run amok wasn't the most pleasant, so he'd made the decision of investing in his personal cabin.

The blue haired girl glanced Ash's way; he earned his name today, that was for sure. "You could use a bath, too, you know."

Ash chuckled at Quilava's response before turning to Dawn, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "Hah, I guess you're right! I'm gonna guess you're gonna want to go before me though, right?" While Ash didn't feel like going to bed sooty, he knew good and well which one of the two cared more about cleanliness.

"You know me!" Taking that as her cue, Dawn followed the hall she supposed the bathroom had to be down with her bag in hand, happy to discover this was so.

Meanwhile, her Quilava made herself right at home, plopping down with what looked to be a bit of Samurai's firewood, gnawing on it with glee.

With Dawn gone, Samurai turned to Ash, speaking up to fill the silence. Pardoning the sound of pokemon chatter, that was. "So, Ash. Who is this Dawn girl, anyway? She seems like a pretty nice partner to travel with." If he was going to ask about her, it might as well be one-on-one if he was going to take any cues from Team Rocket's prodding.

"She is! She's a friend of mine that I met in Sinnoh a lil' over a year ago. She's a pokemon coordinator, so we ended up traveling together while we chased badges and ribbons. So now she's trying out the Kanto circuit."

"A coordinator. That's got to be an interesting career." He hadn't seen much of them himself; not only did he prefer regular battles, but Samurai was simply a bit of a loner. "Sounds like it takes quite a bit of talent. And dedication."

"Oh, you bet! She had a bit of a shaky start, but she's really shone through with it! Her appeals are really cool." He was hoping to see just what sort of new combinations she'd come up with it when they arrived at her first contest. Surely it'd be amazing! "She made runner-up in her first Grand Festival!"

"That is very impressive. Sounds like an enriching experience for the two of you." To travel together, that was. "You sure seem to talk highly of her." The teasing once again came to mind, but the samurai considered it a bit personal to pry on. What he'd said was just about enough.

"Well… Yeah! We're really good friends." That was his automatic response. They were rather close… That was normal for friends though, right? Still, after the terror and adrenaline had faded, it was a bit hard to ignore Team Rocket's nosy claims. "…Friends, yeah."

"Hmph." Samurai put on a smile, not speaking past a small belly-laugh. Nothing really needed to be said. It was something Ash would have to figure out for himself.

When she heard the bathroom door open, the Quilava waddled to greet Dawn, chirping excitedly and leaving her meal on the rug. Petting the wriggly fire-type, Dawn made her way to the table again, now in her pajamas.

She set her bag down again, grinning at Ash. "It's all yours!" Pulling her fat baby of a Quilava into her lap, she soaked up the fire type's warmth. "Thanks, Samurai! That did wonders." All was quiet for a few seconds, and then: "… Quilava, did _you_ gnaw half of that log?"

"Lav!"

Ash chuckled at Quilava's enthusiasm, giving Dawn a nod. "Awesome!" Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, Ash made his way to the shower to wash off. He couldn't blame Dawn for being so eager; getting clean after that would surely be a relief.

"It's no problem, Dawn." He quickly responded, offering a smile before turning to the firewood, eyes widening at the sight. "…Huh. I hadn't even noticed! I guess I should have expected that, but I'm not too familiar with Pokemon from Johto. Not to mention, I was busy talking to Ash." So much for being ever watchful and observant.

"Sorry; should have mentioned her dietary quirks."

Said troublemaker flicked her tongue out at Samurai, as if trying to make friends after eating his firewood. "Quil."

Suddenly realizing that Samurai had to have been out here by himself for a while, Dawn inquired about him. "How long have you been out here? Is this a family place?"

"That's quite alright." He dismissed the occurrence, smiling back at Quilava in return. It was quite amusing and the firewood left should be enough for one night. "Well, I've had this place since I began my journey as a Pokemon Trainer. I'd found this cabin when I was young and no one seemed to hang around it, so I made it my own. I figured that before I pursued a league, I would test myself against trainers coming through the forest. That was around when I first ran into Ash."

"Wait, wait, so you fixed it up by yourself?" Well, that was impressive. "If you ever decide training's no longer for you, you could definitely go into the home renovation market." But, as the subject turned to the first time Ash came through, Dawn put her chin on the heel of her palm, idly rubbing Quilava's back. "He mentioned your battle. Can you tell me about that?"

"I sure did." He hadn't exactly been in a rush, so the only real issue was a bit of effort and ingenuity. "I suppose I could," he chuckled at the remark of home renovation as an alternate career. She may have had a point. "Oh, yeah. Ash was… Quite the character when we met. I first saw him coming through the forest with that girl he traveled with, trying to catch a Weedle. I challenged him to a battle and the Weedle ended up getting away. He got pretty upset about it." In hindsight, that had partially been his fault.

"We ended up battling when I found out he was from Pallet Town. He held his own, but we ended up with a Metapod each. I'm sure you can imagine how that turned out. Both of us refused to give up!" He let out a chuckle, thinking back fondly on the ridiculous event. Of course, that was only half of the story.

"Phfft. I dunno… holding a battle? With Metapod? That… doesn't sound like the Ash I know." A few years could make a big difference in attitude, though, so Dawn backed off the subject. "I guess you both grew up a lot, though." She continued to listen. A part of her felt like it was probably a good thing Ash hadn't gotten the Weedle. Somehow, a Beedrill didn't suit him. The species seemed needlessly ornery; he wasn't a pushover or anything, but… well, there was a difference between being hostile and hot-blooded.

"You'd be surprised what a Metapod's tough hide could do against a pokemon trying to use Vicegrip on it." It was a rather surprising occurrence, sure, but Ash had pulled it off. "But, I'm sure Ash has improved a lot since then. I would certainly hope so."

He continued on. "Our battle was interrupted by a ton of Beedrill. Ash, unfortunately, forgot to grab his Metapod when we ran back to the cabin. At first, he blamed me for the whole deal. He had a bit of growing up to do." He didn't want to paint a bad image of Ash, of course- particularly not to someone who he may deem an interest. "But, he ended up beating himself up for it. Enough to run into the dwelling place of a whole bunch of Kakuna and Beedrill and retrieve his pokemon. It was touched enough by his act to evolve into a Butterfree. Ash's bravery saved the day, along with Butterfree's Sleep Powder. I've never seen a guy so happy." A smile crossed the warrior's face, the image from years ago clear as day in his mind. Ash certainly loved his partners, if nothing else.

"Now, _that_ sounds like Ash." With a soft, considerate look on her face, she tried to imagine it. Yeah, the guy could be hardheaded - not that she was entirely excluded from that - but the moment things got tough, there was no one else she'd rather have in her corner.

"I'm happy to hear that's the sort of trait he's known for." So, Ash had grown out of his stubborn, childish ways, Samurai would assume. Judging by Dawn's reply and expression, it wasn't too hard to tell that he was admired.

"Oh yeah! I guess everyone's gonna be hungry soon. Mind if I make myself at home in your kitchen, Samurai?" she asked. She didn't know if their host was a jack of all trades or not, but she'd picked up enough from Brock and her mom as of late to have some confidence in her own skills.

"Oh, feel free to." While he could likely stir something up for them, if Dawn had offered to cook to begin with, she was likely better at it than him.

"Watch what happens once I get this smelling good." As she got started on the meal, she began counting down the minutes until the raven haired teen's shower would come to a screeching halt. If Samurai hadn't seen what a big eater Ash was, he was about to be treated to that revelation.

Meanwhile, Dawn's Quilava made herself at home on the rug again, gnawing on the log.

Completely unaware of the conversation he'd been missing out on, Ash had lost track of time in the shower, hanging around a bit longer than he'd planned to. Hey, it was the only decent one he'd get before they made it to Pewter City. The warm water and steam was refreshing after a stressful day, prompting him to bask in that peace just a bit longer than usual.

However, a certain scent that had wandered down the hall quickly caught his attention, indeed bringing him to turn the knob down to zero immediately. "Man, whatever that is smells good! I better get out there!" He spoke aloud to himself, hopping out of the shower to get dressed.

Soon enough, the teen made his way back to Dawn and company, wearing a t-shirt and shorts. "Is someone cooking? 'Cause I could smell it from all the way over there!" There was a gleam in his eyes - one that would prove Dawn's point quite nicely.

"Told you. It's dinner, yeah. Give me about fifteen more minutes and it'll be ready."

"Awesome! Sounds great!" Ash chimed, sitting down at the small kitchen table. Pikachu scurried back to his trainer when he arrived, hopping atop the wooden furniture piece.

Hm. On the note of dinner, Dawn looked from her traveling partner to their host. "Sorry to see kind of needy, Samurai, but what's the sleeping situation going to be like?" While she obviously brought her sleeping bag, if there was a bed, she was going to be all over that.

So, Ash thought with his stomach. Duly noted. "Sorry, but I only have one bed in here. The last time Ash and his friend stayed over, we used sleeping bags." He could assume she would definitely prefer a bed, but sadly the place wasn't accommodated for more than one to stay for long. "If you want a bed, though, there's sure to be some open in Pewter City once you make it through the forest. If that is where you're going."

"It is! And, that's fine! Couldn't resist asking, though." Win some, lose some. With dinner almost ready, Dawn quickly got out the plates for everyone. "Alright, we're good to go. Thanks for letting me have command of the kitchen, again." Getting her own meal, Dawn sat down with a happy sigh. Yep. After this, it was definitely lights out. She was exhausted.

Ash sat up in his seat, eyes glimmering in anticipation for the meal that would follow. Pikachu cooed, the scent of the meal drifting pleasantly through the cabin. Needless to say, it didn't escape his senses. Ash immediately dug into the dish that had been set before him, positively glowing after his mouthful. "Man, Dawn, this is great! You never told me you could cook like this!" He began to devour the dish just as ravenously as usual, while Pikachu slurped up the occasional noodle from Ash's dish.

"It's no problem, Dawn. I should thank you for preparing this for us." Samurai sat down as well, having already abandoned his armory for a sleeveless t-shirt and shorts, similar to Ash's nightwear. Samurai began to down the meal in a more composed manner, though he seemed just as enamored. "I'll have to agree with Ash. You did a pretty great job on such short notice!"

"Thanks!"

"Oh," Ash stopped after devouring roughly half of his meal. "I was wanting to ask ya, Samurai. What'd ya end up doing after I left the forest? You couldn't've been here _all_ this time, could you?"

"Well, shortly after battling you, I decided to set out on my own journey. I battled the gyms of the Indigo League and managed to acquire eight badges." After getting this far in his explanation, his smile faded, dark eyes averting from the two.

As Samurai went on his spiel, Dawn listened intently. When he averted their eyes, Dawn raised a brow, looking to Ash as if he knew what the problem was somehow.

"…I challenged the Indigo League at the end of the year. I'd lost in the first round. I had seen that you went quite a bit further in the rounds and I found myself discouraged. Rather than continue, I returned here to train, only traveling occasionally to learn more as a pokemon trainer. I haven't entered since." It felt like a shameful story to tell - a warrior like him quitting. Working so hard though, only to fall so soon… It had discouraged him greatly. Maybe he wasn't meant for the big leagues. Maybe training in the lonesome forest was the life he was supposed to lead.

There was a pause. Dawn carefully chose her words; oh boy, if there was one thing she knew, it was being discouraged. Her first circuit was, well, it was something. She had been thrown from everything she knew and accepted and tossed straight into the big leagues. Like trainers, coordinators spent years perfecting their art. There was no mercy or holding back; the sweat of their toiling and training pushed everyone to relentlessly try their best, to spare no challenger when victory was on the line…

Which was why it was all the more bitter tasting when victory wasn't achieved.

"Samurai, how long did you train for that?" she asked quietly, carefully gauging his reaction.

"For a few months, following my collection of the badges." He replied. Now that it came out of his mouth… It did sound a little silly.

"Yet, after one defeat at the gathering of the region's best trainers—a challenge you qualified for—you lost. You lost in your first go at the region's harshest challenge, and you're… quitting because of that?" Sticking her fork in her noodles, she pouted. "Samurai, I don't wanna sound harsh, but that's harsh on yourself, and your pokemon." She jerked a thumb at Ash. "Let me tell you something I had to learn—you can't use Ash as a measuring stick." Her voice began tenderer here, but she meant it. "Also, you mentioned that you stayed here going against trainers traveling through here? That's not going to help you with the tournaments."

Sipping her water, the bluenette let another pause come through. "That's like battling Bidoofs when you're getting ready to take on a…. Kangaskhan! You'll get the experience, but it's not right for the situation." And, boy howdy, did Dawn know all about working the situation in her favor.

Realizing she had just given a lecture - Mew, she was turning into her mother - she quickly grabbed her drink again, blushing. Finished with her meal, she picked up her plate to make a sheepish escape. "I mean. If… you wanted my two cents."

Not once did she insult him, but only reasoned _why_ he had failed, and why he shouldn't take it to heart. The more she spoke, the more embarrassed he felt. Not in their presence - but with himself. How could he have missed something so obvious? Or rather, ignored it in face of his own bruised ego? He was a warrior - a samurai. It flew in the face of everything he stood for.

"…No. You're right, Dawn. One hundred percent. I'm embarrassed to only see it now, but I let my own disappointment get the better of me. Thank you for your honesty and insight." The warrior, or would-be warrior nodded his head in respect, a smile showing on his lips for the first time since the conversation began. "Perhaps you're right. Maybe I'll still have another chance. I'll just have to try harder."

"That's the spirit!" Ash finally chimed in, raising a fist opposite of the one which he was using to stuff his face. After swallowing another bite, he continued. "You can take it from Dawn; she hit a rough patch too, but she came out runner-up in her first Grand Festival! If she can turn it around, then I know you can, too!"

"Oh, gosh, yeah… at least you didn't cry about it, huh?" With all the dishes save what the boys were eating on put away, Dawn grabbed her bag again. "Well, I think it's a certain coordinator's turning in time! Night, guys." She made her way into the living room and the minute she got settled down Quilava - who had eaten the entire log by now - felt it appropriate to wiggle her fat bottom over and lay on her trainer, letting out content little chattering noises.

She was met with a smile from both as she walked to head to bed. "G'night, Dawn!" Ash chimed, and Samurai replied as well.

"Good night." He turned to Ash, who was already setting aside his empty plate. "You're lucky to have a friend like that, you know." One could only imagine the trials and rough spots Ash had been through - someone who could give a pep talk like that was definitely a wonderful asset.

Brows were raised at the warrior's statement, the look of confusion soon fading into a smile. "Yeah, I know." Ash affirmed, grabbing his own bag before setting the sleeping bag out on the floor. "C'mon, Pikachu. Let's get some rest so we can get to Pewter City tomorrow!" He soon made himself cozy, the electric mouse fitting in snugly between the sleeping bag and Ash's chest.

While he set himself up and began to drift into slumber, he couldn't help but dwell on the conversation that had just gone by. It was true that he'd hit some pretty rough points himself, namely his loss to Paul at Lake Verity. Dawn had been there to whip him back into shape, too, hadn't she? Regardless of what Jessie had said earlier, he knew Dawn was someone he could count on, at the very least. Those thoughts had been last as he drifted off into slumber, letting fatigue wisp him away until the next day came.

* * *

Sleep was sweet that night. Between the quietness of the cabin and the tranquil midnight melodies of the forest pokemon, the lull which lasted until just before the first hints of lighter blue on the horizon was the kind of pleasant reward that only the adventurous soul could truly savor. Away from the bustle of civilization, there was an echoing back to a simpler time.

And, Ash answered the pale light of this primordial hour. He carefully sat up, wiggling to get out from in between Rosa - whom he'd let out during the night upon remembering she was still in her pokeball - and Pikachu. With that, he grabbed his back and headed to the bathroom. Ah, yes. At this hour, the call of nature could surely be heard by the adventurous young hero.

However, his warmth was missed in the sleeping bag and Rosa soon finally awoke herself. _~Papa?~_ Getting no response, she assumed he was outside of her immediate vicinity, but the fact Pikachu was still here told her he couldn't be far. Still, she didn't feel quite safe wandering around the house. More importantly, she was hungry! Pikachu couldn't cook, but maybe Ash's friend could?

Getting out of the sleeping bag, the little Riolu tip toed over to Dawn's sleeping bag. The coordinator was barely waking, sunshine lightly splashing across her face.

 _~Dawn?~_ Rosemary called. _~Can you make me some food? I'm hungry.~_

"Huh? Yeah, let me get up," the coordinator agreed, rubbing her eyes. She turned, trying to figure out who was talking to her. She looked around and saw no other people in the room, only a snoozing Pikachu, Quilava's fat behind still on her, and Ash's Riolu looking up at her shyly. "... I guess I dreamed it," Dawn concluded.

 _~Dreamed what?~_

Dawn looked down. "W-Was that… you?!"

 _~... Oh! Sorry, um, I thought you were awake. Sorry, I just wanted some food.~_ Covering up her little face in her paws, the Riolu felt a little like crying. She didn't know what to do. Would Dawn be angry? But, if Ash trusted her, she had to be a good person! And, a good person would take care of her, right?

Realizing that the Riolu was about to cry, Dawn gently reached forward, patting her on the head very softly. "Hey, hey, no need to worry! I just didn't know you could talk. I'll make you some breakfast!" And, ask Ash what was up with this when he got out here. Weren't Riolu fighting types?! Speaking of weird stuff, she never got a reason for his tricks yesterday.

With that, Dawn got up and headed into the kitchen. She set Rosa on the table, letting her watch as the coordinator walked around the kitchen, soon aided by Pikachu when he awoke, and Piplup, once Dawn released him. Quilava was the last to join the cooking party, mostly keeping Rosa entertained by telling jokes in the language of pokemon.

Finally, both boys wandered into the kitchen. In short order, everyone was sitting down to breakfast.

"So, Ash," Dawn began politely, pushing Rosa's plate a little closer to her as the Riolu continued to sit on the table, this time between her beloved trainer and her new friend Dawn. "Why, exactly, can Rosa talk to me? She isn't a psychic type, is she?"

"Oh! I meant to ask what that move was you used the other day. It's… rather mystical, honestly," Samurai also chirped in.

Swallowing thickly around his breakfast, the teen chuckled. "So, uh. You guys ever heard of aura?"

"Yeah," Dawn agreed, recalling a certain adventure on Iron Island.

Samurai nodded. "It's a fabled type of fighting energy. Why?"

"Well, me and her can both use it, and it helps her as a pokemon with some telepathic stuff."

Recalling what she knew of Riley and his Lucario - unknowing how accurate her connection was - the coordinator accepted this. She could ask more later, she supposed. "Okay. Yeah, it's real, Samurai. I just didn't know Ash could use it."

Ash chuckled. "Sorry. It's new."

"I'd imagine," Samurai deadpanned.

With that, breakfast continued smoothly. At the end of it, Dawn reminded Ash and Samurai of their promise to battle each other so there won't be any regrets… before running off to get ready for the day, leaving both boys to handle the dishes.

"...Aw, seriously!?" Ash sulked upon noticing. That was _not_ cool.

* * *

Once indoor chores had been accounted for, the trio and their pokemon moved outside of the small cabin, stepping into a clearing that was a satisfactory size for a decent battle. The morning dew still glistened on the grass, a gentle breeze welcomed the gang to a new day, and the sun shone brightly upon those stepping into its midst. Pretty good conditions for a battle, really.

"Looks like we've got a battlefield! How's three on three sound?" the trainer asked the warrior.

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Dawn chimed, with only Piplup out of his pokeball to spectate.

"You bet it is! Alright, let's go, Samurai!" Ash called. Looking to his side, though, he made his first decision of the battle. "...Hey, Rosa! What do you say about having your first trainer battle? Good a time to start as any, right?" He beamed upon the small fighting type, hoping to instill confidence.

 _~A-a trainer battle?~_ That did make her heart jump a few paces… But, this guy did seem nice. They stayed in his house, after all! _~O-okay! I'll battle!~_ She hopped forward in front of Ash, lightly hopping from one foot to the other. If her practice battles were any indication, maybe this could be fun!

"I can't say I've ever battled a pokemon like you before. This should be quite the interesting battle!" A gleam appeared in the warrior's eye before he tossed his first pokeball. "Pinsir! Assume battle mode!"

The Stag Beetle pokemon appeared in a flash of light, towering over Rosa. Its pincers clicked together, putting on quite the intimidating show. Indiscriminate as always in its fights, it awaited the first call.

Noticing his own companion trembling, Ash continued. "I know your opponent looks tough, Rosa, but you'll be fine! Just trust me!" Flashing a thumbs up, he continued. "Now, let's try an Aura Sphere attack!"

Nodding, the Emanation pokemon turned to her side, conjuring a brilliant orb of power between her paws. Still new to her honing of the move, she elected to hold onto it closely before throwing her paws forward, unleashing the supernatural force upon her opponent.

 _'That's the same technique that Ash used...'_ Samurai noted. "Dodge it, Pinsir!"

Using notable leg strength, the bug type sprung a good height above the battlefield, ready and eager to unleash an assault upon the other pokemon. With the attack well out of its reach, it was free to attack.

Or, at least it assumed.

"Pinsir! Defend yourself!"

Samurai's call was too little too late. The Aura Sphere had followed, clouding Pinsir in an explosion.

"Alright! Good job!" Ash pumped a fist in the air. Her first real battle, and she'd landed a hit!

Two clawed feet landed upon the grass, however. Pinsir had emerged, barely a scratch on him. Chilling, horizontal rows of teeth chattered together in a grotesque taunt towards the younger pokemon.

"Pinsir, use Double Hit!"

The larger pokemon charged its opponent, ducking its head to ready its retaliation.

"Rosa, stay cool! Use Detect to dodge it!"

Normally ruby colored orbs took on a bright blue shine, the pokemon's basic fighting instincts taking over. Reading Pinsir's intentions, the fighting type managed to duck under the first strike of one of Pinsir's horns, despite being far slower than the latter. A second strike followed, which she managed to jump over, landing a decent distance away from her attacker.

"Good job!" Ash praised. "Now, use Force Palm!"

She remembered Ash mentioning that timing was important in a battle. Lurching forward, little Rosemary did her best to capitalize upon the moment of opportunity that Ash seemed to see. Closing the distance, she placed her paw upon Pinsir's chest. With a yelp, she fired a burst of energy unto it.

The force sent Pinsir skidding back a few feet, prompting it to scratch its chest. That'd been uncomfortable.

Time to press the offensive! "Now, keep using Force Palm! Put some pressure on 'em!"

The Riolu barked, leaping forward once more in an attempt to push it with aura. This time, though, the bug type began to dodge. Leaping and pushing a paw forward after each avoided strike, the small fighter did her best to keep Pinsir on the ropes.

"Fight back, Pinsir! Use Brick Break!"

Good. It was tired of holding back. It threw a glowing fist forward, slamming it into Rosa's gut.

Big round eyes nearly bulged out of the pokemon's head, a voiceless gasp for breath following as the small pokemon was thrown back across the field. She landed with a small cloud of dust, coughing.

"Rosa!" Ash shouted in worry, visibly cringing at the hit. That had to hurt. "Hey, can you still fight?"

Her paws began to push the pokemon to her feet. _~Y-yeah…~_ She coughed, righting herself. This was just like the endurance training back home. She just had to keep fighting!

"Good! Now, use Reversal! Give it all you've got!"

All of that pain was channeled into strength. With a yelp, she launched forward, nailing Pinsir with a roundhouse kick to the face. Suffering from the damage it'd dealt out itself, Pinsir was sent reeling.

"Impressive! Most impressive," Samurai commended. "Now, Pinsir! Finish it! Vicegrip!"

Hurting, but still comfortable to fight, the bug launched back again, snagging the Emanation pokemon within its iron Grip. Drawing a yelp from the pokemon, Pinsir swung its head, tossing Rosa back to Ash.

Swirls in her eyes indicated a loss.

Nonetheless, the trainer couldn't help but smile. Kneeling down, he scooped the tyke into his arm. "Hey, are you alright? You put up a great fight out there."

Lids began to quiver before parting. Still dizzy, the pokemon sulked. _~Sorry…~_

"Hey, don't worry about it! That was really good for your first trainer battle… Now, let me handle this, alright?" Reaching for the brim of his cap, he turned it backwards with a gleam in his eye.

"Now, Samurai, I want you to meet some of my older friends! Bulbasaur, I choose you!"

The next pokeball let the Seed pokemon free, leaving it standing opposite of Pinsir. "Bulba!"

"Alright, Bulbasaur! Use Razor Leaf!"

The grass type attacked at once, launching a flurry of sharp leaves towards Pinsir.

The bug type did its best to guard from the onslaught, crossing its skinny arms over its body.

"Counter it, Pinsir! Use X-Scissor to charge through!"

It lowered its head, each of its two pincers gaining a brilliant glow that formed an 'x.' Charging forward, it slammed into Bulbasaur's body, sending the smaller pokemon reeling with remarkable power.

"You can take it, Bulbasaur! Start charging up a Solarbeam!"

Tiny solar particles teeming with life, thanks to the clear blue skies, began to enter Bulbasaur's bulb.

"Pinsir! Use Vicegrip! Render that Solarbeam useless!" Samurai called.

The Stag Beetle charged forward once more, squeezing Bulbasaur's body between its tough horns. It righted itself, holding the grass type helplessly above. Its bulb pointing away from any possible target, it was sure to miss with its potent grass type attack.

"Not on my watch! Bulbasaur, use Power Whip! Open those horns up, quick!"

Glowing vines shot out of its back, each of them ensnaring Pinsir's spiky horns. Remarkable strength began to pull them apart, no matter how much power the bug type offered in keeping Bulbasaur in place. With a bit of wiggle room made, Bulbasaur pointed its bulb downward.

Pinsir could only watch in horror as the glow intensified, finally unleashing in a brilliant explosion of solar energy. Bright lights and smoke consumed both pokemon, forcing each trainer to cover their eyes.

Soon, Ash found himself able to look upon the scene, as did Samurai. Bulbasaur had leaped from the other pokemon's grip, landing safely on all fours. Pinsir, however, lay on the ground, out cold.

"Return, Pinsir!" Samurai recalled his pokemon in a flash of light, hardly surprised with the result. He was impressed, however. "That was a smart move, Ash. I can see you've come a long way from the last time we battled. But, this match is far from over! Butterfree! It's your turn to fight!"

The floating insect appeared in another flash, humming its usual cry as it fluttered above.

Eyeing the pokemon, Ash couldn't help but feel nostalgic. Resisting the urge to choke up, he tried to keep his cool. Now wasn't the time to start thinking about his old Butterfree… They had a battle to win!

"Now, Butterfree, Silver Wind!"

The butterfly began to furiously flap its wings, kicking up a powerful wind, punishing Bulbasaur with an unusual, bug type power. Eager to succeed, the Butterfree continued its assault, showing no mercy.

"You can take it, Bulbasaur! Use Power Whip to slam it down!"

Wincing from the bug type onslaught, Bulbasaur shot its vines outward, wrapping them securely around Butterfree. Before the other pokemon could react, a whiplash of the vines slammed it roughly into the ground below. A cry of pain gave Ash a good measure of the move's success.

Samurai frowned. This was bad; Bulbasaur was even stronger than he'd thought. "Use Sleep Powder!"

Batting its wings to free itself, Butterfree began to sprinkle down a soothing spore.

"That's bad…!" Sweat dripped down Ash's forehead. "...Bulbasaur, use Leech Seed, and fast!"

The loyal grass type did as told, launching a seed from the center of its bulb. Butterfree was ensnared as the former pokemon began to fall to the lulling powder, eyes struggling to stay open. He collapsed.

"Clever, Ash! I'm guessing you're trying to secure energy for Bulbasaur while it's asleep… But, we won't allow you that chance! Butterfree, Tackle attack!"

The surprisingly hardy little bug crashed into Bulbasaur's sleeping form, sending the grass type rolling but not at all stirred. The slumber was deep. Luckily for Butterfree, Tackle had no recoil and it merely retreated a bit out of wariness, awaiting Samurai's next order.

"Bulbasaur! Come on, I know you felt that!" Ash called, hoping to wake up the little grass type.

Samurai decided to take full advantage of the situation. While Leech Seed might be slowly stealing energy, they had a bit of an advantage right now. "Butterfree, use Silver Wind!"

With ample time, Butterfree paused, stirring up a larger than usual Silver Wind, bright scales slashing down upon a summoned zephyr at Bulbasaur.

Between the chill of the wind, the pain of the attack, and Ash's continued prompts for awaking, Bulbasaur did finally return to wakefulness. "Bulba!" he cried, bracing against the fading attack.

"Alright! Bulbasaur, use Power Whip!"

Butterfree tried to flee in vain. Bulbasaur's vines slapped the Butterfree, first sending it off course and spinning in the air, and then the second time into the ground. Once it hit, there was no more movement. The bug type was knocked smoothly out by the grass type's overwhelming power.

"I see," Samurai murmured. "Well, thank you, Butterfree; return. Beedrill, it's time to battle!"

The wasp-like pokemon flexed, massive stringers gleaming intimidatingly. "Drill!"

"Oh, boy," Ash breathed. "Bulbasaur, retu - "

"Pursuit!" Samurai called out.

"Bulbasaur, cover using Razor Leaf!"

As Beedrill dived, a spiraling tunnel of leaves surrounded it, obscuring its vision. By the time it cleared, all it managed to jab with its stingers was empty air. Bulbasaur had been successfully returned.

"Right. That thing's fast… Wartortle, I choose you!" Ash tossed the water type's pokeball out. The second stage pokemon grinned upon seeing the Beedrill. Having a nice hard shell could instill some confidence in yourself pretty quickly, after all. "Let's start off with Hydro Pump!"

"Beedrill, dodge with Agility!" As swiftly as Samurai ordered it, the temperamental bug type obeyed, jerking to the side of the Hydro Pump with an angry buzz. "Now, use Toxic Spikes!" Swinging its arms wildly, numerous poisonous hazards were scattered across the ground, headed for Wartortle's path!

"That's bad…!" Ash deadpanned. That move had caused him quite a bit of trouble in the past, and more than he'd like. Thankfully, an idea quickly sprung to mind. "Use Rapid Spin, and fast! Knock away those Toxic Spikes!" Ash called out, fingers metaphorically crossed.

"Wartortle!" The turtle quickly returned to his shell, spinning above amongst the falling arrows of toxins. The turning shell deflected the first, sending the water type ricocheting into the next, and so on and so forth. Spinning about wildly, Wartortle dispelled the last of the toxins before heading for Beedrill, smashing into its segmented form.

"Alright! Awesome job, Wartortle!" Ash cheered. Thank Arceus that was over.

"Don't let it get away, Beedrill, Twinneedle attack!"

Righting itself from the last assault, Beedrill launched itself at the still airborne turtle, jabbing it repeatedly with its poison-tipped stingers. Having finally appeared from its shell, Wartortle found itself vulnerable to the assault.

"With any luck, your Wartortle will soon be poisoned! It's only a matter of time; if you feel you have the right to your pokemon's trust, I suggest you act on it soon, Ash!" Samurai warned, confident as ever.

"Don't you worry about my pokemon! Wartortle! Iron Defense!"

The tortoise quickly retreated to his shell once more, the outer carapace taking on a glimmering, silver layer of metal that soon rendered Beedrill's jabs pointless. Nonetheless, it continued its assault.

"Your Wartortle can't hide in its shell forever, Ash! Defending oneself can only so far!"

"That's fine, because I've always thought the best defense is a good offense! Wartortle, Hydro Pump!"

Still curled inside his shell, Wartortle took on a mischievous grin, even if one couldn't see it. Powerful jets of water were spewed from each of the holes in its shell, launching the hard outer surface right towards Beedrill. Lucky enough, the attack hit its mark, sending the ornery insect reeling.

"Good job, Wartortle! Now finish it, with Skull Bash!"

"War!" Still airborne, the water type popped his head out, then ducking it to prepare for the incoming blow. His body launched towards Beedrill, rocking the bug with a powerful strike from his head.

Beedrill was quick to fall, overwhelmed by the powerful series of attacks.

Dawn clapped. "That was great! It's been a while since I've seen an intense match." She cast a quick grin at Ash. He knew he won, so there was no reason to rub it in with Samurai right there. It would soon be time to go… "Thanks for having us, Samurai. And, for the good time. Hate our visit started out the way it did, though."

He cast a grin back before turning to Samurai, approaching the trainer with a hand held out. "It really was intense. That was a lot of fun, Samurai! I guess we've both gotten stronger, huh?"

"Return, Beedrill!" The other trainer withdrew his final Pokemon, turning his attention to Ash before holding out his own hand, shaking Ash's. After a short pause, a smile crossed his face as well. "Indeed. You're quite the adversary, just as ever, Ash! I'm hardly upset that I lost. Oh, it was my pleasure, Dawn. As unfortunate as that was, it said a lot about all of us. I'm happy to have met the both of you… In fact, I've been inspired. This year, I'm going to retry the Indigo League! It's been decided."

"Hey, awesome! That's where we're headed when it comes around! I guess we'll see each other then, huh?" Ash's eyes lit once more with that childish glow. He would be more than happy to potentially face his friend again - and even better that he had his confidence back!

"Yep! We'll see you then! Oh, speaking of which, we'd better get going! I've still got that contest to practice for." With the rest of the forest between them and Pewter, as long as they made good time, it should be a pleasant journey. "Bye, Samurai! See you around!" Dawn chimed.

"Indeed. Farewell, Ash and Dawn! Until we meet again." The warrior bore a smile before turning to return to his cabin, ready to begin his pursuits anew.

"See ya soon!" Ash shouted out, waving before turning to head down the beaten path, carrying the tired fighting type in his arms, accompanied by the turtle at his side, who'd once more donned his valued sunglasses. "From what I remember, if we're coming from his place, Pewter City should be pretty close! We'll finally find another place to stay, and we'll get to see Brock!" That thought was quite exciting enough to the trainer. He hadn't met up with him since he'd left for Pallet Town quite a while ago.

"Oh, and the contest! What do ya say once we get settled in, we train for that? I'm sure we could help you sharpen your appeals! Heck, maybe we could come up with something new!"

"Oh, man, it's been a while—that'll be nice." She wondered how his schooling was going; becoming a doctor, especially one for pokemon seeing how varied they could be, was probably one of the more difficult life paths. Yet, the former-gym leader showed talent and there was plenty of motivation—he'd be swamped by a bevy of Nurse Joys if he succeeded. "And sure! We can train together again, just like old times!" The blue-haired girl beamed. What had begun as a rocky start to a new journey ended with a pleasant reunion, renewed dreams, and a long-awaited promise fulfilled! Surely things would only get more exciting as Ash and Dawn moved on towards their next adventure.


	20. Brock 'n Roll

Well, we've made it to the twentieth chapter, and the first gym battle of the fic! We hope you enjoy the action, and as always, feedback is appreciated. Once again, on our tumblr blog, anotther-rxad, fanart will be posted to accompany this chapter. Hope you like it!

* * *

It was a pleasant afternoon in Pewter City. The Pokemon Center had taken a slow turn; most of their potential patients hadn't come in for the evening and those from the previous night were already out of town. With only a few locals whose chronic conditions needed their routine check-ups to attend to, Brock felt pretty secure.

Clinical work meant long hours, but the work was gratifying. It didn't hurt that his partner was cute as a button.

"Alright, Joy, looks like Raticate's condition is stable. Can you write up a new prescription for his trainer? It'll be easier to get refills that way."

"Of course!" Joy chirped, ever chipper. She quickly wrote out a form and scurried off to put it in the Raticate's file.

"And, you," Brock hummed, scratching the Raticate under the chin. "Mind your teeth, huh, buddy? And, eat your supplements!"

"Ratica…" The normal type would make no promises, but remained docile as Brock exited the room, all of today's checkups officially managed.

Joy almost ran into him as she returned. "Oh! Whoops. It's gotten so efficient since you got here, I thought you were taking a while… I'm so used to it taking forever to file things!" Though she was his age, she'd intentionally gone to school to be a nurse and therefore she had been here a while longer than he had.

Brock chuckled. "Well, I'm the oldest of a lot of kids. So, I know a thing or two about keeping everything straightened."

"Oh? So you're good with managing the little ones, I take it!"

"That's right, you're not from around here…" Brock recalled that this particular Joy was from southeast Kanto. She wouldn't know the whole affair were Brock was even the gym leader! "I actually used to tend to them and the gym before the current, er, previous two gym leaders returned." He always kept forgetting Forrest was in charge now.

"No way! So, you're strong, smart, and sweet!" Joy gasped, truly impressed.

Brock blushed, not entirely sure how to react. Unfortunately, old habits died hard, so he put his hand under his chin, trying to recover by striking a pose he hoped would be alluring enough. "I just do what can. So!"

Joy's brows quirked as Brock grabbed her hands. Where had that come from? She supposed a man his age - they were the same age, so she would know - would be flirty, but he'd seemed so sensible until now!

"If you ever need anything from me, my Euphoric Joy, just let me know!"

There was that nickname he picked out for her again. It caused her many a mixed emotion, but with how strong he was coming on right now, she was honestly a little frightened. "R-Right…"

"Toxicroak!"

Everyone froze; Joy, out of continued confusion for what Brock was doing; Brock, out of worry for what Toxicroak was about to do; Toxicroak, poised and ready to strike…

But, interrupted by the dinging of the front doors opening.

"Patients!" both Joy and Brock yelled, jumping to turn to greet them, each eager from an escape to their own situation. Toxicroak merely put his hand down, looking a little disappointed.

"Huh? It's Ash and Dawn!" Brock called, walking over to greet the two.

"Who?" Joy mumbled, following the doctor-in-training.

"Hey, guys, it's been so long since I've seen you! And you too, Pikachu," Brock added. He turned from his two young friends to Joy. "Guys, this is one of the Nurse Joys on staff. I like to call her Euphoria, though. Euphoria, this is Ash and Dawn!"

"Did she let you nickname her or did you just decide that on your own?" the bluenette piped up, earning a giggle from the pink haired nurse.

"Nice to meet you, Joy… er, Euphoria?" Ash was clearly a little lost. What was her real name?! "Woah, hold on! Croagunk evolved!?" Ash gawked at the larger frog. That was a surprise.

"It looks like everyone's growing up," Dawn remarked. "It's good to see you again, too!"

The Joy-in-training giggled at the interruption. An easily distracted bunch, it seemed. "It's nice to meet you, too," she greeted kindly. "Well, what can we do for you today?"

"Having a checkup for our pokemon would be nice," Dawn answered.

Ash added his own need: "I'm actually here to challenge Brock to a gym battle!"

The Joy tilted her head. "I thought Forrest was the gym leader now?"

The doctor nodded his head. "Yeah… Hey, that wasn't you that sent out that special letter, was it? Forrest said he was excited to be able to go all out on someone. Shouldn't you be asking him? You know I'm not a gym leader anymore."

"Yeah, but this is more for my own training," Ash explained. He smirked. "Plus… Our first battle could use a good rematch, huh? Settle the score properly."

"What are all of you standing around for?" barked a sharper voice.

Euphoria and Brock both ducked. Looking older than the first Joy by a fair bit, there stood the resident nurse. She'd been busy in the pharmacy section of the hospital, filling orders while the younger did the less technical work.

"Well?! Are you flapping your gums while these patients need attending to?!"

"Sorry!" Euphoria whimpered. She rushed behind the counter and returned shortly with two trays. "I'll take your pokemon, now!"

Dawn and Ash did so before encouraging their starters to follow the nurse so they could be tended to.

"... Anyway," Brock started off, feeling more confident now that the older Joy was gone. "I'd be happy to, but Forrest kind of won over most of the rock types I used to keep."

"Hm," Ash mused. "Well, can you at least use Steelix? The other pokemon you have will be fine, but I wanna properly battle him at least!"

Brock cracked a grin. While Steelix adored Forrest, the big steel type was undeniably loyal to Brock first and foremost. "I think I can arrange that, yeah."

"Alright, so let's go battle!"

"After my shift."

Dawn giggled as Ash moped, fire taken out of him just that quick. "Hey, you interrupted him and Euphoria. It's fair to wait a little."

"What do you know about being 'interrupted'?" Brock pried, catching onto a certain awareness and sensitivity to those types of situations that Dawn hadn't possessed before. Where had that come from? Then again, Dawn and Ash were traveling alone… He had to wonder, now.

Dawn paused, wondering where that had come from before dwelling on it too long and getting shy. "I just remembered I need to go call Mom!" With that, Dawn bailed.

"What was that all about?" Ash questioned.

"... Wow." The older teen stuck his hands in his pockets. Life was weird. Brock was almost grown and he was struggling to get a girl's attention while being perfectly aware of romance and the nature of it. Yet, here Ash was, into the age where he should also be as concerned as Brock and he already had a girl getting shy over him - had girls getting shy over him in the past, too - but he still remained oblivious.

The injustice of it all sickened him.

But, Brock Doc was on the case! "Follow me." It was getting towards the end of his shift, so he needed to check up on the files from the day to make sure any overnights were put in the next day's file folder rather than being treated as check out patients.

"Okay!" Ash replied, leaning on the counter as Brock went behind it.

"You really don't have any idea why Dawn got embarrassed when I asked her why she knew what it would feel like to be interrupted, do you?"

"Uh… maybe she got stumped by the question, too?" Ash knew he'd been confused by the whole exchange.

"She hasn't been especially weird lately, or anything?" Brock nudged, hoping Ash might put two and two together.

"Hey! Dawn's not weird. Actually, she's been particularly cool lately! You should have heard the speech she gave earlier today!" The boy paused, putting a hand to his chin. "Though, that one time, when things got really intense, she got really shaky… I was worried about her."

Intense?! What was Ash talking about? "W-What happened?!"

"Team Rocket! We stopped 'em though! They've gotten really dirty lately."

Oh. Brock calmed down. Still, what had Team Rocket done to scare Dawn? She wasn't exactly a shrieking violet. That aside, it didn't seem as if he was going to make it clear to Ash, and all he really had to go on were his own assumptions on what Dawn's behavior now meant, coupled with how well she and Ash had always gotten along. Maybe Lyra had been right, though. "Well, I'm glad you did."

"Back!" Dawn greeted as she walked over, calm once more. As the three of them got caught up and exchanged pleasant talk about Brock's time at school, Dawn's journey to Hoenn, and Ash's battle against Paul, the elder Nurse Joy eventually returned with the duo's pokeballs.

"Alright, my shift's over. I'll clock out and tell Euphoria I'm gone. Then we can head to my place for a snack?" Brock offered as he slipped out of his lab coat. Under was a pleasantly orange sweater with a dark undershirt. His belt must have been a tad too long, but somehow it worked with his olive-colored khakis.

"Yes!" Ash cheered, stomach growling in time with his enthusiastic cry.

* * *

Soon, the trio reached the Pewter City gym.

"It's really a shame you two didn't visit during Christmas. Solidad came back home for a few days," he explained.

"Huh. Yeah, it would have been nice to see her," Ash mused.

"And, to meet her!" Dawn nearly squealed, thoroughly impressed that Pewter City not only boasted her very talented friend but also was home to a Top Coordinator!

As they drew nearer to the house itself, the entire family was spotted outside, enjoying the time before the chilly night would force them all inside again. Even Forrest was playing along, no challengers currently here to occupy his attention. That said, all of their attentions turned to the approaching trio once they were seen. The children rushed over while Forrest, Salvadore, Yolanda, Flint, and Lola came over a slower pace.

"Ash! It's been a while!" Flint kindly greeted.

"Hey, Flint!" Ash greeted the older man. "Yeah, sure has. Good to see all of you again!" Ash chuckled as the children swarmed around him and the others, being sure to caution them about Pikachu. "I know you all wanna see 'im, but be careful! If he feels threatened, he'll let out a shock by accident!" The trainer crouched down, allowing each of them to get a look at the electric mouse. Pikachu greeted them all with care; any friend or family of Brock's was a friend of his!

Lola rushed over to greet Dawn, or, Piplup, rather. "What a cute water-type! One of the Sinnoh starters, right?"

Dawn, clearly a bit overwhelmed, ended up handing an indignant Piplup over to a pleading Lola in order to attend to Cindy, who insisted on asking Dawn about some of her previous contests as she recognized the girl both from Brock's stories and her a magazine from Hoenn. Cindy was quite the little coordinating and fashion fan.

"Never a dull moment," Brock said, almost apologetically.

"That's for sure!" Ash affirmed, allowing them all to get their greetings in. "They definitely look older than last time I saw 'em. I guess that's what happens when you're away for a while, huh?"

"Well, that, and kids just grow up fast." Brock made a point to look at Ash and then Dawn. It hadn't even been a full year since he'd seen them, and… with a sigh, he felt kind of old relatively close to their age. It was heartwarming yet bittersweet.

"Alright, guys, breathing room, breathing room," Flint ordered.

With the words of their father ringing out, Brock once again took charge. "Tell you all what! Ash wants to battle me after snack time! If everyone can be good and stay in the stands like you're supposed to, you guys can watch."

With a round of happy cheers, the children all agreed.

"Daaawn, I wanna sit 'nd cheer with you!" Cindy exclaimed.

"That's fine!" Taking Cindy's hand, the coordinator was swept up in the crowd of youngsters as they followed their parents into the house for a break.

Forrest lingered back with Brock and Ash. "What gives? You sent out that challenge letter, right? I'm the official gym leader now, you know!"

"You bet! Well, it's not an official challenge. I wanna make sure I'm ready for the next Indigo League, so I'm taking on all of Kanto's gyms again and asking them to go all-out against me. I already have the badges, so I'm just in it for the experience!"

That response alone would likely say it all on how much Ash had grown. Not just in height, but in maturity as well. "Sorry I didn't battle you instead, but I still feel like Brock and I need a rematch." He turned to his older friend with a smile. Now they'd finally get a gym match on even ground.

"Ain't that the way… But, alright Ketchum! I'm letting you know now! Next time I see you, it's a battle!" Forrest declared dramatically.

Brock shook his head. "He's eager to prove himself." He ruffled his brother's hair. "But, he's already made me really proud."

"Well, in that case, it's a deal," Ash agreed. "Watch me beat up your bro', okay?"

"Hey, watch it," Brock warned, not quite insulted but pride as a trainer tested.

Forrest chuckled as the three of them walked into the kitchen… only to find it empty except for Dawn, Cindy, and Piplup who seemed to be readying a basket of pokechow and cookies. "... Where is everyone?" he asked. He could have sworn they said it was snack time.

"Everyone else went to the gym already," Cindy explained. "Mom said if they got rowdy in her house everyone was getting in trouble."

"Right. I figured we'd just grab some snacks. Your mom said it was okay, Brock."

"Oh, yeah. There's plenty, take what you and your pokemon want to snack on," he agreed. "Though, I'm going to opt for a water over the juices, thank you."

"You just think you're grown," Forrest teased as he helped Dawn carry the food back outside so the four of them plus the pokemon could relax for a little bit.

After a bit of settling, all of both trainer's current teams were out. Cindy fawned over Dawn's pokemon, particularly Togekiss, Piplup, and Absol. Forrest was more interested in Ash's Charizard whilst Brock acquainted himself with everyone, very impressed with the team's growth.

"Now, who's this little one?" Brock asked, realizing that a Riolu had been hiding behind Ash's pants leg the whole time.

"This is Rosemary! She's a little shy." He grinned at Brock. "Give her time and she'll warm up."

She had a little. Brock seemed very paternal and, while she didn't know him well enough to try to approach, she decided she liked him. She just had to build up the nerve to talk to him.

"Dawn! Absol keeps shifting around! I wanna brush her!" Cindy complained. Piplup was already thoroughly preened, feathers shining. Togekiss looked much fluffier.

"Hm? She normally likes a good brushing." Dawn tried to approach the pokemon, but rather than responding, it just looked at her. "Absol?" The dark type then looked at the distance before huffing. "Hey, what's wrong?" Now, she was getting worried. The Absol was always a little stoic, but she was never avoidant. Turning to Brock, Dawn spoke up. "H-Hey! Ash, did you tell Brock about the thing in the forest?"

"With Team Rocket? Not in detail. Why?"

"I think Absol might be really hurt from it. She's acting weird."

Alerted as well, Brock began to walk over to the Hoenn pokemon.

Ash furrowed his brows. "Well… they can predict disasters, right? Maybe it messed with her, since it was using those weird powers."

Brock knelt down, touching Absol's horn without so much as a glance from the pokemon. He then touched her sides and felt her legs, finding no injuries. He checked her pupils, using his hands to shade and then expose them in the afternoon sunlight. "No, there's nothing wrong with her. Though… if they do that, maybe she knew what would happen in Viridian Forest would happen." Brock grew quiet. "She might feel like her purpose for being here was fulfilled."

Dawn likewise grew quiet, looking at Absol who would not turn back to look at her. It was like letting Ambipom go all over again, except she could still check on Ambipom. The pokemon's data was still registered to her; she could still be in contact. But, Absol had been caught in the wild. Where else would she go? Dawn would have to completely sever ties with her.

"Hey," Ash piped up, scooping up Rosa as he walked over. "I've had to let a few pokemon go when their paths and mine weren't the same anymore." He put his free hand on the girl's shoulder. "Heck, me an' Pikachu, almost, even… So, don't blame yourself. It's just the way it is sometimes."

That was of some relief. She hadn't done anything to upset Absol as far as she knew. So, it was just a difference of objectives. That didn't make the fact she's gotten attached to the quirky creature any better, though. "Right. She's still her own pokemon. I can't just keep her." Looking gratefully between Ash and Brock, she then stepped forward, alone, to approach Absol.

Dawn stood in front of the pokemon, who continued to look past her into the wilds of northern Pewter beyond Brock's family home. "Hey, Absol. Do you really want what they said? To leave?" She paused, waiting on a response, but got none.

Cindy started sniffling.

"'Cause, if you want to, I'll let you go." Dawn reached up, brushing the proud pokemon's mane with her fingers before realizing the Absol might not want that and stopping. "I won't make you stay."

There was a hush save Cindy quietly sobbing over a pokemon she didn't know leaving.

After a bit, Absol turned away from Dawn and stopped looking to the wilds, at first ignoring the fact the coordinator had gotten teary eyed over the possibility of having to say goodbye. After walking a few feet back towards everyone and not having Dawn follow, the Absol turned around. "Sol!" she barked as if demanding Dawn catch up.

Realizing she was asking for Dawn to walk with her, the coordinator stood, following. "You're gonna stay?! Oh, thank you, Absol! You'll be very happy! Thank you!" The coordinator kneeled down again, throwing her arms around the dark type. Cindy joined in, rushing over.

Absol tried to look displeased with this.

"Hehe, well, she's certainly protective of her emotions." Brock turned to Forrest. "Hey, looks like everyone's done with their snacks. Clean that up, will you? I'm gonna go set up the gym. Ash, why don't you - "

"Give 'em some privacy and head to the Pokemon Center to swap my team around and meet back you guys at the gym? Got it!"

With that, all three boys left the girls fawning over Absol, whose tail wagged once.

* * *

Ash returned, stepping into the gym just as Brock hooked a final pokeball to his belt. Forrest had passed it to him, so Ash supposed it was Steelix, the only pokemon Brock would need to get from Forrest. Regardless, as the challenger stepped forward, the stands came alive.

Dawn was alone in a sea of many small and a few older voices crying out for Brock's voice; she alone called out for good luck for Ash. Well, perhaps not truly alone. Piplup also cried out for his friends.

"Alright! You ready, Brocko!?" Ash grinned, standing just outside of the arena's artificial rocky field. Nostalgic as could be over the setting, Ash was already burning with the desire to prove himself. That he really deserved that Boulder Badge. "Bulbasaur, I choose you!"

Ash's first sphere was cast, its leaking light taking the form of the Seed pokemon.

Brock didn't bother to stifle a chuckle at Ash's nickname, gripping a pokeball at his waist. As long as he'd been away from the gym leader life, there was something invigorating about standing in this spot again. "Ready as I'll ever be, Ash! Chansey, I choose you!"

The rotund egg-bearing pokemon appeared as well, cheerily waving its small arms in greeting.

"Chansey! Chansey!"

"It's good to see ya, Chansey! I hope you're ready!" With that, Ash threw a hand forward. "Bulbasaur, let's start this battle with Razor Leaf!"

Bulbasaur did just as told, throwing his body in a motion that flicked his bulb just enough to unleash his onslaught. A succession of sharp leaves whisked through the air, barraging Chansey.

The normal type winced a bit, but seemed to hold up well under the assault.

"Chansey, use Seismic Toss!" Brock ordered, loudly, to instill confidence in his pokemon.

"Chansey~!" The large, normally gentle pokemon charged through the remainder of the grass type attack, seizing Bulbasaur between its tiny hands. Lifting the pokemon with its trademark remarkable strength, the normal type rendered its target helpless before throwing it forward.

"Bulbasaur! Use your Power Whip to grab one of the rocks, and come right back!"

Instinct acted upon the trainer's familiar orders, two tendrils launching out of the pokemon's cored to grapple a nearby boulder. Centripetal force proved effective enough, launching him towards Chansey.

Brock had watched Ash battle for more than long enough to recognize that tactic. A creative and clever one, without a doubt, but he was familiar. "Chansey, Bulbasaur's coming your way! Use Egg Bomb to intercept it!"

Chansey did as told, reaching into its pouch to grab its precious egg. The orb was surrounded in a warm, comforting golden light, soon after tossed towards Bulbasaur.

The grass type had come far too close to change his path, letting out a cry as it hit. Widened eyes were justified; the collision caused a sizeable explosion, the egg quickly bouncing back to Chansey afterward.

"Are you alright, Bulbasaur?" Ash was quick to check, only to be answered by a hearty "Bulba." He grinned. "I knew I could count on you! Now, let's keep attacking! Use Power Whip!"

"Saur!" The grass type cried, launching its two glowing vines at terrifying speeds. The duo each slapped Chansey brutally across the face, returning for another painful whiplash.

"Chansey, use Secret Power!" Brock called, quick to take advantage of their surroundings.

Stubborn enough to continue, the Egg pokemon raised both of its hands towards the ceiling, forming a strange mass of light before taking the form of a large rock. Through some supernatural force, it created a projectile that was promptly tossed toward Bulbasaur.

The rock hit its mark, sending Bulbasaur reeling. A cry of pain noted the attack's success.

"Now, quick, use Seismic Toss again!" Brock ordered, and Chansey was quick to oblige.

"Quick, Bulbasaur, dodge it!" Ash found, though, that his call would go unanswered. Bulbasaur was still hurting from the stone thrown, seemingly unable to move in fear of another strike.

"Huh? Bulbasaur, what's wrong!?"

Ash would have to wait for his answer. The Seed pokemon had already been seized, and then chucked toward a nearby rock. This time, Bulbasaur hit it, hard. Slumping down, the pokemon began to rouse from the brutal combination, shaking his head.

"When Secret Power is used in a rocky area, it imitates Rock Throw, and is prone to making a pokemon flinch," Brock explained. "It's a great move overall to catch unwary trainers off-guard."

Though Brock hadn't meant that as an insult, Ash was quick to challenge the notion. "Well, we won't fall for it again! Let's finish this, Bulbasaur! Show them your Solarbeam attack!"

"Bulba, Bulba, Bulba…" Bulbasaur began to chant, gathering solar particles to his bulb.

"We won't let you charge up that Solarbeam! Chansey, Secret Power, again!"

However peaceful she usually was, Chansey felt the same foreboding sense of urgency as her parental figure, and trainer, did. Staring into the luminous cyclone of Bulbasaur's signature move, she raised her arms upward once more, conjuring yet another hunk of rock. Then, she tossed that forward with as much vigor as she could muster.

"Fire it now, Bulbasaur! Solarbeam!" Ash shouted out, punching forward.

You didn't have to tell Bulbasaur twice. He arched his back, aiming the large plant before unleashing its full power. A blinding beam of light, much larger than any Brock had seen previously, ripped across the field, completely consuming and destroying Chansey's attack. She was enveloped next, taking what was left over of the powerful attack.

Smoke clouded the battlefield, a booming explosion causing most of Brock's younger siblings to jump. Each of them fearing for their beloved brother's pokemon, they waited with little patience for the dust to clear.

Soon, it did. Chansey stood, but definitely worse for wear. Panting and covered with scratches.

"That was one amazing Solarbeam," Brock remarked. "I see Bulbasaur's working as hard as ever." Though, his praise didn't come without retaliation. "Now, use Softboiled!"

Once again, the egg in Chansey's pouch began to glow. This time, a brilliant orange as it floated above the battlefield. Rather than exploding, it emitted a warm, caring bath of energy that washed over Chansey, healing each of its wounds one after the next. Soon enough, it fell back into its pouch, leaving its user mostly healed.

"Ah…! That's not good! We worked hard to do some damage, but now we'll have to do it all over again!" Ash deflated, seeing the moment fit for a change in strategy. "You've been great, Bulbasaur! But, maybe it's time for a change, for now. Return!" Calling back the Seed pokemon, he looked back to his best friend and the familiar pokemon. "If I'm going to beat Chansey, I'll need a lot of brute force… I know!" Reaching for his belt, he grabbed another ball, tossing it.

"Snorlax, it's your turn now!"

This white flash of light took on a much larger form, revealing the sleepy pokemon that simply scratched its belly upon entering the arena. A loud, rumbling yawn followed.

"I know you like to sleep, Snorlax, but can't you just focus on the battle for now…?"

"Lax!" He got the message. Besides, effort usually resulted in lots of tasty snacks. Standing upright, the bulky pokemon took on a clear change in attitude. He was more than ready to battle.

"I don't think even _Chansey_ can lift Snorlax…" Brock mused. Most opponents could fall victim to its titanic strength. Somehow, in this case, he just didn't see it happening. "Use Egg Bomb!"

The brilliant, golden egg was flung forward once more, striking Snorlax's bulky belly before exploding. It returned to its rightful pouch before the large pokemon could retaliate.

Nonetheless, Ash knew Snorlax's bulk well. "Follow that up with Ice Punch!"

Titanic as he was, Snorlax was notably fast for his kind. He lunged forward at once, only superficially damaged by Egg Bomb. "Lax!" He roared, slamming a freezing fist into Chansey.

Brock's pokemon was sent skidding, shaking her head to ward off the pain and cold.

Of course, Brock was attentive to this. "Quick, use Secret Power!"

Another use of the mysterious power was beckoned, conjuring a large stone that was thrown towards Snorlax. Ash, though, wouldn't allow that to go unpunished.

"Use Hyper Beam, now!"

The glutton's huge mouth parted, gathering brilliant orange particles of light that summed in a terrifying blast of energy, once more swallowing one of Chansey's attacks, and her in the process.

"Chansey…!" Brock called out in worry, guarding himself from the smoke. Soon enough, though, the black veil lifted. Chansey still stood, albeit injured; again. "Now, Softboiled!"

Brock was secure in this move. After unleashing a move like Hyper Beam, Snorlax would need a moment to rest. Free to pursue her rejuvenation, Chansey threw her own egg upward once more. Orange light smiled upon the pokemon, slowly restoring her health once again.

If Ash had learned anything in his last adventure, though, it was that getting too secure could easily leave you off-guard. "Now, Snorlax! Give it an Ice Punch, with everything you've got!"

Recovering and raring to win, the pokemon let out a mighty rumble, throwing a glowing cyan fist forward with such force that it caught the recovering Chansey entirely off-guard. It was sent ricocheting across the field, skidding to a halt just before Brock. Chansey had been knocked out.

Brock could only stare, admittedly awestruck by Ash's quick thinking. "...I guess I shouldn't be surprised. That was the very same tactic Paul used against you a number of times; attacking while an opponent felt safe to recover. A little harsh, but I'm happy you've learned from the experience." He smiled upon his old friend, holding out a pokeball. "Return, Chansey!" Staring down at the now-occupied sphere, pride filled him. "You put up a wonderful fight. Why don't you rest for a while?"

As soon as that tender moment had come though, it'd passed. This match wasn't over. "Toxicroak! I choose you!" He shouted, lobbing forward his second pokeball. The evolved poisonous frog made its appearance, wearing its usual creepy grin. Things would only get tougher, now.

"Oh, boy. Snorlax, let's use Ice Punch!" Ash ordered. Considering how much smaller Toxicroak was, there was a strong possibility of it being faster than Snorlax. They had to hit hard and end this quickly before Toxicroak could overwhelm Snorlax.

"Sucker Punch!" Brock countered, throwing his hand out.

The two pokemon lunged forward, Toxicroak moving much faster. At the last minute, the poison frog leaped up, using a nasty right hook to send Snorlax off its path. Snorlax's paw wavered, barely dragging across Toxicroak's ribs in a chilly punch. Toxicroak retreated, nursing the wound while Snorlax tried to figure out where its opponent had gone.

"Toxicroak, use Poison Sting!" Brock ordered.

Ash's eyes widened. They didn't need a risk of poisoning this early in the match. "Protect!"

The little purple needles fell uselessly against Snorlax's shield, fading and disappearing as they each landed on the floor. Toxicroak sneered, displeased with its failure but pleased that it managed to get Snorlax on the defensive rather than the offensive.

"Time to use Poison Jab!"

Toxicroak rushed forward on Brock's orders, breaking through the fading Protect to bury its long, hooking claw in Snorlax's fatty belly. The big normal type seized up, body fighting the toxins rushing over it. Thankfully, Snorlax won out this time, avoiding a nasty poisoning.

Ash knew it was definitely time for a break, though. "Snorlax, use Rest!"

"No breaks in a match, Ash!" Brock teased. "Toxicroak, use a few Brick Breaks to see if it wakes up!"

Though the frog had jumped back to avoid being squished when the goliath fell down into his slumber, the fighting type now flexed its might before leaping up and hurling down to inflict a mighty Brick Break on the blubbery beast.

Ash gritted his teeth as Snorlax didn't rouse.

Toxicroak slid off the big cat-like pokemon's back, expression betraying its confusion at how hardy Snorlax was. All the same, it used another Brick Break.

That seemed to wake Snorlax up. It roared in anger, sending Toxicroak back a few paces.

"Alright! Snorlax, let's use Hyper Beam!"

There was no way Brock could let Ash have that move go off with a hitch. "Sucker Punch!"

While Toxicroak did race forward to land a rather sturdy punch to Snorlax's face, the Hyper Beam was only delayed, not stopped. The force of the energy beam sent Toxicroak skidding back, skin smoking with the power of it. Somehow, Toxicroak had endured. But, for how much longer?

"Poison Jab! And, really pack it with the poison!" Brock ordered, growing nervous.

While Snorlax was resting, Toxicroak once again buried its hooked claw into Snorlax's blubbery fat. This time, the toxins found purchase, sending a sickly fever through the opposing pokemon.

"Crap," Ash muttered.

"Hey! No need to worry!" Dawn called out, realizing how close this particular round was getting.

Brock smiled. Though his entire family was going hard for him, it was sweet of Dawn to cry out for Ash's sake. "Toxicroak, use Poison Sting!"

"Snorlax, stop it with Protect!"

Once again, the needles fell uselessly down. But, with an eye for detail, Brock saw the pattern and pounced on it.

"Toxicroak, finish it with Brick Break!"

Running forward to break through the fading Protect once more, Toxicroak quickly closed the gap between himself and Snorlax.

"Snorlax, use Ice Punch!" Ash called.

It was no good. The two moves collided and Toxicroak's Brick Break overpowered Ice Punch, and then eventually, Snorlax himself. The titan fell, Toxicroak standing on his belly for a moment before leaping away, enigmatic to his views on his victory.

"Alright. Thank you, Snorlax. Donphan, I choose you!" Ash yelled, returning one pokemon before releasing another.

Where Snorlax had been a lumbering giant, Donphan was much more compact. The little pachyderm trumpeted, warning Toxicroak that it would not be as easy to defeat.

Brock recalled Johto and how the ground type had done then. "Hm, okay; I'll see how this plays out…"

"Rollout!" Ash ordered. "And, don't stop 'til you get stopped!"

Brock grunted. That was Ash's game, huh? "Fine. Toxicroak, let's use Poison Jab!"

While that move was clever enough, once the pachyderm got to rolling around, the initial Poison Jab was just clipped out of the way, tough hide taking the attack in stride before Donphan rolled around to deliver a swift impact to Toxicroak's back, running over the poison type.

"Sucker Punch!"

Dawn put a hand to her mouth. "It's a little like watching someone try to stop one of those kiddy cars," she confessed. "They're a little tougher than you'd think and getting run over by them is really embarrassing."

"I wouldn't be too embarrassed if the car could jump by itself," Salvadore interrupted. This was more like a runaway big-rig tire in his opinion.

By the time Toxicroak had been hit not once, but twice in the face - fell down from the first; barely got back up from it only to be hit again - the frog was starting to seem slightly agitated.

"Brick Break!" Brock called, hoping this might finally stop Donphan's momentum.

Carefully aiming as the ripping and running ground type circled, Toxicroak struck true as it neared. Hitting from the side rather than the top, he managed to knock Donphan off course and send it out of its momentum.

"That worked well while it lasted!" Ash enthused. He mostly needed Rollout to chip away at Toxicroak's energy, and judging by the way it was trembling, they were close. That Hyper Beam earlier had helped plenty, too. His confidence was back. "Okay, Donphan, use Fire Fang!"

"Oh, no. Toxicroak, dodge that!" Knowing how tender the entire Croagunk line was to extreme heat, Brock knew better than to risk engaging with that particular move.

Unfortunately, while Ash didn't get what he wanted, he immediately spotted a better option. "Donphan, use Earthquake!"

Stomping its foot, the ground trembled at once for Donphan. It continued to do so as Toxicroak touched down. The shifting earth and rocks were super effective, pummeling the fighting type's body. The super effective move ended shortly after, the lights of the gym flickering only for a second.

Toxicroak was knocked out.

"Good effort, Toxicroak. Return." He quickly shifted to another pokemon. "Sudowoodo, I choose you!"

Ash followed suit. "Good job, Donphan. Take a break for a second, huh? I'm gonna see if someone else is feeling up to the challenge." Returning the proud ground type, the trainer released his infamous dragon type. "Gabite, I choose you!"

The second stage pokemon appeared, surprisingly, looking as blank and unpredictable as ever. One who didn't know the dragon might even believe it was simply oddly docile. It seemed that evolution hadn't changed its odd state of mind.

"Well, would you look at that. Gible evolved!" Awe overtook Brock for a moment before he could only smile. "If it was powerful before, I could only imagine what it can do now."

"You're about to find out!" Ash grinned, brushing a finger over the bridge of his nose.

"Sudowoodo, use Hammer Arm!"

"Woodo!" The false tree sprinted towards the dragon, brandishing a glowing arm that was brutally swung towards its opponent. Though probably not quite as powerful as its opponent, Sudowoodo would do its best to take advantage of its powerful moves to win.

"Let's fight back, with Dual Chop!"

What seemed to be a blank slate quickly turned into a fierce, speedy attacker. Gabite quickly sprang into action, remarkable speed quickly closing the gap between the two. Both of its fins were surrounded in a vibrant, green glow, smashing against Hammer Arm.

The two appeared to be at a stalemate. "Now, keep using Dual Chop! Fight it out!"

"You too, Sudowoodo! Use Hammer Arm with both arms!"

Both pokemon began to strike with one limb after the next, seemingly matching one another blow for blow. The notable superiority in strength that Gabite held was balanced out by Hammer Arm's superior power to each individual chop. Vigor was clearly shown from both sides, each pushing the other back and forth. Of course, one of them had to falter soon.

And, Ash was ready to take advantage of that. "Now, bite on to Sudoowodo's arm!" Ash ordered.

Brock swallowed, knowing full well where Ash was going with this. "Look out, Sudowoodo!"

His warning was to no avail. Mighty jaws clamped down tightly unto the rock type's limb.

"Now, Draco Meteor!" Ash ordered, utilizing his signature combination.

"Use Flail, now!" Brock barked. If they didn't fight this off, they were through.

It didn't have to be told twice. The rock type struck wildly, wringing its body around in conjunction to smashing Gabite with its available arm. Soon enough, it'd worked itself free, knocking Gabite painfully in the jaw. The poorly charged Draco Meteor shot harmlessly into the air.

...Or, at least it appeared to be harmless. Defective from its circumstances, the single orange orb hovered high towards the ceiling… Only to begin to descend in a way that struck fear into a certain blue penguin's heart. It was, in fact, descending towards the stand and towards Piplup.

Brock's siblings had all dove for cover, distancing themselves from the shot. Piplup, as well, had no intentions of sitting still. Hopping out of Dawn's arms, ignoring her cry for her pokemon, he scrambled around the upper bleachers, making a futile attempt to avoid the explosion that followed.

"Ah, Piplup…!" Dawn's face fell as she scrambled to pick up her starter, who was afflicted with a small, comical-looking bruise atop his head. "Are you alright…? I guess any failed Draco Meteor takes an issue with you." She offered a sympathetic smile, lightly rubbing his head.

"Pip, Piplup…" The water type sulked. That was just his luck.

"Ah, sorry…!" Ash stammered from below, reaching to rub the back of his head awkwardly. "Are you guys alright up there?" Even in the midst of battle, he couldn't help but feel a little bad.

A jumbled chatter of affirmations from Brock's siblings answered. They were disgruntled, and a little frightened, but no one had gotten hurt… Well, almost no one.

"Piplup will be alright… No need to worry!" Dawn assured.

A bead of sweat slid down Brock's forehead. "That figures…" Satisfied with his siblings getting back into place, though, the older trainer continued. "Alright, Sudowoodo! Use Mimic!"

The Imitation pokemon made haste in holding his limbs forward, conjuring a surprising glowing orb before brandishing it above its head. Putting about as much effort as it did into any mimicked attack, the pokemon simply tossed the meteor upward. It hit its peak, just below the ceiling.

Piplup was already holding his flippers up in anticipation.

This time, though, the attack headed toward its intended target. A blinding explosion cast down a meteor shower of explosive energy shots, cornering Gabite. Try as it might to escape with its impressive agility, Gabite was pummeled down by one meteor and then the next, plowed into the ground.

"Gabite, use Dig to get away from them! Don't let anymore hit you!" Ash called out.

Although hurt, Gabite didn't think twice before diving beneath the surface.

"Clever," Brock remarked. "But it won't stop us. Sudowoodo, use Hammer Arm on the ground!"

The pokemon did just as told. Striking the rocky floor with a mighty swing, it sent tremors through the arena. The shockwave threw Gabite up out of the ground, clearly caught off-guard. It landed atop the rocky battlefield, still looking a little disoriented.

"No good… Sudowoodo can always just copy whatever move we use, and digging underground isn't gonna help." Ash frowned before holding the dragon's pokeball outward. "Gabite, return!" He recalled it in a flash of red light, placing it back upon his belt. "You've been great. Get some rest for now!" Upon lauding his praise, Ash tossed another familiar sphere forward. "Bulbasaur, it's your turn again!"

Having recovered somewhat from earlier, Bulbasaur was ready and eager to continue fighting.

"Sudowoodo, use Double Edge!" Brock ordered. He knew, by virtue of both type and their opponent, that this match would be a tough sell. With its Rock Head ability, though, the Imitation pokemon was prime to launch a powerful, reckless attack.

And, that it did. Quickly chasing Bulbasaur, it slammed its tough body into the Seed pokemon, sending it reeling.

With no recoil, Brock planned to take advantage of this moment. "Now, Hammer Arm!"

A shining limb was brandished once more, swinging down towards Ash's pokemon.

"Not so fast! Throw it with Power Whip, Bulbasaur!"

Purple-tinted vines launched at top speech quickly tangling themselves around Sudowoodo's arm. Showing no mercy, Bulbasaur flipped his body over, slamming Sudowoodo into the ground.

"Good, now use Razor Leaf!"

"Bulba!" The grass type flicked his bulb, unleashing a number of sharp leaves.

"Sudowoodo, use Mimic!"

Oddly enough, like a true grass type, Sudowoodo spun its body around, unleashing his own assault of leaves. Their attacks were soon to meet, crowding the field with projectiles.

Ash, meanwhile, took advantage of this moment. "Now, Solarbeam!"

Shrouded by the cutting leaves that sliced and intercepted one another, Bulbasaur once more gathered light atop its bulb, building up its power for yet another destructive attack.

Of course, Brock was privy to what Ash had planned. "Sudowoodo, look out!"

But, by time the death trap to rock types had faded away, there was little it could do. A loud cry of the grass type's name was all that could be heard over the luminous blast. Powerful as ever, it consumed Sudowoodo. When all was said and done, the Imitation pokemon lay unconscious.

"Good job, Sudowoodo. Take a rest." Brock supposed it was time to really go all out. "Steelix, your turn!"

The huge metal snake landed with a boom, clinks and clatters of its steel hide coiling and stretching making a melody as well. "Steel!" it called, voice low and rumbling.

"Okay, Bulbasaur, you can do this! Start off with Razor Leaf!"

Another flurry of leaves was summoned, arching up from the little grass type to surround and assault the titanic steel snake.

"Take 'em out with Dragon Breath!" Brock ordered.

Twisting and turning, soon the leaves were set ablaze with draconic fire. The hot, mystical breath swept over Bulbasaur, leaving the pokemon feeling less in control of itself.

Ash noticed this right away. They'd have to hope Bulbasaur could hold out. "Power Whip!"

Tendrils shot out, smacking Steelix and beginning to pull the massive pokemon down, but Brock had other plans.

"Iron Tail!"

The terrain, previously disrupted by the Earthquake from Donphan, was being quickly swept up in Steelix's attack.

"Bulbasaur, let go and try to use Solarbeam to power up your Power Whip to dodge!" Hopefully, with the extra power, Bulbasaur could cling to the ceiling. For a moment, this strategy worked. As the long, languid tail of the steel snake creeped closer, Bulbasaur's blossom glowed and its vines waited eagerly to shoot up to the ceiling once enough energy was gathered.

The moment never came. Suddenly, Bulbasaur's body refused to respond. As such, it was swept away with the debris by Steelix's Iron Tail. Toss and then buried with the rubble, Ash grew worried for the veteran until its Solar Beam finally went off, freeing it from the rubble but using up the last of Bulbasaur's energy. After that, the little grass type slipped into unconsciousness.

"Hey! That was a good go," Ash praised, returning Bulbasaur. "Okay, Donphan, let's go again!" When the little bruiser of a pokemon materialized, Ash already had plans for him. "Let's start off with Fire Fang!"

"Use Dig to dodge it!"

Steelix quickly slithered under the gym's floor, only its tail left to be scorched by Donphan's fangs and, even then, only in passing.

Ash frowned. "Donphan, use Earthquake!"

The little bull elephant stomped his foot down. A cry from Steelix told everyone exactly what was happening underground.

"Steelix, surface and use Slam!"

Though it had been injured by Earthquake, it was still able to use Dig. After surfacing under Donphan, the snake was upon the pachyderm again in seconds, slamming into it.

Donphan rolled before settling at Ash's feet, knocked out.

"Steelix is really high energy," Ash commented.

Brock nodded. "When a pokemon has two trainers with similar styles, it's easier for each trainer to see flaws they otherwise might not have noticed. So, he's got a little edge in having two sets of eyes to watch him." The oldest child looked over to Forrest who was positively beaming.

"Well, we'll see how he fares against Gabite!" Ash called after returning Donphan.

The dragon made its appearance once more, appearing vacant as ever.

"Attacking Steelix is gonna be a pain because of its size… Gabite, use Dig!"

With any luck, Ash could rely on its speed. Quickly moving to burrow, as if it were some hastily assigned task that it in a rush to complete, Gabite tunneled beneath the battle, ready to strike.

"You use Dig too, Steelix!"

With another rumble, it dove straight into the decimated field below; the gym would certainly need some repairs afterward; heading straight towards Gabite. Both pokemon swam beneath the surface, all too familiar with their element. Gabite was met with an unfortunate welcome, though, knocked sky high by Steelix's unwieldy mass. It let out a cry, thoroughly overpowered.

"Man, it's strong…!" Ash gawked. To be able to so cleanly overpower Gabite was a feat in itself. "But, we're not giving up! Gabite, go on ahead and get it back with a Flamethrower!"

Still airborne, it took on a more menacing gait, borrowing from its training sessions with Charizard. Utilizing brute force, more so than its speedy attacks learned through Sceptile, it opened its powerful jaws wide to belch out a brilliant red blanket of flames.

Steelix, while powerful and swift underground, was unable to avoid the stream of heat. It let out a pained cry, none too happy with being surprised by the powerful, super-effective attack.

"Stop that Flamethrower, Steelix! Use Iron Tail!"

Brandishing the lower half of its body that went unharmed, it swung the steely limb like a wrecking ball, sending Gabite plummeting painfully to the ground. Steelix shook its head, none too comfortable after the surprise assault.

"That had to hurt. Are you alright, Gabite!?"

The second stage pokemon grunted, shaking its head to ward off dizziness before standing up once more. "Gab! Gabite!" It barked, eager to continue. At this point, its pride was on the line.

"Great, then let's use Dual Chop!"

Each of the pokemon's fins shone brightly, brandish like dual swords that were swung towards Steelix as soon as it could muster. Of course, that involved leaping high enough to hit it.

"Iron Tail!" Brock called out.

"Uh, quick! Dodge that!" Ash warned. Gabite quickly hung back, using its aerodynamic body to just barely avoid the strike. It'd faced both members of the Onix line a number of times, up in the mountains. Powerful as they were, though, they hardly compared to the one dwarfing it now.

"Don't let up, Steelix! Keep attacking!" Brock knew well that the only way to defeat Ash was to not allow him a moment to think. Otherwise, you'd end up with a crazy, off-the-wall strategy on your hands.

"Keep dodging!"

Gabite leapt and jumped about, just barely avoiding one titanic Iron Tail after the next. It could only do so much leaping and dashing, though, before finding itself cornered at the edge of the arena.

"Gabite…!" Ash called out, just about ready to call another move. But, could any of its attacks really stop what was about to come its way! There just _had_ to be something they could do…!

In his desperation, though, Ash only barely caught a vibrant glow out of the corner of his eye. Turning his attention on Gabite, he could only gawk, slack-jawed. Its entire body had been surrounded in a blue glow, its shape changing by the moment. Modest, sturdy fins turned to long, talented blades. The odd ears atop its head grew in volume, as did the rest of its form. "No way!"

Being backed into a corner had, for the umpteenth time, served its purpose. Gabite's determination had turned it into something else entirely. Standing in its place was, in all its glory, a full-fledged Garchomp. Stretching its newly enhanced limbs, it cried out. "Gah-Gahr!"

"Aw, no way! That's totally awesome! Gabite evolved into Garchomp!" Ash couldn't help but gush, as if reminding himself this wasn't a dream. Fists were held at shoulder height, the boy's eyes positively glowing with their occasional chocolate hue. "Congratulations, Garchomp…!" Ash commended, practically choking back tears of joy.

That pride was shared. Brock could only smile at the scene. As a gym leader, one's job wasn't simply to win, but to test a challenger's mettle, and even help them grow when the opportunity presented itself. This time, he had far more opportunity to offer that service than the last.

Meanwhile, all of Brock's family was going wild. Even Flint stood up, whooping and hollering. Being the first gym in the region, it was rare that they saw a final evolution like this unless it was a Butterfree or such. Likewise, Dawn was screaming, congratulating Ash and Garchomp alike. Piplup even let out a little spout of water in celebration.

"Alright, Garchomp, let's use…!"

Ash's command was interrupted, a rushing, furious blue aura surrounding Garchomp's body. Roaring loudly, it jumped into the air above the battlefield, quickly streamlining its form. Plummeting like a missile, it smashed into Steelix with amazing force, enough to send the giant pokemon reeling, even with the handicap of type.

"That was a Dragon Rush," Brock announced aloud. Even he was in awe. "One of a Dragon type pokemon's most fierce attacks. Garchomp must be real determined to win on your behalf, Ash."

Hearing his pokedex go off, Ash drew the small gadget, which displayed Garchomp's unusually long list of moves. Dig had been forgotten in favor of the new move. Not a limit worth worrying about, really. "You're really amazing…! Alright, let's use Dual Chop, again!"

Once more taking to the air, showing off its new aerial mobility, Garchomp struck at Steelix with dual glowing scythes, crossing its path with a clean, stealthy strike.

"Use Iron tail, again!" Brock called. It looked like this match would soon be coming to a close.

Steelix roared, swinging around its tail toward its adversary.

"Dodge it!" Ash shouted.

With remarkable speed and aerial prowess, the dragon swooped under one attack, and then the next, proving itself a great deal faster than its giant opponent.

"Alright, now use Draco Meteor!"

Two clawed fins raised above the pokemon's head, focusing the draconian energy within Garchomp's core. Mastery of the move achieved long ago pushed it past its throat, firing the orb high into the air. Teeming with life even above Steelix, it was bound to burst.

"Steelix, use Dig to get underground!"

The large Iron Snake did just that, tunneling just in time to avoid the fallout. Brutal meteoric shots pummeled the battlefield, creating even more rubble than its design had originally intended.

"Now, attack it!" Brock ordered. If there were any time to strike, it was now.

Steelix shot out of the ground, ready to deal a finishing blow.

Ash, however, had other plans. "Use Dual Chop, right now! Hit it right back!"

The Mach pokemon cried, slamming both of its fins into Steelix's forehead in a downward motion. Functioning much like an X-Scissor, it pressed down upon the foe with all of its might.

The clash resulted in a stalemate, allowing Garchomp to bound back, and Steelix to emerge.

Both pokemon were panting by now, clearly exhausted. Even the adrenaline rush of evolution had to run low for Garchomp sometime, and Steelix, hardy as he was, had already fought several battles already. Of course, that didn't extinguish their will to win.

Their trainers, likewise, were equally invested. Ash's fists had balled up painfully tight, a wide smirk spanning across his features. This was the kind of battle he'd been looking for; one that pushed both him and his opponent to their limits. On top of that, a friendly score that was long overdue for a conclusion. Truthfully, he almost felt like he was ten years old again, trying to win his first badge.

Brock, meanwhile, had abandoned his more characteristic, tender demeanor for the moment. The nostalgia flooded him, too; for days long gone, where they were all young and naive, to one extent or another. He'd been watching his life change rapidly, over recent months, and he was also watching one of his best friends grow up right before his eyes. This must have been a sort of initiation, in some weird way.

"Let's finish this, Garchomp! Use Dragon Rush!" Ash shouted, punching towards the ceiling.

The same angry veil surrounded the Mach pokemon once more, its powerful legs launching it towards Steelix.

"Dodge it, Steelix!" Brock knew that was its only hope.

It proved fruitless, however. The monumental speed brought on by evolution allowed Garchomp to crash into Steelix's jaw, quickly disorienting it after quite the uncomfortable collision.

Brock did his best to salvage the situation. "Use Dragonbreath!"

"Flamethrower!" Ash grinned as he called his last command.

Speed won out over sturdiness, and a multicolored stream of heat followed, pulverizing Steelix.

The fire soon faded, granting Steelix the mercy of falling to the ground with a booming thud.

With swirls in its eyes, the Iron Snake had fallen unconscious.

At once, the stadium exploded into noise. Lola had to yell to tell the younger children not to run down while Flint kept telling Forrest to go ahead and call the match. Salvadore tried to point out there was no way anyone would be able to hear over the younger kids while Dawn was hooping for Ash's sake.

Eventually, Forrest did manage to call the match. "Victory goes to Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!" With that declared, the stands were emptied, everyone coming rushing down to greet the brawlers. Forrest took this time to sass a little. "And, Brock got his butt kicked."

"That was a close match, thank you very much," Brock retorted. Forrest was going through his rebellious phase. Dealings with his brother aside, Brock returned the pokemon before going over to shake Ash's hand. "You've really improved a lot. Congrats."

"Hey, it was really up in the air. If Garchomp hadn't evolved, I dunno if I woulda pulled through!" Ash admitted, walking up to pat the Mach Pokemon atop the head after shaking hands with his friend. "Thanks a lot. You were really awesome out there!" The Pokemon let out a happy cry… Before latching its mouth onto Ash's arm. The trainer let out a yelp, managing a smile through gritted teeth. Ignore the lone tear of pain in his eye. He was fine. He'd grown used enough to this from Gible… Though Garchomp's stronger jaws didn't help. "…Yup! Totally awesome!"

"Some things never change." Joining the crowd leaving the stands to go down and properly mingle with the brawlers, Dawn only chuckled. Cindy held one of her hands while she used the other to keep ahold of Piplup. As they arrived on the floor, Dawn greeted Ash with a friendly brush-bump of their shoulders. She would have pet Garchomp as well, but her hands were currently preoccupied.

He turned to smile up at Brock, nodding to the former Gym Leader. "Thanks, Brock! This one, I know I earned! You were pretty amazing yourself!" It really showed; Brock kept up with Ash, who'd been training constantly since they last parted. Even if he'd quit his job, he was certainly fit to test promising trainers if need be.

"Heh, thanks, man. You two are headed to Cerulean next, huh?" Brock double checked.

"After the local contest, yeah," Dawn agreed before thinking about it as she had caught the tail end of what Brock was saying. If she remembered right, it was Mt. Moon, then Cerulean, and… well, no, she had no idea about after that. She knew Celadon City was somewhere in Kanto, but she was pretty much lost other than that. "Right, Ash?"

"Yeah, that's right! We're heading for the contest near Tohjo Falls, where May competed that one time. After that, it's off to so I can go battle Misty!" Another challenge soon to come - and another reunion. Surely just as eventful as this one, Ash would bet.

"Oh, yeah! That's the place." Nodding, Brock took note of the time. "You two wanna stay for an early dinner? I can't promise it'll be quiet, but—"

The youngsters began yelling. "Please!" "Ash, you gotta stay! Brock can cook a lot, and I can help!" "Dawn, we just met you! Stick around!" "We're quesadillas, and, and, mac'n'cheese, and, and, Mom made brownies!" Clearly, they knew their targets. "Pleeaaaase!"

"Well, I've got to practice after…" Dawn explained, touched by how attached the kids were already. " _I'm_ okay with it." It was a two person decision, though.

"Hey, sounds great to me! Been ages since I've had your cooking, too!" Ash chimed without a second thought. He hadn't expected it, but it was a treat he wouldn't even consider turning down! "Hah, alright, guys! We're staying! No need to worry!" Ash reassured the children crowding around. Such an energetic bunch. He turned to Dawn, not even catching that he'd used her catchphrase. "We could practice along the way! We've still got a few days, right?"

The bluenette smirked. "Yeah. We can."

"Sounds good to me!" Ash waved off his friend, turning to the remaining three. "By time we reach the hall, you'll be more than ready!" He assured Dawn. Though, she'd probably trained enough by now to be ready even without that practice.

"Yay!" With that, the majority of the kids began rushing towards the house.

Brock let out a happy sigh. "Thanks. I guess I'll head in to make sure everything's actually prepared and ready. Wait, hey, Salvadore, come here!"

"Hm?" the boy asked, coming back.

"Could you do me a favor and take my and Ash's pokeballs to the gym's healing machine?" Brock politely asked. After his little brother collected the pokemon who had been used in the match, Brock explained. "We're not normally supposed to let challengers use our personal, in-house medical equipment… But, you're a special exception. Plus, I'm just about certified as a doctor and this is faster than walking back to the center."

With that, Brock did walk towards the house, leaving just Forrest, Cindy, Dawn, and Ash in the gym.

"C'mon. I could actually go for a quesadilla," Dawn said to Cindy, taking the girl's hand. The young girl twirled their hands together, pleased her new idol was staying for an early evening meal.

As he headed in as well, Forrest looked back at Ash. The youth had been so busy, between being a gym leader and helping his siblings, that he had never had a chance to go out journeying. "You know, you… Aw, never mind, man. Let's eat." Admiration was clear on the second oldest son's face, but he wasn't quite ready to admit it so openly.

"I'm down for that!" Ash quickly agreed, about to head forward when Forrest called to him, stopping the trainer in his tracks. "Huh…? You sure? Well, alright." Ash tilted his head before following along. Clearly he had something to say to Ash and he did seem to look up to him… But, he could only guess it was up to the younger sibling whether he wanted to speak his mind or not.

Headed into the house, Forrest awkwardly walked beside Ash. How could he casually bring up the fact he think a dude is cool and that he kind of wanted be like him without coming off weird?

To Ash, it would just be flattering. But, he remained ignorant to the boy's thoughts and headed on with nothing but an empty stomach in mind. Oh, and his victory. He was still pretty proud of that.

* * *

Within the house, the entire family struggled to get settled down for a meal. The pokemon were having their own hectic feeding frenzy outside. Several tiers for the smallest pokemon were set up out of reach of the largest—naturally, Mamoswine was (once again) kept from being a destructive turd by Steelix, who had quickly recovered under Brock's knowledgeable hand. But, the real excitement was inside the house.

Squished between Ash and Cindy, Dawn couldn't help but feel out of place. "… It's lively." The chaos was simply too much for someone who was an only child. Once they were done with lunch, Dawn would be all too glad to leave.

"Always is!" Ash said, anticipation on the rise as the last of the meal was put down on the table. "But hey, you know it's gonna be worth it!" Needless to say, that was because of Brock's cooking.

When the matriarch of the family sat down, she let out a delighted hum. "Aw, Flint. Seeing traveling trainers makes me wanna pack up and hit the road again, too."

"Traveling really is the best situation for a young person," the patriarch agreed. "It's very enriching, culturally, mentally, and socially!" The former rogue grinned and took his wife's hand. "Doesn't hurt when you've got cute company, too."

Lola giggled in response, while the children save the three oldest responded with a chorus of "not at the table", "gross", and "Mom. Dad. No."

Several of the youngest children decided the parental PDA was a sign for them to scarf down their meals and ditch. This left the few oldest members of Brock's family at the table, along with their guests.

"Don't even think about it," Brock mumbled over his mac'n'cheese.

Ash flashed Brock a sympathetic smile, remembering the family conflict over sticking around quite well from the past. Hell, when he'd first met Flint he was a runaway from home. Come to think of it, had Ash ever told Brock about that experience?

Dawn perked up at the mention, though. "Oh? You still travel?"

"Up until a few years ago, yes!" Lola happily chirped. "I think it was actually when Ash and Brock first met that Flint came home. I came home after, a bit later." She chuckled and nodded. "Don't get me wrong, family life's nice, but enjoy roaming as much as you can!"

The coordinator chuckled before cutting a piece of her quesadilla and holding it up. "Yup! There's lots of places left to see!" Turning to Ash, she grinned. "I've got a top coordinator position to get, and I know this one's got a certain mastery to achieve."

He returned to stuffing his face regardless. "Yup, that's right!" Ash raised a fork's worth of macaroni in a similar fashion… Taking dramatic flair to a whole new weird level. "We're gonna travel the region and be the best there is!" After announcing his plans for victory, he scarfed down the fork-full in one big bite. "I really started to miss traveling, during my special training. Working hard on your own gets results, but it's pretty lonely." He had to admit that much. "So it's definitely good to be back!"

Now that he thought about it, giving it up sounded kind of frightening. Oh well. He and Dawn were both still young. There was still plenty to do! Chances were, whether he won the Indigo League or not, he could just head over to Unova like Professor Oak had originally suggested.

"It is pretty ideal, yeah." Finished with her meal, Dawn stood with her plate. "Thanks, Brock, Ms. Lola. I'll excuse myself, now."

"Glad to have you, dear," Lola answered.

Brock, realizing the only people who might have a clue as to what he was about to say implication wise probably only amounted to Forrest if the boy could stop trying to mimic Ash in the how-much-food-have-I-put-away-department, grinned and leaned over. "Lonely, huh?"

Confusion washed over Ash at first. "Well, you try training in a mountain on your own for a few months in a row!" Wait, mountain, on his own… Ash's eyes trailed after where Dawn had gone. He thought over it, recalling what Team Rocket had said. The confusion deepened and he suddenly realized he didn't want to wrestle with this right now. That was edging on thoughts he hadn't bothered with in a while, and somehow, the struggle of trying to figure out if he felt how Brock was implying…

It wasn't worth it right now. Maybe later. Still, having Dawn's company was definitely a pleasure; it was no secret that they just clicked and functioned well together, feeding off one another's positivity. He had a whole journey to figure out his feelings, though, if he even had any.

Realizing Ash had been embarrassed and had only been confused, Brock tried to move on. "Mm, no thanks. I've got my hands full enough with the 'horde' and school, plus work-study… ugh." Leaning back in his chair, Brock shook his head. "Let me tell you, Ash, you made the right choice; keep aiming for pokemon master, or at least something that won't take you back to school. I forgot how excited I was when I turned ten and got that license."

"It's really rough, huh?" Ash offered a sympathetic frown. The thought of studying seriously was unthinkable of him. "You can count on it. Remember how I was at the summer camp? At school, I'm ten times worse." Memories of falling asleep in class came to mind; his saving grace had been the events in the caverns. Without them, he probably wouldn't have done so well. "But hey, I know it'll pay off. Once you get your license and all that, maybe you'll have a lil' more freedom to do what you want! Plus, everyone knows you're gonna do great at it." Even as a breeder, he seemed very in-tune with a Pokemon's traits and needs. Obviously a necessary skill, but it was a very impressive one.

"That's true…" Once he was certified, it was smooth sailing—just a lot of Nurse Joys, some technical operations, and maybe an emergency call every now and then. He. Just. Had. To make it. "Thanks, buddy."

"Hey, don't sweat it! Just some more work and you'll be a doctor in no time!" He would have made a joking mention of the Nurse Joy's - were Brock's parents not at the table. Even Ash had more sense than that.

The light show was enough to bring Ash's attention to the window, where some commotion could be seen. Outside, a small show was being put on for the kids as a sort of training for Dawn's pokemon.

"Hold it, hold it…!" Dawn ordered.

Quilava's flames burned lower and brighter as she tensed, waiting for the signal to bolt. It was a new move she was working on, and if all went according to plan, it would end very well. Soon, black smoke began to pour for the low, almost invisible white flames along the ridge of Quilava's back.

"Now! Use Swift and Smokescreen!"

The Quilava burst forth, her flames leaping up as she ran. They faded from white to green to yellow to orange and finally red as the intense black cloud of smoke wafted up from behind the running beast. The starry Swift emitted from her maw trailed up behind her and danced among the smoke…

But, the fire type ended up panting at the end, clearly worn out. Also, everyone present was coughing a bit, waving away the gathered smoke from their breathing space.

Happy to be of assistance, Togekiss quickly began flapping to clear the air, along with several other of the winged pokemon.

"Sorry, guys," Dawn apologized. Well, the Star-Screen move definitely needed some work.

The teen rushed to check out what he'd seen, being greeted with Dawn's impressive early attempt at an appeal. The rest of the Pewter gym clan remained inside while Ash went to go investigate. Brock and Lola to clean; Flint and Forrest because they were helping whether they liked it or not.

"Hey, look at that!" Ash marveled, watching as the move sadly came to an end. "You've got some work to do, but that looked like a pretty cool appeal! Practicing early, huh?"

"Huh? You saw that?" With the smoke finally clearing, she could spot Ash exiting the house. "I'm probably going to have to use that in a double battle," she realized. That, or an extremely well ventilated area. "What do you think, Ash?" If there was a good sounding board for this sort of thing, it was him.

Cindy let out a squeal, figuring it was okay if she gushed to Ash about what literally everyone had just seen. "D'ja see the stars?!"

"Sure did!" Ash said to Cindy. Then, his attention turned to Dawn. "I think you just need more practice. Using two moves at once is really tiring - I learned that when I was making a few of my own during training! It takes some time for your Pokemon to get used to them, and even, then you have to watch your timing."

Thinking the appeal over just a tad more, he added on. "Also, it'd help if Quilava could control the smoke a little more. Maybe Togekiss could wind it around somehow? If she could control it, that'd look cool too!" It didn't know any moves like Gust, so that would be tricky, but it was a thought. "Still, the colored flames were the coolest! Maybe you could mix that into another attack somehow! That'd really blow people away!"

"I was actually thinking of that! But, yeah, Togekiss has to learn more moves, anyway, so I'll try and figure out something." As Quilava waddled back over to Dawn, the girl crouched to dote on the hard-working fire type. "It's actually something I picked up while I was in Hoenn! Apparently, different temperatures get a different color. It takes more energy for her to get a nice color going, but you saw how the visuals end up." Putting a hand under her chin, she mulled it over. "Maybe combining a Flamethrower and a Discharge would work? It would super-heat it…"

"Well what do ya know? I guess that explains Infernape's Flare Blitz, doesn't it?" Now that he thought about it - he wondered if any of the other fire starters could learn Flare Blitz. Maybe Charizard, or Typhlosion himself? Which would mean Quilava could, too. "Hey, that's a cool idea! It'd change colors and have electricity goin' for it! Quilava and Pachirisu… That's a new pair." Ash began to consider the duo himself, trying to put together some other way to combine them. After all, a one-trick Ponyta wouldn't win a contest. "…Hey, can't Pachirisu learn some kind of rolling move? It could team up with Quilava!" As well as just looking cool, it'd make for quite the battle combination, he would bet.

"You know, I'm not really sure. I guess I'll have to check into that!" Hm, she would have to go with something tried and true for this contest, polish it up, but that could come in handy, later on!

"That's just as awesome! But I was thinking of something like Quilava's Flame Wheel - if she could somehow pull off an electric type version, think how that'd look!"

These two were just an endless well full of ideas today.

Hoping in place excitedly, the girl chattered. "Ah, this'll be great~! Thanks, Ash!" Returning everyone save Piplup, she then picked him up. "I guess it's time to head out, huh?"

"Hey, no problem! Happy to help!" Ash followed her lead, returning all of his Pokemon, sans Pikachu and Rosa. The former climbed up on his shoulder and the latter jumped into his arms. "Yeah, guess so."

While the pokenerds, ahem, dedicated trainers discussed strategies, the children listened in closely. They were already leaving quite the impression.

"Are we gonna see you on TV in the contest?!" "What about you, Ash!? You're not challenging the gyms… but you're still doing the league tournament, right?" the children demanded.

He nodded, turning to the children with a wide smile. "Dawn's definitely gonna be on TV! And me? You bet! This year's Indigo League. Stay tuned and you'll see me win the whole thing!" The teen flashed a thumbs up, thoroughly confident in his chances at victory.

The children burst out into a round of cheers. "Oh, if I'm out of school, I'll come watch!" "We'll definitely watch on TV, Ash!" "You better sign something for me once you do!" "Heh, our friends are on TV~!"

"Aw! We'll definitely do our best to not let you guys down!" Dawn promised, a bit weak for the mass of Flint-lookalikes. However, it was now time go, so farewells had to be said. "Bye, guys~! Take care!" Dawn took her rightful place at Ash's side, Piplup waving a flipper at the children.

"Hah, we'll be sure to sign something for ya!" Ash assured them. "Yup! You heard it straight from Dawn. We'll definitely give you guys a good show!" He waved to the children, and Brock as well through the window, who had apparently looked out long enough to see them off. Pikachu waved as well, chirping happily to the group before they finally made their way west towards the next route.

Dawn looked up at her taller companion. "What was that about an electric style Flame Wheel you were saying, though?" The game face was back on.

"Well, I kind of had an idea when I was trying to think of how Quilava and Pachirisu could work together. Pachirisu looks like a pokemon who could roll… What if she learned Rollout? She could try and combine that with Spark to get something close to Flame Wheel!"

The two continued to chat as they left Pewter behind.


	21. Fight a Liar with Fire!

Welcome back, everyone! Fanart of a shot from this chapter, including a new character will be available, as usual, on the tumblr blog another-rxad. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

After Ash and Dawn stopped by to visit their old friend Brock, a ground-shaking rematch finally gave Ash the satisfaction of finally having earned his Boulder Badge. With that out of the way, they said their goodbyes, heading out toward Mulberry City for Dawn's first contest in the Kanto region! Needless to say, though, the path there was a little long. For now, empty stomachs had prompted the group to stop along their path for a lunch break.

Pikachu and Piplup sat together atop a picnic blanket, chattering and munching on pokechow that had been generously handed off by Brock. Rosa sat close by, nuzzled into Ash's side as she munched on bits of food that the trainer had picked out for her. Togekiss kept watch of the group, politely munching on her share, as did Absol, not far away. Donphan had begun chatting with Quilava, and Bulbasaur did his best to scarf down his meal while struggling to keep Mamoswine and Garchomp from scarfing down on each others' large portions. He was grateful that he had plenty of experience breaking up feuds…

"Man, lucky we stopped by, huh? We'll be eatin' good for a few days now!" Ash gushed to his traveling companion, taking a bite into one of Brock's special jelly-filled… Rice balls.

"You're not kidding!" Dawn chimed, using one hand to gently brush and groom Buneary's fur, while the other allowed her to snack on the same culinary treat. "After traveling as a group for all this time, it's wild how much we miss out on without him." Whether it was his gentle advice, wide range of knowledge enriching the group, his cooking, or even fawning over whatever beautiful girl was present, the quiet, tempered doctor had quite the presence among them. "Even if it is really fun traveling like this."

"Yeah. Hey, who knows! Maybe we'll do it again someday," Ash guessed. For now, though, he was busy just stuffing his face while he had the chance. After all, Brock's offerings wouldn't last forever.

This just left one member of the group unattended… Snorlax sat upright at the edge of the group, picking apples out of a tree that bordered the edge of the clearing. Munching down on one juicy fruit after the other, the large, lazy pokemon did the best to sate his monstrous appetite. After that, it was back to dozing off.

What was this, though? Snorlax had missed a fruit! A smaller, rosy looking berry lay not far from his feet, and it looked absolutely scrumptious. Reaching for the fruit, Snorlax licked his lips, eager to try something different.

That berry, however, was no ordinary fruit. "Cher! Cherub! Cherubi!" It squealed, squirming with futility in Snorlax's iron grip. It was none other than a Cherubi, caught up in the face of hunger! Snorlax remained oblivious, though, only thinking of filling his stomach.

The cries and squeals didn't go deaf on one pair of ears, though. Black-tipped ones, even, perked up at the sound. "Pika…?" Turning his head, Pikachu spotted the flailing pokemon within Snorlax's grasp. "Pika!" He shouted in warning, sweat dripping down his forehead as he dashed from his comfortable spot, bolting as fast as possible with a Quick Attack. An agile leap was just fast enough to snag the tiny pokemon from Snorlax, allowing Pikachu to land safely atop the grass. Noting that the grass type sat in his paws, uneaten, the mouse let out an exasperated sigh. "Pikachu…"

"Huh? What in the world?" Ash peered over, standing to walk over to his best friend. "Is that… A Cherubi?" He gawked at the Sinnoh-native pokemon, which was still shivering. Spotting a very confused and disgruntled Snorlax, he connected the dots. "Snorlax! You can't just go eating other pokemon!" He disciplined, placing his hands upon his hips. Monitoring its eating habits seemed just about pointless…

"Snor…" Finally realizing its mistake, the pokemon lowered its head in remorse.

"That was a close one…" Dawn sighed, finally catching up. "What's a Cherubi doing in Kanto, though? I didn't know they showed up anywhere outside of Sinnoh." In spite of that mystery, she crouched down to scoop the pokemon into her hands. "Hey, it's okay… You're safe now, alright? No need to worry!"

Just as the group began to calm the little grass type, a voice came through loud and clear. There was a certain dialect about it, almost as if there were a valley somewhere the girl may have grown up on…

"Cherubi!" Stepping out from the brush, a girl slightly older than Ash and Dawn stood in shock. Her long, hip-length red hair swished around her as she took a dramatic step back. The white-and-pink decked teen proceeded to shout. "How dare you!"

"How dare we what?" Ash parroted, genuinely confused.

"I know exactly what you were doing! Any idiot knows Snorlax have huge appetites," she raged, "and you were going to feel my poor Cherubi to it!" Her golden eyes flashed dangerously. It was evident the girl was distrustful and angry towards the entire group.

"What? No!" Dawn replied, standing with with the formerly endangered grass type. "He thought it was an apple! Here, you can have your Cherubi back!" Walking over, Dawn tried to give the Cherubi back peacefully…

But, the girl merely snatched the grass type away. "Cherubi, my poor baby! What did these mean, nasty, vicious monsters do to you!" Turning back to her apparent enemies, the teen continued. "I've got half a mind to report you to an Officer Jenny!"

"Report us for what?!" Seriously, they hadn't done anything, and this was just stressing Ash out.

"For trying to feed my Cherubi to your Snorlax, that's what!"

"We didn't do that!" Dawn argued.

"Chyeah, whatever. Creeps." Turning her nose up and flicking her hair over her shoulder, the high strung trainer stomped off back the way she'd come.

"Ugh, talk about trouble," Ash complained, crossing his arms and frowning. Pikachu agreed from where he was by Snorlax, nodding his little yellow head.

The bluenette let out a sigh as well. "I guess it could be worse. It's not like we'll see her again!" she assured.

With that, everyone perked up. "Right! It's just a fluke, huh? Let's get back to lunch and then make it double time to Mulberry!"

It was evening when they arrived and, after visiting the PokeCenter for a break, headed to the contest hall just as the lights were all coming on. Registration for the Kanto circuit was officially open! … At this location, anyway.

"It's so quiet," Dawn nearly whispered to Ash as he stood by her in line. Piplup was nearly asleep, the polite but muffled background noise of a audio-aware populace lulling him. Everyone was so mindful of how loud they were being! It was strange but pleasant.

Ash particularly believed this after their noisy lunch. He was all for a little rowdiness - okay, sometimes, a lot of rowdiness, but who in their traveling group wasn't save a few certain pokemon?! - but that had been stressful. "Right?"

"Pika!" seconded after Ash, little ears pleased with the lack of harsh noise.

So, naturally, with all four of them content, that had to stop.

As Dawn stepped forward in like, a thick curtain of red hair caught her eye. As she turned to look, the owner of the hair did as well.

The golden eyes. The Cherubi. The absolute shock on the girl's face.

She screamed before Dawn could say anything. "What are you doing here?!" she demanded. "They don't let people who let pokemon get cannibalized into contests!" she shrieked. An accusatory finger was pointed directly at the duo.

"We didn't try to let Snorlax eat Cherubi," Ash reminded, absolutely exasperated. "Come on, it was an honest mistake!" His hands were thrown up in defeat, desperate for the silence that had previously flooded the contest hall.

Dawn, growing aware of the scene they were causing, tried to reach out to soothe the stranger. "Hey, hey, calm down -"

"Don't touch me, you cretin!"

There was an audible smack as the girl slapped Dawn's hands away. The stranger stood back, hand raised as if she would strike again. Dawn merely looked down at her hands, watching absently as her wrists turned ever so slightly pink.

"Dawn," Ash prompted, his mind at once recalling what happened that time with Paul. He hadn't even hit her. "Dawn." He put a hand on her shoulder. Was he going to have to hold her back? Brock had to!

" **You slapped me!"** the bluenette roared, lunging for the red haired coordinator only for Ash to move quickly and hold her back. He was suddenly glad he'd bulked up a little. For as petite as she was, Dawn had a lot of fight in her!

"Let her go!" the red haired girl snarled. "I want an excuse to call Officer Jenny!"

"You hit me first!" Dawn snapped. "But, I'll totally finish it!"

"Girls!" Hands on her hips, a Nurse Joy stepped between the two, looking at them with equal parts disdain and disappointment. "If you cannot behave, neither of you can be apart of this contest! I will not have the title of 'coordinator' sullied with your lack of decorum!"

Dawn at once relaxed, shoulders drooping. Ash released where he'd held her back, stepping away a bit while she dusted herself off. The red haired coordinator merely sniffed and crossed her arms.

"Sorry," Dawn apologized.

"As you should be," Joy said. She waited a moment, realized the red haired girl would not apologize, and shook her head before walking back behind the counter.

The two stepped up the people handling registration and handed their Pokedexes over.

"Oh! Well, Ember, you've just been all over, haven't you?" the boy behind the counter silkily said to the girl Dawn now supposed was a definite rival.

"Ember, huh?" the bluenette muttered under her breath.

"Well, Dawn, looks like this your first time outside of your home region? I hope Kanto is to your liking! You finding everything fine?" the guy asked.

Somehow embarrassed - why was Ember being treated like a veteran and she like she was some newbie?! - Dawn whirled around after almost snatching her PokeDex back. "I've got it under control, thanks!"

Ash sighed, folding his hands behind his head as he went to follow her. "She's a little upset," he said apologetically to the poor registrar. "Hey, Dawn, wait up!" While he tended to be a hothead and reckless, Dawn was probably the quickest to actually get ready to throw down when it came to disrespect.

He had to admire it a little, though; nobody pushed her around!

After walking a good distance away, Dawn stopped, arms crossed but fury mostly subsided.

Ash caught up, putting his hands in his pockets and cocking his head a little as he circled around her to look her head on. "You alright?"

"Yeah. Just. A little angry."

"Maybe some training would clear your mind? It helps me think sometimes," he confessed. He jerked his heads towards the numerous training fields surrounding the contest hall. "C'mon. Didn't you wanna practice Quilava's fire moves, anyway?"

Standing still for a moment more in silence, the coordinator finally let out a sigh. She relaxed as well. "Yeah. I think that would be good."

Soon the two walked through the manicured bushes surrounding the numerous training fields. Dawn settled on one of the more plain looking ones. Ash stood off to the side, him and Pikachu watching as she released Quilava and then began trying out the moves.

The results thus far had been a mixed bag.

"Mm… now try wider…"

Alright, when the flames widened, they faded from those brilliant white-blues and near purples to plain yellow and red-oranges. However, as long as the flames were allowed to burn as largely as they pleased, the smoke was almost non-existent.

"Maybe Swift can cut through the Smokescreen?" she mused. "… or we could try flame wheel with big flames, and forgo the swift?" Mm, if that was the case, she'd need to add another move in. Maybe she could have Quilava spend less time with low flames? Designing the perfect appeal really could be tiring…

"So, you figure anything out?" Ash placed his hands upon his hips, watching the starter expel flames.

"Not yet," Dawn regrettably answered, her shoulders slumping.

"Well… actually, I guess?"

Taking this as a cue for a break, Quilava looked up, forepaws folding one another over and over again as she awaited approval.

"I guess Flame Wheel followed by Flamethrower is probably the best route." As far as showing off how strong Quilava was, that would do fine. "She's actually gotten changing the color down fine, too."

The Quilava nodded proudly, winking cheekily as she inhaled deeply. A moment later, the flames along her spine burned more brilliantly, though they rose in height for it.

"See? That's the problem. They look out of control." It clearly wasn't Quilava's fault—the pokemon was trying her hardest, and she was giving one hundred and ten percent. Dawn had to figure out something, here. She wasn't sure what to do—it wasn't the recklessness of Mamoswine, nor an emotional wound in need of soothing like the-then-Chimchar Infernape. Dawn shrugged before looking back at Ash. "You have any advice?"

"You could always mix Flamethrower with Flame Wheel together at the same time, like Infernape had back at Fantina's gym." Whether that would work with Dawn's appeal or not, he wasn't sure. But if she could somehow manage to maintain the color change, then that would certainly look spectacular.

"But… Aside from that… I dunno. I've never tried that before. I've seen Typhlosion have that effect before, but it never lasted long because we weren't going for looks." Wait a second… That was right - she didn't even know Quilava had evolved, did she? "…Maybe I could call him out?"

"Hm. Yeah. I can work with that." Dawn quipped, eyes widening at the suggestion.

The sheer power from that had been impressive. She'd been so focused on trying to get the appeal to be elegant or cute, her normal strategies… But, what if she went for all out shock and awe? By letting the flames get as high as they wanted, recklessly, perhaps she could let Summer give off an air of wildness and—

And, Dawn was distracted by the mention of Typhlosion. "Oh, did he evolve?! Yes, please let me see!" she pleaded, clasping her hands before her like an overly-excited child.

"Sure did!" Ash gave a big, toothy grin.

"Hold on - you guys give that a shot, and I'll go get 'im!" And with that, he ran off towards the center.

Grinning in agreement as Ash raced off to do so, Dawn then turned her focus back onto Quilava. "Well, let's start off by trying to put those two together." Dawn started, making hand motions as she explained. "It goes pretty much like this—you'll start off by using Flame Wheel, but also Flamethrower, to give yourself a boost. Got it?"

Quilava hesitated, and then nodded.

"Don't worry, we can practice plenty."

Shuffling over to Dawn, the fire type opened her arms for a hug before starting, a bit needy… but the coordinator wouldn't deny her first hatchling, happily stooping down to envelope her in a warm embrace.

"Alrighty!" she cheered. Quilava plodded off a bit. "Piplup, stay by my side. We may have to put out some fires…"

"Pip!" He chirped, standing dutifully. If anyone could put out a fire, it was definitely him!

With that, the two watched as Quilava worked herself into a Flame Wheel arc. She got through it once with Flamethrower adding intensity, flames changing from yellow to green to almost blue… when she went flipping through the air, over propelled by her own attack at the wrong time.

"Quil!" she whimpered as she landed on her back.

Dawn went to scoop her up, no easy feat.

"Okay, I think I found the problem," she consoled, managing to stand with the big baby of a Quilava in her arms. Or, rather, half-over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Oh, hey, look who's back!" Just in time, too. Seeing her fully evolved form might help Quilava understand the problem Dawn was about to have to explain.

Ash had returned in due time, having quickly called up Professor Oak, exchanging Bulbasaur for his Typhlosion; the Professor found it helpful to have the natural leader around for at least a little bit. In no time, though, he was back outside, grinning and a pokeball in hand. Just as he had, he'd spotted the tail end of Quilava's attempt. "Hey, that was a pretty good try! But maybe someone more experienced could help ya out…" Taking this opportunity, he tossed the ball forward. "Typhlosion, I choose you!"

Out of the ball came the third stage Pokemon, who stood on its hind legs, burning flames roaring from the back of its neck. When it spotted Dawn and Piplup, it greeted the two with a wave. Catching sight of its pre-evolved counterpart, though, it did the same, but with a bit more enthusiasm. He hadn't seen Dawn with a Quilava last time, but a fellow Johto fire starter, was certainly welcome!

Piplup waved back, as did Dawn. Quilava, however, was floored by seeing her peer. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "Lav…!" She rolled along, pudgy form circling around Typhlosion once to get a full view of him. She then gave him a curious pat, testing to see if he had a similar build to her. Save a bit more muscle, they were nearly the same. Pleased with her findings, she chirped excitedly at the others before looking up at Typhlosion to chit-chat with him.

" _You're tall!"_ she belted at once. _"Can you do a Flame Wheel and a Flamethrower? It's a little scary. I'm going really fast… It'd be easier if I could circle around Ma', give me an anchor or something."_

Typhlosion was a tad more composed than its excited younger counterpart, but he offered an endeared smile nonetheless as she circled around and chirped his praises. _"I definitely can. Using another move during Flame Wheel starts out a bit frightening, but once you get a hold of your bearings, it's definitely something you could pull off."_ He could only assume that she needed help, since he'd been called out. It wasn't a gym battle, but if one of Ash's friends was in need, he was happy to aid.

Seeing that those two were preoccupied, Dawn turned to Ash. "Her problem is her confidence. She was doing great until she gained speed. I notice she let up, but it was at the wrong time, so rather than pushing herself back towards earth, she ended up spinning herself out." Aside from lots of practice, Dawn wasn't sure what to do.

"Maybe seeing him will let her know a little high fire power won't kill her…"

"I gotcha..." Ash nodded along, eyes alternating between the duo and Dawn. "Yeah, I hope you're right. He can definitely set an example, that's for sure! You saw his Aerial Ace at Lily of the Valley. If there's one thing he knows, it's combining raw power and agility!"

Meanwhile, Quilava continued to gawk. As big as he was, he could! _"And, you don't go flying through the air or nothing!?"_ She stomped the ground with her forepaws, flames sending off small showers of sparks in her excitement. _"Please show me, please~!"_ She bore a smile that was mostly just sharp little fangs, overly excited still.

Noticing the two fire types seemed to be conversing, Dawn could only hope it was a pep talk.

"I remember!" Dawn chimed. "It was against Nando, right?" She let out a satisfied sigh. "Yeah… if he could set up example for her, I'm sure she could figure it out… Hey, Quilava!"

The Quilava for once didn't rush back to Dawn's side. Rather, she seemed to panic. She wanted to figure this out! Dawn was relying on her, and the last thing she wanted was to let the coordinator down. If she didn't get advice, she didn't know what she was going to do…

 _"I've been through a lot of practice with Ash."_ Typhlosion shook his head. It was all a matter of discipline and determination. And, a bit of power.

A chuckle left the large fire type - or, at least the closest thing to one he could muster. _"Alright, alright, I'll show you. Watch closely!"_ Not even thinking to ask Ash's permission - he was that never type of trainer - Typhlosion readied himself for the combination move. He stretched momentarily, taking a step away from his younger peer to perfect his stance.

"Yeah, that's right!" Ash confirmed, looking over to the rather large fire type. "Well, looks like we're about to find out!" Ash's hands rested on his hips, an amused smile on his lips. "I think Quilava wants to keep her front-row seat!"

Typhlosion poised himself, finally jumping up before curling into a ball, roaring flames spewing from its neck and back. It quickly formed a rather huge Flame Wheel attack, his entire body enveloped in heat as it launched forward, rolling through the open field with rocks and dirt torn away from the ground in its presence.

Upping the ante now, he began to fire off a Flamethrower, its mouth spewing more flames into the wheel to fuel it. His body took off from the surface, one stream of heat after another propelling it into the air, acting as if they were buoyancy devices floating it through water, Flame Wheel behaving much the same through the air.

What was more, was that the combined heat of the attacks began to change the hues of the fire, showing hints of violet and blue before the wheel rolled down along the ground. Scorching the earth in its wake before Typhlosion finally came to a halt, skidding along the ground on all fours.

While Dawn watched in quiet awe, Quilava was about to lose her head over it. She hopped in place, sparks crackling all over her back. She saw it now! The feeling of going through the air like that—the speed… it wasn't anything to fear.

It was cool as hell.

"I think we've started something," Dawn chuckled as Quilava began to run as well before tucking into a Flame Wheel. Becoming a little inferno-ball, she soon added Flamethrower in as well, moving like a little will o'wisp just above the earth. Her flames lit up, turning almost white with hints of blue, green, and purple.

Much more in control now, but not perfected, she untucked at a bad angle… But, having much more confidence, she was able to twist herself around in the air and land on her paws.

She stopped only to turn to Typhlosion to give him a thank you hug before waddling over to Dawn, circling around her with a chorus of chirps asking for approval.

Dawn squatted down. "You did very well! Good job! That was great!" she praised as she patted her pokemon and scratched behind her ears. She looked to Typhlosion and then Ash. "Thank you! That was exactly what we needed!"

Typhlosion readily accepted the hug, giving her a pat on the back as she waddled back to Dawn. Such a quick learner! _"Hah, maybe we'll be training partners someday."_

"Looks like it," Ash chimed in amusement at the scene. His Typhlosion's display had been both powerful and stunning, and served as quite the inspiration! Before one could blink, Quilava'd started to learn. "That was really good!" The teen cheered, observing the younger Pokemon give the combination another go. It wasn't a flawless performance, but the colors had definitely shown and it was a huge improvement over the last. "Way to go, Quilava!"

"Pika-ka!" Pikachu cheered as well, pumping his fist in the air in approval. She'd nailed it! It went to show that a little confidence went a long way.

"Hey, no problem!" Ash turned to Dawn, flashing a thumbs-up. "Happy we could help out!"

"Now, what do you say we practice some more? We'll be ready for that contest in no time!" Dawn cheered.

"Quil! Quilava!" The pokemon enthused, flames dancing upon her back. With that, they launched back into training. The others, Ash, Pikachu, and Typhlosion included, watched on as the fire type worked to perfect her craft. With the competition mere days away, it seemed Dawn and her pokemon would be more than prepared!


	22. An All-out Practice Battle!

After an evening of successful practice and a good night's sleep, Dawn was particularly energetic. While Ash was himself full of energy, he found it hard to keep up with her as she bound towards the Pokemon Center, nearly twirling in the sunshine.

"So, I've decided!" she suddenly said, stopping and turning to her traveling companion. "Ash, I want to challenge you! I wanna practice by going against the team you used when you came to Twinleaf! I haven't had a chance to battle Misdreavus and Charizard looked really cool when you battled Tobias, so go all out with this, alright?" she finished, clenching her fist with the other hand on her hip. While it was a rare occasion that Dawn got particularly serious about a battle that didn't have to do with her career, her spirits were incredibly high right now. She was ready to bring the heat!

Taken off guard by this match offer, it took him half a second longer than usual to agree. A battle was a battle, sure, but Dawn was his friend and he'd known her to be a tough contender in her fair share of battles. This would be good training for him, too.

"Sounds like a plan!" he countered, the late day shade only adding to the dramatic flair the two had taken on. "But, you've gotta use the team you had in Sinnoh. I wanna see how strong they are now!"

Grinning, she let out a hum of agreement. "Then, what're we waiting on? Time to get the teams, right?"

With that, the two of them stepped into the center, a certain combative energy flowing between them. Walking side by side, neither said anything quite yet. The atmosphere was not antagonistic but brimming with excitement. How long had it been since they'd battle one another, since they'd had the personal pleasure of picking each other's strategies apart, and feeling the duality of both pride and concern one could only feel when one battled a friend?

There were many ways to know another person well, to bond and share the most sincere of mannerisms and mental mechanics. Battling was the language these two knew how to express it best in.

With that, Dawn stepped before one PC and Ash another. He rang up Professor Oak, already juggling pokeballs in his hands to exchange them as quickly as possible for the right team.

"Hello, Ash! Is Typhlosion doing well with you?"

"He's doing great!" Ash replied. "How are you doing, Professor?"

"Good, thank you. But, I'm going to assume you didn't call just for pleasantries, especially not so soon after speaking with me. What can I do for you?"

"Well… you see, Dawn and I want to battle each other, but with specific teams…"

Oak looked a little disappointed at the work of rounding up Ash's pokemon, but his smile didn't falter. "Very well. Go ahead and transfer over the ones you won't need. Could you key in the ones you want so I won't forget? I'm getting a little on in years, after all!" the man explained with a laugh.

"Of course!" Ash entered the names of his requested pokemon once an entry box appeared on his side of the screen.

Approximately twenty minutes later, Ash had gotten everyone he needed. He stood, noting that Dawn was short one pokeball. She tapped her finger impatiently before growing giddy, her last one sent over.

Right, he recalled, Professor Rowan wasn't nearly as close to her as he was to Professor Oak, and she might be keeping her pokemon at home. While Ash had a bit of an advantage by being so close to a professor, she had to do a little more work to get her pokemon transferred.

All the same, it was time to start.

"We'll have to find somewhere to battle," she explained after putting her pokeballs away. "I think the lot we used to train Quilava on could use a break…"

Ash nodded. "I think I saw an empty lot between here and the Contest Hall yesterday."

"Let's go, then!"

With that, the two of them set out, air electric between them, and neither bothering to hide how excited they were for the battle to begin. The walk was not quite tense, but there was a certain heaviness to it. Neither was angry, but they both wanted to say little aside from brief questions of whether this lot would do or that one for their battle; much more would give away their potential strategies, their ambitions for how the battle would go.

* * *

Finally, they settled on a field expansive and surprisingly dusty, lacking in grass but bearing a chalk outline that looked faded. That was reasonable. It was many sprawling streets from the Pokemon Center, but the roof of the contest hall was still a ways in the distance. It was probably commonly disregarded.

That was fine by the both of them. Their battle wouldn't be interrupted.

Pulling out a pokeball, Dawn decided to play it safe with a normal type. "Buneary, spotlight!" she called.

The little brown rabbit landed with her typical pizzazz, spinning in place before stopping on a single foot. All of her charm in grace, however, melted away when she spotted the apple of her eye - Pikachu. Though she knew she was in the middle of a battle, her true nature shined through briefly as she momentarily hid behind her cream wool.

"Oh, Buneary…" Dawn sighed. The coordinator wondered how the rabbit would do if she had to battle Pikachu. Would she go all out in an attempt to impress the electric type or let her affections hamper her fighting ability?

Meanwhile, Pikachu waved back, a small sweat drop rolling down his forehead in mild embarrassment. His number one "fan" was the same as ever.

"Buneary, huh?" The teen nodded to himself before tossing out a pokeball. "Alright, Rosa, I choose you!" The little fighting type appeared in a flash, assessing the situation before tensing and getting into fighting position. "Let's get started with a Force Palm!"

"Buneary, try spinning to ward it off!" Dawn countered.

The Emanation pokemon lunged forward, pressing the sole of her paw into Buneary, a stunning burst of energy pulsating after contact. However, as Buneary had tried to dodge by spinning, the paw didn't stay in one place long enough to do as much damage as it could have; likewise, the pulse didn't have a chance to cause her paralysis. It was a decidedly good save.

"Buneary, use Bounce!" Dawn decided it was time to put some distance between the two little brawlers.

As Buneary kicked herself high into the air, Ash remained silent.

This eventually began to bother Dawn. _'Is he planning something?'_ she wondered. _'No! He knows I expect him to retaliate!'_ she figured. _'He knows if he stands there long enough, he'll psyche me out! So, I won't let him do it! I'll go for a head-on attack!'_

Buneary, unknowing of her trainer's internal turmoil, merely assumed Rosa was being left open for an attack and came down like a comet towards her opponent.

Ash cracked a grin. One of the cons of battling with Dawn is that if he actually used a plan, she'd know what to expect. The perk of that was that stalling was pretty much guaranteed to psych her out - as it had - because she knew him too well to really expect for him to be a sitting duck. "Rosa, Detect."

Dawn let out an irritated groan as the Riolu's eyes glowed blue. "You little weasel!" she shouted as Buneary came barreling down… to kick at the earth rather than her opponent.

"All's fair in battles," Ash quipped back, shrugging cockily. "Now, Rosa, use Aura Sphere!"

At the short range between the two brawlers, the Aura Sphere went off quickly. Though it wasn't as strong as it could be due to Rosa's development stage, it was still enough to blast Buneary back.

Buneary rolled to a stop, sitting up and coughing. She muttered a curse strong enough in the language of for Pikachu and Piplup to look surprised. Though Rosa was confused by the new word, she didn't understand the meaning and looked to Pikachu for such. Naturally, the mouse remained quiet. He wasn't about to teach Rosa cusses!

Oblivious as to what her seemingly sweet normal type had uttered, Dawn pressed on with the battle. "We're just going to have to make this a long range battle for a bit, Buneary. Use Ice Beam!"

Recovered enough to continue, Buneary gulped down a huge breath before exhaling it in a frosty burst of air and ice shards.

"Counter with another Aura Sphere!"

Though Rosa obeyed, Buneary was more experienced than Rosa and it showed in the way the ice crystals climbed and wrapped around the fighting energy. As the frosty beam tore down the Aura Sphere, the lights went out of the energy attack. It made short work of the opposing attack, making its way all the way down to Rosa to blast into her.

Shivering and suddenly tired thanks to the powerful Ice Beam attack, while Buneary had taken a few super effective attacks, it became abundantly obvious that when Buneary managed a hit, she hit hard.

Which was exactly why Ash was glad Rosa knew Reversal. He called for the attack.

"Oh, boy." Dawn threw out her hand. "Buneary, Spinning Dizzy Punch!"

Torque was put into her normally stupefying punches as Buneary ran to meet Rosa. The two little girl's blows landed in perfect synchronization. Rosa, returning injury for injury, had slammed her knee into Buneary's side. Buneary, executing a perfect Dizzy Punch with added strength from whirling around and putting her whole body into it, sank her own paw into Rosa's cheek.

The two were knocked away from each other and knocked flat out.

"Oh, man. Good job, Rosa, return for a rest!" Ash called.

Dawn, likewise, quickly got Buneary's pokeball. "Thanks, Buneary. That was good!" Thinking for a moment, Dawn decided on her next pokemon. "Quilava, spotlight!"

Crossing his arms for a split second, Ash tried to figure out which pokemon he should use before snapping his fingers and tipping his cap. "Heheh! Fight fire with fire, right? Charizard, I choose you!"

The gargantuan dragon appeared, letting loose a roaring flame into the sky along with a bellowing roar. His teal hues turned to Quilava. Although he wouldn't disobey Ash like he had in the past, the Flame Pokemon could only hope that this little sausage of a fire type would prove him a challenge.

"Incredible…!" Dawn whispered. Charizard's arrival was nothing less than stunning. Even Quilava was stilled into an almost reverential stillness.

"Use Flamethrower!" the trainer called.

Aware of exactly what Charizard could do, Dawn knew to act fast. "Use Eruption as a shield!"

Charizard's head was thrown forward along with a roaring stream of flames, spewing across the battlefield towards its target.

The Quilava obeyed, hunkering down into the earth as she squinted her eyes shut. Seconds later, the earth beneath her crackled and pseudo-lava spewed forth. The move was extremely draining, so all she could do was watch as the arcs of magma blocked some of the blazing trail. Intense heat made it to her, though. Despite all this and the typing, Charizard's massive jump on the other fire starter in experience caused her to freeze up in pain upon being hit.

They were not going to win this by going head to head with Charizard.

"Quilava, use Smokescreen, and don't let up!" Dawn decided, switching tactics.

Her flames burning lower, inky black smoke poured off the Quilava as she stood up among the cooling puddles of lava, looking up determinedly at the Charizard. While the faint glow of her body flames would give her away and the Charizard's own tail tip would serve the same, she also had the leftover light of the lava to obscure her in the smoke cloud.

"Smokescreen, huh? I can already tell what kind of match this is gonna be!" Ash quipped, cocky as ever, before he was greeted with a sheet of soot. He coughed and hacked, clumsily falling short of the cool persona he'd been putting on. He could hear Dawn laughing at him briefly even from across the field.

"Use Dragon Pulse, fire off a few of 'em!"

Charizard's eyes were nearly shut, not wanting to deal with any sparse soot getting in his eyes. The heat was no object at all, actually somewhat soothing to the Flame Pokemon. But, of course, he hadn't been confronted directly with an attack yet.

His jaws parted, a teal sphere of energy glowing before being launched into the smoke. Soon, a second blast was fired off as well, and a third soon after.

"Dodge it!" Dawn called out.

As if the little Quilava needed to be told twice. Run-waddling along, she tried to focus just avoiding the all-out assault. The first blast she avoided with relative ease; the second, not so much.

"Lav!" she cried out as it landed just to the left of her, her little red eyes going wide as it singed her fur and the aftershocks of its landing rocked through her. Being jarred from the second dragon pulse, the third struck her head on.

Without Quilava up and ready to maintain the line, the veil of smoke began to drift on. It revealed the fire type trembling, barely standing. But, she glared up at the Charizard with gritted teeth, determined to prove herself.

"Hey, she's still hanging in there!" Ash remarked, clearly impressed.

"Good job, Quilava!" Dawn's little one had some kind of stamina. "Use Swift!"

The Quilava released what would be her first and only barrage of starry energy at the dragon, putting her all into it. After all, she knew there was no reason to reserve energy for a second attack when she might not have that chance.

Charizard was pummeled with Swift, unable to dodge this particular move. Although he was surely at a higher level, Quilava packed quite the punch for her size.

"Now, use Dragon Tail!"

The larger Pokemon launched his body towards Quilava, its tail glowing brilliantly with a bright teal light. The flaming limb was swung around, aiming to pulverize the poor fire type.

"Uh-oh…" If Dawn didn't figure out a way to slow that down before it hit Quilava, Charizard might actually do serious damage. "Now, use Flamethrower—but only on his rump! Slow him down!"

Obeying and drawing upon reserves of energy to the point where her body flames began to die down, the Quilava expelled a flurry of flames at the incoming Charizard.

Dawn's tactical, if not comical move did yield results; the unexpected flame startled Charizard, causing him to lose quite a bit of momentum on his follow-through. The dragon landed on its hind legs, wincing and gritting its teeth in a mixture of pain and humiliation.

"Quil!" Quilava cried out, wincing as she was thrown through the air even after Dawn's tactic.

Seeing her hatchling going through the air, Dawn naturally ran to go catch her. So what if Quilava had long become too heavy for Dawn to tote around! If one of her pokemon was falling, she was going to catch them, darn it!

"I've got you, I've got you!" she assured the navy-backed monster as she sailed into the coordinator, sending Dawn onto her butt. A heap of settled soot was sent up…

But, aside from being dusty now, the duo were relatively fine.

Throwing her thumb up, Dawn let the other two know that everything was fine, even if Quilava was slack-jawed and unconscious.

Returning her pokemon, Dawn turned to Piplup. "Okay, buddy, your turn!"

"Lup!" the water type agreed, running out onto the field.

Charizard's next opponent was… _That little thing?_ The Flame Pokemon let out a mock yawn, not showing very much interest in battling a Pokemon so tiny. That was, unless it proved itself to be of Pikachu's merit. But how often was that?

"Oh, c'mon, Charizard. Are you really bringing _that_ attitude back?" Ash sulked.

"Oh no." Dawn couldn't help but offer a knowing smile. "Well, this won't end well."

Piplup took offense to Charizard's flippant dismissal, squawking in place.

Deciding her starter could use all that energy for good, Dawn started off with their signature move. "Piplup, use Whirlpool!" If successful, it would trap Charizard for a bit, which could only work in their favor.

Piplup obeyed, focusing less on the appeal of the move and more on just trying to hit Charizard. Both of his flippers raised above his head, forming a raging cyclone of water with a cry before tossing it.

"Charizard, fly up and dodge it!"

 _Dodge?_ Ash wanted him to dodge an attack from that… _Runt?_ No sale. Charizard stood its ground, initially intending to take the attack head-on… Until it began to look more intimidating close-up. Taking a water type attack like that close-up wasn't a good idea, and despite how puny Piplup looked, it did look like it had some power behind it.

Not willing to risk his pride on such a situation, Charizard unleashed a scalding Fire Spin attack in retaliation. The two spinning attacks met center-stage, forming an explosive encounter.

Ash's hand slapped his forehead, dragging downward dramatically. "Please tell me he's not going back to doing that again…"

While the ripping, snarling sound left by the literally steamy encounter between the fire attack and the water attack was certain impressive… It was also entirely too raw for Dawn to do anything with it as inspiration for her up-coming contest. On another note, was her hair curling up due to the sudden rise in humidity?!

Dawn's face fell at the thought. "You've gotta be kidding… Ugh, Piplup, use Hydro Pump!" Clearly, against this titanic opponent, they weren't going to get anywhere unless they went all out as well.

The Piplup happily obeyed, eager to see Charizard was taking him a bit more seriously. The Hydro Pump pushed his little body backwards a little bit, but he dug his heels in so as to get a better aim. He'd had a good view of the dragon before firing off, but once the Hydro Pump of began, his visuals were botched.

The torrential jet of water cut straight through the steam, managing to strike Charizard head-on. It had hit him square in the chest, forcing the dragon to skid back across the battlefield, feet digging up dirt and rock as he refused to give up his stance. Finally his endurance persevered, a bellowing roar leaving him. A stubborn shockwave dispersed, blowing the remainder of Piplup's attack away.

"Now we're talking!" Ash couldn't help but grin. At least Charizard was fighting back now. But, would Piplup be able to handle his might?

"What the heck was that?!" The blue-haired girl gawked. What power!

"You've got me! Charizard started pulling that off when we were training. I guess he's… Just that strong! The Pokedex doesn't say anything about it." It was a head-scratcher, that was for sure. "Now use Dragon Pulse!"

Charizard parted its jaws once more, unleashing another teal blast of energy.

"C'mon, Dawn! Show me what you've got!"

"Spinning Ice Beam! Just like with Bubblebeam!"

A bit thrown off by the switch in the routine, but obedient for once, the water type spun in place, careful to completely cover the area around him in a thick layer of ice. It eventually formed a half-sphere over and around him. Just in time, too - otherwise, he, rather than his icy shield, would have taken the brunt of the dragon pulse.

"Hey, that's Counter Shield!" Seeing Dawn use it in battle certainly was a surprise - one that was exciting to Ash, no less. After adapting her appeal to create the move, it had truly come full circle.

Still, the Dragon Pulse completely shattered the ice dome. If any of the pseudo-lava from the previous round wasn't yet cool and dry, the chunks of ice from that would be sure to take care of them.

Her only real option against the Charizard was having Piplup use Hydro Pump, but after that intense counter shield, she knew he wouldn't have it him. Better to conserve and remain on the defensive.

"We're keeping up!" she challenged in retort to Ash's earlier taunt.

"Yeah, you guys're hanging in there! For someone facing Charizard, that's pretty great." Not that he was one to condescend - but this was the same Pokemon who had toppled an Articuno, and much, much more. "Now, use Flamethrower!"

A brilliant flame was tossed towards Piplup. As unfair as this seemed, it was simply against Ash's code to hold back during a battle. But, sometimes the worst situations brought the best out of a Pokemon!

"Piplup! Spin with Bubblebeam this time!"

The Piplup obeyed again, a thick cocoon of bubbles forming a foamy wall of protection, only for the Flamethrower to sweep through and reduce the lather to a thick veil of steam. The tiny water type stood amidst the vapor, beady eyes and body trembling. He stared into the eyes of his towering attacker, flippers digging into the muddy ground below. Trying as he might, he really couldn't hold up… Ash's pokemon was just too powerful! Tiny beak gritting together, frustration boiling just below Piplup's feathery hide.

Every time he battled alongside Dawn, he tried to get stronger… Strong enough to ward off big, tough pokemon for his trainer's sake - and, needless to say, his own. For quite a long time, he hated the idea of change. But, what would that stubbornness get him, if he couldn't grow stronger? Stronger, even if it meant changing...

A brilliant light began to overtake him, obscuring the penguin's blue body from view.

A few tears of bitterness and realization slipped down his cheeks as he stood up, body glimmering. He could do this. He was okay with it, finally. He'd been so scared of changing, of what it meant. He'd seen Aipom blossom into Ambipom, and she'd left with the change. But… Mamoswine had changed, and he had stayed. So, it was fine if Piplup changed, too, right? He supposed to himself it was.

Changing didn't mean losing the bonds he cherished necessarily. He could grow stronger, able to defend those precious things.

"Ah, Piplup…!" Dawn sputtered, scrambling through her backpack for his Everstone. "Hold on, I'll take care of it!" As soon as she started to approach, though, a glowing, growing fin was held outward. The water type made no move to get closer to Dawn, nor the supernatural rock in her palm. "You… Really want to?" she questioned.

The changing form was answer enough. A small, rotund body rapidly grew, tiny flippers becoming long fins, a more streamlined head growing from a taller, more bulky body. A small crest even appeared atop the glowing form. Soon enough, the glow dispersed, revealing a fully evolved Prinplup. "Lup."

He turned to look at his trainer, smiling proudly. He'd grown up some, physically and emotionally.

"No way… Pi- I mean, Prinplup! You evolved!" Ash gushed, eyes wide.

As the steam rolled off his uncomfortably warm body, vibrant colors decked out the starter's new form. The Prinplup's metallic crown and his flippers glowed momentarily, though it faded as he grew a bit frenzied, evolution's new aggressiveness shining through brilliantly. He'd matured, but with maturity came a bit of rebellious phase. And, with how he already acted, everyone was in for an, ahem, interesting time.

"Prinplup!" he shouted, crossing his flippers before he fired off another Hydro Pump at the Charizard. This one was belted off as a single, horrendously dense blast rather than a continuous flood.

"Pip - I mean, Prinplup!" Dawn chided.

He looked back at her, realizing what he'd done, before clicking his beak. Between the stubborn pride all of that evolutionary line possessed, and the super-charge of adrenaline he'd received upon evolving, he was finding it very hard to control himself.

"Okay, Charizard, Flamethrower, one more time!"

The Flame Pokemon's jaws parted, ready to unleash its fury upon the newly evolved Pokemon. But, his window to react had been sorely overestimated and the Hydro Pump pummeled Charizard! He was sent flying back, sustaining considerable damage before digging his claws into the earth once more.

Now this was an opponent worth facing.

Ash's thoughts mirrored Charizard's. "Now that's more like it! Charizard, Dragon Pulse!"

"Pri!" he cheered when his Hydro Pump hit. Prinplup flashed a little grin at Ash, glad his evolution had been so well received.

Not one to be outdone by a type disadvantage, the creature let out a bellowing roar as a teal blast of energy launched from his maw, careening straight for the newly evolved Prinplup.

"…Drill Peck, don't move!"

Prinplup obeyed, pointing his beak into the oncoming dragon pulse. While he still took damage from it, it kept the move from being a finishing blow. It split the brunt of it, creating an almost cone shape around his form. When the attack finished, there was the water starter, standing on shaking knees.

Ash's smile widened as Prinplup warded the worst of Dragon Pulse off. Dawn was certainly creative in her counters. Maybe he could consider something similar for one of his own Pokemon…

Realizing another Pokemon would fall to Charizard, Dawn was going to have to make the most of him. She'd have to soak the dragon for what she had in mind next. "Now, use Bubble Beam!"

That move…? It'd be too weak against Charizard… But, he trusted whatever Dawn had in mind, so Prinplup obeyed, spewing forth a stream of bubbles.

Already knowing Charizard would refuse to dodge, he called for another attack. "Use Flamethrower, Charizard!" Just what was Dawn trying to pull? Ash wondered.

Charizard did just that, throwing its head forward to unleash a roaring hot rush of flames towards Prinplup's attack.

"Darn it!" Dawn's hair whipped back when the attacks collided, the air getting more and more humid. If hers hadn't frizzed up already, it was now. However, her complaint wasn't directed towards her hair. She had to follow through on this plan.

"Prinplup, don't give in!" she encouraged as the Prinplup's little shoulders dropped a bit, clearly discouraged that his new evolution and type advantage weren't making as much headway as he would have liked. "I want you to use a Hydro Pump, alright? And, I want you to really soak him!" This had to work, otherwise Charizard would sweep the rest of her team.

Prinplup followed instructions, belching out another torrent of water as his aptly named ability began to activate. Bubblebeam had slowed down Flamethrower, but it wasn't nearly enough on its own to put an end to Charizard's more potent attack.

Hydro Pump augmented burst through the weakened flames, once again striking Charizard head-on. Shockingly enough, the attack had managed to knock him over!

Charizard pushed himself up onto one knee, absolutely soaked, and equally frustrated. This battle wasn't going nearly as easily as he had assumed from the start.

"Woah…" Ash stared in disbelief, not quite coming to a proper decision for retaliation just yet. Pure awe had gripped him as he watched the titan's attack overcome by Prinplup's. He had _not_ been counting on that.

"Prinplup, return!" Having turned the situation in her favor, it was time to decisively put Charizard down. Though her water type was a bit vexed - why wasn't _he_ able to finish off Charizard? - He allowed himself to be recalled.

"…Return?" She called back Prinplup after an evolution? But, Prinplup was the best chance at her victory on the team? Ash felt confused.

"Pachirisu, spotlight!"

The Pachirisu danced in place, too excited to realize the opponent she was up against.

That was what she had been setting up - soaked and shocked, it wouldn't be a good scenario for the fire type. The typing wasn't in his favor and Dawn was using that to her advantage. "…Uh oh."

"Use Spark!"

"Chi!" Pachirisu singsonged as she rushed towards the dragon, her electric pouches bright as day.

"Charizard, dodge it - !" Ash called for a move to avoid the attack at pretty much the last moment, quickly piecing together what Dawn had planned for them. Whether Charizard would or wouldn't, though, it was too late. He was still recovering from Hydro Pump and Ash had been late on the draw. Pachirisu crashed into his body, doing little concussive damage on her own. The electricity dealt by Spark, however, inflicted plenty as the water conducted plenty of volts that were sufficient to knock the poor fire-type out cold.

"…I've gotta say. You really caught me off-guard, there! Good thinking, Dawn!" He bore a wide smile, dark eyes meeting hers. Like himself, she was quick on her feet, and deserved every measure of respect for holding her own in this battle. Wits alone had triumphed over might - a theme Ash was very fond of.

"I've got good testing grounds," Dawn quipped. To say battling Ash didn't help her improve her own style would be a lie. "Awesome job, Pachirisu!"

"Can't argue with that!" Ash boasted, brushing his index finger over his nose. "Return, Charizard!" He held out the felled titan's Pokeball, calling it back in a flash of light. "You were awesome as ever. But, now I'm gonna use… Pikachu! You're up, buddy! Use Thunderbolt!"

It was all too fitting after all; electric rodent versus electric rodent. Pikachu had no hesitation in leaping off Ash's shoulder, unleashing a furious arrow of electricity aimed towards Pachirisu.

 _'Okay, okay, I still have Togekiss, Prinplup, and Mamoswine; Pachirisu's on the field… I could recall her for Mamoswine… But, let's see where this goes.'_ Dawn recited her thoughts in her head, looking for a way out of being overpowered. She didn't want this match to turn into a game of switcheroo, after all.

Struck by Pikachu's own higher volts, Pachirisu let out a tiny squeak. She crackled with excess power, blinking with confusion. She'd not fought another electric type in some time, after all.

"Pachirisu! Use Super Fang!"

"Chi-pa!" She chimed in response before rushing at Pikachu. If she succeeded, the remarkably powerful move would take a chunk out of his stamina.

"Pikachu, dodge it!"

Surprisingly, though, Pikachu was outrun, sharp fangs sinking into his side. The mouse let out a loud shriek, cringing in pain from the unusually effective move. Man that hurt!

"Pikachu, shake her off and use Iron Tail!"

The mouse regained his bearings as fast as he was able, swinging his body around to toss Pachirisu into the air. Once free, he would allow his tail to solidify with iron, ready to bat his opponent away.

"Chuaaa…!" He readied himself before finally swinging around, aiming to land a solid blow on Pachirisu! "PIKA!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Dawn asked in disbelief. Pachirisu was swung away like a ball against a bat. Trying to figure out where she would land, Dawn pranced back and forth a few steps until Pachirisu roughly landed against her chest. "Gah!"

"Su!" Pachirisu whined.

Whelp; Dawn was still unlucky as ever.

Hoping down with a chatter of gratitude, Pachirisu shook herself, getting down on all fours.

"Time to see how well this works… Rollout!"

Tucking into herself, the little electric type began collecting stones and gravel as she rolled towards Pikachu. However, having never used this move in battle before, she didn't have great aim.

"Hey, awesome! It did learn a move like that, after all! Pikachu, Quick Attack!" Ash chattered. On the way over to Mulberry, Dawn mentioned that Pachirisu might have learned, or even already known, Rollout, but the coordinator was uncertain of how well the little electric type could perform it.

The electric mouse jolted forward, dashing left and right to gain momentum as silver light trailed his form. Finally, he launched his body, aiming to slam into Pachirisu - much the same way a flipper would collide with a ping-pong ball.

"No, no, no, dodge it!" Dawn wasn't looking to get hit in the chest again. Having to catch Pachirisu like that once was bad enough, but twice… nope. NOPE.

However, no matter how much Dawn pleaded, Pachirisu was not able to change her direction or dodge. As such, her Rollout collided with Pikachu's Quick Attack. However, rather than launching her out, it sent the Pachirisu spinning further, though backwards now.

Untucking after being batted away, the electric type stood very still… before flopping over. "Risu…" Talk about being dizzy.

"Pachirisu…" Letting out a sigh, she realized they'd have to change strategy. "Use Sweet Kiss."

Staggering, but determined, she made her way towards Pikachu to deliver a confusing little kiss. Buneary was going to have her hide for this.

"…Uh oh." Ash gawked, a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead. "Pikachu, don't let her-!"

But, it was too late. Pachirisu had given Pikachu a peck on the cheek, the mouse soon sporting rather comical pink hearts in place of his eyes. Did he have any feelings for Pachirisu? Not at all. But, attacks and pheromones overrode actual feelings in a Pokemon battle. The mouse stumbled about, face red and a goofy smile plastered on him. He had been confused.

"…Oh, crap." Ash sulked. This wasn't good.

There were times when charms should be used for good and a time to use them for evil. This was one of the latter, Dawn figured. "Alright, Pachirisu, use Rollout again!" she commanded, confident that Pikachu would be a little easier to hit this time. Or, at least he wouldn't send her pokemon flying like he had before.

Pachirisu obeyed, taking a step back and then tucking into herself, spinning over the earth as she picked up gravel and stone again, before attempting to slam into Pikachu.

"Pikachu, dodge it!"

Still stumbling, Pikachu was struck by Rollout, sent tumbling through the air before landing on his belly. It was hard to tell one way or another exactly how he was feeling.

"Uh… Use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu clumsily managed to stand, finally breaking the spell of confusion to fire off the powerful electric attack - at least temporarily.

Being another electric type, it was hard for Pachirisu to dodge electric attacks—so much so, that Dawn knew better than to try to do so. The little squirrel let out a cry of pain before uncurling.

She won't last long, Dawn realized. Pikachu was incredibly strong, as evidenced by the way that Pachirisu's tiny chest heaved as she stood on all fours, waiting on new orders. Her cheek pouches crackled with excess electricity… Or, what Dawn thought to be excess electricity.

She was paralyzed, the coordinator realized, and with how low her stamina was now, it was pretty much a faint. Okay, Prinplup, Togekiss, and Mamoswine… Half her team was gone, but Ash was still going strong with Pikachu.

"You were great, Pachirisu. Why don't you take a rest?" As Pachirisu actually gave out upon hearing her turn was over, Dawn was very glad she had done such. Her poor little electric type was pooped.

Pachirisu was down. At least they wouldn't have to deal with that Sweet Kiss again. "Pikachu, can you still fight?"

The mouse steadied himself, giving a nod to his trainer. "Pika!"

Moments later, Mamoswine replaced her. "Mamoooo!" The giant pokemon trumpeted, ready to battle.

Ash grinned, punching forward. "Okay, then use Iron Tail!"

Pikachu jumped towards Mamoswine, his tail taking on a brilliant metal coat. A quick twist of his hips allowed him to wield his tail like a weapon, his entire body flipping over as he attempted to smash down on Mamoswine with the jagged hammer.

"That's no good…! Mamoswine, use Ice Armor!"

The orders came too late, and the attack sent Mamoswine… staggering? Between the force and the typing, it was rather effective. The ice/ground type wouldn't be bested so quickly, though. He snorted and threw his head to and fro.

"Use Dig!" she commanded.

The Mamoswine obeyed, beginning to burrow himself under the earth with surprising efficiency.

Crap… How were they supposed to fight that? "Pikachu! Listen carefully for Mamoswine! When he's getting close, let me know!" Ash shouted out in warning, his own dark hues darting left and right for any signs of weakness in the ground.

Well, if nothing else, they had a good strategy. Just before Mamoswine emerged, the ground above him buckled before bursting up, revealing the massive form of the twin tusk pokemon.

"Mamo!" he roared.

Ash's eyes only caught the crumbling dirt at the last second. "Pikachu, Quick Dodge!"

Not an all new move, but a little maneuver of theirs. Pikachu was way ahead of Ash, crouching before shooting up into the air above, a brilliant light dropping off of his form, giving him the appearance of a small star in the dark night sky, the sun having set during some point during their intense battle. He had every intention of coming down with just the much illumination, crashing down with another Iron Tail.

"Alright! Stay on him! Ice Shard!"

The ice/ground type summoned a large shard of ice to be shot at the electric mouse.

He'd avoided Dig completely… But, unfortunately, neither of the two had accounted for Ice Shard. The concussive mass of frozen water crashed into Pikachu, drawing a shriek as he tumbled out of the air towards Ash's feet. Swirls showed in the mouse's eyes, indicating a loss.

The trainer approached his fallen Pokemon, scooping him into his arms. "You did your best, buddy." Ash reassured him, moving back to his spot on the field before reaching for another Pokeball. He'd lost Charizard, Rosa, and Pikachu… That left him, like Dawn, with three to go. He knew just the Pokemon to call for in this situation, too.

"That was great!" Dawn praised. That Quick Dodge was like… A small comet! Oh, now Dawn suddenly wished one of her pokemon knew something like that. Perhaps she should catch one that could…?

Dawn's daydreaming was interrupted by Ash's spirited shout. "It's your turn… Wartortle!"

The second stage water type appeared from his sphere, landing on his hind legs. Wartortle was initially wearing his trusty shades, quickly depositing them in his shell after coming to the conclusion that the sun had already set.

"Use Hydro Pump!"

Utilizing its primary method of firing the powerful move, Wartortle opened his mouth wide to fire a highly pressurized jet towards his colossal opponent.

Dawn's eyes widened. A stylish Wartortle? Whatever the case, he fired off a mean Hydro Pump. Now she knew what it was like to watch her pokemon be on the receiving end of such.

Mamoswine let out a noise which was a cross between an elephant's trumpet and a pig's squeal as he was pushed back by the Hydro Pump. At the end of it, though, he snorted and tossed his head, sounding off again.

"Mamoswine, calm down!" she ordered first. This was a match, not a real situation.

Reminding himself that it was a game, Mamoswine calmed.

When he was safe to compete again, Dawn grinned. "Alright, now you can use Take Down!"

Shuffling forward, Mamoswine picked up speed as he headed recklessly towards the Wartortle.

"Wartortle, use Skull Bash!"

Against such a bulky Pokemon, there weren't any other options. The smaller Pokemon tucked its head in, its own sense of self confidence overriding any lick of common sense. Prepared for the upcoming move, it shot forward, beginning to run before simply launching at Mamoswine like a missile, aiming to take it head-on.

"Don't—!" Dawn gasped.

The collision was met with a definite crunch. Mamoswine staggered back, tears in his eyes. He'd taken the skull bash to his big, fleshy snout and the result had been critical.

"Mamoswine…" She sighed, mulling it over.

"Ouch… That's got to hurt!" Ash cringed, sympathy washing over him.

"Mm… use…" What should he use? "Ancient Power!" It wasn't Mamoswine's most powerful attack, but she lucked out and it managed to raise his other stats, as evidenced by his sudden triumphant look as the rocks sailed towards Wartortle.

Well, Mamoswine was still in the game. And, stronger than ever, no less! "Wartortle, use your Counter Shield, now!"

Now, Wartortle's Hydro Pump already pretty much qualified on a Counter Shield on its own, even before Ash had invented the maneuver. But, it had one sore weak spot; it only fired horizontally.

Mastering an upgrade had taken a lot of hard work, and a few dizzy headaches, but the two had found an answer to this problem.

The water type landed on his hind legs, flinching from the heavy impact of the move. Even if he had been the winner out of that collision, hitting such a heavy surface was a bit stunning, to say the least.

Still, he obeyed, jumping and retreating to his shell before spinning every which way; horizontally, diagonally, vertically. Finally, Hydro Pump started firing out of every hole in its shell, creating one monster of the technique Ash and Dawn had created together. The rocks were struck and pulverized by its highly trained jets, dousing the field in pressurized shots of water.

The results were stunning, to say the least. Dawn's jaw dropped and Mamoswine stomped in place. "Did he just...?" Shaking her head, she realized her only options were to press on or give up in the face of that. Frowning, she pointed forward. "Mamoswine! Use Take Down again!"

The twin tusk pokemon obeyed.

"Now, skid!"

W-What had she just said?! The big pig obeyed, though, and found satisfaction in the new discovery. His big, massive weight was still headed straight for the Wartortle, but he had a shield of mud before him from all the water attacks.

You could almost see his smirk beneath all his fur.

In turn, Ash's jaw dropped at the display. That was incredibly unexpected.

Before Wartortle could do anything, though, Mamoswine's heavy body crashed into its shell, sending the poor turtle ricocheting before crashing into the ground below. The attack left a decent sized crater when the dust cleared, where the red shell lay covered in dirt and scratches.

"…Are you sure you don't wanna look into League battles?" Ash didn't have to explain any further. While her specialty was on the stage, she was an exemplary battler. Unlike May, though, who at one point was imitating his style, Dawn simply learned from it and reflected it with her own. Despite his rather large experience gap on her, she tended to surprise him at every turn, and he, her.

Wartortle soon rattled its way to its feet, looking a tad dizzy, but determined. Dismissing the worst of Ash's fears, he hopped back onto the battlefield.

"You know something? That's a thought!" Maybe she'd go speak to Nando at some point, but perhaps when her schedule was more open, she might set aside a few months to tour a region and take on its League _and_ circuit. "Mamoswine, remember that, though! We're gonna call it the Freight Train Attack!"

"Alright, great! Bubblebeam!" The thought of Dawn battling hardline, though, did sound kind of cool. At least, that's what Ash was thinking.

The tortoise's mouth opened wide, shooting off an explosive flurry of bubbles towards Mamoswine.

Large and in charge agreed to Dawn's words as he stood back up… only to be pummeled with a bubblebeam.

Eyes widening, she chided herself for letting her and thus Mamoswine's guards down. Wartortle would have a heads up on how to handle another Dig, going for another Take Down was risky due to the recoil damage he'd already taken—though he stubbornly refused to show that the second time—and she didn't think any of the frosty moves would amount to much.

He really only had enough juice for one more blow, anyway. Between the Iron Tail and the Hydro Pump, Mamoswine had been thoroughly zapped. This match had really come down to her thinking on her feet, because Ash's team outclassed hers in experience, power levels, and access to a trainer with more battle strategies pre-planned to call upon.

"Ancient Power!"

His stats didn't raise this time, but Mamoswine sent rocks flying again all the same.  
He didn't want to risk a second Counter Shield, though, with the effect it had on Wartortle in particular. Maybe they could try something else similar. "Wartortle, use Ice Beam on Ancient Power!"

Knowing he had little time to waste, Wartortle complied, firing a freezing ray of energy that covered the boulders in ice.

"Now, use Hydro Pump!"

The water type sprang up once more, retreating to his shell before blasting out with several rotating water cannons. The frozen stones had been weakened, shattered by the powerful jets. They would surely move on to Mamoswine as well, though, hopefully putting an end to the battle.

When the torrents of water were turned on Mamoswine, again, the giant of an ice type let out another squealing trumpet.

Knowing her pokemon well enough by now to be aware of when he was exhausting himself, Dawn got her pokeball out. The moment his legs buckled and his eyes gained the expression of an unconscious critter, she returned him.

Well. She was certainly on the ropes now.

"Togekiss, spotlight!" She called, elegantly tossing the pokeball into the air.

The Togekiss took to the air upon release, floating above the worn battle field the two trainers had marked with their fray. Despite the scene below, the fairy-type remained aloft with an unreal grace, calm in the midst of it all.

"Okay… use Sky Attack!"

Togekiss made not a move; her blow would come soon enough. Instead, she let out a low hum as her body began to glow brilliantly.

A Sky Attack…. Ash couldn't allow that to follow through. Wartortle was already worn down by Mamoswine's devastating 'Freight Train' attack. He was sturdy, sure, but being knocked out of a Counter Shield like that meant Ash could leave nothing to chance.

"Wartortle, Ice Beam!"

The water type opened its mouth wide once more, firing a freezing ray of energy toward Togekiss. He couldn't help but wonder, whether Dawn had an answer to this one. Unless Togekiss had learned to charge the move more quickly, Sky Attack would leave her a sitting duck - or, a flying one, rather.

Of course, she'd already realized her mistake the moment the Ice Beam left Wartortle's mouth. Note to self: sky attack is not a move to be used when she's flying solo, the girl realized.

As it had taken all of her energy to remain aloft and store up power, there was no way for the Togekiss to dodge even when Dawn called out once, twice, thrice for her to move. "Pull up, pull up!" _  
_  
A rush of relief fell through Dawn when the fairy-type managed to do so. She skimmed the earth, a light layer of frost on her feathers. She'd been that close to freezing…

"Use Air Slash!"

Togekiss obeyed, raising one of her wings to conjure a swirling orb of air pressure. Then, she launched it.

"Use Rapid Spin!" Ash called out.

Wartortle didn't waste a second, jumping up before retreating into his shell, spinning it at an outrageous speed. Air Slash impacted with the shell, a rather loud "wham" reverberating off of the hard surface. It had likely dealt some damage, but the attack was split in half. Now that it had been countered, the shell launched forward towards Togekiss, aiming to act as an attack every bit as much as it did a defense.

"Fly over it!" Dawn quickly commanded.

Barely able to move quickly enough to do so, Togekiss's belly grazed over Wartortle's shell. The friction and contact changed her flight pattern enough to send the flying type crashing into the earth, landing in a heap.

"You alright?" Giving her trainer an assuring nod as she righted herself, Togekiss took back to the post-sunset skies. "Use Air Slash, again!"

Taking to the air on heavy wings, the battered Togekiss obeyed. "Kiss!" she cried before sending another slicing whirlwind out.

"Wartortle, use Skull Bash!"

Wartortle tucked his head, crouching before launching up towards Togekiss, hoping to avoid the wrath of Air Slash.

"Higher!" Dawn warned. But, it was to no avail.

There were a few benefits to being able to fly—an ability to dodge was one of them. Or, rather, it would have been a benefit if Togekiss were less bulky. The white pokemon wasn't all that dexterous when not flying in patterns, as evidenced by the fact she was unable to avoid the Skull Bash.

"Toge," she called out, dazed as swirls marked her eyes.

"Good job," Dawn praised. Well… last one.

"Prinplup! Spotlight! It's up to you!"

Having been given a minute to cool off in his pokeball, the freshly evolved Prinplup grinned. The ends of his flippers flashed and he looked back at Dawn.

"…Oh? Okay, then. Use Metal Claw!"

No matter how hard that Wartortle's shell was, he decided, he was going to bat that thing around - that, or Wartortle would fight him like he felt a proper battle should go.

"Prin!" he cried as he rushed forward, metallic flipper swinging.

Unfortunately, Wartortle lacked any physical moves that could duel it out with Prinplup. On the bright side, only in his second stage, he was still relatively agile. Wartortle made a swift jump over the first strike with Metal Claw, landing behind Prinplup… Only for a second smack of his wing to send the fatigued turtle flying, landing unconscious.

"Wartortle, return!"

The water type was called back, the ball deposited to Ash's belt. "You were incredible. Get a good long rest."

Now, Ash only had two Pokemon left. Bulbasaur could put a decisive end to this… But that wouldn't be all too interesting. Instead, he called on his other remaining Pokemon. "It's your turn, Misdreavus!"

"Dreavus~!" The tiny ghost sing-songed, floating about the battlefield. Surprised to witness the penguin's new form, the ghost gawked before congratulating him. With that out of the way, she was ready to battle.

"Prinplup, I wanna know more about this one, so you've really got to push her, okay?"

Never one to want to disappoint Dawn, Prinplup nodded.

"You wanna see what she can do, huh? We can arrange that! Misdreavus, start us off with a Power Gem!" Ash called, clenching his fist.

"Power Gem?" Dawn quietly wondered. That had to be… Her eyes widened as the move began to set off. Rock type! Definitely rock type! "Prinplup, Steel Wing!"

"Prinplu - "His victorious cry was cut short as a beam from the Power Gem clocked him. He raised his metallic flipper soon, though, battering away the solidified energy. He had to take this seriously.

"Ice Beam!" Dawn ordered as soon as the Power Gem faded. She furrowed her brows. Charizard was powerful; though Prinplup had a little time to recover in his pokeball, the water type was showing fatigue already. That, or Misdreavus was _also_ very powerful. They'd see shortly.

"Psychic, turn it back on 'em!"

There was a mild struggle for control of the Ice Beam, but Misdreavus was in fact more powerful than Prinplup and soon turned the ice back on the originator of which.

"Bubblebeam!"

The move stalemated, shimmering ice shards falling between the two pokemon after Prinplup destroyed his own move with the water move.

"Hm. Payback might actually give him energy," Ash mused. "Misdreavus, Shadow Ball!"

Dawn's eyes widened. What could they do? Prinplup was being pushed very far. Did he even have another powerful move left in him? She'd have to hope so. "Hydro Pump!"

Thankfully, Prinplup was very good with this particular move and it not only managed to blow back the Shadow Ball but also to hose down Misdreavus. The little ghost sputtered, gasping for air after being doused by her opponent.

"Misdreavus, Psychic, again!" Ash was going in for the kill. If this worked, though, he wouldn't even have a chance to use Bulbasaur. Somehow, that was a little disappointing.

All Prinplup could do was go wide eyed as the telekinetic control took over him. Misdreavus was pretty childish, so before she went to the main part of the move, she made him hit himself twice. Then, she simply slammed him into the ground hard enough to knock him out cold.

"Misdrea!"

Dawn walked out onto the field, looking between her starter and the new ghost type. "I would have thought she would have been weaker since she's still in her first stage," she explained. "Good job, Prinplup. You gave me what I wanted. Take a nice long rest. I'll wake you up at the Pokemon Center, huh?" Dawn encouraged, petting the penguin's back before returning him.

"Well, I caught her up on Mt. Silver." Ash likewise returned his last used pokemon. "Good job, girl." He then looked at Dawn, hands on her hips. "What gives? I still had a pokemon left?"

Almost about to go off on the boy, the girl held back, realizing he had expected more of a challenge from her. "Hey," she said instead, tone gentle. "You've got a few years on me in battles." Her voice dropped in tone, decidedly less gentle but not quite harsh. "Besides, one of us ran off to a frigid mountain to train while the other took a nice working vacation."

Ash chuckled. "Oh, right! I just assumed everyone was working as hard as I was!"

She shook her head. "Well, I'll have to keep up and give you a real toe to toe battle soon, then, won't I?" she teased, headed out of the lot and towards the Pokemon Center.

Her companion followed after, grinning wildly. "Aw, man, I look forward to it!"

* * *

With Pikachu and Prinplup both healed up - along with the rest of their teams - the foursome was complete. Ash stretched as he and Dawn walked away from the Center's counter.

"Man, I'm starved! What do you say we go find somewhere to eat?"

The coordinator hummed. "Yeah, I could go for that. There's a contest coming soon, so there should be a lot of vendors around! Wanna grab street food?" she offered.

"I'm down for it if you are, Pikachu!" Ash clarified. His partner naturally agreed. "Alright! To the street vendors we go!"

The group walked together, Pikachu on Ash's shoulder and Prinplup holding Dawn's hand after he realized he was now too large to be carried. The night had come in full and the moon shone above, perhaps a week at most away from being lush and full. The three-quarters moon was surrounded by a flurry of stars, all shining as magnificently as the paper lanterns and twinkling string-lights of the various booths and vendors.

"Kebabs! Get ya' kebabs here! Fresh, hot, spicy kebabs! We've got hot ones, mild ones, ones that could melt ya' face off! Step right up and get 'em while they're hot!"

"Aw man, that sounds great!" Ash enthused. "C'mon, Dawn, I want two!"

"Two?" she teased. "You gonna share with Pikachu?"

He grinned at they stood in line, remembering his partner in his haste to fill his belly. "Of course…"

Dawn nodded. "Prinplup, do you want one?"

He nodded, pointing to one that was a little different from the rest. It had… seaweed on it?!

"Well, if you like it…" Dawn decided.

Ash turned around, both his and the one he would let Pikachu have in hand. One kebab had plenty of onion, pickles, and potato while the other one had carrots and apples. Pikachu was already nibbling on the baked apples, savoring cinnamon peppered treats.

"Hm… I'll have the one with the bell peppers and the one with the seaweed!" Dawn piped up, fishing for her wallet out of her backpack.

"Well, don't you have the strange appetite, little lady? Mind your friend's breath, though, he got the flavor pack, not the savor pack!"

"... huh?"

The vendor felt the sweat bead on his forehead. "Never mind, little miss. Thank you and enjoy your meal."

Exchanging her money for the kebabs, Dawn gave Prinplup his before nibbling on her own. Perfect! "So, you wanna go see what else there is going on?"

"Sure!" Ash agreed.

As they walked along, they pointed out the various booths. Each tried out the bucking Rhyhorn stall. Though Ash was stronger than Dawn, she had a better sense of balance and thus she got the better time. They watched as the Mawile booth allowed people to test their luck for a prize.

"That's crazy," Dawn muttered.

"What? That? Nah, you just gotta move your hand fast enough!" he assured. "Here, watch this!" With everyone having finished dinner, they were all hands free. Dawn and Prinplup followed Ash and Pikachu over to the Mawile booth.

"I wanna try!" he enthused.

"Certainly, young man. First try's free! I'll stick a prize in Mawile's mouth and if you get it out without getting your hand stuck, it's yours!"

"Nice!" Ash cheered, already consenting. An Ariados-themed tape measurer was placed inside. Ash readied his arm. He shot it forward…

Only for it to get stuck in Mawile's mouth.

"Youch!" the boy yelled.

"Aw, better luck next time!"

Dawn stepped in. "Maybe we should do something less dangerous!" Dawn encouraged, guiding Ash away from that particular booth.

Rubbing his hand, Ash shook his head. "Darn, I really wanted to win."

"Pika pika?" the electric mouse inquired, confused.

"I dunno. It looked cool. Someone could have used it. Don't you need tape measurers for fashion?" Ash inquired.

"Yeah, I guess, but I've already got one in the little sewing kit Mom gave me for travel." Dawn shrugged. It had looked pretty cute, but somehow, she didn't really want an _Ariados_ -themed one.

Realizing his mistake, Ash laughed and scratched his head. "Right, right. Well… Then, it could have been used to… Measure these guns!" Ash struck a pose, Pikachu barely hanging on with the sudden, jerky movements.

"Pika!" the mouse complained, moments away from shocking Ash in retaliation.

Dawn paused for a moment before she burst out laughing, doubling over to hold her stomach. "You… big… dork! Who says that? Haha!" Her twinkling laugh carried on for a moment.

Prinplup decided he should hop on the train. He struck a pose as well.

Ash almost got mad… But, they were having a good time, and he hadn't seen Dawn laugh this hard since, gosh, they were back in Sinnoh when that happened! Setting Pikachu down, he struck another pose. Prinplup at once mimicked him, sending Dawn into another fit of laughs. Pikachu eventually joined them, causing Dawn's laughter to suddenly go silent, her face red.

"Y-You guys… are so stupid!" she giggled, finally gathering herself and wiping away the tears that had gathered for her extended mirth.

All three boys beamed, pleased to have amused Dawn so much.

"Man, that was great. Tell you what, I'll win you guys some prizes!" Dawn boasted. "Good jesters should be awarded, right?"

"... Wait, did you just call me a clown?" Ash interrupted.

"Come along!" Dawn chimed, avoiding the question as she headed to the Goldeen catching booth.

By the end of the night, she made good on their promise, but only barely. Hard won were two vouchers to the cupcake booth, a sticker booklet, and a badge polishing set. All in all, it wasn't a bad haul for a night out among all the vendors and game booths. The sweetest treat, though, each of the teens decided, was just getting to hang out with an old friend.


	23. Bringing Back that Competitive Spark!

The morning of the Mulberry Town contest had finally arrived and Dawn couldn't be more excited for it. Though she felt a bit odd over the fact there would be no need to dress in in a Kanto Contest, Dawn was still certain that the similarities and their training would outweigh any novelty of the region to assure them a victory!

Stretching his arms above his head on their mid-morning walk over to the hall, Ash let out a yawn. "Man, everyone seems hyped up about the contest!" he chattered, stepping close to Dawn thanks to the throng of people around the contest hall. The festivities had brought quite the turnout. Not too shabby for a town this size, he figured.

"I know! I'm excited. This'll be a great way to make a debut in Kanto!" Dawn enthused. She paused as she realized Prinplup, squat and slower than the two long legged humans and no longer afforded Pikachu's ride-along privileges, had fallen behind. "Oh, man, we're gonna have to watch our pace."

"Nah, no, we don't," Ash argued. "Pikachu, if you'll let Dawn hold you." Passing off the confused mouse to the equally confused coordinator, Ash surprised them all by swiftly and easily picking up Prinplup when the penguin showed up. "Yeah, you're a little heavier, but nothing I can't handle for this last block!" he assured them all.

Prinplup was too shocked to speak. Then, embarrassment set in and he sulked, crossing his flippers as Ash carried him like a sack of potatoes.

Dawn giggled whilst Pikachu made himself comfortable in her arms, deciding the alternating carry pattern would work until they got somewhere that didn't risk Prinplup getting separated from them.

Soon enough, they, along with the crowd, entered into the hall.

"I guess this is where we split up!" Dawn said to Ash over the din of the crowd as he set Prinplup down.

Getting Pikachu back, he nodded. "Right. We'll try and get good seats to cheer you on!" He raised his hand, a silent gesture of their mutual support and friendship.

Grinning, she clapped her hand against his. "I better see you!" With that, she departed, confidence boosted even more so. She felt as if she'd practiced plenty - between the training with Ash, her own concentrated efforts with Quilava, and her own experience, she felt that her first contest, this go around, would go off without a hitch.

"C'mon, Prinplup. Let's go and find some good seats so we can cheer our heads off for Dawn!" Ash raised a fist, as was custom before pulling the penguin along by his flipper. The latter did his very best to keep up.

While Dawn had managed to keep herself relatively calm in this exciting new atmosphere, thanks to her experience, a lot of the other coordinators were milling around, looking nervous. By Dawn's observations, there weren't very many of them, either. As she walked fully into the backstage area, she looked around, trying to find someone who looked like they knew what was going on.

"Hey, what's up with everyone?"

"We're short some people," a coordinator snapped, looking tense. Her Zubat clung to her shoulder, ears also pinned back. "If we don't get two more people - well, one, since you're here - we may have to cancel the contest!"

"Oh no!" Dawn whined, troubled. All the work she'd put in… Heck, all the work the town had put in! That'd be such a disappointment, a waste of everyone's time.

Soon, however, everyone's worries were calmed. In skidded a little girl, her little Jumpluff as winded as she was.

"S-Sorry! Our alarm broke!"

The backstage manager walked in as well. "Alright. We've got enough to start. We'll only have two battle rounds, though; there isn't enough people for three."

Dawn could live with that. She let out a relieved sigh before giggling. The poor little girl who came in last was being chewed out by the woman with the Zubat.

The event began with its typical pizzazz. Dawn watched from backstage whilst Ash watched from the stands. They noted each coordinator going by; Ash, judging them for their skills, and Dawn, as competition.

The angry woman with the Zubat went out first. A hasty Supersonic seemed to irritate the audience and judges rather than impress them. A vigorous Astonish showed off Zubat's speed and agility. However, that was all to their appeal. Dawn felt a little embarrassed for her. She was clearly new to contests. While the Zubat girl clearly had plenty of energy, her presentation was severely lacking.

It was a little later when the girl with the Jumpluff went on stage. Dawn was impressed with the intention of the little girl's displays, but just judging by the way her Jumpluff's Poison Powder accidentally obscured the brilliant light from Synthesis, she could tell the poor girl hadn't practiced enough. Her Bullet Seed made up for this, though, Dawn gladly noted, and her execution of Bounce as an exiting move was first rate! What an excellent way to add the luster she had lacked at the beginning of her appeal.

Right after the Jumpluff girl left the stage, an older woman with a Persian stepped into the fray. Starting off with the starry, elegant brilliance of Swift, it was clear the older woman had been in the game for a while. Her Persian followed up with Bite, the dark type move eating up each and every star like a little black hole. Though this old woman, like the Zubat girl, had only used two moves, it left a much stronger impression on the judges. They wanted to see and know more, an air of mystery left as the two finished.

Finally, a familiar face stepped onto the stage. Dawn wasn't too surprised to see Ember there as she'd signed up for the contest, but the Flaaffy was new. Where was her Cherubi? Then again, Dawn always kept Piplup, now Prinplup, out and she wasn't using him this time.

"Flaffy, let's razzle dazzle 'em!" Ember ordered. With that, her appeal began. Flaaffy was truly a little starlet, using Light Screen to create mini, pinker hued versions of herself as she danced across the stage. When Ember ordered, she added Charge to the appeal, causing sparks to crackle over each limb as she twirled. Finally, the Flaffy dipped herself, barely hanging onto one of her Light Screens for support as a Thundershock was set off. It cracked all of the screens, allowing Flaaffy to drop onto her back.

A bit more dramatic than Dawn would like, but judging by the way Flaaffy's right leg stayed straight up even during the drop, the coordinator guessed it was some obscure dance move she'd never heard of rather than a flaw in their appeal.

There were a few more until Dawn's turn. She was next to last, a fact she was very glad for. This meant Quilava's appeal would leave a huge impression on the judges. But, soon enough, the time passed, and it was their turn to go.

As they walked onto the stage, Dawn kept a limber pep in her step. Quilava walked beside her. As soon as they reached center stage, Dawn exhaled, allowing a tightened fist to relax. "Alright… Quilava! Spotlight~!" The teen chimed, elegantly tossing the notably seal-less pokeball into the air.

As always, the device burst open, a bright flash of light quickly taking shape on the stage. "Lav!" The fire type chanted, landing on all fours. Aiming to make a good starting impression, the pokemon expelled hot flames from her back. "Let's show them what you can do, Quilava! Use Flame Wheel!" The pokemon quickly obliged, tucking into a sphere that surrounded itself in a roaring flame. A tight circle was torn around Dawn, her hair dancing in the wafts of heat thrown off. The hotter and more brilliantly colored the Quilava's flames grew, the further the second stage pokemon span around Dawn.

"What a nice Flame Wheel by Dawn's Quilava! You can almost feel the heat coming off of that attack!" Lilian shouted into her mic, mirroring the audience's thoughts. Those in the stands watched on, curious.

"Now, let's kick things up a notch! Mix in a Flamethrower with that Flame Wheel!" Dawn shouted.

With that command, Quilava began inserting Flamethrower, turning into a pinwheel that spun around her trainer, who held her composure. The yellow-green flames morphed into a true purple-blue. Navy bangs began to billow above the heat, tinted by the various change in color. Of course, Dawn had learned the hard way that the star wasn't supposed to be her, but her pokemon.

"Now, Quilava! Use Smokescreen!"

As the creature continued to spin, she exhaled hot smoke from the pores on her back, still spinning about. Swirls of ashen clouds surrounded the duo completely.

She whistled, though no one save Quilava would hear it between the distance and the roar of the fire type's flames. Quilava emerged from the thick smog, flipping before landing on all fours. She spat numerous Swifts, the stars cutting through the smoke, leaving black trails after the stars before it all disappeared.

"What a pretty performance! Put your hands together for Dawn and her Quilava!" Vivian shouted.

Though, they needn't be told twice. The crowd bellowed with cheers, enamored with the beautiful display.

Ash, in particular, elected to whistle and shout. "Alright, Dawn!" He cheered, pumping a fist in the air. He wasn't alone; Pikachu stood atop the wall separating the crowd from the stage, decked out in one of his cheering garbs.

"Pika, Pika-ka!" The mouse shouted, waving two different fans in support. Prinplup joined in cheering, too.

Quilava reared onto her rear legs, bowing in time with Dawn. The wriggly pokemon jumped into Dawn's arms, and the girl walked off stage, managing to carry the fire type for that long.

Next was the battle round… And, only half the contestants would make it to that; Dawn was sure she would be among that party.

Ash couldn't help but jump his way over to her, making for quite the unusual scene. He'd rushed down from the stands to greet her, so he didn't particularly mind making one. He had both of his fists raised outward at chest level, dark eyes lit up with excitement. "You guys really pulled it off out there!"

"Pika-Pikachu~!" Pikachu cheered, more or less saying the same.

 _~Too cool, too cool~!_ Rosa chimed in as well, limiting her telepathy to Ash and company. She'd been let out once Ash decided the contest hall's occupants would be more focused on the stage than her, giving the Riolu less to get stressed about with all the people nearby.

Dawn let out a chuckle at their praise while Quilava puffed out her chest. "Thanks! All the hard work everyone put in really paid off." At hearing Rosa's message, Dawn nudged her fire type.

" _Thank you!"_ Quilava chirped. _"Maybe you should try it sometime! Your aura's really cool, too!"_

 _~You think!?~_ The Riolu beamed, becoming quite eager at the thought.

"Ah… we made it to the battle rounds." Turning to grin at them a final time, Dawn flashed a thumbs up.

The backstage area was tense. Well, for Dawn, it was. The fumbling little girl with her Jumpluff chatted ever so kindly with her opponent, a stalwart seeming man in his later years accompanied by an equally old seeming Golem. A few other coordinators also talked amongst themselves, though none of them were as forward as the little girl to speak to their opponent.

Dawn, for her share, continued to trade occasional, fleeting staredowns with her soon-to-be opponent. Of all the luck, she and Ember were slotted to battle each other. Quilava didn't concern herself with the competition. Half draped across Dawn's lap, the little fire type focused on her breathing, knowing it would be important in the upcoming challenge.

Finally, the previous battle was called, a newbie rushing dramatically off stage over his first loss signalling such. Dawn felt sympathy, but also considered that perhaps he should have had more composure.

All the same, she stood, watching Ember return her Cherubi.

"Good luck?" the bluenette tried.

Ember merely huffed. "Witch."

With that, the two walked out the opposite stage entrances as their names were called, tension brewing in both of their veins and a certain glint in Dawn's eye that screamed her need for victory. All the same, despite the fight bubbling under their skin, they kept civil. Both smiled ever so beautifully!

"Next up, we have Dawn all the way from Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh, up against the Pinkan Princess, Ember!"

The crowd responded well to both names and Dawn suddenly was curious about her opponent. Who, exactly, was Ember? She'd look into it later. Right now, she had a battle to win!

"Time starts now!"

Dawn wasted no time, hand swinging forward with dramatic yet tasteful flare. "Quilava, spotlight! Start us off with Swift!"

Rushing to the middle of her particular section of the battle court, Quilava opened her maw wide to set off a barrage of Swift stars at Flaaffy.

"Flaaffy, let's razzle dazzle 'em!" the other coordinator called. "Light Screen!"

Though Flaaffy was able to throw up her Light Screens in time, Swift would not be stopped by such a move, though it was slowed. The twinkling of the stars combined with the soft, chiming clatter of the battered screens created a beautiful scene.

Fortunately for Dawn, the Light Screen response did not cost her any points. And, though it didn't cost Ember any either for failing to fully stop the move, it at least did do damage to Flaaffy. She could work with this; little by little, she would make sure Quilava put Flaaffy down for the count.

"Flaaffy, let's show them the beauty of a pure hearted girl and her pokemon! Use Cotton Guard!" the redhead ordered as she gripped both fists, legs spread and expression passionate.

Dawn had to resist making a face. Pure hearted…?! What was she implying about Dawn, exactly, with that statement?!

The judges and crowd oohed and aahed as Flaaffy twirled, cotton fluff materializing and sticking to the electric type's body to form a protective coat of plush armor. At the end, the pink pokemon struck a pose, costing Dawn a number of points with the judges.

Not to be out done, Dawn bit right back. Dramatically placing one hand to her chest and the other reaching out to the field, she spoke: "Quilava! Like a girl head over heels in love, let's take a Flame Wheel to the stage!" When she heard one of the judges realize she was teasing her opponent and snicker at her joke, the coordinator's grin widened.

The little fire type tucked into herself, rolling forward to smash into Flaaffy. Untucking after the rebound pushed her away from Flaaffy, Quilava watched with a smile as her opponents Cotton Guard caught on fire, burnt up, and was nullified.

Ember lost more points for that then Dawn had for being out done on stage.

However, the fiery duo's giddiness lasted only a moment. Quilava tensed, kneeled on one side as paralysis from ramming into Flaaffy took hold. Dawn's eyes widened. All of Quilava's appeals pretty much relied upon her being able to move. Sure Flamethrower and Swift still worked, but if she wasn't moving, would it have the same impact?!

Seeing that she'd bought a little time for herself, Ember nodded. "Let's Charge up for a final blow!"

Flaaffy raised her little hooves above her head, chanting her name over and over as a dazzling, crackling gleam danced over her skin and wool. "Flaaffy Flaaffy Flaaffy Flaaffy!"

"Quilava, Flamethrower!" Dawn grimaced at the failure, points being lost due to the pitiful show on Quilava's behalf.

"Now, with all the speed and dazzle of a stylist lamb, Flaaffy, use Thundershock!"

Thundershock?! Somehow, Dawn felt insulted, but all the same she knew with the charge and the fact the attack was the same type as the pokemon, it was nothing to sneeze at. "Quilava, you have to dodge!"

Amazingly, Quilava did manage to move! She was merely entirely too slow, gait not straightened out at the moment and she let out a yelp when the enhanced Thundershock scorched her backside. More points lost for Dawn.

Ember twirled, clapping her hands together as she turned around to face the field again. "Flaaffy, honey, let's get dressed for success! Cotton Guard!" Once more, the show was put on, though no points were lost due to the move already being used this battle and in the same exact manner, as well.

However, Dawn was deeply insulted. If that wasn't a taunt, she didn't know what was! If Ember really thought she'd use another Flame Wheel, the snotty redhead had another thing coming. "Quilava, Smokescreen!"

The stage was flooded with pitch black smoke, obscuring both pokemon. Judging by Flaaffy's bleating, the sheep was obviously confused about where Quilava was now.

"Now, Swift!" Ember shouldn't have underestimated her, Dawn thought; after all, she'd seen Dawn do this in her appeal.

Quilava charged forward, movements slower but finally functional, as she cleared the way before her, the barrage of stars cutting through the smoke to hit the blinded Flaaffy before finally Quilava spat out the attack at point blank range, causing Flaaffy to fall back on her butt from shock and pain.

"Flaaffy!" the pink pokemon cried out.

"Quilava!" the navy back pokemon asserted, confidence renewed.

Dawn nodded, clenching her fist happily as Ember lost enough points for that muddled display to even the two girls out.

"Flaaffy, get up and use Charge!" Whatever pretense Ember had been keeping up was suddenly dropped.

That was fine with Dawn. Watching the Flaaffy use Charge, she knew she couldn't afford to play around anymore either. Their time was limited and Quilava's backside dropped, evidence she couldn't really walk right now, but that was fine. In her haste, Ember hadn't allowed Flaaffy to back off. "Quilava, Flamethrower!"

The stream of fire washed over Flaaffy at point blank range. When the last of the flame cleared, the sheep blinked before falling over, knocked out. The timing was perfect. Ember's points were draining, likely to drop to empty, just as the referee called Dawn's victory.

"Ember's Flaaffy has been knocked out, and is thus unable to battle! That makes Dawn the winner!"

"Ugh, I can't believe this!" Ember whined. "I lost to this weirdo chick and her meanie pants pokemon!" Stomping off stage, Ember didn't seem to even care about the negative attention she was gathering.

"... Snorlax isn't even my pokemon," Dawn mumbled as she kneeled down, scratching Quilava behind the head as her face was moved from the first round of battles to the second on the overhead screen. With that, the coordinator and fire type left the stage, leaving it for the next duo to battle on.

After a quick trip to the in-house healing station and a quick chat with Ash - they'd run into each other on accident during the intermission - Dawn was back in the backstage area. Between Ash's gentle encouragement, Prinplup's outspoken pride that she'd beaten Ember, and Quilava's quiet confidence, Dawn felt as if she could most definitely do this.

Besides, it was only two of them left in the competition. Her and an older woman wrapped in what Dawn hoped was faux fur. As Ash had pointed out during their break, no matter what, Dawn would at least be making it as runner up in her first contest.

Still, Dawn couldn't help but want to shoot for the gold.

Finally, the backstage manager gestured to Dawn and the mysterious woman. Quilava walked by Dawn's side as a Persian slinked beside the old woman.

"Out final round, everyone! The winner will be decided between Glenda from Saffron City and Dawn from Twinleaf Town! Now, let the battle begin!"

Not wanting to hold back this time, Dawn came out hitting hard. "Spotlight, Quilava! Use Flamethrower!"

"Persian," Glenda said haughtily, "use Fake Out."

The Persian ran forward, leaping towards Quilava. The little fire type flinched, head turned away and move canceled out. The normal type grinned, smacking Quilava to the side.

"It's fast!" Dawn gasped.

With the fire type's composure broken, Dawn's points chipped away just a bit.

"Now, use Bite." Glenda was so calm, completely in control of herself.

Dawn's eyes widened. She hadn't lost many points yet, but being tossed around like this would eventually cost her the points and the match! "Quilava, use Flame Wheel, and turn up the heat!"

The big cat pounced down onto Quilava just as the pokemon tucked into herself. As teeth sank into Quilava's back, her flames flashed out angrily, burning a brilliant blue-green. It made the Persian yelp and back off. Not ready to let her opponent get away with the damage she had done quite yet, Quilava pursued, ramming her rainbow flamed body into the fleeing feline. With that, she untucked, facing the Persian and Dawn with her back to Glenda.

"Quilav!" she challenged.

"Perr," the big cat growled, crouching low.

While Dawn felt satisfied with the points Glenda had lost due to her quick thinking, the way the old woman remained calm was a little unnerving. Did she know something Dawn didn't?

"Quilava, use Smoke Screen…" Whatever it was, Dawn wasn't going to let Glenda do it without a challenge.

The old woman remained passive. "Persian, Screech."

The image of Persian yowling right before the smoke enveloped it was haunting to say the least. It caught Dawn major points, the judges a little more moved by this impromptu performance than Dawn's hard earned rainbow fire. It was a little frustrating to the coordinator, honestly, but it was all the more motivation to work hard.

"Now, use Swift."

Dawn's eyes bulged. Did _Glenda_ just tell _Persian_ to use Swift?! "That's our… combination..." There were no rules against that, just a general code of honor. Dawn watched in shock as smoke was cleared, revealing Quilava having taken damage.

"I know, deary. You should learn to keep your aces hidden," Glenda taunted. The elder was schooling Dawn, it seemed. Glenda relished in the points Dawn lost, a smile finally crossing the old woman's face.

"Fine. Quilava, use Flame Wheel!" Persian couldn't steal that, she figured.

"Persian, dodge!"

The normal type leaped effortlessly over Quilava's initial attack, simply too speedy even for the fire type. Untucking and skidding to a stop upon realizing she wouldn't be able to keep up like this, Quilava looked back at Dawn.

"... Right! Like we practiced! Rainbow Flamethrower-Flame Wheel!"

Whilst Glenda considered making a snarky comment over the wordy name of the move, Quilava tucked into herself again, normal rich red fire around her as she ran at Persin again, the cat dodging once more. The time around, the Flamethrower was added to the Flame Wheel, scorching the cat as it ran out of the way. Now, finally, the flames increased in heat, glowing brilliantly in white and purple before the edge flames faded into the other beautiful hues.

Quilava knocked fully into Persian, untucking mid-air to watch gleefully as her opponent skidded painfully across the battlefield.

"How're those reflexes now, huh?!" Dawn cheered, fist pumping with pride at what her pokemon had done. It helped that the move had cost Glenda massive points, putting her slightly below Dawn in that manner.

Desperation entered Glenda's face. "Persian, use Bite!"

"Smokescreen, Swift!" With them on the ropes, Dawn would allow no room for error.

Persian's Bite hit soot and ash. Quilava, hidden within her Smokescreen, waited to see the glint of Persian's forehead jewel before finally using Swift. The stars once more cut through the Smokescreen, not winning or costing anyone any points, but putting the punishment on Persian all the same.

"Grah! Persian, use Bite!"

"Flamewheel!"

It was a knock out. The moment all of Persian's weight came down on the open flames, Quilava kicked the normal type off with her sphere of fire, earning herself the victory.

"Quil lava!" she barked, warning the Persian to not underestimate her despite her size.

"And, the match goes to Dawn!" While Glenda still had enough points left to have made it a questionable victory if the timer had been the end of the match, the one on one round ended in Dawn's favor and that, along with her marginal point victory, was all she needed.

Glenda nodded, calming down as she returned her Persian. Years of experience allowed her to get emotional when need be, but also put on the mask of professionalism with ease. Meeting Dawn at the center of the stage, the woman spoke lowly, barely a whisper. "You're very talented, my dear, but you're a bit of a show off. You might want to keep in mind a bit of mystery is every woman and every coordinator's ace in the hole. That said, congratulations. It's good to see fresh talent."

Dawn watched her elder exit the stage, an odd mixture of leftover contempt for the enigmatic, thieving way Glenda operated but a certain admiration. The woman was right. Dawn did need to be a bit less forward and open with her appeals and potential combinations. She'd keep that in mind going forward. But, right now, she had a ribbon to receive.

Soon, the stage was cleared, leaving the main judge to approach Dawn, opening a small case to reveal her first ribbon secured on dark velvet.

"And now, is pleased to present the Mulberry Ribbon to our big winner, Dawn!"

It was a rather fancy looking design, bearing a gold base with two layers of four pink bow-ends. The suited man standing at about Dawn's height offered a genial smile, pulling back the case after Dawn accepted her prize. "You competed in Sinnoh's Grand Festival, didn't you? Congratulations on starting your path down a whole new circuit!" 

He congratulated, going on to speak further. "That was quite the performance from you and Quilava. A great display of power, beauty, and discipline. I'm sure you'll do great moving on through Kanto!"

"I sure did! Thank you very much!" Dawn bowed her head to the authority before brandishing the small congratulatory medallion. "Alright…! I won the Mulberry Ribbon!" She cheered, holding it above her head.

"Quil, Quilava!" The bottom-heavy fire type cheered, jumping and wiggling in celebration.

The victory was greeted with much cheering and clapping, allowing the teen to soak in her victory.

Dawn spotted Ash within the crowd as she brought her hand down and looked intently at him for a moment, both of them sharing the same smile: one of pride from him and gratitude for her.

"Thank you all so much for coming! Be sure to congratulate our participants if you see them out on the street and enjoy the last night of festivities in Mulberry Town!"

With that, the contest was complete.

"It's always a pleasure to serve our victors," Nurse Joy chipperly said as she returned Quilava's pokeball to Dawn's possession.

The girl nodded and thanked the nurse, glad to have her whole team back her possession. Dawn walked back over to where Ash was waiting idly, Pikachu and Rosa watching a the end of a cartoon with him. "Okay! You guys ready to go?"

"Mmhm!" Ash agreed, picking up Rosa as Pikachu scampered up his shoulder. "You know, we didn't get a chance to talk on the way over with all of the crowds, but that was a great contest, even if you guys didn't have everyone there!"

"You noticed that?" Dawn inquired. "But, right. I got some good advice, too."

"Yeah! Ember's actually pretty talented, even if she's got a serious attitude problem… The li'l girl with the Jumpluff tried her best, too. And, that old lady - Glenda, wasn't it? - with the Persian was amazing! Was it her who gave you the advice? I saw her whisper to you!"

"She did, actually."

"Well?" Ash fished.

Dawn smirked, closing her eyes and lifting her chin up. "Can't tell you. It's a secret."

Prinplup snickered from where he walked beside the bluenette, the Pokemon Center now left far behind them.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Ash whined. "I'm not your competition!"

 _~Right!~_ Rosa agreed. _~A-Actually… We, or, um, I would like to be on the team… Contests seem really fun!~_

"You wanna be in a contest?" Dawn asked, a little surprised. "Well, I'm okay with it if you're okay with training with me for it! Ash?"

"Heck yeah! You're not gonna jump ship on me, though, are you, Rosa?"

Pikachu and Prinplup exchanged a look, recalling Ambipom and Buizel-now-Floatzel. Pikachu shook his head. Rosa might be interested, but she was entirely too attached to Ash to be open to changing trainers like that. Unless the situation happened that she couldn't get to Ash, she wouldn't go with Dawn.

 _~No!~_ the puppy barked, not entirely aware that Ash had been joking. _~I just wanna try!~_

"Relax, relax," Ash said, calming her. "I know. I was just joshin' with ya!"

Dawn giggled. "Well, that works out. Oh, right, the advice Glenda gave was to not show off all my moves before the contest really starts. I need to start keeping some moves in reserve."

"Makes sense," Ash agreed.

"Well, with Mulberry conquered, where to next? Cerulean City, right?" That was where Misty was, but that was about all Dawn knew of the place.

"Right! Most of the big cities are that way and there's towns all over the place, so there'll be tons of contests, I know it!" He looked up at the horizon as they headed into the woods once more, on the trail that would lead them eventually to Cerulean City. "But, first, we've got to go through Mt. Moon!"

"Mt. Moon," Dawn mumbled. "Hey, it isn't as big as Mt. Coronet, is it?"

"Nah," Ash assured. "But it's darn pretty." If they lucked out, they'd be there in time for the full moon!

Dawn suddenly raced ahead. All of her current pokemon except Absol and Houndour had been used in contests before. It was time to get more ideas, see new things, and get inspired. "Well, what are we waiting for?! If it's so pretty, I've gotta see it!" she yelled.

Ash ran after her, laughing. "Hey, Dawn, the mountain ain't going anywhere!" Still, neither slowed down. They'd get to their destination in record time if they kept this up!


	24. Third Time's the Charm!

Thanks for hanging in there, everybody! At some point, we did agree to answer questions before a chapter, so we're going to do that now, and address the concerns and questions some of the reviews have had.

Q: Gotta say, there seems to be some power continuity problems here. It just doesn't seem right that after Charizard's fight against Tobias, he ends up getting beat against a squirrel. IMO, Charizard should have sweeper Dawns entire team. Other than Rosa, the rest of his Pokemon shoulda wrecked too. It just doesn't make sense that a coordinator was able to hold her own against a veteran trainer who spent the last year training in one of the harshest environments in the world

A: This is a complaint we've had quite a lot of since chapter 22 was posted, so we thought it'd be best to address it. Just speaking in terms of Ash and Dawn's battle, the idea was to communicate that their synergy in battle is still a factor, and that Ash and Dawn understand each other well enough to battle basically on par, even though Ash is definitively stronger than her. Most of Dawn's victories were lent to quick thinking and being creative, rather than matching him in power. Charizard had to face three different pokemon to go down, and had handicapped himself by not taking Piplup/Prinplup seriously. As usual, he paid for that attitude. If he'd been at his best, and were they to have a rematch, chances are, Dawn's team wouldn't have fared so well. Ash's team is plenty powerful, but there's more to a match than pure strength.

Q: I hope you don't have rosa do contests with dawn- and have ash actually join up and start contests.

A: Well, their goals for this region run have already been decided; Ash and Dawn have their goals to achieve and are dead-set on them. If you hang in long enough, though, you might get to see Ash compete for fun!

I hope these are satisfying answers; we're doing our best to create a story that you guys enjoy. Feel free to ask more, and we hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

With Ash having finally defeated the Pewter City Gym and Dawn having earned her first ribbon in the Kanto Circuit, the duo have set out towards Cerulean City, along with their Pokémon. Before they could reach their next destination, though, they first had to cross through the mythic Mt. Moon. After another detour through the city of stones, they'd arrived at the foot of the mountain.

"It's beautiful up here!" Dawn marveled, hands clasped together in admiration as she gazed upon the skyline. The sun had already begun to set, just barely hanging over the craggy rocks, plump and red against beautiful streaks of purple and orange that lined the skies. An encroaching blanket of blue told the group that night time was mere minutes away. "You weren't kidding, Ash. This is great!"

"I told ya," Ash smugly agreed, enjoying the sight, himself. While he wasn't one for aesthetics, it certainly had a homey, nostalgic feel. Grass encroached around his feet, giving way to dirt and pebbles wherever the group was lucky enough to find a path. If there was any place that characterized the great outdoors, this was it. "It's been a really long time since I've been here… Hey, there's the entrance to the caves!" He beamed, pointing forward to the mouth of the mountain. "We should get to the center of Mt. Moon in no time now!"

Glad they were making good time, Dawn was swift to follow along. Unfortunately, the pleasant view of the skies was traded for the narrow, murky shelter of the mountain's shady tunnels. Squinting, she struggled to make out walls and shapes, lest she walk into something. "It's way too dark in here." Reaching into her bag slung over her shoulder, she rummaged before pulling out a flashlight. A quick flick of her thumb projected a narrow ray that guided their path. "That should be a little better."

"Yeah… Hey, I know! Pikachu, why don't you help us out a lil'?" He suggested, looking to the mouse on his shoulder. While he could probably navigate the path with aura, that wouldn't help Dawn much.

"Pika!" Ash's partner nodded, jubilant as ever as he hopped down in front of his trainer. Sparks began to dance from his cheeks, making their trek just a bit less confusing.

Content with their illumination, Ash grinned, folding his arms behind his head as he walked along. "Man… this place really brings back memories."

Dawn's head cocked just a bit at that. "Really? What kind of memories could you make here?"

"Well, I remember this is the first place where me, Misty, and Brock all fought Team Rocket together. They were trying to steal the Moonstone here… Well, Moonstones, now. But, the Clefairy and Clefable helped us take care of them! That was pretty cool, wasn't it, buddy?"

"Chu~!" Pikachu chimed, looking back quite fondly of getting to watch the Clefairy dance and evolve.

"I hope they're all still here… The last time we saw them was when I was taking on the Battle Frontier, with May, Max, and Brock." They were still going through the very same ritual, back then.

"That sounds amazing! I remember the Clefairy back in Sinnoh being really pretty… It'd be nice if we could see the ones in Kanto! Wouldn't it, Prinplup?"

"Prin, Prinplup!" The growing penguin trilled, waddling along at Dawn's side. That'd be exciting!

Just then, a pink puff crossed their path. Dawn let out a gleeful squeal, only to deflate upon seeing that it was not, in fact, a Clefairy. Ash, however, froze up, Pikachu mimicking him. The two watched in dead silence as the Jigglypuff moved on, eyes wide all the while.

Dawn, her disappointment over with, moved on, head hung a little low. "What a shame," she mumbled, Prinplup chirping in agreement. It was then that she noticed Pikachu and Ash hadn't moved. "Uh… Guys? You two alright?" She shined the flashlight at the two of them, confused and concerned.

Ash shook his head. "Yeah. We're fine." He looked down to Pikachu. "No microphone, buddy. We're fine."

"Pika chu…" the mouse said in relief.

"What was all that about?" Dawn asked as Ash and Pikachu caught up, brows furrowed.

Ash shook his head. "I thought it was different Jigglypuff."

"... Are you seriously afraid of Jigglypuffs?!" she asked, shocked.

"What? No! Well, one of 'em? But, not really scared… Ugh, forget it! Let's get going!" Picking up a fast pace, Pikachu and Ash soon left Dawn and Prinplup trying to keep up.

* * *

The cavern grew darker before speckles of light shone through. Intricate, thinly dug tunnels - probably ancient holes, now almost filled in, of onyx - let starlight filter in. It gave the whole cave system an otherworldly feel, and Dawn couldn't help but let out little oohs and aahs at the various rock formations. Soon, the distant melody of Pokemon came to the trainers' ears.

"What's that?" Dawn asked, captivated.

Prinplup swayed, the chiming voices incredibly soothing.

Ash grinned. "It's the Clefairy and Clefable." He reached for his belt, holding a pokeball in hand. "Dawn, Prinplup, you two stay here. I'll go say hi first with Pikachu, and then we'll let you know if they're okay with us hanging out here."

"Uh, okay." Shrugging, she and Prinplup felt for a relatively smooth wall before leaning against it, counting down the minutes until they were called for.

Ash, guided by Pikachu's light and the sound of the fairies singing, continued forward. He released Rosa as he went. "Hey, girl! I've got some pokemon I want you to meet!"

Cocking her head curiously, Rosa only held onto Ash's jacket as the tunnel widened, eventually emptying into the massive cavern of the Clefairy.

The Clefairy all held hands, dancing in a circle with their eyes closed and their own voices rising from their throats, forming a melody which had only improved in time. It was serene, magical even. The Clefable flew back and forth from high holes in the wall, carrying Moonstones they'd hidden away to make a pile atop a seemingly natural rock pedestal, carrying the gargantuan crown jewel of a Moon Stone. The moonlight filtered in at an angle, causing the dusty cave air to glitter with its light. With time, the moon would move and the light would eventually shine directly down on the pile.

But, right now, Ash had other things to occupy him.

He, Pikachu, and Rosa stayed silent, breath taken by the beauty of the colony of Clefable and Clefairy… Until the sole Cleffa let out a cry of alarm, the only one unoccupied enough to notice his arrival.

"Cleffa!" it cried, bouncing away and towards the circle of Clefairy.

The music stopped. The dancing stopped. The Clefable landed. Some of the younger looking Clefairy appeared hostile, seemingly cornering Ash.

"H-Hey, guys, it's me! Your old buddy Ash!"

"Clefable!" One of the older looking Clefable stood before the teen, arms out. Soon, other Clefable and a few Clefairy joined the elder, squabbling with the angry Clefairy. Perhaps they were vouching for Ash, clarifying that he had had helped save their precious evolutionary means and themselves so long ago, and rescued one of their young, more recently. This seemed to not only pacify but to shame the younger Clefairy. They looked to Ash before muttering amongst themselves and bouncing off.

"Clefa," the elder said, nodding. With that, it and the others turned to Pikachu. "Clefable fable!"

"Pika!" the mouse chimed, happily greeting their old friend. He looked up to his trainer, then.

"Oh, right…!" For a moment, he'd almost forgotten. "It's great to see you guys again! I kinda need to ask you a favor… My friend and I were coming through, and we need a place to stay for the night… Do ya think we could stick around and watch your ceremony? We won't get in the way, promise!" He lifted his arm, thumb raised and a cheesy grin on his lips.

One of the Clefairy had flown up, cooing over Rosa while the little Riolu shyly hid inside of Ash's jacket. At this question, however, it turned to its peers. They all gathered, talking among themselves.

"Clefable Clefable, Fable!" "Clefairy… Fairy, Cle." "Fairy fairy!" "Fable." "Clefairy…" "Fable?" "Fable."

The group turned around and nodded in unison. They would let Ash and his friends watch their ceremony! It was only right, after all. He was a friend of the whole colony!

"Alright! Thanks!" Turning and cupping his hand around his mouth, Ash called out. "Dawn! Prinplup! They said okay! C'mere!"

Soon, the sound of boots crunching and webbed feet plopping could be heard. Then, the missing duo stood before the Clefairy and Clefable. They clustered around Dawn and Prinplup, analyzing and sniffing, so that if they were to ever run into her without Ash again, they wouldn't be as harsh upon sight. One particular Clefairy flew up, gently touching Dawn's hair before letting out a happy squeal.

"Clefa!" The texture was so smooth and silky, yet thick!

Flattered but confused, the bluenette blushed before tucking her hair back into place as the Clefairy rejoined its kin. "Well, they're certainly a friendly bunch, huh?" Her thoughts trailed off as she caught sight of the cave. A groove had been worn into the ground around the giant magical rock, generations' worth of Clefairy dancing around the pile to initiate their evolution. The whole cavern had a mystic feel about it. "Whoa…"

"Nice, right? Hey, let's get a good spot to watch! They're gonna start dancing!"

Ash and Dawn both walked deeper into the cave, standing with the Clefable as the Clefairy danced. Both smiled.

Soon, however, a Clefairy broke away, bouncing over before tugging on Ash's hand.

"Huh? You want me to join? Well, alright! Here goes nothing!" he remarked, being led over to the line and trying his best to keep up with the circle. A few of the Clefairy looked a bit irked, but the rest just giggled and danced around Ash. "Your moves have gotten a bit more complex," he whined, still trying to remain good natured with a smile on his lips. Still, he could hardly keep up!

Back where Rosa had been left with Pikachu and the others, her face fell at the sight of her papa's haphazard dance moves. There was no way Ash was this bad… But, if he was dancing, so was she! _~Pikachu! I'm going to dance!~_

"Pika," he said, giving her permission while hanging back himself. He shook his head as the little Riolu ran over, quickly joining Ash in the circle.

As Dawn settled down, Prinplup snatched a pokeball out of her bag. "Hey! What's gotten into you!?"

"Prinplup!" he explained, showing off who he'd released.

"Buneary?" the confused rabbit asked. Spotting her crush, she blushed.

Prinplup leaned over. "Prin… Plup!"

"Buneary…" Deciding to take Prinplup's advice, Buneary shyly walked over, offering her hand to Pikachu.

Pikachu hesitated before giving in. He walked over to the circle dance, paw in paw with Buneary, as Prinplup followed, letting out excited whoops as the water type stepped into line beside Rosa. Both of the "babies" of the group were having an excellent time whilst Ash continued to fumble along, and the long eared duo both tip toed around the fact they were dancing together.

"Hey, Dawn! You're the only one not dancing! Even the Clefable are starting to join!" Ash pointed out.

It was true. It was probably minutes to midnight and the celebration was in full swing. The dance had become wilder, livelier. Ash twirled in the line, trying to keep right on time but almost tripping over his feet.

"... Fine! But, let me show you how to actually do this dance!" The girl got up, walking over to Ash as he broke away from the main party. "Come here." Standing directly in front of him, she put her hands on his shoulder.

Quite used to touching one another given their high fives and general chummy nature, Ash tried to figure out where he should put his hands before putting them on her waist with a shrug. She didn't mind.

"When I step forward, you step back. Got it? Okay, now, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. That's great! And, one, two, three, four -"

The two danced for a moment, Ash's movements eventually looking more like the Clefairy's… Until he stepped on Dawn's foot as she was going back, throwing the poor girl off balance.

"Ah!" she cried out, eyes clenched shut in expectation of hitting the floor.

But, she never did.

Ash, eyes slightly aglow, blinked, removing said glow. "Whoa. Sorry. Guess that aura training paid off." He found Dawn and himself mere inches from the ground, one arm snugly around the coordinator's waist, and another planted against the nearby rocky wall, saving both of them from a painful fall. Once again, his newly honed sixth sense proved quite useful.

It was quiet for a moment, Dawn too shocked to speak, before she sputtered out a laugh. Ash, momentarily confused, joined her. With a bit of struggle, particularly amongst their laughter, the duo pulled themselves upright. The initial closeness, their faces having been mere inches apart, was played off as little more than a clumsy fluke. And, yet, both caught sideways glances of the other as they stood, gauging the other's expression as the giggles faded.

"Well, while I appreciate it just as much, that doesn't feel very Aura Guardian-y," she teased.

"Hey, someone's gotta watch out for you, Ms. Bad Luck!"

"No need to worry! As long as you're around, I'm sure all the bad things will move towards you instead!"

Ash calmed, bickering aside. He ruffled Dawn's hair much to her chagrin and was rewarded with a swat of her hand. "That's when I worry the most." It was only when he looked up that he noticed all of the Clefairy and Clefable, as well as their own pokemon, had seen their antics. The entire room had gone quiet…

Before it burst into even more music. Inspired by the trainers, each Clefairy took the hand of a Clefable, spinning, leaping, and flying around the Moonstones. Taking his cue, Prinplup picked Rosa up and span her around, earning a delighted yip out of the puppy. The two blue pokemon danced very playfully together. Meanwhile, Buneary looked on the verge of either passing out or flying with joy at the fact Pikachu was holding both of her paws to dance the new way with her.

"I guess we could try that again," Dawn suggested, looking up to Ash.

He cracked a grin. "Maybe I should lead this time."

"You just learned the dance," she argued.

"Yeah, well, I'm taller! The taller should lead, right?"

Their little argument was interrupted by the tiny Cleffa calling out. It stood on a ledge. The moonlight was directly overhead, passing before her and shining right on the Moonstone pile. Suddenly, the Clefable disengaged, stepping back as the Clefairy formed a circle again. Some of the Clefairy even stepped back, not given the privilege to evolve this time. All of Ash and Dawn's pokemon returned to their sides, watching in silent awe.

With muted reverence, each of the chosen Clefairy stepped forward, chanting their name low and sweetly as they picked up a Moon Stone. They held it to the moonlight breaking through the hole in the cave ceiling, letting the white light of the moon wash over them as their own inner white light glowed over their skin. Soon, the Moon Stones they had picked up shone as well. What had been a cluster of Clefairy just moments ago began to shine and morph, sprouting larger wings and taller bodies. Once visible, they'd become a troop of fully evolved Clefable.

The whole cave broke into a chorus of cheers. The colony came together in a pink hurricane of hugs and congratulatory chattering. The outsiders merely clapped, each very proud of the Clefable.

While they did that, Dawn looked to Ash again. "Oh yeah, thanks."

"Hm? For what?"

"If you hadn't caught me, I would have really hurt my head, you know. We were right by a wall. A rock wall."

Ash smiled. "Of course! That's what friends are for, right? 'Sides, you taught me the dance!" He crossed his arms, looking back to the calming colony of Clefable and Clefairy.

"This was fun," Dawn noted. "We should dance again sometime."

"I think I tried to get you to back at that Croagunk Festival, didn't I?"

"Sorry… I didn't know you were actually a good dance partner." There was no teasing between them this time, merely a recollection of previous good times. Both sincerely meant it, though. It was always fun to play around with a friend, after all.

"It's a good way to spend an evening," he said, letting the subject trail off. "Friends, Pokémon… And, boy, am I tired now!"

"Well, it's past midnight and we've been going all day. We should get some rest," Dawn agreed.

"I don't think the rest of the caves are good places to sleep in," Ash confessed, watching the Clefairy and most of the Clefable head off to bed. Some remained in the cave the party had been in, watching over the Moonstones. "We should be able to sleep here. Between our Pokémon and these guys, we'll know if something happens!"

"I think our Pokémon already agree!" Dawn said with a giggle, noting the little cuddle pile.

Pikachu slept with his back to Prinplup, who slept belly down on the floor. Rosa was laid directly on top of Prinplup, back to back with him. Finally, Buneary looked as if she had been trying to work herself up to sleeping by Pikachu before settling on leaving a little space between the two.

"I guess Prinplup makes a good pillow," she giggled as she walked over, getting her sleeping bag out of her backpack.

Ash chuckled as well, taking his own out. The two worked slowly and carefully, but soon enough they had both of their Pokémon tucked into bed with them. Dawn found that Prinplup was indeed a good pillow, her back to him while Buneary slept in front of her. Ash was nuzzled in a little differently. Rosa was curled into his chest while Pikachu somehow managed to sandwich himself up by Ash's head on the pillow. Apparently, the mouse wasn't _that_ asleep.

"Night, Dawn."

"Night, Ash."

* * *

Morning came swiftly, their departure delayed by only an hour before the sun crested enough to spill in warm yellow light where the moon's glow had previously filtered through. The outsiders stirred, awaking to see the Moonstone being hidden by packed dirt and fresh moss and plucked weeds. Perhaps that was how they hid it now, not wanting to risk their most precious possession being stolen again. The Clefable elders worked diligently, making it seem as if the Moonstone were really just a lucky knoll of sun-fed flora in the midst of the caves.

Regardless, a single Clefairy remained in the open, away from wherever her peers were. She looked down at the waking humans, truly fascinated. She knew one as the hero her elders spoke of. The other was a stranger, but one that intrigued her. The Clefairy kept quiet, watching as they packed up their camp and returned the Buneary and Riolu, leaving on the Pikachu and Prinplup out.

"Well, I guess we should head out!"

Dawn nodded at Ash, following him towards the cave exit… Only for the curious Clefairy to jump in front of them, arms out and blocking their path.

"Huh? Oh, I get it!" Ash started, "You must wanna battle, huh? Trying to impress the Clefable?"

Eyes going wide, the Clefairy shook her head before launching herself at Dawn. A bit knocked back, but not falling over, the confused coordinator caught the Clefairy with relative ease. Prinplup, meanwhile, let out an indignant squawk. If he couldn't just jump into Dawn's arms anymore, no one could!

"... Are you trying to join us?!" the coordinator squeaked, a little shocked.

"Clefairy!" she enthused, her little pink face all aglow. She looked over Dawn's shoulder to her elders.

The Clefable looked among themselves before nodding, a sad smile on their faces, but understanding that colony life was not for all of their members. It would be best if Clefairy pursued what life was best for her.

The trainers remained ignorant to this exchange.

Dawn chattered excitedly as she lifted up Clefairy. "Oh, gosh, you're so cute! And, I bet you've got great moves! I'll be so happy to let you join! Here, stand by Prinplup while I get out a pokeball, huh?"

The group waited patiently until Dawn did such.

"Alright…! Pokeball, go!" Dawn chanted the usual trainer's cry, tossing one of the spheres forward. The device popped open, swallowing the pokemon in a flash of light. Landing, the ball wobbled several times before letting out a 'ding.' Needless to say, the Clefairy had allowed itself to be captured.

"Nice!" Ash congratulated. "But, you know… That Clefairy didn't evolve. That probably means she's pretty inexperienced. You'll probably need to train her a lot before you use her in a contest."

Dawn's mood plummeted. "Oh, right." So much for a surprise ace in the hole. Still, she perked up, nodding as the two gave a wave to their hosts and then headed into the caves once more. "No need to worry! I have to train up Houndour, too, so I'll just scare two Starly with one rock! I'll definitely know what they're capable of, then! Having a Pokémon who's a little wet behind the ears isn't a big problem!"

Ash chuckled, nodding in agreement. He recalled how well he'd done with newbie Pokémon, and how well Dawn had done, too. "Speaking of wet behind the ears… Let's hurry to Cerulean City! I'd kill for a bath! I didn't remember these caves being so dusty!"

"Well, we did a lot of dancing," Dawn mused, puzzling together the mystery of why Ash might be extra dirty. "We probably did stir up a lot of dust." She let out a content sigh. "It was worth it, though. It was beautiful and the company was good!" The coordinator shrugged. "Besides, you guys have seen me dirty before."

"Uh-huh," Ash agreed, remembering a few circumstances where Dawn had been particularly unfortunate. "You're right, though. Palling around with Pokémon and just having a good time. What could be better?"

As if to emphasize his point, the cave system finally gave way to daylight. It'd be a while longer before they got there, but the duo were back on their path to Cerulean City, and a Gym Battle with Misty!


	25. Rolling in the Deep End

The lushness of the west-of-Cerulean wilderness was left behind as the duo walked through town. The chatter of early morning market runs and children rushing to school made the whole affair extra pleasant… Though, neither of the two were all too jealous of the children's endeavors. Cerulean was a sleepy riverside city in the early morning. The dull roar of the nearby river followed the two until they stepped past the sliding doors of the Pokemon Center.

"It's so pretty!" Dawn gushed as they headed towards the counter, a Nurse Joy quietly sipping coffee already waiting on them.

"Well, it's a tourist hot spot, what with the Sensational Sisters and all," Ash clarified. "Morning, Nurse Joy!"

"Good morning. How can I be of service?" The nurse chimed, quickly taking on a chipper tone.

"We need a room for the morning," Dawn answered.

"And, our pokemon could use a checkup," Ash continued.

"Well, I'll get two trays. Put you Pokéballs in these while I arrange a room." She slipped further behind the desk, checking bookings and spare rooms.

Prinplup took a step back when Dawn approached him with the pokeball.

"Hey! You're too big to stay outside of your Pokéball during a checkup anymore! There's no way Nurse Joy can carry you!" Dawn insisted, stepping forward towards her starter.

"Prinplup!" the water type argued.

Just then, Nurse Joy came back, giggling at the scene before her. "Oh, that's fine! Actually, he can just follow me, if he wants."

Ash chuckled. "That'll work! Pikachu, can you make sure Prinplup acts right?"

"Pika!"

With that, the duo turned over their pokemon and got a room key in exchange.

"Hey, Dawn, I've gotta change my team around, so can I get the first shower?" Ash asked as they headed towards the room.

Dawn nodded. "Sure! I'll do some reading while you do that. I know they usually keep some coordinating and pokestyling magazines in the rooms. I wanna see if Buneary and Piplup debuted yet. It'll probably be next month, though."

Appreciative of her understanding, Ash headed straight for the bathroom once they got in the room. "Well, let me see when they do! I'm sure it's super cool!"

Ash's bathroom routine went by very quickly. Dawn didn't even have time to finish the coordinating magazine, though she did walk away with a notion that Kanto was more interested in making contests and League tournaments parallel. At any rate, she was very pleased to be able to take over the bathroom and Ash was content to leave the room to check on his pokemon.

Sure enough, when he entered the main lobby, Nurse Joy flagged him down with a wave of his arm, presenting him with a tray full of Pokéballs and Pikachu looking chipper. Hopefully Prinplup would continue to behave in the checkup area.

"Well, let's get a team ready to show Misty how much we've grown, huh, buddy?" Ash prompted Pikachu.

Excited to see his old pika-pal again, the electric type squealed in delight as he hopped back on Ash's shoulder. The two headed over to a PC, ready to ring up Professor Oak on this fine morning. Ash would transfer his entire team sans Pikachu and Rosa before Dawn finally exited the room, key in hand as they had no further need for it.

"There you are! Already got your new team ready? Who'd you get?"

"That's a secret," Ash answered, grinning. "Oh, yeah! Your team should be back to normal!"

A little miffed that Ash didn't explain himself, Dawn merely rolled her eyes before heading to the counter. Noticing her displeasure, Ash followed.

"Hey, I just wanna wow you and Misty!"

"You've sure talked her up a lot," Dawn noted, retrieving her Pokéballs from Nurse Joy, but not without thanking her first. Prinplup waddled along, following the group as they turned to exit the center. "I don't think I've heard a lot about her. Is she really that great?"

"Well, she's the first person I met on my journey! Right before the three of us met Brock. We didn't get along at all, at first… The two of us fought all the time!" Whether Ash looked upon that fondly or not was something even he didn't know, but an exasperated expression on Pikachu's face said it all, were Dawn to catch it. "She definitely has a bit of a temper, but she's really strong, too! I don't know what I woulda done without her and Brock that first go around."

"She sounds reliable, if not a little hotheaded," Dawn decided, basing her judgement off trainer and Pokémon's reactions.

"Oh yeah! She's mellowed out a lot over the years." Ash grinned, eager to see her again. "I wonder how she's doing, actually…"

"Has to be pretty well, if she's that strong and she's related to the Sensational Sisters." While the group wasn't as big in Sinnoh as they were in Kanto, they were still known. However, the conversation was somehow leading to an odd mixture of emotions in Dawn. She was both looking forward to meeting Misty and somehow feeling as if she would be okay without it. She tried to ignore the bittersweet feeling; but, somehow, after the thought of how intensely they'd battled just two days ago, she had to wonder how she'd compare to Misty. That was silly, she swore at the nagging thought; it's just a battle.

* * *

The Cerulean Gym towered above them. Equal importance was given to the show times and the hours the gym leader accepted challengers on the little informational poster on the twin glass doors.

"I guess Misty and Daisy have been at it again if they're having to claim hours," Ash noted as they two stepped into the gym.

Dawn tilted her head. "Daisy… That's one of the sisters, right?" Before Ash could answer, the girl was distracted by the aquariums lining the hall. "Oh, look at that Seaking!" she squealed. "But… what's that?"

"It's a fish," Ash deadpanned. "It's… an animal. Not a Pokémon." He shrugged, thoroughly confused.

"Oh! I know about animals! We have worms in Sinnoh! They're like… Wumrple, but they live underground! And, they never evolve! They're really tiny, too."

As the two discussed the absolute oddness of animals over Pokémon, Prinplup found he didn't particularly care. Something ancient and instinctual came over him as he was drawn to the tank side. "Prin…" He licked his beak, somehow finding the fish to be making his appetite come alive.

"Actually, Kanto's got the most animals I've ever seen! I've seen fewer in other regions! I don't think Hoenn had any! I just saw less and less as my journey went on." Shaking his head at the odd phenomenon, Ash turned to see the blue bird. "Hey, what's up with him?"

"I think he's hungry," Dawn giggled. "Hey, this is for looking, not eating!" she chided the penguin. He slumped, backing off the glass. With that, Dawn kept walking with Ash, Prinplup following begrudgingly. "This is all so pretty…! Misty must be like a mermaid or something! This gym isn't at all like Crasher Wake's was!"

"Uh, you might not want to tell her that," he warned. "She's pretty proud of her tough girl look. Then, again, after Togetic… Hm." Ash put hands behind his head. "I can't figure her out. She acts all tough and then she does all this girlie stuff. You two are a little alike." He shrugged.

Soon, the aquarium led into the gym. And, there, kneeling at the side of the deep, wide, platform-dappled pool, was the orange haired gym leader they'd sought out. The Dewgong she petted looked up at her adoringly, her short curtain of carrot colored hair blocking them from her line of sight. At the shuffling of their feet, though, she rose, posture changing from gentle to ready to strike in an instant.

"Hey! If you're here for a - Ash?"

The duo walked over, each smiling at her.

"It's been a while, huh?" Ash inquired. Pikachu wasted no time in jumping off Ash's shoulder and into Misty's arms.

"It has been. Hey, Pikachu!" The gym leader then turned to Dawn. "So, what're you doing here? Who's this?"

"Oh! You didn't get my email challenge…?"

Remembering, Misty waved her hand. "Oh, right, nevermind."

A bit miffed that Misty had brushed him off after forgetting, he huffed before moving on. "This is Dawn! She traveled with me through Sinnoh!"

Until now, said bluenette had been rather stunned. "Oh, yeah! That's me, haha! Ash's has told me so much about you!" She reached her hand out, awaiting a shake.

Misty did so, giving Dawn's hand a firm shake. "He's said a little about you. Though, it was all good… What _exactly_ did he say about me?"

Only a little? Still, Dawn picked up Misty's hint, deciding to let slide what Ash had said.

Somehow, he already knew to look between the two of them with disgust, sensing the coming betrayal.

"Well, he said something about you being ticked that he got your bike crisped…"

"He did?! It's his fault! Of course I'd be mad! He stole it and it was, what, two years? Three?! Before I got another one!"

"You really made him get you another one?! I thought that was a joke!"

"Heck no!"

"I didn't think it was that serious when Pikachu ruined mine, honestly…"

"What?! You, too?! Ash! You can't just burn bikes! Did you even get May another one?!"

"May got hers burned, too?!"

"Ugh!"

"It's okay, I never actually wanted another… I made my journey fine without it!"

Misty's business with Dawn ended, the poor bluenette's attempt to calm her having failed for the most part.

"Did you seriously not even bother trying to compensate her? She's too nice to you, you know!"

"Hey, they didn't ask! You were always asking for this and that!"

"Yeah, and? It kept you on your toes!"

Dawn grew quiet as the two spoke, somehow feeling out of place. There wasn't really space for her to come in and talk as they began talking about old times, things she didn't know anything about. Misty asked when Ash was going to start being responsible and he said something about going back for Pidgeot. Dawn didn't even know he'd ever let Pidgeot go. Was this Ash's actual personality…? No, she decided; it was just memories from a time Dawn couldn't know.

"Anyway," Misty snapped, looking away from Ash. "Are you going to make good on that challenge or not?!"

"Oh, now you're ready to battle?" he taunted.

Misty cracked a grin, crossing her arms. "Only if you think you'll be able to keep up! I've really been training hard! Heck, I might be close to being a water master!"

Ash shrugged. "You'll give me a good run for my money, then… Unless you're running your mouth because you're chicken!"

"Who are you calling a chicken?!" Misty roared, infamous temper flaring in full force. Her Dewgong friend cowered, diving into the waters and swimming away. The youngest Sensational Sister whirled to face Ash, storming over and getting so close that she was mere inches from his face.

Dawn froze, shocked.

"Well? We gonna battle?" Ash seemed unphased by it.

Snorting, Misty turned and headed towards her portion of the field. Ash, likewise headed towards his. Only Dawn remained on the sidelines and after realizing that the battle was about to start, she headed up to the stands.

"So, how many Pokémon are we gonna use?" Ash questioned, a gloved hand already lingering toward his waist, itching to make a selection and begin their rematch that had been held off for far too long.

"How's three on three sound? You'll get to see the awesome power of my water pokémon!"

"That's fine with me!" Ash barked, fists tightly clenched and blood already boiling.

While Ash and Misty loudly discussed the terms of the match, only Dawn noticed the quiet tapping of feet headed up the opposite stands. As they were not lit for easy movement during a show, it was hard for her to discern who it actually was. Her distraction with this stranger in the stands was removed by the duo below declaring the match would begin.

"Alright, let's show 'em, Croconaw! I choose you!" Knowing fully well that Pikachu wouldn't be participating, Ash made his first choice. A pokeball was tossed forward, revealing the energetic water type.

Croconaw hopped and jostled about on his platform upon the water, equally excited to see Misty and to begin the battle that was, no doubt, about to begin. As well as he knew those two, the Pokémon was far from surprised.

"Aw, Totodile evolved!" Misty faltered from her ferocity to marvel, before remembering that he very well could have been her Pokémon, long ago… But, that was history. "Alright, then! If it's a water battle you want, it's a water battle you'll get! Gyarados, I choose you!" Rather than throwing a pokeball, Misty simply snapped her fingers.

Ash gawked, a brow raised at the absence of a Pokéball. Soon, the pool below began to tremble, forcing Ash to reinforce his footing as he watched the leviathan surface. Gyarados' long, segmented body burst out of the pool with a terrifying roar. Looking vicious as ever, the pokemon set its eyes on Ash and Croconaw.

"Oh boy… We're fighting Gyarados right off the bat, huh? This is gonna be tough. But we've got what it takes, right Croconaw?" Ash reassured his pokémon, who let out a cry of agreement.

"Alright, Misty, give us your best shot!"

"Be careful what you wish for, Ash! Gyarados, use Flamethrower!"

"You know the drill, Croconaw, dodge it!" Ash called. He had a lot of faith in the croc's dancing habits.

Ash's confidence proved to be well-placed. Just as it had always done in its smaller stage, the second stage starter scrambled from his platform in a mad, playful dash, hopping to the next platform atop the water.

"Don't let it get away, Gyarados!" Misty commanded. Gyarados didn't relent, the roaring flames following.

And yet, the skillful dancing persisted, the water type executing an agile flip back onto its first elevation.

"Agh, I forgot how quick-footed that thing was… Gyarados, use Slam, now!"

The Atrocious Pokémon's finned tail rose to the surface, brandished like a hand ready to swipe at its owner's target. And, in fact, it did just that, swinging towards Croconaw with terrifying force.

"Dodge it, Croconaw!" Ash shouted, swallowing as he watched the incoming fin. Even from where he was standing, that was pretty terrifying!

"Croc!" Timing his trajectory just right, Croconaw launched off both of its feet, tucking in his tail to narrowly avoid the larger Pokémon's wrath. He'd done better than dodging, in fact. He'd clung to Gyarados' tail with his claws, scampering his way up his opponent's body with agile leaps and bounds.

Gyarados looked too stunned to respond in time, truthfully. Just who did this pokémon think it was!?

"Don't let him do that, Gyarados; shake him off!" Misty warned. Allowing Croconaw to make use of his speedy and erratic moves was the last thing either of them wanted to do. She knew that well.

"You get it first, Croconaw! Use Crunch on its head, now!"

The little gator didn't have to be told twice. Leaping off one of the pokemon's higher segments, he parted his maw wide, freeing himself from Gyarados' shaking.

Sure enough, he sunk his fangs into the crest atop Gyarados' head with a powerful chomp.

The larger pokemon winced, furious with the painful bite. It began to buck its head. It wanted Croconaw off. _Now._

"Shake it free, Gyarados! It can't hold on forever! Then, use Slam!"

The giant demon of the sea began to buck its head erratically, tossing the small water type to and fro as he clung on for dear life with his powerful fangs. That was painful in itself, making Gyarados even more furious.

Soon enough, a buck of its head threw Croconaw off of his living, thrashing chew-toy, knocking him helplessly into the air.

Watching Gyarados ready its tail, Ash panicked. "Look out, Croconaw, it's gonna hit ya!"

Ash's warning came a little too late. A brutal swing of the limb sent the smaller pokemon dive bombing into the pool. The trainer inwardly cringed, almost hissing at the attack's severity. "That's gotta hurt…"

Under the surface, Croconaw gasped and heaved, having had the air knocked right out of him on impact. It was quite fortunate that he was able to breathe comfortably underwater… Knowing he needed to be present for his trainer's commands though, he peddled toward the surface, quickly ascending before his head popped out of the water.

Ash let out a sigh of relief that he could've sworn he was holding onto for an hour or so... "You had me worried there. Good job hanging in tough!" Ash praised, though he hadn't missed the Pokémon's condition. He looked winded after that powerful hit. "Hey, good idea… Why don't you chill out in the water for a bit, till you're ready to go again?" Maybe if he lured Misty into getting close, they could take advantage of that, too…

"There won't be any chilling out in _my_ gym, Ketchum!" Misty interrupted. "Gyarados, use Flamethrower on the water!"

Gyarados was just as eager as its fiery trainer to continue the assault. Its wide mouth parted, spitting up a scalding bath of flames upon the opposite side of the pool, rather than Croconaw himself.

While Croconaw had been content until then, suddenly he wasn't feeling all too cozy anymore. The water had begun to bubble, heat rising and concentrating in Ash's end of the pool. The water type's eyes shot open wide, panicked cries following a burnt bottom as he hopped and scrambled onto the nearest platform.

"Hey! What's the big idea? That was a dirty move." Ash frowned, hands on his hips - as if he actually held a moral high ground. In all truth, he was probably just miffed that his strategy got nipped in the bud.

"You wish. That's just _strategy._ As far as I can remember, there's no rule against that, is there?" Misty boasted, a hand similarly stationed on her hip. In her case, out of confidence, rather than contempt. "As an aspiring water Pokémon trainer, I have to be able to control the water in any way I can find. And, I'm certainly not going to let you use my own battlefield against me!" Unfortunately, Ash had gotten her to monologue, and Croconaw had gotten comfortable on his safe haven. "Gyarados, Hyper Beam!"

The large creature's maw became visible once more, the dark abyss of its throat lit up with a building, glowing golden orb. Quickly gathering particles of energy, it was already ready to fire.

"Uh oh…! That's gonna be a problem!" Ash noted, sweat dripping down his forehead.

The massive attack fired, sending a large, blinding beam of destructive energy towards Croconaw.

Quickly thinking, Ash threw a hand aside. "Uh, dodge that by using Hydro Pump!"

There was no way he was going to question Ash now. Firing a powerful jet onto the platform below, Croconaw launched himself sky high, well out of Hyper Beam's range. Even better - he was heading towards Gyarados!

The Atrocious pokemon huffed and heaved, less than comfortable after expelling so much energy.

"Now it's spent, and it won't be able to move for a moment! Alright, Croconaw, Ice Punch!" Ash deduced and declared, punching one of his own fists into the air for dramatic effect.

Already free-falling from his boost above, Croconaw pulled back one of his fists, charging it with a freezing, glowing aura. Falling down toward Gyarados, the water type struck out with a wild swing of his fist. Gyarados was struck right in the side of the face, letting out a pained roar as the cold coursed through his system.

"Awesome job, Croconaw!" Ash cheered, thrilled with their successful maneuver as Gyarados fell towards the water, and his own teammate landed on a nearby platform on Gyarados' side of the pool.

"C'mon, Gyarados. Pull yourself together!" An encouraging cry came from the other side of the battlefield. It was clear as day that if they didn't rebound, then Ash would continue to take advantage of his momentum.

By now, Gyarados had started to right itself, shaking its head to ward off the leftover chill from Ice Punch.

"Get it again before it attacks; use Crunch, now!" Ash shouted, pointing forward.

Strong, ever-fleety legs launched the gator towards his opponent, mouth wide open. The Atrocious Pokémon tried to retreat, but the effort proved only so useful. Croconaw's jaws had closed down upon one of the long whiskers adorning Gyarados' face.

"Darn it… Gyarados! Shake him off!" Misty grimaced. Watching her most powerful Pokémon become seafood for Ash's companion was less than dignifying.

Letting out a displeased roar, Gyarados began to thrash about once more, sending Croconaw flying.

This time, the water type landed comfortably above the water, hopping about, excited as ever.

"Looks like Croconaw's having fun," Ash remarked, letting out a chuckle. Even in the midst of battle, it was hard to not be caught up in the playful Pokémon's energy.

"Glad you're enjoying yourselves," Misty bit back, just a bit irritated that she wasn't being taken seriously at the moment. But that would change quickly. "Gyarados, Flamethrower, now!"

Just as irritated as its trainer, the large sea serpent belched forward another stream of heat.

"Hydro Pump!" Ash countered, throwing an open hand outward.

A powerful jet of water shot out of the pokémon's large mouth, meeting Flamethrower mere feet from its target. Cool, pressurized water blasted through the fire, shrouding Croconaw's platform in hot steam.

"Now, use Slam!" Misty ordered.

Gyarados' tail was drawn back once again, readied before swinging forward across the battlefield. Surely, there was no way the little trouble-maker would be able to avoid such a wide sweep!

"Watch out, Croconaw!" Ash shouted, leaning forward. As if he could do something to protect the Pokémon.

White hot steam still surrounded the target of Gyarados' attack, leaving his surroundings less than visible, shrouded in the vapor covering him. Ash and Misty's shouts, though, gave him a clue. He leapt up once more, a simple backflip executed as the gigantic limb swung by. Shivers were sent through the normally carefree Pokémon's spine, a rush of wind conjured by the Slam attack bellowing past. Steam was swept up and dispersed, revealing a panicked, but otherwise unharmed water type.

"Hah! Awesome job!" Ash cheered… Though, through his bravado, he'd discreetly let out a sigh of relief.

"Agh… This is ridiculous." Misty's brows furrowed. She was being toyed with and forced to give chase in her own gym. Then again, against Ash, she knew not to expect anything less. "Let's finish this! Use Crunch!"

Gyarados didn't need to be told twice. With Croconaw out in the open, the beast lurch forward, ready to bite down upon the small gator. With all things considered, that would be very satisfying payback.

Croconaw's eyes practically bulged out of his head, finding himself staring down a giant, gaping maw, and of course, razor-sharp teeth. Swallowing, he anxiously awaited orders from Ash. This was nothing short of terrifying.

"Oh man, that's bad…" Ash's face faltered, staring into the giant's wide, open mouth. "...Hey, that's it!" Ash snapped his fingers, having hatched up a last-second plan. "Use Hydro Pump, right in its mouth!"

Croconaw was eager to comply. Opening his own smaller, but still terrifying mouth, the water type let out a terribly powerful gush of water, shooting right into the nearing Gyarados' mouth.

To Misty's horror, the Atrocious pokémon began to cough and hack, impeded much like one trying to breathe with their head out the window of a moving car. Disturbed by the unexpected intrusion, the large pokémon found itself weary and disoriented, only mildly aware of its sneaky opponent.

"Now's your chance, Croconaw! Scratch it up with a Slash attack!" Ash cheered.

Greeted with a very close, defenseless opponent, Croconaw danced and tip-toed forward, leaping to greet its face with a series of precise slashes of its claws. The large pokémon recoiled, revealing the attack to be quite effective.

"Now, finish it! Use Ice Punch, full power!"

While Gyarados was still reeling, Croconaw jumped and flipped forward one final time, each of its small fists glowing brilliantly with a freezing energy. Both limbs were smashed down upon the water type's crest, knocking it off balance and into the water below. Several large waves were knocked out of the pool, splashing the perimeter, and the competitors, to boot. Ash quietly whined about his soaked jeans, but Misty seemed unaffected… Aside from worrying about her Pokémon, of course.

"Ah, Gyarados!" She cried in worry, waiting for the inevitable until it surfaced. Gyarados floated on the pool surface, swirls in its eyes. After a hard and brutal fight, it'd been sorely defeated.

"Alright, good job, Croconaw!" Ash praised, giving the primitive reptile a thumbs up.

"Don't celebrate yet!" the redhead snapped. "Gyarados, return! Starmie, let's show 'em who's in charge around here!" The multi-limbed water type span as it landed on a platform, central jewel flashing with vigor and alertness.

"Aw, no, I know how this one works! Croconaw, use Hydro Pump!"

"I hope that's not _fear_ I hear from you, is it?" Misty taunted. "Starmie, let's take them down a notch, with Rapid Spin!"

Sure enough, though Croconaw spewed out a mighty Hydro Pump, when Starmie began to spin, its elegant design cut through the water like a hot knife through butter. Starmie's advance was slow, opposed by the current, but soon enough Croconaw got a mouthful of Starmie.

"Crunch!" Ash was quick on the draw, too.

Sure enough, Croconaw bit down fiercely. Starmie flinched.

"...Thunderbolt."

Starmie capitalized on Croconaw's very vulnerable position, unleashing a powerful current of electricity into the water type's body. Golden sparks danced along the duo and the surrounding waters, leaving a fried, unconscious Croconaw in their wake.

In another situation, Misty might have been upset. As it was, Ash merely played right into her hands. Oh, the perks of having your opponent as a longtime friend! "Honestly, if you or your Croconaw could learn to keep your mouths shut, you'd be a lot better off!" she teased.

"Hey, if I gotta watch my mouth, you gotta watch your attitude!" Ash retorted before returning Croconaw. He'd fought hard, but it was clear he was done for the day. "Look, it got your Gyarados…" Shaking his head, Ash tossed out another pokeball. "Wartortle, I choose you!"

"Tortle!" The stage lights surrounding the battle field glinted with dramatic effect off Wartortle's shades, just as he would have hoped. Grinning cockily, the water type didn't seem too intimidated by his opponent.

"Squirtle evolved!?" Misty gawked, this development the first thing to cross her mind. "That's a real surprise… But doesn't he have to work with the Squirtle Squad?" From what she remembered, the gang tended to get overwhelmed with their work without him.

"Well, Officer Jenny said he's done a great job teaching them their stuff, so they can do without him for a lil' while, and he can fight alongside me! They'll do just fine until we get back." Ash explained.

"I'm sure he's done a great job, but now you guys are on my turf; a real home for water pokémon! If you don't remember that, you're gonna regret it." The fourth Cerulean sister smugly declared, a hand raised in a matter-of-fact gesture.

"Yeah? We'll see about that! The two of us are gonna show you how a _real_ water type fights!"

"Starmie, let's give these two hardheads what for! Rapid Spin!" Misty ordered.

"Wartortle, use Iron Defense and Rapid Spin!" If Misty wanted to keep playing a game of hard hits, Ash had plenty to dole out to keep up with her.

Wartortle retreated into his shell, spinning as his shell turned to a metallic gray. About that time, Starmie made first impact, the two ricocheting off each other. Willing themselves to change direction, they collided once more in mid-air. The clacking of tough Starmie-skin against Wartortle's hard shell echoed throughout the gym.

Growing frustrated, Misty spoke up. "Starmie, hit 'em with another Thunderbolt!"

Ash's eyes widened as another strike was called down, shocking Wartortle so badly he uncoiled out of his shell, falling into the water from where he'd been spinning from platform to platform.

Starmie, in the meantime, landed neatly on a dry patch of platform.

Nodding with contentment, Misty called for another move. "Use Recover."

Ash gritted his teeth. _'With it using Thunderbolt, Wartortle's in a lot of trouble… And it has Recover, too! If I'm gonna deal with that, we'll need to overpower it, big time!'_ If it were just one or the other, maybe… Still, Ash hadn't been training for nothing, so as soon as Wartortle surfaced, he made his move. "Great job, buddy. Take a rest. Return! Lapras, I choose you!"

The melodious pokemon appeared with a wailing cry, haunting yet beautiful.

"Well, it's been awhile!" Misty greeted, the edge of the battle taken off momentarily.

"Would you say it's ice to see Larpas? 'Cause we've got an Ice Beam in store!" Ash chuckled at his own joke while Misty and everyone else in the gym let out a sigh.

"Starmie, dodge this joker's moves…"

Sure enough, Starmie did. The area of water behind where Starmie had been froze, a small iceberg forming only to be broken up, floating throughout the pool and chilling the water.

"Well, Surf's up then!" Ash called, deciding to ham it up for a moment.

"Are you serious right now?!" Misty yelled. "Starmie, use Water Gun to get away!"

As Lapras caused a mighty tidal wave to swamp the pool from one end to the other, Starmie launched itself above it all, landing on a soaked, but still intact platform after the fact.

"Now, soak 'em down with another Water Gun!"

Lapras let out a squeal upon being hit in the face with Starmie's attack.

"Hey, hang in there! Just use Ice Shard! That'll teach 'em somethin'!" he assured his pokemon.

The blue ice type obeyed, a huge chunk of ice flung at Starmie, hitting with such force that the veteran resident of the gym was knocked right over.

"Well, I don't know about you teaching me anything, but you're gonna learn not to come at a water trainer with her own element! Starmie, another Thunderbolt!" Confident she was making good progress, Misty crossed her arms, chin up and stance wide.

Though he felt sorry for the way Lapras writhed, the moment Ash saw the excess electricity cackling over that blubbery skin, he saw his opportunity. _'It's just like on Mt. Silver…!'_ Ash thought to himself, a conniving smile spreading across his features. Except, this time, Lapras knew Thunderbolt all on her own! She could use a supercharged version of the attack to blow Starmie out of the water!

"Nah, this'll teach ya' to think I'm that predictable. Lapras, use Thunderbolt!"

Misty's eyes went wide as the larger Thunderbolt struck down, knocking out her Starmie in a flash. Her mouth hung open for a second. Then, she grunted and returned her pokemon. She supposed she deserved that for thinking Thunderbolt was her ace in the hole. "Well, loyalty's a good quality, so let's give it a try! Misty calls… Psyduck!" Another pokeball was lobbed forward, the resulting light materializing on one of the platforms.

"Psy-yy…?" The small, yellow duck tilted his head, looking as expressionless as ever.

At this sight, Ash had to catch himself before stumbling over in pure disbelief. "Uh, Misty…? You sure you're thinking straight, right now?" He'd seen Psyduck call on himself plenty of times, but for him to be her voluntary final choice in a gym battle? It wasn't like her to try to embarrass herself. "Or is that just your way of giving up?"

"Don't put all your Exeggcute in a basket yet, Ketchum! It just so happens I've taught Psyduck a few new tricks! You didn't think I'd never get around to teaching him to battle for real, did you?"

"Well, actually…" Ash trailed off.

"We'll just show you! Hit 'em with a Hydro Pump, Psyduck!"

The dumbfounded duck's beak opened wide, for once not letting out a simple chant, but a torrential jet of water that betrayed expectations, to say the least.

Any doubts Ash had were washed away along with any dust or debris on Lapras. The Transport pokemon gasped after the attack, completely taken off guard.

"That's some serious power," Ash admitted. "Who woulda thought _this_ was gonna be how our match ended?" He stopped short of insulting the duck; it was common knowledge among the group how powerful Psyduck could be when the situation called for it. Seeing him as a relied upon measure in battle was new, though. "We're gonna have to be careful, Lapras! Use Ice Beam on the water!"

Stubborn as ever, Lapras cried, letting loose a chilly ray of energy from his mouth. The assault swept across the pool in front of him, forming a notable wall of ice between the two competitors.

"Don't tell me you're going to beat us by hiding?" Misty questioned, incredulous. That was hardly characteristic of Ash outside of desperate situations. "I know you can do better than that."

"If it's such a joke, why don't ya show me you can deal with it?" Ash challenged.

"With pleasure! Psyduck, use Psychic, now!"

As usual, the water type held his head, not-so-visibly straining to assert his mental will upon the large water type hidden behind the ice barrier. Try as he may, though, the efforts only induced a tilted head. "...Duck?"

"Aagh… Damn it. I guess his headache must not be bad enough, yet." Misty averted her eyes from her challenger, twin fingers upon her forehead. This was hardly her proudest moment.

Lapras, meanwhile, had only experienced a mild, chilling discomfort.

"Well, if you guys aren't gonna attack, I will! Lapras, use Surf!"

A toss of the pokémon's head conjured its mystifying powers over water, throwing a mighty tidal wave across the pool. Even inhibited by the barrier he, himself had set up, Lapras had managed to sweep up Psyduck in the attack's wake.

"Uh-oh… I almost forgot! Psyduck can't swim, right!?" Ash's face fell, his aspirations nearly collapsing into panic.

"He's… Gotten better," Misty deadpanned, watching the yellow duck as he doggy-paddled his way back to his stand; by no means graceful, but it was a commendable improvement, anyway.

"Well, in that case, let's keep on rollin'! Lapras, Ice Shard, now!"

Lapras complied once his worry had settled, firing a collective mass of frozen water into the barrier, piling right through it. Some of the debris left over from the shattered wall even piled on, striking Psyduck just as he was managing to recover. The duck let out a cry, nailed head-on by the speedy attack.

"Psyyy-yyy…." Psyduck whined, tightly clutching his forehead. The attack had clearly left its mark.

"You've really gone and done it now, Ash!" Misty's confidence had returned. The fiery trainer from Pallet had spelled his own doom.

"Done what?" Ash cocked his head, oblivious until reality struck him. "Uh-oh… Looks like Psyduck's actin' a little funny." And, of course, he knew what that meant. As did Pikachu, whose ears drooped. While he felt bad for his clumsy, head-holding friend, he had a feeling he was about to feel even worse for Lapras.

"Correct! That headache's going to be our key to victory!" Misty pointed forward, eager to claim her comeuppance. "Psyduck, use Psychic on the pool! Let's give our friends a ride they'll never forget!"

"On the pool…?" Ash echoed. "Can he really do that?"

The glow around the yellow duck and the beginning of crashing waves answered his question. A steady cry of "duck" hummed eerily through the gym, sending small waves splashing over the sides of the pool. Inside the battlefield, though, was where the danger lay. Lapras was already finding himself less than content, trying to hold his own as the currents tossed and turned. He was having little luck, though, thrown far from his cozy position atop resting waters. By now, even his refuge had started to melt! Things weren't looking good for the Transport pokémon.

"Try and hang in there, Lapras! Use Ice Shard, one more time!" Ash coached, showing his support.

Ignoring its discomfort, balance barely held by his swimming and navigating prowess, the sea creature parted his mouth once more to form a solid chunk of ice, firing it towards his manipulative opponent.

Unfortunately for Ash and Lapras, the Ice Shard met a gloomy, watery fate. A jumping wave swallowed the attack whole, leaving it to be tossed and floated about the water bound arena.

"You've gotta be kidding! Since when could Psyduck do stuff like this?" Ash marveled, dumbfounded.

"I told you I was going to be a water Pokémon master! So, that means I'll control the water!" Misty boasted, hands planted proudly on her hips. "No matter which Pokémon I'm battling with!"

"Not bad," Ash would admit. "But, we can do better! Lapras, get yourself in there with Surf, now!"

Lapras knew this method well. In combat with more agile Pokémon, he'd learned from his trainer to use his ability to manipulate water to his advantage. A roaring wave erupted under his body, opposing Psyduck's to boost him above the volatile storm below. With the water commanded below him, he'd near Psyduck in no time.

Or, so they'd thought.

"Psyduck, bring down that wave, right onto Lapras!" Misty commanded.

The majority of the pool calmed, giving way to the churned and manipulated tidal keeping Lapras afloat. What had, moments ago, been a powerful arc, collapsed over and under the Transport pokemon, roughly dunking it under the water.

Before Ash even had time to gawk and worry, Misty followed up. "Now, throw it on out!"

"Duuuuck…!" Psyduck cried, putting the bulk of its telekinetic strength towards lifting the large beast from the pool. Once he'd surfaced, Lapras was tossed roughly past Ash, landing on solid ground.

Swirls in his eyes indicated a loss.

Staring past him with eyes the size of saucers, Ash heavily swallowed. "Holy crap… Lapras, return!" A Pokéball was held out, returning the water type to his safe sphere. "Thanks for putting up a great fight," Ash whispered, then clipping the pokeball to his belt. "I gotta hand it to you guys. You've gotten really strong! But… There's no way we're giving up! It's your turn again, Wartortle!" Ash cried, tossing the last ball forward.

The Wartortle materialized on a platform looking ready to battle but not quite so arrogant as to waste time with his shades right now. They were already put away.

"Psyduck, let's finish this! Take 'em down with another Psychic!"

"How's that grip, though?" Ash called out, confidence returning. "Wartortle, Rapid Spin!"

Though he was lifted above the platform by Psyduck's telekinetic grip, Wartortle was able to retreat into his shell. At first, there was no movement. Then, the turtle's shell began to tremble, blue light of the Psychic wavering. Then, Wartortle whirled, telekinetic grasp breaking apart and fading away as the turtle fell towards the water.

"It's no use just trying to run away," Misty warned. "Psyduck, use Hydro Pump! Put some motion back in our little piece of the ocean!"

Blasting the surface of the water at a certain angle, the yellow monotype sent an unsettled wave throughout the pool, water lapping over the sides of the aquarium's center as if it were angered. Deep within the pool, Wartortle was thrown to and fro, finally surfacing to try and orient himself.

"Try Ice Beam! Can't rock what's frozen," Ash reasoned.

Sure enough, once Wartortle belted out a few Ice Beams to freeze the surface and even a bit of the depths of the pool, the motion calmed, even if ever so slightly. Furthermore, what was left of Lapras's ice floats rejoined with Wartortle's newly formed floats, creating a lot more cover for the remaining pokemon to use against his opponent.

Content with that, Ash somberly realized they would need to take out Psyduck's headache induced abilities.

With slushy water now lapping at his platform and around his feet, Psyduck was finding it more difficult to find steady footing. Between his headache and his traitorous feet, the water type found himself a little distracted.

Naturally, the challengers weren't about to let that go unnoticed.

"Hydro Pump!"

Wartortle lept over an ice float, aiming head-on for Psyduck. The move blew the duck over and onto his side, nearly off the platform. As quick as he'd surfaced, after his attack, Wartortle returned to the more sluggishly moving currents of the pool.

"Send the waters churning again with another Psychic!" Misty ordered. "I hope you don't think that ice means much!" she boasted. Sure enough, as the currents began to liven up again, the ice groaned under all the pressure. "Even if it's Psyduck I'm using, I've got it! I've made the water my territory!"

Sure enough, Wartortle found the wild currents too much for even him and left the water, clinging on to a wildly bobbing ice float, mindful to keep away from the edges as it crashed loudly into another float.

"He can't stay down there with all of that… Wartortle! Use Rapid Spin to ride out the waves! When you see big waves, use Ice Beam to freeze 'em and give yourself a little bit of a break!"

Hesitant to return to the wild waters, Wartortle all the same obeyed. Spotting an area of water free from ice but also getting closer to Psyduck, Wartortle began to spin across the strait. Soon, he grew tired from fighting the waves and opened out of his shell, firing under him as the waves crested and giving himself a platform. That was short lived, though, as the waves began to slap at the ice-platform, already beginning to break it.

Wartortle did the same again, skipping across the waters like a thrown stone with his Rapid Spin move and stopping with the help of short lived ice floats. Soon, however, it was time to land on Psyduck's platform.

Ash knew they might only have one shot. "Skull Bash!"

Making the final leap across the water, Wartortle exited his shell, ending his Rapid Spin move to prepare to launch a mighty Skull Bash.

"Disable." With that one word, Misty allowed Psyduck to foil their plan.

Wartortle felt the energy for the move leave his body, causing him to land early and tumble across the platform, finally landing at Psyduck's feet. The ever-confused pokemon looked down, tilting his head.

"Now, finish it with an Aqua Tail!" Misty ordered with a snap of her fingers.

Ash held his breath, waiting for the inevitable. Likewise, Wartortle flinched, eyes shut and bracing for impact.

But, impact never came. When the turtle opened his eyes out of curiosity, he found Psyduck had turned his backside towards his opponent, wagging his little yellow tail. Well, it wasn't an Aqua Tail, but Psyduck certainly knew how to use Tail Whip. It'd taken some of the tension out of Wartortle.

"Augh!" the youngest Sensational Sister growled. "We spent so long working on that, you little nimrod! How could you forget it at a time like this?!

"Psy…" Psyduck said apologetically, folding his little hands together and bowing his head in shame.

Wartortle looked back towards Ash, shrugging. Ash shrugged back, figuring they should continue. A smirk came across the teen's face. Hey, it wasn't like it was in a rule book that they couldn't fight a distracted opponent, right? Since Misty didn't wanna avoid playing dirty.

"Rapid Spin!"

Clocked in the back of the head, Psyduck fell right on his face. Wartortle backed off after the attack, snickering.

"Rude! Psychic! Toss 'im in the water!" Misty crossed her arms, tossing her hair.

Wartortle's nails scraped the platform, trying to hang on before Psyduck chucked him down into the pool once more. Thankfully, before going under, Wartortle heard Ash's cry: "Use Hydro Pump to get moving!" Retreating into his shell within the water, the turtle used the burst of the Hydro Pump to send himself spinning around Psyduck, the churning water the only clue to his location.

Turning around and around to try and spot his opponent in vain, Psyduck was beginning to feel dizzy.

"Hit 'im with your own Hydro Pump!" The gym leader's patience was waning.

No dice. Wartortle lept out of the water just as Psyduck's blast hit the pool floor.

"Rapid Spin!" Ash called.

Having just spat out a Hydro Pump, and growing ever dizzy from the turtle's rounds, Psyduck turned just in time to get hit head-on with Wartortle's spinning shell. It was an instant knock out.

Ash leapt into the air, pumping his fists. "Haha, great! We won!"

Misty sighed. "Psyduck, you really messed up at a crucial time… Seriously, we've got to -"

"That was great!"

Everyone looked up, confused. Dawn had forgotten about the arrival of the mysterious stranger and Ash and Misty had never seen him come in. Said stranger was running down from the stands now, a grin on his face and his glasses slightly askew for his speedy descent.

"Those are new pokémon, or new evolutions at the very least! And, Misty, that was great! Haha, you're as tough as everyone says!" The boy pushed his glasses up, beaming up at the two on the side of the pool from where they stood at their ends of the pool.

Dawn blinked, still in the stands, before realizing who it was. She snapped her fingers. "I knew I recognized him! That must be May's brother, Max!"

Sure enough, judging by the way Ash hastily thanked Wartortle before returning him so that Ash and Pikachu could run over to greet Max, it had to be! Misty even walked over, grinning. Dawn supposed she should make her way down, too.

"Max, it's good to see you again!" Ash greeted, holding out a hand for the boy to shake.

"Hm… that wasn't you that gave Forrest all that sass a few days ago, was it?" Misty teased, giggling when the boy blushed and tried to deny it.

"It's good to see you, too, Ash! And, you, too, Misty! But… that wasn't me. I've grown up a lot, you know!" he argued. "Besides, it's not like I would have started it… If that did happen."

Dawn walked over, looking pleased. "Max, hi, I'm -"

It was a no sale. Max had one thing on his mind. "Come on, Ash! I wanna see what other pokémon you have! Let's go outside. I'm gonna challenge Misty later and I don't want her to have an unfair advantage seeing my Pokémon!" he enthused.

Ash nodded, headed towards the exit at a jog already.

Misty called after the two. "Hey, didn't you just watch our match?! Max, how can I not see when you already did!? … Are you two gone already?!"

Dawn's mood dipped. "Man, and I was gonna introduce myself."

Misty rolled her eyes before returning Psyduck. The Dewgong from earlier returned, curiosity proving rewarding when it saw the battle was over. Misty leaned over to pet the ice type. "Boys. They're always rushing around to do something. What can I say?"

"Well… since they're already gone," Dawn began, gathering her courage. "Misty, can I ask you a question?"

Sensing the shift in mood, the gym leader stood. "What is it?" The Dewgong hauled itself out of the water, leaning against Misty's leg. Prinplup, deciding the mood would allow for him to play along - he was never good at reading emotions - did likewise, unknowingly making another stab at Dawn's feelings.

She blinked, watching Prinplup cuddle against the water trainer. That was it - the discovery Dawn had allowed herself to realize up in the stands. Or, the catalyst for that realization. When Misty was here, or rather, when they were with Misty, Dawn felt like an outsider. She couldn't bring herself to blame the other girl, but somehow, the redhead managed to just sweep right back in as if she'd never left, as if Dawn had never been the one standing by Ash's side.

And, pitifully, Dawn realized that was the weird feeling this morning. Jealousy. It was fine if Ash had other friends, but that there might be someone else that he was closer to like the way he was close to Dawn… It sent a white hot, sickly feeling. She didn't like it at all and wanted it settled _now_... Even if it meant confirming her fears.

"Am I intruding?" the bluenette finally pressed. The memories all flashed before her: the fishing lure Ash was so protective of, the way he praised Misty so highly, and how close they were; she couldn't get the image of Misty inches from Ash's face when Misty snapped out of her head. She just wanted answers, to not feel so confused about it.

The redhead furrowed her brows. "Intruding? No, you weren't -" she began, trailing off as she realized Dawn wasn't making sure it was okay to watch the match. "Oh." Blinking for a moment, the water trainer turned to Dewgong and Prinplup. "You two stay here for a minute. Me and Dawn are gonna take a walk. You, follow me," the gym leader ordered.

Dawn did as asked, falling into step beside the slightly older girl as they walked around the aquarium.

Misty had more of a fiery, bold streak than Dawn did. Furthermore, she didn't feel as confused as the younger girl. As such, she was able to flat out ask her question: "Are you interested in Ash? Romantically, I mean."

Startled by Misty's forth rightness, Dawn blushed before gulping. "Yeah…"

"How long?" the redhead snapped, sounding almost offended.

"I'm not sure," the blunette confessed. "I… I may have liked him for a while, but, a week ago, maybe two weeks ago at the most, I definitely started feeling funny around him sometimes. I didn't realize I… liked him liked him until a little earlier." The confession made Dawn feel petty. Surely this wasn't just jealousy. Dawn wasn't like that, right? "I mean, people have teased us for being so close before." Her mind flashed back to Lyra, among some others. "I just… never bothered to think about it. We were always busy with other things."

Satisfied with this answer, Misty calmed. "I used to like him. Used to." Folding her hands behind her head, Misty began her own explanation. "I'm pretty sure he liked me back, too." Noticing Dawn's mood only sunk further at this, the redhead rushed on. "But! We were both too stupid and young to do much. I mean, you're young, too, we all are, but not that much younger than the two of us… And, he's started to really grow up lately, emotionally especially." She rolled her eyes. "I mean, not too much, but, like, he's definitely not that idiot he was back when he had the nerve to point out that I was actually a girl the first time he saw me in a swimsuit. Little jerk…"

Confused on where Misty was going, Dawn only listened hopefully.

"Anyway, my feelings, romantically, waned over time. I mean, he's still my super close friend." The redhead looked over, expression once again serious where it had been fluctuating between nostalgic and gentle. "But, if you can be honest with yourself and get through his thick skull, you might have a better chance than I did." She returned to looking ahead.

Dawn smiled finally. "So, you're okay with it? I'm not intruding on anything?"

"Nah," Misty clarified. "If you can get that battle obsessed boy's attention, you deserve it." It wasn't exactly an easy task. "Still… if you break his heart or let him get himself hurt, I'm coming after you." After snarling her threat out, Misty smiled.

Awkwardly smiling - it was nice Ash had such a good friend and it was extremely sweet that Misty was guiding Dawn, but that was kinda scary - Dawn just nodded.

"... I'm joking."

"Oh, good, I was worried."

"Seriously, though, keep an eye on him. And, be good. He's my friend."

"He's my friend, too."

Pleased that Dawn wasn't viewing Ash strictly as boyfriend material but also valued his companionship for the sake of it, Misty felt satisfied by the exchange. They were nearly back to the stage. "Oh, yeah, you're a coordinator, aren't you? I don't know much about contests, but I heard you made runner up in your first Grand Festival. That's pretty good."

"Thank you! Even without Ash, I've heard good things about you as a trainer and gym leader! And, it's so rare for Prinplup to just take a liking to someone like this! You really impressed him!" Dawn gushed.

Speaking of which, Prinplup was giving Misty the googly eyes again, as was Dewgong.

"Aw, can you blame him, though?" The water type gym leader posed dramatically, one hand on her hip and the other behind her head. "You're looking at a future water master, after all!"

Playing along, Dawn put a hand on her heart. "Betrayed by my own starter…"

After a moment, the two could no longer keep up the charade. They burst into laughter, friendship solidified deeply by their similarities, admiration, and the person they both cherished in different ways.

"Oh, man, that was great. But… The boys have been out there by themselves for a while. Dawn, you mind checking up on them? I've gotta head my team real quick."

"Sure thing, Misty! I'll make sure they're staying out of trouble!"

* * *

Meanwhile, a few minutes before Misty and Dawn's heart to heart talk, the boys had just run outside.

"Okay, okay, lemme show you my Pokémon first!" Max insisted as they stood on the lawn of the gym. Quickly pulling out three Pokéballs from his belt, the newbie trainer proudly showed off his team: a Poliwag, an Ivysaur, and a Ralts.

The veteran trainer crossed his arms, looking thoroughly impressed with Max's team building thus far. It seemed that, unlike Ash, Max was not eager to acquire any and every pokemon that crossed his path even so early in his journey. However, something about the Ralts seemed familiar. "Hey, that ain't the Ralts we met that time in Hoenn, is it?"

"He is!" Max boasted. "I made good on my promise. The day after I got my training licence, I came for him. Ivysaur here might be my official starter, but she's only my second pokemon." During the discussion, the Ralts puffed his little chest out proudly whilst the Ivysaur cockily grinned. "I got her when I got to Kanto!"

"That means your Poliwag's your last, huh?" While Ash did wonder why Max chose to tour Kanto first rather than his home region, a more important realization dawned on him: they hadn't had their long awaited battle yet! "Hey! You remember the promise we made to battle each other…?!"

The boy adjusted his glasses. "I thought you'd never ask. Two on two?"

"No heals, no swaps," Ash agreed.

The two grinned widely at each other, backing up enough to create a makeshift training field between them.

"Ralts, let's show them what we're made of!" Max cried. The little psychic type rushed forward, crying his own name and taking a mindful stance.

"Rosa, let's do the same!" Ash lobbed a pokeball forward and the little fighting type appeared, blinking in confusion before realizing what was going on and getting into a defensive position.

"... Ash, really? A fighting type?" The youth crossed his arms. "I thought you got in good with the Frontier Brains! You should act like it, you know! At least don't pit a fighting type against a psychic!"

The teen frowned. Max still had all the bite to him he ever had, it seemed. Still, Ash knew what he was doing, so his confidence in his Pokémon and himself allowed him to sweep away the insult with little problem. "Just watch and learn, _kiddo_ ," Ash taunted.

"Who are you calling kiddo?!" Max insisted. "I'm, like, _maybe_ five years younger than you! At most!"

In the midst of all of this, Dawn had taken to standing on the sidelines, fresh out of the gym, watching on quietly with Prinplup, Poliwag, Pikachu, and Ivysaur. "He does have a type advantage," she mumbled to herself, "but knowing Ash, he's got a move or something he's going to exploit."

Then, the battle started, Ash calling the first move. "Rosa, Force Palm!"

"Teleport!"

Though she was speedy for her tiny size, the puppy's feet couldn't carry her quick enough to make impact on the Ralts. Instead, her paw - crackling with unspent energy - passed through the afterimage of her opponent who landed safely behind her after his teleportation.

"Let's try Confusion!" Max suggested.

The veil of green bangs covering the Ralts' eyes was momentarily blown back with the blue glow of psychic energy. The move's effectiveness was heralded by Rosa dropping to one knee, clutching her head and whimpering painfully.

"You can't let him keep doing that! Force Palm, again!"

When the Confusion attack ended, the Riolu opened her eyes, a gleam of fighting spirit in them. She didn't like fighting when it was dangerous very much, but if she could win and end it quickly, that was fine by her! She preferred fighting with Pikachu, anyway. At least he couldn't make her head hurt.

"Rio!" she called, hitting the Ralts directly. The blast from the attack sent him barreling back and satisfied her.

"She's strong… Use Double Team, we don't need any more risks." Though he wouldn't admit it, Max now saw why Ash hadn't hesitated to call for his fighting type. Had Rosa been with Ash longer, or were Ash's techniques simply superior to Max's for now? Probably the latter; introspective and analytical as he was, Max knew Ash had a certain passive affinity, a natural talent, for battling that Max had to study for… Not that it discouraged the young but passionate trainer too much. It simply made Ash all the better of an opponent.

"Stay calm," Ash encouraged as Rosa was surrounded by facsimiles of their true opponent. _~Use your aura to tell which is which~_ he encouraged, tapping into their mental link.

Gulping, the puppy did as instructed, channeling out the noise of the illusions' movement. Like a switch being turned on, she realized which was her actual opponent.

Ash felt her emotions peak. "Now, Aura Sphere!"

The pup did her best to conjure a sphere quickly between her two paws, dual sensors attached to her head floating just a bit. With no time to waste, she let out a yelp as the blue sphere flew.

Max's eyes widened as his Ralts was blasted back. While he knew from his own experiences with aura that the Aura Sphere was imperfect, it was still an impressive sight to see the little Riolu get into position, wait and then fire just as Ralts passed into her range.

It almost took out the bitterness of seeing the swirls of defeat beneath his Ralt's bangs; **almost**. "Aw, thanks anyway, Ralts. We'll work on stuff later, huh? But, in the meantime… Ivysaur, I choose you!"

Recognizing the familiar phrase, Ash's grin widened. "Heheh, I see you picked up more than just my taste in starters!"

"Yeah, but I'm working for perfection unlike you, Mr. Loose Cannon."

On the side lines, Dawn's shoulders drooped. "Oh boy."

"I make more hits than you do, at least!" Ash barked back.

"Oh really? Ivysaur, use Vine Whip!"

"Saur!" The grass type cried out, launching one of her powerful tendrils like a whip.

Riolu let out a whimper as she was cracked across her side with Ivysaur's lengthy vine. For her part, the grass type mid-evolution looked rather proud, almost haughty, for her blow.

It was enough to goad Ash. "Rosa, use Force Palm again!"

Max adjusted his glasses. "You're really too predictable. Sleep Powder!"

A thick dusting of blue powder rained down from Ivysaur's blossom, falling all over Riolu. The pup's eyes widened and she pulled out of the shower of sleep-inducing spores just before they could take effect. She shook vigorously, freeing her fur of most of the toxins.

"..." Unfortunately, Max was right this one time. Ash merely adjusted his brim a bit, deciding to not be quite as predictable.

"Razor Leaf, low to the ground!" Whereas Ash felt a bit ashamed with the way the battle had just played out, Max only felt invigorated.

Ivysaur complied, a swing of her bulky body launching a slew of sharp leaves.

"Detect!" Though his pride had taken a blow, Ash wouldn't allow his pokemon to do the same.

Rosa made quick and nimble dodges, legs strong from her days back with Riley. Suddenly, she was glad for the awful rock jumping exercises.

"Let's go for Reversal!" Surely her stamina was low enough to make the move worthwhile.

However, they'd never get the chance to see.

"Sleep Powder!"

It was unfortunately timed - the Reversal move, that was. Being covered twice in the sleeping spores and too invested in the move this go to pull out, the puppy fumbled, walking on shaky legs before collapsing into a comatose-like sleep. Body lax and jaw slack, she was prone for the moment.

"Crap," Ash grunted. "Rosa! You've gotta wake up!"

"Vine Whip!" Max ordered.

Ivysaur had begun to feel full of herself, vine snaking around the Riolu to toss her into the air. The pup landed heavily on her side, a whimper working itself out of her snoozing maw.

"Rosa!"

That did it. The Riolu's eyes snapped open, red irses darting around before realizing what was going on. She stood, frantic but at least alert once more. Her side felt like it was on fire.

"Oh, good, you woke up… Let's finish this with an Aura Sphere!"

Max frowned. There was no way he was letting that go off twice. "Vine Whip!"

Just as Rosa was crouching down, Ivysaur's vine shot out, grabbing onto Rosa's foot and yanking hard. Between hitting her head and losing focus, it was enough to cause some pretty severe damage. Add in the failed Aura Sphere going off in her arms…

Well, it ended in her being knocked out.

"What was that explosion?" Misty asked, having just arrived from the gym. She stood beside Dawn and the remaining pokemon, watching curiously like the others.

"They each have one pokemon left," the coordinator explained. "Ash beat Ralts with Rosa the Riolu, but now Max has beaten Rosa with his Ivysaur!"

Misty grinned. "Oh? So, those are his Pokémon…"

Dawn giggled. "Are you here to gather intel or watch the match?"

"Both," the water gym leader confessed with a cattish grin. "A girl's gotta get her kicks while doing business, right?"

"Haha, if you say so!"

Meanwhile, Ash had returned Rosa. "You're just as brainy as ever. But, don't think all that quick thinking's sealed the deal! The battle isn't over yet! It's your turn, Bulbasaur!"

Suddenly, Max's whole demeanor changed upon seeing the familiar grass type. "Ivysaur, we have to take this one seriously."

Overcome by disbelief - her trainer was afraid of this unevolved, unimpressive looking, undersized _runt_? - the Ivysaur merely let out a low grunt before turning her head as if dismissing the thought of being challenged by the form of her lower evolution.

"... At least fight him. Use Razor Leaf," the young trainer pleaded.

She listened, never turning to look at her opponent. A bevy of leaves was released…

"Razor Leaf!" Ash called in return.

… But, they never found purchase on Bulbasaur's flesh. Calm and collected, the elder grass/poison type made calculated releases of his own leaves, the second wave of Razor Leaf cutting each of the first in half.

Realizing what had happened only for the lack of whimpers from her opponent, Ivysaur looked to the field and was stunned, then insulted. "... Ivy… Saur!"

"Bulba!" The sheer arrogance of Ivysaurs and Venusaurs in general would never cease to disgust the little grass type.

Max felt a sense of relief. At least she was taking this seriously now. "Tackle!"

"Dodge!"

Thanks to his smaller size, Bulbasaur was able to dash, twist, and leap out of the way. This served only to vex Ivysaur, the bigger grass type beginning to growl and snarl with every failed attempt to Tackle her opponent. Finally, her patience wore thin. Sharp leaves were tossed towards Bulbasaur with angry vigor.

"... Hey! I didn't tell you to use Razor Leaf!" Max yelled.

Regardless, Ivysaur continued her attack. The attack could have perhaps been well planned… If Bulbasaur hadn't used his vines to launch himself back into the air at the last minute.

"Vine Whip!" Max ordered, hoping that if he gave her some structure she'd calm down.

"Power Whip," Ash countered.

Though Ivysaur was able to drag her opponent towards her, it should have been telling that Bulbasaur so patiently allowed himself to get close. At the point of no return, where she could not flee from him even if she wanted, Bulbasaur's own vines flung out, striking her harshly across the cheeks. Stunned, the bigger grass type couldn't defend herself against being picked up and thrown by the smaller poison type.

With an echoing thwack, the crash of the Ivysaur marked her defeat. She fell to the ground after hitting a nearby tree with swirls in her eyes. Bulbasaur snorted contently.

Max sighed, returning Ivysaur. "We lost… And, Ivysaur's still too full of herself. We've really gotta do some work."

"That was still great!" Dawn praised, she and the others walking over to note the end of the match. "Ash has been training a lot, but you did your best against him!" she reminded.

"She's right," Ash agreed. "This is one of your first trainer battles, right?"

"One of the very first," Max admitted, looking at the ground. "After I heard from Professor Oak that you were in the region, I kind of tried to avoid any battles… Forrest was, like, my second."

"What?! No wonder you lost!" Misty snapped. "Why are you even in Kanto? I mean, I'm happy to see you, but why _here_?"

"I just like the region." The youth crossed his arms and shrugged his shoulders. "I learned a lot when Ash was taking on the Battle Frontier and I wanted to see more foreign Pokémon. Plus, none of my folks have quite so big a reputation here. I can make my own reputation!"

"Speaking of your family, how's May?" Dawn inquired, clasping her hands together happily at the thought of the Princess of Hoenn. "I thought I saw her in the Johto Grand Festival, but the winner was some guy with this wild Cacturne!"

"That was Harley. Yeah, she was pretty ticked… He still hasn't let her live it down. He calls and reminds her every now and then; or _did_ , when I was home…"

"Yikes," Ash trailed off, recalling just how devilish and irritating Harley could be.

"She's supposed to be heading out with Drew to tour Sinnoh! So, I wouldn't worry too much. She said she liked it when she saw you guys there," Max assured them.

Misty nodded, glad to hear her friend was doing well. "Well, everyone's doing good, then. Hopefully this will be a good season for everyone. Though, isn't Drew a coordinator, too? They're rivals traveling together…"

Ash nodded. "It'll be fine, probably. They'll keep pushing each other forward! Speaking of forward…" The trainer turned to his traveling partner. "Dawn, we should be heading out."

"It's that time, huh?" Max mused. "Okay then! Misty, my dad's a Gym Leader, so I know you have a healing machine in the gym! You'll let me use it before we have our battle!"

"How are you gonna tell me what I'm gonna do?" she hissed. Shaking her head, Misty grinned a bit at Dawn's giggles over the situation.

The coordinator stepped towards Ash, smiling at everyone. "We'll see you guys later!"

"You bet!" Max assured. "I've gotta beat Ash!"

"Not any time soon," Ash snickered. "See you guys."

"Later, Feraligatrs. And, Ash… Don't get the two of you lost," Misty insisted.

The trainer frowned, fiddling with his hat. "Yeah, yeah, we won't get lost."

With that, the two groups parted. Misty and Max headed back to the gym. Ash and Dawn headed south towards the forest standing as a border between Cerulean and Saffron. The adventure would continue, Dawn's revelation handled well and Ash's mind on his next battle.


	26. You're Driving Me Croco-nuts!

With Cerulean's gym battle out of the way for Ash, and a particularly tense situation for Dawn out of the way, the duo had left Cerulean City's structured and easily navigated streets for the dense forests leading them down Route 5. The particularly idyllic resting spot was perfect for the approaching spring weather. The sun shone down between the thick branches of the trees around the group. Some of the trees had fallen during the winter, and the resulting timber made excellent resting spots. The nearby river added a sense of serenity.

Judging by how peacefully Ash lounged, hat ever so slightly tilted over his eyes to shade them and Rosa nestled to his chest, it was perfect for nap time.

Unfortunately, Dawn's head other plans. Having just come back from the river, the coordinator had been thinking of one unanswered question since the little Riolu had been let out of her Pokéball: How did Ash's aura work? She knew it was something or other about a spiritual energy… Or, was it a fighting energy?

"I should have read up more on the myths during my off time," she whined as she entered camp. "He probably won't be able to explain it right."

"Who won't be able to explain what right?"

Dawn turned, hair swishing behind her. "Oh, you're up!"

Ash nodded, standing as Rosa slid off his chest. "Haha, just woke up!" The trainer stretched. "Anyway, who was explaining what?"

"You, actually. And, the aura." She put her hands on her hips, sighing. "I mean… I get a little of how it works, but I only know it as a move… And, we never saw Riley actually use it."

"You never saw Riley use it," he corrected.

"So, you did go to train with him."

He nodded. "Do you wanna see it, then? Aura just formed?"

"Yeah," she confessed.

"Alright… It's been a while since me and Rosa actually trained!" He looked down at the little pokemon. "What'd ya say, Rosa? Let's test our skills and make sure they haven't gotten rusty!"

The puppy yipped in agreement before turning to Dawn. _~I'll show off how graceful I am, just like how Quilava was with her fire!~_ That'd be good in a contest, right?

With that, Ash and Rosa began their training. The two stood side by side. Ash's palms were together whilst Rosa's paw pads were together. The two closed their eyes, remaining calm for a moment while Dawn watched. After clearing their minds, they moved in sync.

Their left feet slid forward while their rights pointed to the side, knees slightly bent. They reached behind them, hands almost clasped together before they fluidly moved forward, going through the proper movements for an Aura Sphere without actually forming one.

That completed, the two moved to stretch as they had when they were with Riley.

 _~... Hey! Why'd we do the real aura sphere movements?~_ Rosa finally piped up.

The trainer smirked, cocking his head with his hands on his hips. "Sometimes you gotta show off."

There was no doubt that Ash meant this in the most innocent, bravado-boasting way possible, Dawn found a curve picking up at the corners of her lips, though, a bit giddy at the thought of him trying to impress her.

Ash, assuming she was just tickled he was hamming it up, let out a barking laugh. "Alright, prep's done! Rosa, I'm better at controlling aura, so why don't you take a break while I show Dawn how this works?"

 _~You got it!~_ Rosa barked, trotting off to explore the immediate vicinity.

"It'd probably be safer if I don't attack with it," Ash decided. As much as he wanted to show off, it probably wasn't a good idea to stir up much commotion. Especially in a forest, where a swarm of Pokémon could easily become a problem. "Now, check this out!"

Eager to see his creation, Dawn came closer, peering at Ash's now open palm.

His gloved hand tensed, a good deal of effort being poured into a light blue glow. Oddly enough, suppressing a sphere small enough to be harmless was actually _more_ difficult than creating a larger one. Still, with his newfound skill in clearing his mind, he managed to form a bright blue orb in his palm, maintaining the approximate size of a Pokéball. He and Dawn were basked in a bright, teal glow, which highlighted the awe on Dawn's features, blue orbs wide and attentive. "You're kidding me… That's amazing!" Her curiosity peaking, she slowly reached for the orb.

"You might not wanna touch it," Ash warned, pulling his hand back. "These things pack a lotta power." Was that bragging or a warning? Either way, he slowly closed his hand, squashing the radiance until it had disappeared completely.

Pouting momentarily after her observance had been denied, Dawn quickly returned to higher spirits. "I can't believe you can do things like that… Lucky for us, though, that's for sure."

Needless to say, the encounter in Viridian Forest hadn't been forgotten. "Yeah, no kidding! It really saved our butts back there. It's amazing how powerful aura is."

"It sure is! I guess we owe you guys one, huh?" Dawn couldn't help but smile to herself. As much fun as it was to fawn over aura, though… "...I should probably start some training of my own. If we want to win the next contest we come across, then we've gotta be in tip-top shape!"

"Sounds good! Just work hard, and you'll be fine!" Ash encouraged.

Walking over to where her Pokémon were, the coordinator noted the dynamics within the groups. Absol and Togekiss laid patiently in the shade, quiet and serene. Prinplup, meanwhile, was getting onto Pachirisu for something or other. Clefairy seemed to be getting on well with Quilava and Buneary. It made the coordinator happy that her Pokémon were getting along with their new teammate. However, it was now time to see what Clefairy could do.

"Clefairy! Time to check your moves!" Dawn called, pulling out her Pokedex.

The small device beeped as it went about its quick analysis, providing Dawn with the Pokémon's arsenal. "Hm… Alright! Clefairy, why don't we start with you using Moonlight?"

Clefairy paused for a moment, seemingly unsure of herself before she finally raised her hands. The other Pokémon and Dawn looked on in silent anticipation, wondering if Clefairy's version of the move was standard or if she had some deviation that could be used in a contest. However, after a moment, Dawn realized, aside from some sprinkling of sparkles from approximately three yards above Clefairy nothing was happening.

Dawn's face paled. Could Clefairy not use Moonlight? "H-Hey, what happened?"

"Clefa…" the fairy type trailed off. She shrugged her nearly nonexistent shoulders. "Clefairy Clefairy."

Not quite able to understand Pokémon languages, Dawn was able to gather through the sympathetic looks of her other Pokémon that Clefairy was indeed trying. There was also a sense of confusion. "... Let's go over a list of reasons why it might not be working. Are you… not sure how to use it?"

Clefairy shook her head.

"Is it… hard to use?"

The fairy type nodded.

"Okay, let's go over why. Can you not use it when your energy's high?"

A shake of the head.

"Let's see… Is it too bright out?" Surely that wasn't it…

But, it was. Clefairy nodded yes, babbling on and on. Dawn supposed being raised in those mountain caves meant Clefairy never had to compete with the sunlight to have her move seen. So, she could use it; it just had no dazzle when the sun was bright. They'd have to work on that.

"Well, it's no use crying over spilled milk. We'll have to try again when it's dark. Would you mind trying out your Magical Leaf for me, though, Clefairy?"

At this, Clefairy beamed. She closed her eyes, humming. Soon, a swarm of glowing leaves was summoned, twirling about the fairy's form before launching outward, cutting several small branches off a tree. Upon finishing the move, Clefairy looked proudly towards Dawn. That was her most well learned move! While she could learn stronger ones, she personally felt most comfortable with it.

"That's… way too many leaves," Dawn mumbled, impressed by Clefairy's strength, but knowing very well how that nasty cluster of dull purple-shining leaves would go over with the judges of any contest. "We'll work on refining that, but I'm very impressed! If we keep working with you, you'll make a good battler!

While Clefairy danced in place, happy that Dawn at least saw her potential, another training session was going on. While Dawn dismissed the rest of her team to focus on working with Clefairy, Rosa was just getting into a training session with Pikachu under Ash's watchful eye.

"Attagirl, Rosa!" Ash cheered, one fist up. Despite her tiny size, Rosa lived up to her fighting type and her youthful training. She had taken after him; so much strength in a tiny package! Though, he wasn't so small anymore and one day she wouldn't be, either.

Still, she was just a child. Her stamina was extremely limited. At the beginning of the match, Rosa kept Pikachu on his toes, dodging and blocking her with effort and thought. Force Palms were parried and dodged with Pikachu's remarkable speed, and he was forced to repel a number of Aura Spheres with his tail. True to the nature of most Pokémon, though, she could only use a move so many times before they became ineffective.

 _~Hiyah!~_ She chanted, throwing a palm towards Pikachu's chest. An agile hope on the mouse's part put him clear out of range, drawing a frustrated huff from the fighting type. Now, she wasn't even coming close to hitting him anymore… _~Take this, big bro!~_ She chanted, drawing one paw back. A bright, blue glow formed behind her paw, wavering in size, this time around. With a yelp, she tossed the orb forward, much like Ash would a Pokéball.

The Aura Sphere, or what should've been one, floated feebly through the air towards Pikachu, lacking its intended momentum. Its stability was weak enough that the electric type was able to swat it out of existence with a lazy swipe of his bolted tail.

"Man, you're really running low on energy… Why don't you take a break for now? You've put up a good fight, but you need some rest!" Ash recommended, sure as always to add in praise.

The tyke let out a huff of relief, having had just about enough of that training session. _~Y-yeah… Good… Idea…~_ Now that that was out of the way, maybe she could have some fun!

"I guess we oughta make use of our time, as long as we're here. Wartortle, Croconaw! Whaddya say we have a practice battle together? You guys were great at the Cerulean Gym, but I think I saw some stuff you could work on. You up for it?"

"War! Wartortle!" The tortoise hopped to attention, flashing a thumbs-up. After an exhilarating battle like that, he was more than eager to fight again!

"Croconaw!" The other water starter added in, hopping and dancing in place. Having fully recovered from the bout, he was equally ready to burn some more energy.

This left Rosa to her own devices. Round, red orbs scanned the clearing that the group had come across. Many of Ash and Dawn's Pokémon were simply relaxing and keeping to themselves; Bulbasaur lay out on the grass, basking in the sun. Lapras occupied the river, using the gentle current as a modest exercise, simply holding his place against the flow.

Come to think of it… Swimming did look pretty fun, when one wasn't using it for building up endurance, like under Riley. Letting out an excited yup, the Riolu hopped into the water parallel to the resting spot. The water was still somewhat cold, sending a chill up the unsuspecting pup's spine. While it wasn't quite as bad as Sinnoh, she'd forgotten that spring hadn't arrived just yet.

What she found to be more a cause for alarm, though, was the tide that started to gently carry her downstream. _~Ah!~_ Rosa let out a yelp, starting to scan above water for something to hold onto.

"Plup…" A Pokémon more native to the waters trilled, wading about with a lazy backstroke. Being part of the Piplup line, chilly water was hardly antagonistic to him. It was actually pretty relaxing! However, what was cause for alarm was Rosa's cry for help. Flipping onto his stomach, the penguin made a speedy trail towards the poor drifting puppy. "Prinplup?"

 _~Help me!~_ she whined, reaching out for the water type in panic. Thankfully, he was more buoyant than she was freaked out, and she steadied herself on him.

"Prin… Prinplup Prinplup," he offered. A ride would be fun, wouldn't it? It'd give her a chance to relax and she wouldn't have to fight the currents, that way.

Happily accepting his offer for the ride, Rosa sat down comfortable on Prinplup's back, lifting her head to the sun, eagerly awaiting it to warm her up and dry her off. _~Thank you, big bro!~_ she sing-songed.

Prinplup looked over his shoulder before grinning. Big brother… he could get used to that. He chirped back, "Pri pri!" His _little sister_ was certainly welcome. With that, they swam against the current, just enjoying themselves.

"I guess they're taking a rest," Ash noted, smiling upon the two playful Pokémon. "Alright… In that case, why don't we get some training done? Wartortle, Croconaw, you up for a battle?"

"War, Wartortle!" The tortoise affirmed, closing his tiny fist for emphasis. His cry was followed by an eater, quackish chatter from Croconaw, who was just as happy to get to spend some energy. Both Pokémon made their way to the middle of the grassy clearing, bordering the nearby stream.

"Alright. Let's get started! Croconaw, use Slash, and Wartortle, you use Aqua Tail!"

The gator wasted no time, brandishing three sharp claws before leaping towards his opponent.

Wartortle followed suit, making a swift jump of his own. Spinning his body with a quick turn, he surrounded his tail in an angry cyclone of water, slamming it into Croconaw's sharpened claws.

Neither seemed to give under the clash, pushing against one another before bouncing back.

"Awesome job. Now, Wartortle, use Rapid Spin! Croconaw, you try to dodge!"

Eager to land the first successful hit of the battle, Wartortle eagerly obeyed. Retreating to his crimson shell, he launched towards his energetic opponent, the round, sturdy carapace little more than a rotating blur.

Unfortunately for the eager-to-lead tortoise, Croconaw had no plans to end up a victim. Watching the speedily approaching shell, a quick, athletic jump cleared the water type of the incoming projectile. Better than that, or worse, rather, for Wartortle, the gator's nimble feet landed upon the shell, pressing down with fleeting weight that gave Croconaw an extra jump, and quickly grounded Wartortle.

"That was smooth…" Ash trailed off, not sure whether to be proud of Croconaw or sorry for Wartortle. "...Alright! Let's keep it moving! Croconaw, use Hydro Pump!"

A gargling cry followed, a powerful, persistent jet firing out of the Pokémon's open mouth.

"Now, Wartortle, see if you can deflect it all with Rapid Spin!"

Still within his protective shell, with plenty of frustration to burn, the Squirtle Squad leader acted without hesitation. Turning the armor into a speedy, spinning top, Wartortle prepared himself to take the jet head-on.

Hydro Pump crashed into the Rapid Spin attack, the movement splitting the powerful jet to send water spraying every which way. As powerful as the diversion proved, though, it failed to stop Hydro Pump from sending Wartortle skidding across the land, and soon into the small river nearby.

"Watch out, Wartortle!" Ash warned, hand outstretched. The tortoise wasn't far at all from various stones jutting out of the water!

The hard shell did crash into one of the rocks, soon enough, taking that collision as an opportunity to bound into the air, finally landing atop the elevation on Wartortle's own two legs.

"Hey, not bad, Croconaw! That was some serious firepower. And you held it off pretty great, Wartortle!" Ash held both hands on his hips, grinning at the display. "I guess we'll try something else, now. Croconaw, why don't you use, Slash? And Wartortle, you use Iron Defense. Try to hold it off!"

"Croc, croc!" Croconaw chanted, leaping towards Wartortle across the body of water. One arm was drawn back, shiny, sharp claws brandished.

"Tortle…!" The more defensively oriented Pokémon stood upright, his guarded chest puffed out with confidence. Normally darker blue skin and yellow armor were basked in a silver shine, taking on a layer of defense that made even his weaker spots sturdy.

Most Pokémon, or humans for that matter, would cower at the razor-sharp slice coming Wartortle's way, and the feral, black-tinted gaze didn't make Croconaw any less intimidating. Wartortle, though, was on another level of bravery. Or, so he liked to think. He stood his ground, tensing his body for the slash that soon struck across his body.

Croconaw's powerful claws met Wartortle's tough body, leaving three streaks of white in their wake. The other hardly seemed to budge, however, stubborn to stand his ground.

As always, Wartortle's defenses were no joke. Both second stage water starters had come to a standstill, holding their ground dangerously close to one another atop the rock that was frequently splashed with gently pushing waters.

"Lookin' good," Ash noted. "Now, use Skull Bash!"

Of course, only one of the two knew that move, and that Pokémon was quick to respond. Ducking his head, Wartortle fortified his defensive posture before jumping upward, slamming his skull into Croconaw's infamous, powerful jaw.

A pained cry and an ailing jaw were Croconaw's response, the momentum sending him reeling before he managed to teeter onto another rock jutting from the river. Spinning, staggering steps righted Croconaw with a jovial twirl. Even in pain, he shot for grace, it seemed.

"Now, why don't you fight back with Hydro Pump?" Ash called out, not wanting to show bias towards one Pokémon over another.

Yet another stream shot out of Croconaw's mouth, quickly threatening to crash into Wartortle.

Needless to say, the turtle wasn't going to take that without a fight. Spotting another nearby rock in the river, Wartortle made a swift leap from one platform to the next, narrowly dodging Hydro Pump.

"Good! Now, Bubblebeam!"

Landing without missing a beat, Wartortle quickly retaliated. Lightly pursed lips fired out a slew of explosive bubbles towards Croconaw, quickly countering the last water type attack.

As anyone who knew Croconaw would expect, he quickly flipped onto the last rock Wartortle had occupied, once more avoiding one of his persistent attacks.

The sudden wet, plopping noise of glove-ish hands clapping distracted everyone from the battle. A Poliwhirl stood on the edge of the river, looking on with admiration. While Ash felt confusion and pulled out his PokeDex to check to see if the Pokémon was wild or captive, Wartortle haughtily snorted. The fluffy tailed fellow assumed they'd garnered a fan.

Only Croconaw seemed to realize the true nature of the onlooker. Precariously perched upon the rock he'd landed up before the interruption, Croconaw looked on curiously as the Poliwhirl mimicked his earlier dances before beaconing the crocodile closer. The Poliwhirl wanted to dance? No one ever wanted to dance!

"Huh? Croconaw, where are you going?" Ash asked as Croconaw leapt into the river, crossing to where Poliwhirl waited, same side as Ash. He watched in mild annoyance but abundant patience as Croconaw danced with his new friend. Ash supposed it wouldn't hurt to give the reptile a minute break from the battle to play.

Wartortle, however, had no such patience. Reaching into his shell, the water type donned his signature glasses before yelling at his supposed practice partner. "War! Wartortle tortle!" They had a battle to finish, after all.

Unimpressed with Wartortle's goading, Croconaw only looked over his shoulder to see what his teammate wanted. After deciding he'd rather keep playing with the Poliwhirl, Croconaw put a claw to his lower lip and pulled down, little pointed tongue poking out of his snaggly toothed mouth.

"Hey, Croconaw, that isn't nice. Besides, it's time to start training aga - AUGH!"

The trainer, with all his good intentions, and jogged over to try to talk to Croconaw just as Wartortle let off a Hydro Pump intended to get Croconaw back in the game. Knocking the teen over, Croconaw and Poliwhirl alike snickered at Ash's expense.

"Ugh… Seriously," Ash panted, coming to his senses. "You've gotta get back to practice."

Croconaw seemed to ponder this for a moment before looking at his new friend. The two exchanged a lot before suddenly dashing off. Ash quickly jumped to his feet.

"Hey! Get back here!" Quickly throwing Croconaw's Pokéball, Ash unfortunately missed. The ring of the approaching sphere was at least successful in separating Croconaw and Poliwhirl. "Aw, man, I've gotta get him back… And, before the Poliwhirl does!" Ash lamented.

Others of the group seemed to have noticed the commotion.

Ash's shoulders slumped, an exasperated sigh passing his lips. "Gimme a break... "Apparently, catching the crooked-toothed croc on his own was out of the question. He looked towards Dawn and company, noting that all eyes seemed to be on him. "Hey, you guys mind giving me a hand here? We can't leave for the next city without the whole gang here!"

Dawn could only offer a sympathetic smile, a hand resting on her hip. Ash had some very… independent Pokémon, that was for sure. Not that hers were any different. "You're right about that… No need to worry! We'll get Croconaw back in no time! Right, everyone?"

Ash and Dawn's Pokémon alike erupted in a cheer, equally enthusiastic to retrieve their teammate… Even if this whole mess was his doing to begin with. Prinplup, Buneary, and Pachirisu in particular were no strangers to this mess.

"Oh, right… We can't just leave our stuff here, huh?" Ash lamented, scratching his cheek. "...Hey, Bulbasaur! Can you watch our food and stuff while we're at it? We wouldn't wanna lose our lunches, would we?"

"Bulba!" The Seed Pokémon affirmed. Trustworthy as ever, he'd assume full responsibility.

"Awesome! Thanks a lot. Now, let's go catch that Croconaw!"

Running side by side, Dawn and Prinplup were the first to come across Croconaw after his great escape.

"There he is!" Dawn proclaimed. "Prinplup, I'll distract him! You take him on, okay?!"

"Prinplup!"

As they came upon the runaway, Dawn shrugged off her vest and threw it towards the fleeing water type. Or, at least, that was the plan.

Dawn squealed in shock as Croconaw tackled her, knocking her flat onto her back. So pained by the impact was she that she couldn't keep her hold on her jacket. It flew out of her hands and into a mud puddle which, naturally, Croconaw stomped all over after crashing into Dawn.

Sitting up, the disoriented diva tried to figure out what was going on before seeing her vest. "It's filthy!" she cried.

Confident and ready to avenge his trainer, Prinplup jumped into battle, wings flashing dangerously with an awaiting Steel Wing.

Croconaw paused, cocking his head to and fro before considering his options. He then recalled a particular story Ash's Sinnoh Pokémon had shared when they were all on Mt. Silver. Prinplup had a peculiar fear… One that Croconaw could and would exploit.

Tilting his head back, Croconaw began preparing an attack. Unfortunately, the bright white light of a forming Ice Beam looked too similar to a forming Draco Meteor.

Prinplup cried, his tiny heart pounding in his chest, before sprinting away from the perceived threat. There was no chance that he'd get caught up in another one of those!

"Prinplup, no!" Dawn whined, holding her muddy vest at a distance. "Wait, no, Croconaw, you don't leave either…!"

It was in vain. Prinplup was fleeing and Croconaw had already escaped. Dawn sighed, resigning herself to try and find Prinplup and get her vest clean before chasing down Croconaw again.

Croconaw skidded to the side at the last minute, barely avoiding a surprise attack from Rosa. The Force Palm's energy burst went off entirely too close for comfort, putting the crocodile on edge. That edge served as an advantage, giving him forewarning to Pikachu's cry.

Dancing out of the way of the Thunderbolt, Croconaw realized the situation was too dangerous. Pikachu was Ash's number one. Croconaw knew better than to fight him.

As Croconaw fled, Pikachu jumped down, losing sight of the water type in the underbrush. "Pika…" the mouse muttered to Rosa.

 _~Sorry… I didn't get to feel his aura too closely, so I can't track it. I'm not familiar with him.~_ So much for that plan. Rosa smiled as Pikachu patted her, comforting her and letting her know Croconaw getting away wasn't her fault.

Once more, Croconaw was ambushed. This time, however, the attack landed.

"Buneary!" Landing atop Croconaw's head with a crater forming beneath their impact, Buneary stood proudly, a perfectly executed Bounce opening the fight. She hopped off, fists raised and ears tense.

Croconaw stood, shaking his head and blinking. He hadn't ever fought any of Dawn's team before, but suddenly he understood why everyone said Ash liked to battle Dawn. However… Admiring this bunny wasn't going to help him beat her.

It was then that the little normal type lunged forward, ears ready to deliver a mighty Dizzy Punch.

Figuring he could wing it, Croconaw used Crunch.

He almost wished he hadn't. Buneary squealed in pain. Her ears were her most sensitive body part, after all. Croconaw decided to spin, releasing the rabbit once he got enough momentum and sending her flying.

He breathed a sigh of relief once she disappeared beyond the canopy. There was one less Pokémon to fight, now.

Wartortle swam beside Larpas. The two assumed at some point Croconaw might try to cross the river… And, they were being proven right.

" _I see him!"_ Wartortle muttered in his own language, speeding ahead to execute a Rapid Spin.

Croconaw was knocked onto his back. Wartortle landed on the other side of him, crouching lowly with a grin. The runaway was trapped between the turtle and the Transport Pokémon.

Lapras let out a triumphant cry. Surely Croconaw was caught now.

" _You gonna come peacefully?"_ Wartortle inquired, not entirely against the idea of having a tussle with Croconaw.

" _Heh,"_ the crocodile cackled. _"Catch me if you can."_

Rolling his eyes, Wartortle spat out an Ice Beam. At the same time, Lapras fired off another Ice Beam.

For a moment, Croconaw stood still… Then he darted away, watching over his shoulder as the Ice Beams passed each other by and instead hit the two team players. The crocodile snickered as they both froze before making his grand escape.

Absol stilled, looking in the distance to where she heard Croconaw approaching with mirthful laughter pouring out of his throat. It was barely audible, though, over Clefairy's endless humming. Honestly, the dark type was pretty pissed that she'd gotten paired off with the noisy fairy type. Why Dawn liked this incapable youth Absol would never know.

Right on time, Croconaw came burst into their path, freezing at the sight of the bristling dark type and the startled fairy.

"Croco…" Darn it. Couldn't Absol see the future or something? Croconaw would have to be careful with this one.

Sure enough, Absol's eyes flashed brightly. She used Future Sight, setting up for what she hoped would be a quick, successful battle. Though she hoped to see herself hauling the Croconaw's sorry hide back to her trainer, instead the flash of the future she saw thanks to her innate ability to sense disaster… Cause her to look with wide eyes towards the Clefairy.

Croconaw, however, was confused. The Absol hadn't done anything with the bright eyes, and why was the Clefairy wiggling her fingers?

Clefairy herself was singing happily, hoping her Metronome attack would magic out a marvelous move. Soon, she felt a bright, warm light within her. What move was this? Why was Absol running away? Was it that strong? Croconaw looked scared, too… Oh, the move she must be using must be…!

Self Destruct. With a might kaboom, Clefairy let off an explosion, rocking Croconaw back and knocking herself out. Mostly unharmed, the fairy type was by no means a threat any longer. Croconaw considered himself lucky; in the chaos, the Absol had also run off.

Unfortunately, at that time, the Future Sight came home to roost.

"Croco!" he complained before running off again.

"Quila!"

Croconaw couldn't believe his eyes. How very bold… The Quilava was challenging him all by herself. Didn't he know he outranked her in power? Shaking his head, the fellow Johto starter spat a stream of water.

All it took was dousing out her flames to make the big baby high tail it. And, he'd thought Rosa was the scaredy Meowth.

The sun was nearly setting and no one had captured Croconaw yet. While Ash hadn't lost hope, he was growing discouraged. What if Croconaw didn't come back? Surely the little guy wouldn't just run away, would he?

Nope. Er, well, at least Ash made visual contact with Croconaw. And, that jerk Poliwhirl. "Hey!" he shouted, running towards them. Trailing up the group was little Pachirisu. She stopped and Ash hesitated, wondering what she was going to do. They'd reached the head of the river, where it was being fed by a craggy cliff lined waterfall.

Pachirisu released a Discharge. Ash grinned. At the distance he was at, he would be fine, but Poliwhirl and Croconaw wouldn't be!

However, his luck couldn't be that good. The Poliwhirl turned, climbing the jutted sides of the waterfall hastily. Croconaw paused before jumping after, using teeth and claws to scale the rocky cliff side.

Ash let out a groan. They were _that_ close.

With the move finished, Ash walked over to where Pachirisu looked despondently up the waterfall's cliff face. "Don't you get any ideas," he tutted.

The electric type huffed, insulted that Ash would bring back her escapades from so long ago! She was _months_ older now, she'd changed so much!

"Well, we're gonna have to chase 'em. You comin' with me?" the trainer inquired of the little electric type.

She agreed. "Chi."

With that, Ash began finding foot and hand holds, laboriously making his way up the craggy side. At least it wasn't too difficult. If Croconaw could make it up, surely he could. Pachirisu had an even easier time due to her small size and speedy nature. She held Ash out, hopping to ledges he could use and generally guiding him up the path of least resistance.

Things were going pretty smoothly, with Ash's years of climbing experience put to use. "Alright… We're almost there!" He grunted out, pulling himself up using an outcrop that supported his arm. Suddenly, though, a shadow loomed over him, obscuring the sun.

"Huh?" Ash's eyes turned upward, only to find a flopping Magikarp flopping over the top of the waterfall.

"Karp, karp," it repeated, wriggling about as gravity pulled it down towards the unfortunate trainer.

"Wah!" Ash yelped as he was decked in the face with the generally harmless fish, nearly losing his grip on the rock. "Ahhh… That _would_ be my luck," he resigned, disoriented. Things could have been worse, though; he could have fallen down into the river, or worse. "I'm not hungry enough to eat a Magikarp for lunch just yet." If memory served, that wasn't a very appealing option to begin with. With that unpleasant thought in mind, he carried on.

As he hauled himself over the ledge, Ash panted an accusation at Pachirisu. "Why… didn't… you help me?"

She shrugged. It was there and gone before she knew. Besides, if she had shocked him, he really would have fallen.

Ignoring his relatively unhelpful aid, Ash turned his attention to Croconaw and the Poliwhirl. There was nowhere else to run. The river sprang up from here and all around the area would be forests crawling with the search part. Furthermore, the rest of the knoll was too steep to safely go down.

"It's time to come home," Ash chided, stepping towards his wayward water type.

Beyond the sight of his troublesome Pokémon was Saffron in the distance. The city was beautiful in the setting sun. If he didn't have Croconaw to deal with, he might have enjoyed the sight. As it was, he had business to attend to.

And, the business almost got the best of him!

Poliwhirl had leaped forward, attempting to jab Ash in defense of his new friend. Thankfully, Pachirisu did act this time, using a mighty Super Fang to take Poliwhirl's punch off course and bring his attention to herself.

With those two engaged, Ash realized he'd have to take on Croconaw himself. "Pachirisu, you hold on. I'm gonna do my best, too!" The trainer reached up, turning his cap around as the Croconaw snapped his jaws threateningly. Then, the teen ran at the water type, circling his arms around the reptile just so that Ash's muscular arms kept the unyielding threat of Croconaw's jaws tightly closed.

"H-Hey! All those battles paid off! I remember a League… when me and Mom were hanging out between travels…! I saw it! It was an old one in Johto! You know somethin', Croconaw! Your bites nasty, but you can't open your mouth too easy, can you? I can hold it shut with one arm, huh?" Ash taunted. Though it was easy to keep Croconaw's mouth shut, the Pokémon's body thrashed violently for release.

The two fell onto the rocky plateau surrounding the river-feeding spring. Ash groaned and grunted as Croconaw's bucking and writhing slammed him into the ground. Likewise, Croconaw's panic increased as he realized he wouldn't be escaping Ash's grasp.

Eventually, after smelling the blood from the scrapes he'd caused on Ash's body, the crocodile calmed. As much as he wanted to play, he didn't _really_ want to hurt Ash…

Ash realized the water type had calmed. "... You gonna act right?"

Croconaw nodded.

"Go back in your pokeball?"

Croconaw nodded again.

Hesitantly letting the dancing fool go, Ash saw that he strayed nowhere. In short order, Ash returned him, looking to where Pachirisu was menacing Poliwhirl not to move. A latent Spark crackled along her cheek pouches. One wrong move and she'd let Poliwhirl have it.

As it was, there was no need. Poliwhirl saw his friend had been apprehended and there was no need for him to remain there any longer. With a sigh and a leap, he fell back into the spring, letting the current take him on. Ash watched in shock as the water type drifted down the waterfall… but upon seeing it land safely, the trainer remembered that once upon a time he'd fallen down a waterfall, too.

Nursing his scrapes and scratches, Ash figured it was time to gather the gang. "Hey, Pachirisu, can you let off a discharge so everyone knows where we are?"

Agreeing, the little electric type went do just such while Ash went to go sit on the cliff edge, resting after the whole ordeal. Soon, Pachirisu joined him and he found her surprisingly calm. Then again, she was always a little less antsy after a battle. Maybe she just needed to let more of her energy out. Regardless, he absently petted her as the party gathered below, everyone wondering what Pachirisu's signal meant and if everyone was alright.

Eventually, almost everyone arrived.

"I'm guessing you caught our little run away?" Dawn called up.

"Yeah! Where's the rest?" Ash yelled back.

"Prinplup found Wartortle and Lapras! Wartortle was frozen on land while Lapras floated down stream. He pushed Lapras back upstream, and now he's watching them both until we can help them out. Clefairy got knocked out. Bulbasaur's still watching our stuff."

Ash nodded. Croconaw could sure cause some problems if he wanted to… "Oh yeah! I saw Saffron City from up here!"

"That's great, but when am I gonna get a formal apology from Croconaw? My vest's soaked! I had to wash in the river."

"Dawn… we're gonna be in a town soon! It's fine, isn't it?" Ash said, laughing. Several of the other Pokémon joined him, chuckling in their own way.

Blushing, Dawn cross her arms. "Y-Yeah, well, he still shouldn't have run me over into the mud! Climb down so we can get somewhere where there's a laundry machine!"

The group just continued to laugh at her expense. They couldn't help it, really. Who else would have such a one track mind right then? While she'd get over it shortly, in the moment, all Dawn could think about was her vest, not Saffron. Even worse for her, before they could head in a direct that would actually have anywhere for her to get back comfortable, they'd have to go collect the frozen Pokémon and their things. Regardless, our heroes were at least closer to Saffron than where they started. What adventures would await them next time after such an ordeal as this?


	27. Great Minds Pick a Fight!

With relief, the quintet walked into the Saffron Pokemon Center. Rosa stretched, little tongue curling in a puppy's yawn. Pikachu, however, wasn't feeling the fighting type's evening fatigue. After trying to round up Croconaw, Pikachu felt like they should make the most of being in the big city. After all, Saffron was open very late at night.

Dawn and Ash alike shared Pikachu's vitality, though for different reasons. Given her peculiar nature, there was an off chance they could at least go by Sabrina's gym to see if it was still open. After all, it was early spring and the sun was still setting early. Just because there was orange on the horizon didn't mean it was time to close down the gym! Dawn, however, could only think one thing: she had to get her jacket clean.

Prinplup, meanwhile, appeared to be in the same boat as Rosa.

"Good evening! What can I do for you two?" the Nurse Joy at the counter gently asked.

"We need a room and to have our Pokémon taken care of," Ash explained. If the Saffron Gym was still open, they'd need a place to sleep after; if not, then they'd still need to spend the night here to wait for tomorrow.

"Oh, well, why don't you both put your pokeballs in these trays here," she instructed, putting two of them on the counter, "while I see what rooms are available. Two beds…?" There was hesitance in her voice, though not quite judgement. After all, trainers were considered free to do as they pleased. And, at their age, they were close to actual maturity, as well.

To Joy's minor relief, though, Dawn shook her head. "Two, please." She was too focused on getting her way to even get flustered.

Neither Rosa nor Prinplup put up a fight over returning to their pokeballs; both were too tired for that. Pikachu, as usual, lithely jumped onto the counter, making it clear he would obediently go with Nurse Joy to be healed.

"Well, here's your room card. I'll be here waiting when your Pokémon are ready, okay?" the pink haired healer perkily inquired.

Ash nodded as did Dawn.

"Alright, I'm headed to the laundry room," she briskly said, taking the room key and walking off.

"Okay!" Ash yelled at her retreating form. "... Dang, I can't swap around my team until I get my pokeballs back. Oh well. I guess I can watch some TV for a minute!"

And, with that, Ash relaxed in the lounge. Unfortunately, whoever had the remote previous didn't place it anywhere obvious and the station was not turned to battles. It was a documentary about some myths on an archipelago far away. At first he thought it might be the Orange Islands, but they specifically said they didn't have a league. Though, the Aqua Resort seemed neat. There was a guy who made blankets and rugs and all sorts of things from humanely gathered Mareep wool! And, apparently, it could even light up if used right.

"Now, that'd be a flashy jacket," Ash mused, already imagining himself and Pikachu with one of Weber's fine creations. A little latent electricity from his number one partner, and, BAM!, he'd be the coolest guy in the room! Right?

Thankfully, Ash's unfortunate fashion sense was not left to fester. He remembered he needed to change out his team and headed to the desk, eager to gather up what he needed and get on with the task.

Meanwhile, in the laundry room, Dawn impatiently tapped her foot as she watched the dryer. Getting through the wash cycle for a single item was incredibly quick - getting it dry, not so much. Eager to find a way to pass the time, Dawn supposed she could use the memo pad app on her Poketch… only to look down.

She crossed her arms, looking sullen. "Right. I didn't bring it." She'd sworn up and down before that it looked too bulky for her new streamlined look, but she was pretty bored now. Maybe she should try sketching something?

Fate must have taken pity on her. Ash walked in just then, Pikachu riding his shoulder. "Hey, Dawn, how close are you to bein' finished?"

"Another… five minutes," she answered, looking to the timer on the drying machine.

Ash shrugged. That wasn't too bad, he supposed.

Dawn, realizing there was a chance for conversation, didn't let it lapse. "So, what was it like the first time you went through Kanto?"

"Well, it was a lot slower going. So was my second trip, really. Then again, my second trip, all of us had to pretty much figure out our route on the fly… We might have gotten a little lost sometimes because of it," he answered, chuckling.

This was his third trip, Dawn realized. But, he hadn't said this was his third time taking on the Indigo League. Oh, right! The Battle Frontier! That happened in Kanto, didn't it? "Why was it like that the first time? Did you get lost then a lot, too, or were you just enjoying yourself?" She wouldn't judge him if he got lost a lot. After all, she couldn't even find Professor Rowan's lab back when she was a newbie.

The trainer blinked, somehow not expecting that question. Then, he tilted his head back, humming a little. "Yeah… I was soaking it all in. I wanted to catch a lot of pokemon and really leave my mark. I was trying to battle pretty much everyone I saw, too," he admitted. He got a nostalgic look, smiling softly at the tips of his shoes.

Dawn grew quiet for a moment before grinning and gently pushing against the shoulder that wasn't supporting Pikachu, just enough to snap him back into reality. "Well, why don't we enjoy Kanto, then? There's no reason we can't enjoy ourselves!" She crossed her arms, tilting her head teasingly. "Unless you think you've gotta constantly work to get these wins…"

Picking up on her banter, the boy grinned back. "What? I was just worried about you! I would hate for that break to take the edge off of ya," he teased right back.

"Ash, I just battled you, like, what, a week ago? I thought you said the battle was good!" She wasn't actually upset. She just liked hearing him praise her battle skills.

The banter was forgotten. "It was! I can't wait for you to get back into the swing of it, really! Imagine how good the battle will be then!" There was fire in his eyes.

Dawn's eyes widened, flattered by his sincerity and likewise looking forward to their next battle. "But, really, let's enjoy the trip, huh?"

"Alright," Ash agreed. "...there's an ice cream shop somewhere in the region that has the best ice cream. Or, so I've heard. I can't remember where it was… We may have actually passed it already," he confessed, recalling that both of his ice creams got stolen by a Clefairy.

Now, that sounded nice! They'd already passed it, though… She was sure she'd heard a bit of disappointment in his tone. "... Hey, how about this? Next time we come around, we'll stop and get some of that great ice cream together!" Dawn gleefully suggested, a wink and a raised finger accompanying her suggestion. In between all this traveling and training, just taking a break to spend some time together would surely be fun. And, sate their sweet teeth in the meantime!

"Sure, that sounds good!" The trainer beamed, eyes lighting up at the idea… Though, a brow raised soon enough. "Why wouldn't we, though?" His head tilted. They didn't usually plan so far ahead.

Shoulders sagged, a defeated smile forming on Dawn's features. Oh, Ash. Looked like the significance of that suggestion was lost on him… Not that she was surprised. "Oh, no reason, really! Just thought I'd plan ahead before we forget! You know you get caught up seeking out gym battles." Nice save, Dawn. No need to worry, just yet!

Thankfully, before the conversation drifted on any further, an obnoxiously loud 'ding' was spouted by the drier. Any questions Ash's had were quickly forgotten.

"There it is! Now I've got my outfit back!"

Ash contently waited for Dawn to slide her vest back on. "Alright! Let's pick up your pokemon and then see if Sabrina's gym is still open. It's only like… Six thirty, so she might be!"

Dawn wiggled her fingers at Ash. "Hey, if she's a psychic gym leader, maybe she knows we're coming!"

Ash paused. Considering what he knew about the woman, Dawn might be more right than she knew...

* * *

The two lucked out. The gym was still open and the two entered with no problem.

And, waiting upon them was none other than Sabrina, seated upon her magnificently decadent and large waiting chair as if it were a throne. Then again, as she did reign as perhaps one of the most powerful psychics of her time, perhaps it was. At any rate, she uncrossed her legs, a smile sliding across her pale face.

"You made it right on time," the gym leader greeted.

Ash waved. "Hey, Sabrina!" She seemed to be in a good mood.

"It's good to see you again, Ash. And, it's nice to meet you, Dawn."

The Sinnoh native's eyes widened. "H-Huh? How'd you know my name?"

"Well, she's a psychic," Ash clarified, scratching the back of his head. "Speaking of which, how much have you predicted, Sabrina?"

"I haven't foreseen the match, if that's what you're asking," she sniffed, taking on a testy tone. When Ash seemed to back down, she continued. "I got a sudden feeling you'd return and your letter was a delightful confirmation of that. The closer it got to time, the more intensely I tried to foresee your arrival."

While her attitude now as definitely better than it was back all those years ago, Ash couldn't help but wonder why she was so anxious to battle him. "You've really been keeping an eye out, huh?"

"Of course. I have to repay you, after all." She looked off, a nostalgic look on her face. "My father and I are both still so grateful. I feel whole again. … I do admit I picked up better sportsmanship from watching your leagues when Father's home. Of course, you alone are not to thank…"

On cue, a spectre dropped down from the ceiling, waggling his tongue and growling right in Ash and Dawn's faces.

"Ah!"

Ash clutched his chest while Dawn took a step back. Prinplup tripped over his own feet and Pikachu bristled. Haunter only laughed at their fear.

After realizing who it was, Ash grinned. "Aw, man, it's been so long!"

Haunter nodded before disappearing again.

"He's surprisingly benign for a ghost type," Dawn noted.

"I've been trying to get him to act right," Sabrina agreed. "He'll be back in a bit, I'm sure. He's probably just excited to see Ash again."

"Well, in the meantime, how about our battle?"

The gym leader nodded, releasing a pokeball. With that, her lips remained sealed.

* * *

The first of their foes appeared. A Hypno stood on the gym leader's side, in the species' usually hunched-over posture. A pendulum was held loosely in its hand, as always. "Hypno," it muttered, eyeing the challenger.

"A Hypno, huh… We're gonna have to watch out for its sleep attacks, I bet." Ash noted to himself, eyeing the leering psychic type. "Then, we'll just have to attack head-on before they have the chance! I choose you, Heracross!" Ash gripped a pokeball between his fingers, feeling it expand to its useable size before tossing it forward.

A flash of light brought on the first of Ash's pokemon - a stocky blue beetle with a long, two-pronged horn atop his head, and two golden, beady eyes. "Hera!" He cried, eager to begin.

"Alright, let's start out with Megahorn!"

The stag beetle ducked his head, the large extremity atop his head glowing with energy. He lurched forward, attempting to strike Hypno with a mighty jab of his horn.

Hypno stood his ground, not faltering in an inch in the face of the oncoming attack. Seemingly unprompted, the psychic type opened his mouth, spewing out a noxious cloud of smoke. The incoming insect would soon be met with a surprise Poison Gas attack.

"What the!? Heracross, pull back!" Ash rushed to call out.

Swift and nimble as ever, the insect corrected his flight, his wings expanding and buzzing to curb his momentum. Flapping the hidden limbs, he did his best to dispel the poisonous gas from the air.

Hypno's eyes took on an eerie glow, as did Heracross' entire body shortly after.

Finding himself suspended in a psychic hold, Heracross struggled to release himself from the Psychic attack. Try as he may, though, he was all but immobile. Before he knew it, he'd been tossed back across the battlefield, heading for the opposite wall.

"Heracross, hang in there! You gotta break out of it!"

Sure enough, a super-effective attack wasn't enough to slow down Heracross. "Cross!" The bug cried, once more throwing his wings outward, forcing his way out of the psychic hold. Buzzing back down to the ground, the bug type let out a huff.

"Hey, what's the big idea? You didn't call for those attacks!" Ash barked, a brow raised at the gym leader.

An unnerving chuckle left Sabrina's lips; it was almost more chilling than her former, blank-faced self. "Remember your invitation, Ash? You asked for the best battle we could give… That's just what I'm offering you. The full potential of a psychic gym leader. That includes telepathy with my pokemon. If you want to win, you'll have to overcome that."

"So that's how it is." Admittedly, this sounded pretty difficult. _'I could always use my aura to reach out to my pokemon, too… But where's the challenge in that?'_ He smiled to himself, having made his decision. _'Nah. I'm gonna face this head-on, and beat 'er the old-fashioned way!'_

With that behind him, Ash threw a hand outward. "Alright, then we'll do better than that! Heracross, use Stone Edge, now!"

"Cross!" Heracross cried, suddenly conjuring two orbiting belts of sharp stones around his body. Throwing both arms out, he launched the barrage of rocks towards Hypno.

Once more, Hypno's eyes took on an eerie blue. A psychic grip was enacted upon the cluster of rocks, stopping them clean in their tracks. Widened eyes enacted a powerful force upon them, throwing them back towards Heracross.

"Great… That's gotta be a psychic type attack," Ash noted. "Dodge 'em, Heracross!"

The stag beetle leapt into action, buzzing wings carrying him well out of the stones' range. Hovering above, though, he soon found the glowing stones giving chase. He flew out of their range again, looping back and forth to avoid the following barrage.

"That's no good… We can't shake 'em off." Ash grit his teeth. Soon enough, though, he seemed to be opposite of Hypno… That gave him an idea. "Alright, Heracross, Hyper Beam!"

Bordering the edge of the arena, Heracross found himself with no other choice. Lowering his horn, Heracross shrieked. A booming magma-colored stream fired from his extremity, blasting through the incoming stones in a ray that obliterated them in but seconds.

The blast wasn't done there, though, shooting straight across the field to crash into Hypno.

The battlefield was engulfed in heat and smoke, forcing those present to guard their eyes and mouths. Ash and Pikachu included, who waited eagerly for the smoke to clear.

Dual sets of orbs turned on the action as the debris began to clear, all four growing wide in disappointment.

A hunched, yellow figure stood amongst the smoke, marked only by a number of singes on his short fur. "Hypno…" It grunted, attempting to shake off the damage dealt by the powerful move.

"Man… Talk about strong. Hypno's still hanging in there. I guess that's gotta mean it's meant for handling a lot of attacks." From what he remembered of his past battles with Sabrina… If one could call them battles, that was… That suited her battling style well. Psychic types were truly terrifying, if used right.

"...Then we've just gotta break through that defense! Heracross, Megahorn!"

"Cross!" His shining horn was brandished like a spear, shooting forward towards Hypno in an attempt to land a powerful, super-effective hit.

The pendulum that was always within Hypno's grasp began to swing rhythmically. Tired sounding chants of the pokemon's name were uttered in sync with the swinging object.

Heracross' senses were quick to pick up on the patterns, the stag beetle stopping in his tracks. hovering before the swinging object, he followed each movement until he began to fall into a trance. Lids began to grow heavy, and wings drooped and receded with them. Mesmerized by the repeating chant, Heracross collapsed, falling asleep at the psychic type's feet.

Under Hypno's hooked nose, his mouth opened wide once again.

Luckily enough, the preparation caught Ash's eye. _"It's gonna use Poison Gas again…!'_

"Heracross, Sleep Talk, now!"

If the insect's ears were visible, they would have flicked and rose upon receiving Ash's familiar command. All too adjusted to those words after all of their training, the stag beetle responded with remarkable swiftness, lunging at Hypno with a glowing horn.

Already moments away from breathing out noxious gas, Hypno found himself in for a very unpleasant surprise, when the long extremity forced his mouth shut, knocked off the ground by the surprise attack. The psychic type stumbled, coughing and choking on the unpleasant poison. Gasping for breath, the pokemon did his best to regain his bearings, practically blue in the face.

"There we go," Ash huffed. The smirk on his features was deceitful enough; sweat drawing down his cheek betrayed his bravado. That had been a close one.

"That was some speed!" Dawn marveled from the sidelines, blue orbs wide at the sight she'd just witnessed. "I know Heracross is fast, but even being asleep, it responded really quickly!"

Overhearing the praise, Ash adjusted the brim of his cap in a classic show of smug confidence. "We trained really hard to get that kind of response out of Sleep Talk! Now, Heracross can respond to attacks in pretty much no time at all!" Happy to boast of their efforts, Ash was quick to remind himself that the match was still going. "...Right. Now where were we? Sleep Talk!"

Standing hunched over before Hypno, the hypnotized insect lurched forward again, supposedly in another show of his Megahorn attack.

This time, however, he wasn't so lucky. A blue veil surrounded him, strangling the bug type in yet another telekinetic grip. More or less unaware of his condition, Heracross was thrown back across the battlefield, unable to do anything to slow himself.

A loud crash, and a noticeable dent in the wall concluded his flight.

"Ouch… That's gotta hurt." Ash frowned, cringing at the impact.

"Pikachu…" Pikachu agreed, his ears drooping.

"Hypno… Hypno…" Matters would only get worse, it seemed. The psychic's eyes took on a devilish red glow, intent on what was surely his target.

Across the battlefield, Heracross' lax, sleeping form began to tense, tightly shut eyes showing some measure of pain. Soon enough, he even began to squirm, troubled by Hypno's assault.

"...That's Dream Eater!" Ash gawked, an odd displeasure forming in his gut. That move had let him with a few bad experiences, to say the least. "Quick, Heracross, Sleep Talk!"

Already disturbed from his slumber, the sleeping pokemon hopped to his feet on reflex, conjuring another volley of stones that were launched towards Hypno.

"Hyp…?" The light in the pokemon's eyes vanished, those same orbs growing wide at the incoming volley. He let out a pained cry, pummeled with stones that he was helpless to stop.

"Hey, check it out!" Ash shouted, his fists closing in a flash of realization. "Hypno can't use Psychic to stop that while he's using Dream Eater… That left him completely defenseless."

From there, things only got better. Shaking his small, rotund head, Heracross finally shook awake from his hypnosis, letting out a happy chirp. "Hera!" His bad dreams plagued him no more.

"Alright! You're awake!" Ash grinned. "Now, let's finish this! Use Megahorn!"

"Cross!" Head lowered and wings buzzing, Heracross zipped across the field.

The dust and debris had finally cleared from Stone Edge, revealing a rather disoriented Hypno. As soon as his sight was clear, though, he witnessed the incoming attack. Just a moment too late.

The shining horn struck Hypno dead-on, sending the psychic type flying into the wall behind it. Falling in a heap, the psychic type had swirls in his eyes, soundly defeated.

An incredulous gaze fell upon Sabrina's first choice, surprise clear on her features. Surely, for a psychic, that was an impressive feat. The telepath held Hypno's pokeball out, returning it in a red flash.

Without a doubt, this Ash was worlds different from the one she knew. With that in mind, the stoic gym leader brought forth a second pokeball, allowing the spherical device to float above the palm of her hand. Hovering towards the battlefield, it burst open to release her second pokemon.

"Mime! !"

Upon being released, Sabrina's Mr. Mime took the traditional defensive stance of its species: knees bent, hands open and up. If Ash didn't know through experience that it was to make Barriers on the fly, then he might have thought the psychic type was getting ready to parry some of Heracross's punches.

At any rate, if Sabrina wanted to start off on the defensive, that was fine by Ash. "Heracross, use Megahorn!" Mr. Mime was a psychic type, so that would be a good move.

However… He actually wasn't one hundred percent sure about that. After all, he'd never trained a Mr. Mime extensively before. He got out his PokeDex, eyes flitting between the battle and the screen.

"Smart!" Dawn praised from the sidelines. "I can't remember the other pokemon that were reclassified as fairy types, but I know Togekiss was one…! Best be sure he's getting the most damage for his efforts!"

Meanwhile, Mr. Mime had thrown up a Light Screen, using its Psychic attack to bolster and support it enough to block the Megahorn attack. The powerful limb collided with the forcefield, barely bending it before flinging the bug type back.

Ash let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps it was as in the case of the crystal Onix back in the Orange Islands, but the Kanto strand of the species hadn't developed the fairy typing… yet. Sabrina's own Mr. Mime was only a psychic type. Still, the whole affair was weird. He hoped he'd remember to call Professor Oak after this and ask what he could make of it.

For the time being, he had a match on his hands. A battle with an oddly familiar pattern. Ash realized Paul probably picked up his strategy with Jynx from Sabrina. His rival had gone through Kanto once upon a time, after all.

"Works for me," Ash muttered, a smile forming on his lips. Just one more strategy he could already predict. "He wants to block everything? Give 'im a challenge, Heracross. Stone Edge!"

Sure enough, numerous boulders and stones were summoned, thrown to crash against the suddenly formed Light Screens Mr. Mime tried desperately to defend himself with. However, stretching his defenses so thin left him partially vulnerable. The largest of the Stone Edge rocks were stopped with another round of aid from Psychic, but the smaller ones broke between the Light Screens and struck true against their intended target.

Perhaps realizing that her clownish contender would need to pick up his power, Sabrina must have told Mr. Mime to use Calm Mind. Or, at least, Ash assumed that was what the move was. If nothing else, this battle was proving a good exercise in his move recognition.

More faint pink shields appeared across the field. The trainer knew well enough that his opponent had to be planning a finishing move. He wouldn't let them set it up.

"Hyper Beam!"

Heracross landed, ignoring the numerous Light Screens forming behind him. The bug's tiny mouth opened wide as it could before he fired off a mighty blast of blindingly white light. The energy beam swallowed up Mr. Mime, violently stirring the air in the gym enough to whip everyone's hair. It was enough to make normally poker faced Sabrina squint her eyes in a display of vulnerability.

Unfortunately for Ash, Mr. Mime was strong - at least, strong enough to withstand a single Hyper Beam with no previous heavy injuries in the round to compile into a knock out. And, unlike Heracross, Mr. Mime currently required no recovery time.

Whilst the bug trembled where he stood, momentarily drained, the mime was quick to obey the silent, telepathically delivered commands of his trainer. The Light Screens closed in around Heracross. Then, there was a brilliant flash of lightning! The odorous scent of ozone flooded the gym as the Thunder dissipated, its target struck true and felled within the trap laid for him.

"Darn it," Ash growled.

On the sidelines, though she felt sorry for Ash's loss this round, Dawn was overall impressed. The move was showy… It reminded her of her own combination with Pachirisu and Mamoswine. Still, Dawn had faith in Ash. Despite this particular round, she knew he could win this battle!

"Thanks, Heracross… Have a good, long rest." Returning Heracross with an utterance of gratitude, Ash called out for his next pokemon. "Misdreavus, I choose you!"

"Mis, Misdreavus~" The small phantom chanted, buzzing about the gym a fair height above ground. She seemed jubilant to be back from Oak's ranch.

"Haun…?" What had seemed to simply be a patch of empty space took the form of a purple gaseous ghost. It wasn't all too rare for a learning trainer to bring a ghost type to battle Sabrina, some of those trainers being more successful than others. Seeing Ash with one, however, caught him off-guard.

"Start us off with Power Gem," Ash instructed. _'With all the Light Screens around, all the light from the Power Gem oughta confuse 'em!'_ Ash smiled to himself, hoping for his less than conventional plan to catch the duo by surprise.

However, whereas Ash had only an understanding that light reflected from mirrors and mirror-like objects, Mr. Mime had the luck of being on the same team as a genius. He brought his Light Screens together with Psychic as the move went off, carefully organizing them to contain the rocky energy beam. As it were, only the tiniest of beams escaped to solidify into hurled pebbles. While they were not numerous, they were as tiny and swift as to make Sabrina aware of Misdreavus's true power.

If a few pebbles rather than a true Power Gem could do that, what would the full move do?

All the same, at the time, a Light Screen circle held together by Psychic currently held together the Power Gem. Mr. Mime carefully rearranged his Light Screens, allowing the smooth surfaces to mirror the move back at Misdreavus.

"You gotta dodge that!" Ash warned.

The little ghost was swift. Unlike with the portion Mr. Mime had received, the beam headed her way was large and solidified into easily seen, and thus avoided stones.

However, neither Ash nor Misdreavus had anticipated Sabrina simply telling Mr. Mime to use a Light Screen to ricochet the Power Gem move back one last time. It clocked Misdreavus in the back of the head.

Ash let out a low sound of awe. He hadn't expected an attack from behind in a proper gym match with moves that relied upon distance…

Sabrina wanted to play dirty with the Light Screens? That was fine. Ash could play dirty with the Light Screens, too.

"Shadow Ball!" Though he'd told Misdreavus one thing, he kept his eyes on another. Sure enough, Mr. Mime followed Sabrina's unspoken order to simply block the Shadow Ball with those same Light Screens. "Use Psychic to pull 'em apart." A cocky grin slid onto his face as the struggle began.

Dawn grew excited on the sidelines, fists up before her. "Look at it! Misdreavus is gonna make an opening!"

Sure enough, on the battlefield, the Light Screens trembled under the twin pressures of both telekinetic grips. However, unlike Mr. Mime, Misdreavus didn't have to keep control. She just had to keep them from forming a solid wall long enough for her Shadow Ball to make it through. And, indeed, she did!

Mr. Mime grew desperate as the Shadow Ball approached him, trying to snatch the shields back long enough to get them directly in front of him. However, the pressure between the two mystical pokemon proved too much.

As the Shadow Ball engulfed Mr. Mime, the Light Screens all shattered, raining down pink shards which dissolved as they hit the floor. Ash lifted a fist, smiling widely at Sabrina from across the shadow and shard covered field.

"Nothing to say, huh?" he taunted.

Sabrina's response was merely to look down to her Mr. Mime. His eyes glowed blue, firing up a purely offensive Psychic.

"Fine, then," Ash breathed, ready to set up for their finishing move. "Misdreavus, Payback!"

As the little ghost rushed forward, a blue energy enveloped her, struggling with the dark type move she was powering up.

Dawn held her breath as Misdreavus pressed forward. It was as if she were flying against a strong wind, but the room was completely still, everyone waiting on baited breath. Though it was obvious the squeezing, compressing hold of Psychic was hurting her, Misdreavus struggled on.

Eventually, she got close enough to execute her Payback.

Mr. Mime did not abide well with physical dark type moves. The thrashing sent him flying backwards when Misdreavus was done. To be made of something immaterial, she could sure fight well.

Sabrina merely blinked before returning Mr. Mime.

Another orb hovered out of Sabrina's hand, spinning above the battlefield before letting out a bright white flash. The glow quickly took form, transforming into Sabrina's last pokemon.

"Alakazam!" The psychic type cried, holding a spoon diligently in each hand.

"Alakazam… Man, that must've been her Kadabra. It's gotta be stronger than ever now. We better be careful." Ash noted, reaching to fiddle with the brim of his cap. "...Alright, then! Misdreavus, use Shadow Ball, now!"

Leering eyes, much like those before him, lit an eerie blue. The powerful esper exerted his telekinetic grip upon the floating orb of darkness, stopping it dead in its track before it burst into a mist of ghastly energy.

"Check out that power… I guess this is where it gets serious." One of Ash's fists closed tight. If Misdreavus could at least deal some damage, his final pokemon would have a better chance… _'...But I'm not givin' up yet. We'll just have to give it our all!'_

"Misdreavus, Payback, now!"

"Mis~!" The pokemon let out a ghostly chant, zipping across the field towards Alakazam.

Receiving another mental impulse, Alakazam repeated his last attack, imposing his psychic will upon the specter.

This time, nothing happened. "Dreavus!" The ghost wailed, crashing into Alakazam.

"Hey, check it out… I guess Psychic doesn't work on dark type attacks, either!"

"Zam…!" Less-than-powerful legs stumbled back, the cerebral pokemon cringing from the powerful physical assault. Pain turned to fury, and Misdreauvs was enraptured in a powerful psychic force, tossed like a ghoulish ragdoll across the battlefield.

"Misdreavus! Are you alright?" Ash shouted, frowning at the sight. That had to hurt.

"Mis…" Staying afloat only due to her well-honed ghostly powers, Misdreavus hung on, ignoring the rattling headache. Truthfully, she hadn't even known that was possible for a ghost.

"Alright… Give 'em all you've got! Full power Shadow Ball!"

"Misss… Dreavus~!"

Sparks seemingly devoid of life, rather than full of it burst and crackled around a dark purple orb, growing remarkably large before the tiny ghost. With a cry, it was fired towards Alakazam.

Sweat dripped from the trainer's brow, dark eyes intent on the sphere that seemed to swallow the light without it. Brows raised, though, as Misdreavus' attack began to slow and lose shape.

A chant from Alakazam and glowing eyes exerted full control over the Shadow Ball, blowing the attack into an eerie black wave of energy, complete with a ghoulish face that shadowed Misdreavus.

"Mis!" The ghost type shrieked, helpless to stop the attack that swallowed her whole.

"Misdreavus!" Teeth grit, he stared into the eye of the explosion. "Are you alright!?"

The veil didn't have to fade. A somewhat shapeless mass of teal fell slowly towards the gym floor, no more mobile than a plastic bag in the wind. Swirled eyes indicated defeat.

"...Dang." And she'd fought so hard too. "You were great, Misdreavus. Return!"

A pokeball had been held outward, absorbing the ghost in a flash of light.

"Alright… Looks like we're both down to our last pokemon!" Ash grinned, eyeing Sabrina. A pokeball had already been retrieved, held securely at his side. "Let's see how ya handle… This one! Go, Crawdaunt!"

The ball that had been so vigorously thrown forth burst, a light quickly taking the form of a small, but sturdy-looking crustacean. A golden star crested his forehead, darkened eyes focusing on his opponent almost immediately. "Craw, Crawdaunt!" He chanted vigorously, snapping his claws.

"Check it out! I didn't know Ash had that Pokémon." Dawn marveled, pulling out her Pokedex.

 **Crawdaunt: The Rogue Pokémon. It is a ruffian that uses its pincers to pick up and toss out other Pokémon from its pond.**

"Psychic type attacks won't do anything to Crawdaunt," Ash noted haughtily. That'd been his ace in the hole from the start. "Let's see what you can do against that!" He grinned, goading on the gym leader.

Sabrina offered no response, a small smile picking up on her lips. Seemed he was cocky as ever.

"...Alright, if you won't attack first, then I will! Crawdaunt, Aqua Jet!"

The Rogue pokemon let out a cry, raring to go. His entire body was surrounded by a swirling jet of water, launching him off the gym floor towards Alakazam.

Both of Alakazam's spoons were raised in the face of its rapidly approaching target. A blue orb appeared between the silverware, firing towards Crawdaunt without a word.

"Huh? That's Focus Blast!" Ash quickly noted. "Knock it right back with Crabhammer!"

Aqua Jet dissipated on a whim, one of Crawdaunt's large pincers glowing before slamming into the ball of energy. Boasting impressive force, the orb was knocked back at Alakazam.

And just before the blast struck, Alakazam vanished completely. Focus Blast collided with the ground, only managing to kick up a potent cloud of smoke.

"It's gone!" Ash gawked, noting its disappearance, but not nearly fast enough.

A second blast of energy appeared out of the blue, striking Crawdaunt right in the back. The crustacean cried out, falling forward onto his belly. Grunting. He moved to push himself to his feet.

"Great… Now we're dealing with Teleport, too. I guess I'll have to keep my eyes open for it moving around like that." This match just seemed to throw one puzzle at him after the next.

"Alright, Crunch!"

Once again, Crawdaunt lunged at Alakazam, aiming to pulverize the esper between his tough claws.

Crawdaunt's grip crunched down upon nothing. Puzzled, the pokemon darted its head left and right. Where the hell had it gone, now!?

"Behind you, Crawdaunt!" Ash informed, pointing towards Alakazam. "Follow it again, with Aqua Jet!"

The Rogue pokemon was beginning to grow frustrated. Letting out another cry, he launched himself towards Alakazam, intent on landing at least one hit.

Both of Alakazam's spoons were raised again, this time conjuring two orbs of energy. "Ala! Kazam!" The pokemon cried out, its voice eerily deep. Two swings of its notably frail arms launched the Focus Blasts towards the approaching Crawdaunt.

"Dodge it!" Ash warned. "Keep moving with Aqua Jet!"

Several twists and turns followed the trainer's command, bringing Crawdaunt mere inches away from the first blast before weaving under it. The second was avoided with a strategic spin, leaving only Alakazam in Crawdaunt's way.

Spotting the disappearing psychic type, Crawdaunt grunted, skidding to a halt with residue waves thrown every which way.

"Damn it…" Ash cursed under his breath, dark orbs darting left and right. This time, he spotted Alakazam rather quickly. It'd appeared with another Focus Blasts charged, firing it at Crawdaunt's back.

"Quick, Crawdaunt, behind you! Knock it back with Crabhammer!"

The Rogue spun, this time slamming into Focus Blast with a swift swing of his powerful limb.

The blast was knocked back towards Alakazam, earning widened eyes before a deafening explosion occurred.

"Alright!" Ash cheered, satisfied with his first successful attack of the round. "Now, follow it up with Aqua Jet, one more time!"

"Craw!" The water type roared, firing off like a water-coated missile towards Alakazam without the slightest bit of hesitation. This time, it was going in for the kill!

"Zam…" The psychic grunted, none too happy with being hit by his own attack. By time the smoke had cleared, too, Crawdaunt was closing in. It was unlikely he'd be able to teleport, at this point.

A mental impulse from Sabrina, however, cleared up his worries. Alakazam's mouth opened wide, spitting out what seemed to be a crackling orb of electricity.

Ash and Crawdaunt alike looked on in horror, the latter unable to act before being engulfed in those painful sparks. He cried out, Aqua Jet stalled in its tracks, absolutely dancing with electric currents. Eyes were shut tight, the pokemon's seaborne body doing its best to ride out the pain.

"Hang in there, Crawdaunt! You can do it! Fight through it and finish your attack!"

If his own motivation to win hadn't been enough, his trainer's words of encouragement certainly were. The Aqua Jet pressed on, this time taking on a brilliant, snapping golden aura of coursing electricity. The attack hit its mark, drawing a pained cry from Alakazam that could barely be heard over the sizzling bolts.

"Alright! Great job!" Ash cheered, guarding his eyes from the blinding light.

"Oh, wow, look at that!" Dawn spoke aloud in awe, marveling at the results of the collision. Crawdaunt had been engulfed in electricity, and came down upon his opponent like a bolt of lightning! "It looks beautiful… Those two attacks mixed together. And so powerful, too!"  
Alakazam's pain and the flashing lights made that evident.

"But, that can't be good for Crawdaunt…"

Skin and armor slightly charred, Alakazam emerged from the aftermath. "Alaka…" It grunted. That result had been unexpected, to say the least. Another mental command came through, though, prompting both of its arms to rise. Each of its spoons began to crackle, pouring energy into a single large Focus Blast, dwarfing the others it'd fired.

"Zam!" It cried, pushed back from recoil as the attack fired.

"Check out the power on that one." The trainer's eyes widened. "Crabhammer, again!"

Crawdaunt stood his ground, fierce determination evident on his features. One claw was pulled back, glowing with brilliance as the Focus Blast approached. A shrill cry followed, the large pincer slamming into the blast. This time, he was met with far more resistance, struggling to hold the larger orb back. His small feet began to lose ground, dragging back under the attack's force.

A second strike with his other claw put the struggle to an end, bursting the blast.

Bright, blue light lit the gym, forcing Ash, Dawn, and Pikachu to guard their eyes. Haunter opted to swallow his own, as an alternate method of self-defense.

Crawdaunt let out a huff, exhilarated by thrilling rush a battle brought on. It was only getting tougher by the minute.

"What's with the power behind that Focus Blast?" Ash pondered. "Was it something from that electric attack?" At first, it'd looked like Electro Ball… Reaching into his pocket, Ash called upon his pokedex. The device lit up, analyzing the request before giving Ash his answer.

 **"Charge Beam: An initially weak electric type attack. When used successfully, it boosts the user's special attack significantly."**

"So, that's what it is… I guess we're gonna have to watch out for that." Ash noted. As if Alakazam wasn't strong enough, already. "Alright, Bubblebeam!"

One of Crawdaunt's pincers parted, firing an explosive stream of bubbles.

Alakazam stood in the attack's wake, disappearing well before it could land.

Spotting its figure appear once more, Ash followed up. "To the right, another Bubblebeam!"

The opposite claw followed up, spraying another array of power-packed foam towards the now-visible Alakazam. Unfortunately, he'd vanished from this assault just as well.

"Damn it… Every time, it's able to dodge before we can get to it!" Ash cursed, one of his fists closing painfully tight in frustration. "Wait a second… That's it." An anxious frown curved upward into a sly smile, dark orbs pooling with copper. "Use Bubblebeam, again!"

"What's he doing? Ash should know that Crawdaunt's just going to get tired like this." Dawn frowned, resting her hands on her hips. Surely, he had to be up to something?

Unphased by the crustacean's futile chase, Alakazam appeared once more.

Bingo.

Ash grinned. "Use Crabhammer on the ground!"

Confused, but compliant, Crawdaunt raised one of his pincers, slamming it into the gym floor.

The ground began to tremor, shockwaves coursing through the gym just as Alakazam had righted himself where it'd thought itself safe. It sound found otherwise, though, letting out a cry as the ground below rattled it, forcing one of its legs to buckle under the instability.

As expected, it vanished once again. Ash's eyes darted from one side of the gym to the next. It had to appear somewhere…. "There! Do it again, behind you!"

Crawdaunt leapt from where he stood, flipping in mid-air before pointing his pincers towards the ground below. "Daunt!" He shouted, slamming both of them into the structure. Twin quakes ran swiftly through the gym, causing the ground below Alakazam to falter.

Sabrina's eerily empty orbs widened, looking upon trainer and pokemon alike with bewilderment. While his fiery spirit stayed the same, Ash's unpredictability seemed much more reflective of his league exploits than anything she'd seen for herself. Outside of cheating with her own psychic prowess, it was becoming harder to predict his moves.

Noting her expression, Ash beamed, brushing his index finger over his nose. "How's that, huh? You can't run away from us forever!"

Perhaps not. A very irritated Alakazam received another impulse, its mouth parting once more. A terrifying golden flash took on a round shape, firing off towards Crawdaunt.

"That's bad…! Crawdaunt, hit the ground again! Knock up some of the gym floor to block it!"

Small round eyes narrowing, the Rogue pokemon slammed the floor below with extra effort, punching through the sturdy ground with enough force to uproot a chunk of flooring.

Just in time, it seemed, as the projectile was electrified as soon as it was uprooted, shining with brilliance before bursting into smoky debris.

"We can't let that keep going… But Alakazam looks tired now." Ash noted, eyeing the powerful psychic type. It huffed, doing its best to support itself after the consecutive physical strikes.

"Crawdaunt, Bubblebeam, now!"

The opposite claw was aimed at Alakazam. Power-packed foam sprayed across the field again.

For the first time since the round began, its narrow eyes took on an eerie cyan glow. Both spoons were raised, copying the same illumination. Soon enough, they absorbed the incoming Bubblebeam with the same influence.

The bubbles had stopped in their tracks, hovering just above ground between both Pokémon.

"Kazam!" Alakazam cried, holding its spoons up in the air.

Their influence was soon magnified, the water-type attack thrown back towards Crawdaunt.

The crustacean gawked, finding himself surrounded in a blue, translucent film. Before he could act, he was being pummeled with the foamy orbs one by one, each explosion piling on damage.

"Great… So she really can use Psychic." Ash lamented. "There's gotta be something I can do about them… They have Crawdaunt surrounded!"

As those words passed the trainer's lips, Pikachu noted an instant change in demeanor. The sweat that had accumulated on his forehead all but disappeared, a look of confidence plastered on his features. His posture had even changed. Without a doubt, Ash'd come up with a plan.

"If they wanna trap us, we'll trap them right back! Crawdaunt, use your Bubblebeam to make a Counter Shield!" The command was shouted loudly, a finger thrown up towards the ceiling.

Though finding it hard to concentrate while being pelted with his own assault, Crawdaunt listened. That term had been grinded into his memory quite well, during their secluded training. Now, to just see if he could pull this off right…

"Daunt!" The Rogue pokemon's arms were thrown outward, each of his pincers held at opposite angles. Dozens of bubbles pulverized the ones still surrounding him, crashing into two of the gym walls in a flurry of explosions.

Those were followed by a spinning red and gold blur, firing off a storm of Bubblebeam attacks every which way. The surrounding film had been blown away, and with time, the entire field would be consumed.

Realizing this, Alakazam vanished, narrowly avoiding an incoming spray. Just as he'd dodged though, he was pelted with another, forcing him to vanish and reappear about.

In the end, it proved fruitless. A moan of pain could be heard amongst the chaos, keying Ash in.

The trainer was exuding confidence, punching forward as he called out. "Now's your chance! Use Crunch, now!"

Overhearing his opponent's pain, Crawdaunt shot forward through the smoke, eyeing his prey. One particularly powerful claw clamped down upon the psychic type's arm, refusing to release Alakazam.

"Zam…!" The wildly intelligent psychic type cried, once more falling to one knee. Fortunately, the unbreakable bond with its trainer served it, giving him one last instruction.

A shout predated a huge, electric burst, hitting Crawdaunt head-on in what proved to be a bright, painful explosion.

Painful volts and sparks ran through Crawdaunt's system, leaving the pokemon feeling quite numb. Willful as ever, though, he held on still, refusing to loosen his grip.

"You can do it! Finish it, with Crabhammer!" Ash encouraged, throwing an arm aside.

Pulling his remaining will together, Crawdaunt drew back one of his limbs, forcing Alakazam to witness an equally brilliant glowing claw.

With little time to react, Alakazam was greeted with a rattling blow to the chest, sending it flying helpless into the wall behind it. Losing its breath with the collision, the psychic type fell unconscious.

Silence lasted a moment or so, all onlookers seemingly making sure that their eyes weren't betraying them.

And, it was quickly broken by a shout of glee.

"Alright! We did it!" Ash couldn't help but leap for joy, dashing over to throw his arms around his exhausted pokemon. "You were awesome, Crawdaunt! You really hung in there." Grinning, he held the pokemon close.

"Pika, Pikachu!" The electric mouse cheered, giving the water type a high-five. Or, what amounted to a stubby paw meeting with an incredibly tired pincer, at least.

"Craw, crawdaunt…!" The water type chattered, thoroughly exhausted. Even still, though, the victory had been very much worth the effort. The hardest fought battle was the most satisfying, after all.

"You guys were great!" Ash overheard a very familiar voice, looking over his shoulder to find Dawn rushing over, and Prinplup with her. "I've never seen someone fight a battle like that! It must've been really hard."

"You're tellin' me! Hell, I think _I'll_ need some downtime after this! And I wasn't even doing the battling!" He chuckled, pulling a pokeball from his belt. "Speaking of that, why don't you rest for now, Crawdaunt? You've earned it."

The Rogue cheered, putting up no resistance to the red flash of light that consumed him.

* * *

"Crawdaunt certainly has." Rising from her sort-of-throne, the impossibly talented psychic approached her challenger, an air of both warmth and mystery around her. Even when she walked, Sabrina threw off wafts of power. However, it was evident she'd enjoyed the battle as much as, if not more than, Ash had. "You, too, have earned a good rest. You've really polished up that natural talent of yours," she tutted, a wry smile on her face telling that perhaps she'd really kept watch over the growth of her personal hero. "Not that I doubted you… out of fact or faith." The perks of seeing the future did allow her to know the battle would be good, but the emotional aspect of it made her prediction's consummation all the more wonderful.

"Natural talent? This is the first time I've beaten ya' for real! I'm glad ya enjoyed the match," Ash agreed, "'cause it was kinda hard to tell during, haha."

Dawn blinked, catching onto something. Wait, if this was Ash's first time beating Sabrina, did that mean he didn't have her badge? Or, was it a situation like Volkner? Somehow, Dawn didn't seen Sabrina as quite so passive. Whereas Volkner was like a bored Luxray, uninterested in the pitiful challenges thrown at him, Sabrina had an air of vitality that reminded Dawn more of the Aggron defenders who jealously guarded mountains… So, that pressed all the further into her curiousity: how _had_ Ash gotten her badge?

The bluenette's focus was broken when Haunter joined the party abruptly, scaring the wits out of everyone except Sabrina. However, this time, the ghost didn't back off in satisfaction when Dawn put a hand to her chest, or when Ash let out a yelp of shock. Rather, the spectre continued to hover around Ash, picking up his cap and putting it down and wiggling his disproportionately large tongue in the trainer's face.

"He's acting like he's missed you or something!" Dawn whined, giving the boy space for his "haunting."

"He has," Sabrina confirmed.

That caught Ash's attention. Reaching his hand out to touch the immaterial surface of Haunter's face, Ash noted how, for the moment, the high energy spook calmed. "Well, I'm here. Ya happy?"

"Hau."

Noting the dissatisfied tone in the poison type's voice, Ash furrowed his brows. "Well, what'd ya want then? Ya didn't wanna come with me, did you?"

If there was any residual doubt, it was pushed out of Ash when Haunter swept through the boy like a bone chilling breeze, chortling loudly.

Satisfied he had Haunter's intention and consent, Ash then turned to Sabrina. "Are you okay with this?" he questioned. His eyes flickered towards Dawn. His younger self might have outright said it. Honestly, all of Kanto probably knew about her previous emotional status… But, somehow, at the age he was now, it just didn't feel right dragging Sabrina's dirty laundry out like that. Her skeletons could stay in the closet. "Will you be okay with him gone?"

Touched by Ash's tenderness, the psychic gym leader's smile softened once more. Many knew she was powerful, both in battle and in her own right. Once upon a time, even she hadn't known how human she could really be. To have her emotions treated so tenderly… was a pleasant change of pace. The gym leader noted how Ash's companion seemed to pick up on the private air of the conversation and had occupied herself with her Prinplup.

These two… They were good people.

"I'll be fine," Sabrina assured. "Haunter has helped me a lot… But, what's left to do is me connecting with other people. I'm fine within myself. All that's left to do is reach out." Her tender smile just as quickly turned back into a cold smirk. "Consider my debt fulfilled with this."

Somewhere between touched and confused, Ash merely got out a pokeball. "Well, this is fine, but Haunter's gotta not disappear on me again!"

Offended that Ash lacked faith in him to act right when it counted, the ghost returned in full swing to his jovial nature, knocking so forcefully into the pokeball that he both captured himself and knocked it out of Ash's hand.

"He can't act right," Ash complained. "Still… Thanks, Sabrina! Three gyms down, five to go!"

Sabrina nodded. "Oh… Right. I forget who thought it, but you have a phone call to make to a professor, don't you? Something about typing…"

"... Did you read my mind during the match?!" Ash hissed.

"It's hard not to… you all think so plainly."

Sighing and shaking her head, Dawn almost grabbed Ash's arm to drag him out of the gym but hesitated. Catching the widening of the psychic's grin, she decided to bail before Sabrina found a new topic for conversation. "C'mon! Let's just go make the phone call!"

Confused as to why his companion had raced out of the gym so quickly - she even left poor short legged Prinplup behind! - Ash did the water type a favor and picked him up again.

"Dawn, wait up!"

"Pikaka!"

With the boyish portion of the party trailing on the leading lady, Saffron's night enveloped the group on their way to the Pokemon Center. Hopefully a good night's rest and a good debriefing on the intricate, ever evolving nature of Pokémon - in moves, typing, and even evolutionary methods! - would leave them more than ready for the next challenge!


	28. Electric Boogaloo

As our heroes entered the bright port city of Vermillion, both found themselves a little confused by the late night conversation they held with not just one professor, but both Oak _and_ Rowan. Despite being as enthusiastic about Pokémon as the two both were, neither was exactly a scientist.

Ash shook his head, brows scrunched down and lips pressed into a thin little frown. "I just don't get it. He said Pokémon are always evolving as a species. Is it like when the Clefairy all came together to evolve into Clefable? But, Professor Oak said Kanto born Clefairy and their family line were only recently developing the fairy type…"

Dawn shook her head. "Professor Rowan said it's like when a soda brand changes over time! I know Cascoon Cola used to come in glass bottles but now you can only find it in those big plastic ones or the little metal cans." It didn't really make sense to her, but both professors said there was evidence that Pokémon were not static discoveries. Science was always changing its views, it seemed. How frustrating. She was glad she was a coordinator.

The boy felt about the same, though he didn't voice it, about being a trainer. Science was amazing, alright, but it was so confusing! "And, what was that about getting sick more? Mega-something's?"

The coordinator shrugged. "I don't know. I was so confused and tired at that point… Something about weird stones. Professor Rowan said the professor who studied it was kind of unreliable, too…"

"Aw, whatever. If I ever battle one, I'll just beat it!" Ash assured Dawn with a grin.

"Hey, hey, I'm not doubting you," she promised. With that, she'd get ready to fall into step with Ash as they headed towards the gym. She did cast a curious glance over to Prinplup. He stayed close to her side; would he cheer with her still? He could definitely make plenty of noise now.

"Alright. Let's go, guys!" Ash cheered, voice heavy with enthusiasm. Pikachu responded eagerly, pumping both of his fists in the air.

"Pika~!"

It was clear both of them had a personal investment in the upcoming battle. The trek to the gym didn't take long; the building before them was large and intimidating, lightning bolts arching the doors and jutting off the roof. Large double doors stood in their way, which Ash moved to push open with both hands.

While Ash was normally enthusiastic about gym battles, Dawn noticed he seemed a bit more so than usual. It wasn't the same eagerness displayed before the battle with Brock or Misty, so she did have to wonder: what sort of person was Lt. Surge? Walking in after Ash made his grand entrance, she came to a quick conclusion. "He's probably got a thunderous personality…"

"Prin," Prinplup agreed. "Lup?!" Wait, was that giant over there—!?

"…Well whaddya know! I got mahself a challenger here! Who's the tough guy in here for a badge?" A booming voice thundered through the dimly lit gym, belonging to none other than said giant. Making his way out of the shadows was a burly, towering man, standing at least seven feet tall in camouflage, sporting bronze tan skin and spiky blonde hair.

Stepping forward, his brows raised at the sight of the bluenette, a smile then breaking out across his face. "Hm…? It must be mah lucky day! Not too often I get a cutie like you for a challenguh!" A gigantic hand lowered to lay on Dawn's shoulder, eyes turning to the penguin beside her, who was already sending a leer the man's way. "…And, ya got a spunky lookin' Pokuhmon for me to battle, too! Just don't think I'm gonna go easy on ya!"

By now, Ash was absolutely red in the face. Were he any less sure Dawn would take care of this herself, he would've long since swatted the Gym Leader's grimy hand away. "Hey, watch it! She's not the challenger! I am!" Ash spouted, just about steaming.

The entire time, Dawn had remained painfully silent. She stared down at Surge's hand. Had he really just—? "I'm about to challenge something, all right. The game's called put-that-hand-back-where-it-came-from-or-so-help-me and these are the terms: move it or **_lose_** it!"

Prinplup brought a flipper up. Even if he was smaller than the behemoth—the cruel irony to be this big yet still relatively _short_ — he was still darn fierce, and would definitely prove it if his trainer was tested any further.

Probably to Dawn's surprise, the towering man did indeed retract his hand - though not out of fear. Surprise was more like it; shock was written all over his features, eyes wide at the fire from the relatively short bombshell. "Waddya know. Girl's got a lotta guts. I respect that!"

When Surge's hand was finally off her, Dawn made a face, feeling more disgusted than she ever had since she'd gotten to Kanto. "I'm headed to the stands. Good luck, Ash."

Laughter unfitting to the moment followed before Surge's eyes turned to the equally steaming teen who'd been beside Dawn. "Hey, it's da baby! Haven't seen ya since you were just a lil' shrimp here with yer Pikachu! I see ya still haven't evolved 'im! At least one of ya's started to grow, though, huh?"

Until now, he'd gone oblivious to Ash's own fury, but brows raised when he picked up on the red in the trainer's face. "…Hold on. Did I cross any boundahries back there? Nevuhmind that. If yer here for a rematch, I ain't gunna turn an old good challenguh down!"

Blood was still boiling in Ash's veins, but Dawn's swift rebuttal had settled his admittedly confusing feelings somewhat. Of course, the little altercation left him feeling a _lot_ more motivated. "I want you to give me everything you've got, Surge! I'm going for the Pokemon League again this year, and I wanna be sure I'm ready!"

"I saw yuh letter, kid. Yer headed for the big leagues, huh? Alright, Baby! If that's what ya want, I won't hold anythin' back! Just don't come cryin' to me when ya end up roasted!" He could see why Ash was accompanied by such a fiery young lady. After all these years, the kid still had plenty of guts. In Surge's world, that meant there would be no mercy. The full shell-shocking fury of the Vermillion Gym would be rolled out upon the aspiring trainer. If he couldn't deal with that, then he just wasn't ready.

The two trainers, one a giant compared to the other, took their places upon the battlefield. The referee stood aside the battlefield, red and green flags raised. "There will be a three on three battle! Only the challenger can substitute their Pokemon. There will be no time limit… Begin!"

A bell was struck, prompting to throw his first Pokeball. "I know you'll recognize dis one… Goooo, Raichu!" The sphere was cast, tiny as a marble in his grip, before bursting open.

The second-stage electric type stood tall on the battlefield, looking cocky as ever. "Rai-Rai!"

"Alright, if that's the case… Let's have a **real** rematch! Pikachu, go!"

Pikachu hopped off of Ash's shoulder, eagerly making his way opposite of his evolved form. A smirk fell on his curved lips, sparks dancing from his cheeks. It was time to show them just how far he'd come. He wasn't just faster, now; he was more powerful, too.

"Look at dat! You think you're gonna win like that again, huh? Sorry to disappoint ya, but Raichu's a whole lot faster and stronger now! We're gonna clean yer clocks. Ain't dat right, Raichu?"

The larger rodent nodded, mimicking flexing his muscles. This time, the smaller rat was going down.

"Yeah, we'll see! Pikachu, use Agility!"

If their last match had been any indication, overwhelming Raichu with speed was the way to go. Pikachu acted instantly, breaking into a sprint that made him nearly invisible on the battlefield. He was already drawing circles around Raichu, making him quite the difficult target.

"Raichu! Give stop 'im in his tracks with Thunduhbolt!"

The fully evolved mouse unleashed a brutal golden flash of electricity, scorching the battlefield before it.

Pikachu, however, was nowhere to be found. If Surge thought he'd been fast before, he was really in for a shock. "You guys've picked up some real speed, there… But that won't do ya any good when you're too bruised up to move! Raichu, look out for 'im, and give 'im a Mega Kick!"

Raichu stood tall, round black eyes darting to catch a clear view of the yellow blur. Time and again, he appeared and vanished, leaving little more in his wake than small tracks and a bright glow. Soon enough, the darting opponent was coming Raichu's way.

Watching the zig-zagging rat, Raichu threw a foot forward. "Rai!" A mighty kick struck at the yellow blur… Only to pass through thin-air. A vein popped out in Raichu's forehead, frustration building in his futility.

Ash, meanwhile, was greeted with a modest wind, his black fringes thrown up from the aftermath of Raichu's kick. "That's some serious power… Surge wasn't kidding. We're gonna have to be careful."

"Ahhh…" Surge grunted, irritated with the duo already. "Use yer ears, Raichu! Just like in a warzone! Follow dat Pikachu's moves, and go in for a Body Slam!" The man roared, throwing a finger forward.

The visual search for Pikachu had been surrendered, Raichu's focus no longer held on the dashing streak of yellow. Instead, little pitter-patters of tiny feet, and the zips of Agility became Raichu's target. Pikachu had gone further away, now… No, wait, closer! But, he dodged to the right of Raichu next… And, then left! He could swear Pikachu was getting closer, now…

Bingo! Dashing feet were coming his way, right from the front. Sneering and brimming with confidence, Raichu lunged forward, intent on crushing the first stage mouse beneath his weight. Pikachu had stopped right before him - this match was as good as his!

Pikachu, meanwhile, was greeted with the sight of a leaping Raichu - he'd been caught. Not looking to become a Pika-pancake, he skidded to a halt with a paw dragging across the gym floor, pressing into the ground to spring him clear out of Raichu's range.

The larger, more rotund pokemon was greeted with an unfortunate collision with the ground, sliding across with an empty quota of successful hits. This was really getting irritating…

Unfortunately for Raichu, it was only going to get worse.

A smirk played at Ash's lips, his strategy going off without a hitch. "Now, time to fight back! Pikachu, Iron Tail!"

The yellow blur became even more difficult to spot, little more than a silver gleam striking Raichu clear across the face. The larger rodent stumbled backward, teetering before managing to catch his balance.

"Great job, now keep it up!" Ash grinned, punching the air.

"Pika…!" The tiny mouse roared, skidding to a silver-streaked halt after landing his first hit. Pushing hard off his feet, he launched back towards Raichu, hips turned and tail covered in a metallic glow.

Raichu had only just shook himself free of dizziness when a second steel swipe struck him in the forehead, knocking him on his back. The steel barrage continued, occasionally challenged by a failed attempt from Surge to strike back with a physical attack.

Pikachu had proven too fast, however; Raichu was certainly speedier than before, but even if he had the power and bulk to take Pikachu's attacks, there would be no helping him if he couldn't follow the smaller rodent.

Ash was leaning forward, fists closed tight. If they kept battling at this rate, they'd have the battle in the bag! "Alright, Pikachu! Let's wrap things up, with a full-power Electro Ball!"

The yellow blur made himself visible then, leaping high above the battlefield with his broad tail pointed towards the ceiling. Electricity quickly began to gather on his jagged tail, rumbling and crackling until the sphere had reached a phenomenal size, likely dwarfing even Raichu himself. The vibrations given off by Pikachu's remarkable speed had built the greatest Electro Ball he was able to muster, and a shriek accompanied the launch of the golden orb toward its target. "Chu… Pi!"

"…! Raichu! Give it a Thundahbolt!" The giant sputtered, sweat dripping down his brow over the sight of the phenomenal attack.

Pikachu's evolved counterpart did just that, unleashing a brilliant golden bolt towards the sphere. The two attacks met center-stage, each struggling and giving way to the other, hot flashes of electricity striking their surroundings indiscriminately. Soon, though, Thunderbolt gave way, and Raichu was overwhelmed. A booming explosion rattled the battlefield, leaving it covered in a curtain of smoke.

"Raichu!" The veteran shouted, flabbergasted. The evolved Pokemon lay belly-up, unconscious. In a flawless display of power and speed, Pikachu had emerged unchallenged as the victor.

It was like watching a falcon harass an eagle. A hit or miss battle, with most of the missing done by Raichu and the opposite for Pikachu. That being said, even Prinplup looked on in shock as the first leg of the battle swung decidedly in one trainer's favor.

"They weren't messing around." After the shock passed, Dawn giggled a bit. "Way to go, guys! Keep it up!" Likewise, Prinplup clanged his flippers together in good cheer.

"Will do, Dawn!" The trainer flashed a thumbs-up to the coordinator and her starter alike, turning back towards the battlefield. Raichu had been called back to his sphere, the tiny capsule placed back on Surge's belt. "Not bad, baby! Not bad at all. But ya luck's about to run out! Go, Electiviyah!"

The second sphere was tossed forward, releasing the hulking electric beast, dual red eyes staring down Pikachu, an eerie joker's grin fitted on its features. "Use Thundahpunch!" The Thunderbolt Pokemon lunged towards Pikachu, aiming to land a heated, electric-charged haymaker.

Still brimming with confidence, Ash threw caution to the wind as he called for his next attack. With this kind of momentum, there was no way they could lose! All they had to do was overpower Electivire, and one more Pokemon after! "Pikachu! Electro Ball, now!"

The mouse's features faltered, a confused look sent back towards Ash. He… Knew what was going to happen, right? Even in his hesitation, though, Pikachu's reluctance seemed lost on Ash.

In the end though, he supposed, Ash was the trainer, and he was expected to trust his judgment. Not to mention, there was a bulky electric type mere feet away from hitting him head-on. Raising his lightning-bolt tail to the sky once more, Pikachu quickly built up a giant, rumbling Electro Ball, raging with sparks and heat before swinging his body towards Electivire, unleashing the full wrath of the move.

The sphere struck Electivire dead-on, seemingly stopping the giant in its tracks. Smoke obscured the battlefield, leaving the results impossible to determine… At least for but a moment. A black and yellow blur shot out of the debris, launching a fierce right hook that sent Pikachu flying through the air, flung like a ragdoll.

"Ya shouldn'ta' done that, Baby! Electivire, another Thundahpunch!" The Gym Leader called, and his Pokemon didn't waste even a moment.

The brute slid across the field in little more than a second, catching up with Pikachu before rocking him with a vicious uppercut. Pikachu was sent flying towards the ceiling, bruised and hurting badly from the two successive hits. Residual electricity followed his arc, crackling before dissipating below the mouse.

Ash gaped, fists trembling and sweat dripping down his forehead. Stupid, stupid, stupid… How could he have been so stupid!? "Pikachu, Iron tail! Now!" Ash called out, attempting to salvage the situation.

Head still ringing and rattled from the successive punches, Pikachu did his best to correct his body, tail standing on end and glimmering with a steel coat. "Chuaaa….!"

"You guys're really gutsy! I like that! Electiviuh! Dynamicpunch!" Electivire sprung from the ground, zipping for Pikachu before delivering a brutal fist to Pikachu's stomach, brutally knocking the wind out of the mouse. Pikachu fell limp to the ground, laying belly-down on the battlefield.

"Pikachu!"

"Pikachu… Can you get up?" The teen hesitated, body tense and eyes pooled with copper.

Grunts of pain and effort left the mouse, weary arms attempting to push Pikachu's body to a standing position. While he was doing his best, however, the former military man was going to show no mercy.

"Let's finish dis! Electivire, use Thundah!"

Surge's voice boomed, prompting the Thunderbolt Pokemon to build electricity between his antennae, a gruff cry bellowing as a fierce lightning strike homed in on Pikachu, sending countless volts through his small body. His shrill shout could barely heard over the booming thunder, Pikachu's body giving way under the last of the blast. Iconic swirls appeared in the mouse's eyes, signaling his defeat.

She wasn't sure if it was perhaps her bias, but somehow that felt like… overkill. Mistakes had been made, but Dawn remained quiet, a bit blown back. Realizing that as stunned as she was, Ash was probably worse off, dealing with guilt over what had just happened. "It's still even! Don't get discouraged! No need to worry!"

Prinplup wondered if perhaps he should tell Dawn now might not be the time.

"…Right, thanks." He replied dryly, sounding less than convinced. The trainer made his way onto the battlefield, scooping Pikachu up into his arms. "Pikachu… I'm really sorry, buddy. I messed up bad back there." Making his way back to his box on the battlefield, he turned back towards Surge, cradling the mouse in one arm. Eyes pooled with chocolate, a Pokeball grabbed off of his belt. "…But we're not giving up! I choose you, Infernape!"

The simian made his appearance, none the wiser to the grim state of the battle. Still determined, Ash shouted his next command. "Infernape! Let's hit 'em hard, with Mach Punch!"

Infernape sprang right into action, aiming to pummel Electivire with a swift punch to the jaw. Surely, the nimble movements of the fire/fighting hybrid would make a difference.

"Lay 'im out with Thundahpunch!"

Unfortunately, Infernape found himself with an electrified fist slammed into his jaw, sending him stumbling back. To his credit, he endured the blow well enough, and the fighting resumed.

"Use Close Combat!" Ash shouted, his voice cracking.

"Ape!" The primate shrieked, springing towards the electric type. This match-up was quite reminiscent of the last major battle Infernape had been a part of - or, at least it would be, were the scales not heavily tipped out of his favor. One punch after another would be thrown at Electivire, aiming to pulverize it.

"Beat 'im down with Thunderpunch!"

"Vire!" The first punch struck through thin air, the target having ducked under the first blow with remarkable swiftness.

Infernape was met with a joker-esque grin, hardly having time to process before an electrified fist slammed into his face. "Infern…" He growled, canines bared. Punch after punch was lobbed then.

Blurred, spirited punches were met with electrified gauntlets, colliding in a storm of blows that were nigh impossible to follow with the naked human eye.

Infernape held his own, but every blow was met with a faster strike, gradually wearing down the spirited fighter. Ash, meanwhile, was losing confidence with every passing second. When things were looking grim, he decided to go for broke. "…You can do it, Infernape! Use Flare Blitz!"

"Infernape…" Normally steady and flighty legs buckled, pain coursing through the fire type. He wasn't sure what kind of monster Ash had brought him to fight, but he wasn't enjoying the results of this fight one bit. A whip of his head surrounded him in a brilliant blue flame, his entire body launching like a comet towards Electivire in a last-ditch assault.

"Finish it with Vital Throw!"

The burly electric type widened his stance, holding its gigantic hands outward. Infernape soon crashed into its body, pushing to overpower the guard.

As quickly as he'd landed, though, he found himself launched from his position, thrown brutally into the wall behind Surge. A smoldering crater housed the poor Pokemon, who'd been rendered unconscious.

A red beam of light enveloped Infernape, returning him to his Pokeball. Ash was silent, the bill of his cap covering his eyes. This was getting worse by the moment… How could this be happening?

"…Tyranitar, I choose you!"

The final Pokeball was cast, unleashing the Armor Pokemon. Sand spilled from the large pores on its body, shrouding the battlefield in a cloud of dust, Thanks to the rock type's Sand Stream ability. If there were any chance for Ash, this was it.

Capitalizing on the veiled arena, Ash took the initiative. "Use Dark Pulse!"

A flurry of dark rings fired out of the creature's mouth, shooting into the obscure clouds of dust. Electivire spotted the disturbing assault, shooting to the side in a mere moment's notice. The blasts did manage to graze it, however, leaving a faint burn along the side of its body.

Its eerie grin held true, the creature more than ready for its next order. And it came just as expected.

"Use Thundahpunch!"

Despite the wearing pain of the storm, Electivire lunged forward, striking the source of the pulse with a brutal, shocking punch.

The Armor pokemon was sent reeling, stunning electricity dancing along his armored skin that threatened to make him numb. He managed to catch his balance, prompting Ash to shout for a counter attack.

"Tyranitar, Earthquake!"

A furious roar bellowed, one of his legs harshly striking the ground below. A tremor shook the foundation of the gym itself, presumably hindering Electivire. Of course, Surge had other plans.

"Hit 'em hard first, with Dynamic Punch!"

Springing into action in nearly an instant, Electivire leapt above the battlefield, coming down with a brutal punch to the stomach, striking the grey, vulnerable core of the mountainside Pokemon.

Tyranitar coughed and hacked, skidding harshly across the gym floor towards Ash's side of the battlefield. He finally stopped, standing upright.

Ash tried to peer through the sand, desperately searching for a sign of his pokemon's status. "Tyranitar!" He swallowed, attempting to quell the air caught in his throat. "Please be alright, Tyranitar…"

Soon enough, the sand and dust had begun to disappear, revealing the Armor pokemon for all too see. Still standing upright, Tyranitar seemed to be in the fight… That was, until one saw the swirls in his eyes. Without any energy left, the pokemon fell, his loud body making the gym floor quake.

Looking upon the obvious results, the referee raised a flag. "All three of the challenger's Pokemon are unable to battle! Which means the Gym Leader, Lieutenant Surge is the victor!"

Surge's Pokemon was returned in a red flash of light, the capsule then pocketed by the giant. "I told ya, kid. You were askin' for a bruisin'! I gotta give ya credit, though, you've got some pretty tough Pokuhmon! Just make sure ya keep yer head on straight next time! Othahwise, there's no way yer gonna become a Pokemon Mastah!"

Likewise, Tyranitar disappeared in a flash as well. "…Sorry, Tyranitar." His gaze slowly turned up towards Surge, a half-hearted nod given to the leader. "…Yeah."

"Naw, don't look at me like that!" Second-hand embarrassment washed over the lieutenant, rather than guilt. Or, at least he preferred to think so. "Listen. It's tough not to get caught up when yer in the middle of a good fight, but this is war. Serious stuff. If you let your feelings get the better of ya in a moment like that, you're toast. Remembuh that."

Momentarily silent, the trainer nodded. "Yes, sir." Deflated and humiliated, that was all Ash could manage. "I better get them to the Pokemon Center." With that, he turned on a heel before heading for the exit, presumably expecting Dawn to follow.

Dawn had many questions and a few assumptions to work out, but that was only a secondary concern. One thing was for sure: Surge was right. Ash hadn't been himself during that match.

All the same, she and Prinplup hurriedly caught up with him, falling into step. She remained quiet, mental gears turning. What to do, what to do? He didn't need patronizing, empty words. But, she wasn't going to let him wallow.

* * *

For the majority of the walk over, Ash remained silent, hands occupied with holding Pikachu to his chest. His face was positively red, he was sure. To say he was embarrassed was an understatement. _'So much for getting a lot stronger,'_ he chided himself. He'd been out working hard to get tougher. Wiser. And, here he was, woefully defeated.

As said building came into sight and they neared its doors, Dawn took a breath. "You know, he's very strong." And, just because he and his team were strong did not mean Ash and his team were not. "I wonder how many can say they've beaten him once, much less twice." A twofold statement; praise and reminders.

"…Yeah." He agreed quietly. Surge was tough. Always had been. What he'd faced years ago was **nothing** compared to today. Then again… The worst of that match had been entirely his fault. "When we first got to Vermillion City all those years ago, the whole center was full of Pokemon beaten by him. Pikachu was scared stiff to face him the first time… That match left him in the hospital." Unfortunately, history sometimes repeats itself. Surprisingly, though, Ash had opened up that much. "That was the time when we thought about evolving him with the Thunderstone."

Dawn's eyes widened, hair whipping around her as she looked over her shoulder to the gym. "...You know, I remember that, now! You said something about Vermilion City after you first battled Surge and his Raichu, too." That gym leader put all those pokemon in the hospital. He'd put Pikachu in the hospital. Her momentary shock wore off when Ash doubted the match. While she didn't doubt the capability of any of the battling party, they had to remember what they were doing was not the norm—it was exemplary. Yet… if he had done it before, he could do it again. "… that was exceptional." He was gaining, after all, in knowledge, skill, prowess.

"It was? What about it?" He deadpanned, looking to the bluenette in disbelief. He'd gotten pummeled. What was so great about it? In his grief, it seemed as if Ash had completely forgotten about the first third of the match.

"Well, Pikachu kind of outgunned and outran Raichu, Ash." She was trying to be gentle. He didn't need her to go steamrolling him at the moment. "Actually, what messed you up was that you got kind of cocky or something? There was a shift. You seemed off." Then again, if she was going to be completely honest… "Actually, you probably went into that match too excited. Your pokemon probably fed off that, too."

She blamed herself a little, too. After all, she'd been right there egging him on.

"Yeah… I guess he did." He nodded along, eyes widening in realization. "I… Kinda did. Pikachu was doing so great, I thought there was no way I could lose. I totally forgot about Motor Drive. Some 'great trainer' I was." All of that polishing of his skills and critical thinking… And for what? A novice mistake like that? He was supposed to be done with being too cocky. So much for that.

He nodded absently to her recognition of their mistake. She probably had a point, but that hadn't excused it in his mind.

Now, to try and cheer him up a little. "No need to worry, though!" she encouraged, patting his back. "We're gonna make sure everyone gets some TLC! After we get settled into the center, I'm gonna run and get some food. Whatever you guys want!" Hopefully, that'd give him some time to decompress and for her to solidify her routine a little more in her head.

Dawn's suggestion, though, did leave a weak smile on his lips. "Thanks, Dawn… That'd be pretty cool." At the very least, he was totally lucky to have such a great traveling companion. Whether he said it or not, Dawn always knew the right thing to say.

"We'll just have to make sure you eat your wheaties next time," Dawn joked. She was glad he was coming out of the funk a little. Now, to make sure everyone really did get to feeling better.

"Very funny," he replied with a tinge of sarcasm, though it was clear he was trying his best to be cheerful. A bruised ego wasn't easy to nurse.

"Nurse Joy!" Dawn called out as they approached the counter.

"Hm…? Oh, how can I—wait, have you been here before?" she asked, pointing towards Ash and Pikachu. "Nevermind, hold on… I'll get things ready for your Pikachu."

"Yeah, you sure did." Ash nodded, looking down to the mouse in his arms. His eyes had begun to stir, the tiny body clinging to Ash's jacket. Multiple bruises and burns decorated his fur; it was a good thing Ash knew he was so durable. He'd make it… Still, that beating had been pretty brutal. If he hadn't been so dumb, this wouldn't have happened…

The bluenette put a hand to the middle of Ash's back. She was here for him, all the way.

Once more, he was brought out of his self-deprecating thoughts when a familiar hand lay upon his back. Dark hues turned to the bluenette, a small smile forcing its way onto his lips. "…Thanks, Dawn."

"You're welcome." Yeah. Slow but steady, it'd be okay.

After the nurse got everything ready, she wheeled out a little stretcher and a case for five other pokeballs resting on it. "Alright, let's get him checked out. I'm going to assume the rest of your team looks similar?"

"The ones who battled, yeah." He gently placed Pikachu down on the stretcher, along with two more Pokeballs that fit into the grooves on the tray, "Sorry, buddy…" After he'd done what he needed to, he let out a sigh, his shoulders slumping.

"Come on. Let's get settled in… Oh, wait! We'd need a room first, wouldn't we…?" the coordinator trailed off.

"A room? You two'll be staying the night, then?" Joy's voice followed, nearly causing Dawn to jump out of her boots. It seemed the nurse hadn't gone too far yet, after all.

""Oh… Yeah! A room for the night, please." That was, if they managed to beat Surge tomorrow. If not… Well, they could drop by again.

""One night it is!" Entering that information in the computer, she then held out her hand. "Someone's pokedex, please~"

"Here." Dawn offered, given Ash's reclusive mood at the moment. She handed hers over. 

After running Dawn's pokedex, she passed back the pokedex and a set of keys. "You two have nice night, okay?"

"Thanks!" With that, she'd look at the number on the keys before grinning at the sullen boy. "Let's get going, then!" As quick as she'd gotten chipper, though, Dawn's face fell. "...Right, we still have to wait for your Pokémon." It probably wasn't the best time to leave Ash alone, though… Dwelling in his thoughts probably wouldn't end well for him.

"You go ahead." Ash finally spoke, trudging over to the lounge of the center, taking a seat on one of the small sofas. "I'll just stay here and wait for Pikachu and the others… I owe it to him, anyway."

"If you're sure… No need to worry, though! I'm sure that you're pretty hungry after all that, right?"

Ash averted his eyes, declining to answer… A rather loud rumble from below his shirt, though, answered Dawn.

Resisting a giggle, Dawn gave a light wave, turning towards the front door. "Right. We won't be long!"

"Prinplup..." The water type trailed off, equally hesitant to leave the trainer alone. Noticing that he was falling far behind, though, he simply waved before waddling along. "Lup!"

A sigh left the trainer; one that was probably a bit too dramatic. His arms folded behind his head. _'That was embarrassing… I thought I left this kind of mess back in the Hoenn region,'_ he chided mentally, flashes of the long-gone journey crossing his mind. Pushing his Pokémon into situations they couldn't win… Letting feelings cloud his judgment in critical moments… That wasn't the kind of trainer he was, was it?

Soon enough, he was spared from disparaging himself further.

"Ash? Your Pokémon are fighting fit!"

His head had turned towards the desk before the words even finished leaving Joy's mouth. Approaching the nurse, his tray of pokeballs, and most notably of all, Pikachu, he put on a smile. "Thanks a lot, Nurse Joy." The pokeballs were quickly swiped up, placed upon his belt. Pikachu, however…

"Pikapi." A small smile was upon the rodent's lips, subdued by bitter defeat. All the same, he was happy to be feeling better, and most importantly, back with his trainer!

The dullness in Ash's eyes didn't go unnoticed, though. "...Pikapi." His head tilted.

"It's great to see you, Pikachu… Feeling better?" He held an arm out, offering the mouse an easy ride up.

"Pika, Pika!" He asserted, trying to dispel his trainer's worries. Of course, he didn't deny the offer, quickly scaling his trainer's arm before settling on his shoulder. "Pika, Pikachu!"

Ash had nothing to say in return. Simply fiddling with the brim of his cap, he trudged to the nearest seat inside the center, sinking into the cushion without any attempt at eye contact.

"Pika! Pikachu?" A nudge of his trainer's shoulder didn't seem to help. Was he really that upset about losing? Odd… This was usually about the time where he'd nearly throw Pikachu off his jacket by bouncing up and declaring his next victory.

"Hmm…" Tried as he may, it was hard to avoid eye contact with the mouse for long. "Pikachu…" The mouse's round, beady eyes looked forgiving as ever. This time, though, that wasn't necessarily enough.

"Pika! Pikachu!" His trainer looked so distant… _"C'mon, snap out of it!"_ At least, that was what he wanted Ash to hear… Maybe, if he put his aura to use, he'd be able to hear… But, that didn't seem likely right now.

Nurse Joy could be heard in the background, assisting another trainer whose Pokémon needed help… The use of the center was the last thing he wanted on his mind, right now. And, he could swear people were staring at them after his little scene… Ash was beginning to feel pretty cramped in this little center.

"...Man, I gotta get some air! C'mon, Pikachu." Oblivious that his outburst might have brought on even more attention, he slung his backpack over his shoulder, shuffling out of the small hospital as quickly as he could manage.

* * *

Toting the two take out bags while Prinlup precariously carried the water bottles, Dawn made what she hoped was a triumphant return. Hopefully some food would take Ash's mind off his problems for a minute! Looking around the Pokemon Center's lounge, Dawn failed to spot her companion.

Growing concerned - he'd been in a bad mood when she'd left, after all - the girl half-ran up to the counter. Maybe he was just locked up in their room, brewing in his own malaise. "Nurse Joy, I registered for a room earlier, but my traveling partner's got the key. I don't know where he is, so -"

"Oh! I remember you. The boy with the red jacket, right?"

"Yeah! That's him! Have you seen him?"

"He went outside, last I saw. I hope he didn't go too far. It looks like you've got dinner ready for him." The nurse gave Dawn a sympathetic look.

Nodding, Dawn supposed she and Prinlup should go look for Ash. "Thanks." With that, the two blue Sinnoh natives exited the Pokemon Center.

* * *

The sun had already begun to set over the port city's horizon, casting a vibrant orange glow upon the city, shadows drawing longer beyond the orb's influence. A bench lay not far from the Pokémon Center, close enough to the docks to be basked in the faint, slightly bitter smell of sea water.

Ash sat upon the small structure, letting out a huff. Even still, he hadn't felt up to talking. Shame kept his mouth shut, but one particular companion wasn't happy with his mood one bit.

"Pika! Pikachu!" The rodent hopped into his lap, waving his arm in yet another attempt to earn his trainer's attention. He knew the loss was bad, but that was no reason to leave his trainer moping like this!

"Pikachu… I'm sorry." He opened his mouth to speak, finally swallowing his pride. His eyes, however, were still obscured by the long red bill of his cap.

"Pikapi…?" Pikachu's head tilted. Did he really feel that guilty? It wasn't really the first time they'd had a bad loss, or a failed strategy.

"I didn't try to listen to you during that battle… We're supposed to work together as a team, and I got excited and forgot about that… I blew it for you, and the other pokemon, too. I hope you can forgive me for that."

"Pikapi, Pikachu!" _"Of course I do!"_ He declared, resting a paw on Ash's chest, forcing his trainer to make eye contact from under his cap. It was true, Ash did mess up… He hadn't recalled Ash even acknowledging Pikachu's own skepticism in that moment. But, he knew Ash. Better than anyone, probably. He was hotheaded. Prone to getting excited, especially when a battle was going his way. Even all of their training couldn't remove that completely… Nor did Pikachu expect it to. _"What matters is that you know, now!"_ Pikachu insisted, what passed as brows furrowing on his round black orbs. _"We all make mistakes, sometimes... That includes you. But, we'll do better next time! All that matters now is you feeling better."_

Various syllables of the mouse's name came out one after the other, not passing as understandable English to most who would hear him. The gist of the words weren't lost on Ash, though, Tears began to sting at his eyes, a quivered lip holding them back from spilling. "Pikachu…. Aw, buddy, you're the best!"

The trainer's best friend was pulled into a rather tight hug, able to fit snugly into Ash's chest, rather than his shoulder, thanks to the trainer's recent growth spurt. Though, he'd also grown stronger, forcing Pikachu to squirm a little in his hold… Nonetheless, he returned the embrace, light sparks dancing from his cheeks. Too gentle to hurt someone as acquainted with bolts as Ash, they were meant only as an expression of support. Understanding. Everything the duo had grown to share.

Feeling Pikachu constrict in his grip, Ash was quick to relax, reaching to wipe away tears with a gloved hand. "It… Won't happen again, alright? We'll keep working harder, together! As a team, again, this time… And, we'll do what both of us think is right! That way… No one'll beat us. And, even if they do, we'll be able to say that we gave it our all!"

As adamant as he was, though, tears continued to stain his z-marked cheeks.

A set of gentle touches gripped Ash's shoulders. One was warm and soft and the other was loose and feathery. As Ash looked over his shoulders in shock, he saw the soft smile upon the face of his traveling companion and what looked to be a barely composed Prinlup on the other side.

"That's right! And, me and Prinplup are gonna be there to support you and Pikachu all the way!" Dawn assured, only taking her hand off Ash's shoulder to cross to the front of the bench and sit down beside him. Prinlup settled on sitting on Ash's other side, taking up the rest of the bench space. "That's the two brave boys I've always known! There's no need to worry when you two do your best!"

Prinlup was freely crying himself at this point. He'd been concerned for his friends during the match and all the emotional heaviness of the moment was getting to him. "Priiii!" he cried, praising his companions and encouraging them in his own way. "Prinplup Prinplup!" Ash and Pikachu… "Plup!" He'd always looked up to them. He believed in them.

"Aw, guys… Pikachu…" A sniffle followed, the same gloved hand reaching to wipe his eyes again. Try as he may to seem tough and together, he was truly touched by those who surrounded him. Dawn and Prinplup, who were always eager to back him up and be at his side… And Pikachu, his very best friend from day one, who smiled upon the scene. Maybe this was just the push Ash needed to return his demeanor to normal.

"You're the best…" Only a smile could be seen below the shade of his bright red cap. But, that was enough for everyone. "You're right… We'll just work even harder to fight as a team, and the sky's the limit!"

"...Not even that! We'll shoot up right into space, and become Pokemon Masters for real, this time!" Ash cheered, pumping a fist in the air to follow his… Less-than-poetic commentary.

"Pi-Pikachu!" Ash was then mirrored by his number-one companion, who raised his paw up in the same spirit.

As soon as the two regained their vigor, though, their noses simultaneously seemed to be in working order. Sniffing left and right, the duo both looked out for the source of what smelled like savory treats.

"Hey, that's right! You got food, right? I forgot all about that!" Ash beamed, drying eyes already shining again.

Dawn couldn't help but let out a giggle. "Good thing I was the one who went ahead and got it, right? I told you it'd get you back in the right mood… Besides, I bet you both are getting pretty hungry right about now, right?"

"Well, I…"

Two rather loud rumbles interrupted, coming from none other than the duo in the center. Each of their faces reddened, a duo of whistles doing a very poor job at feigning innocence.

"Don't think I couldn't figure you guys out," Dawn quipped, winking at her two friends. "C'mon! Let's head inside so we can get you guys filled up and full of energy for tomorrow!"

* * *

After microwaving the take out in the Pokémon Center's lobby, the group was comfortably seated in their room, nibbling on wontons and rice. Rosa initially disliked the fried rice due to the horrific mess of a blend that it was; carrots, peas, _and_ rice together!; but Ash was able to win her over by letting her try one at a time, and convincing her it all tasted better together.

Finishing slurping up a noodle, Dawn seemed to jolt in memory. "Oh yeah! I saw it when I was looking for you guys, but I didn't get a chance to read it until I went to go get our food warm again! There's going to be a contest here in Vermillion the day after tomorrow! When do you wanna battle Surge again? 'Cause, if we can, I wanna stay here for the contest."

Naturally a messy eater, Ash spoke around dumpling he was chewing. "Uh… I guess the day after that, then? I know I wanna train tomorrow, so we can just both practice and stuff." He turned to Rosa. "Besides, I think someone would wanna stay to see the show."

Eyes almost glittering, the puppy bolted up from her eating spot to bounce up and down beside Dawn. _~Can I enter it?!~_

The coordinator tilted her head to and fro. "I've got to see if I can start planning a routine for you. Two days is too short a notice if you want to win… Plus, this a double contest. I don't know who aside from Prinplup you get along with. I'll definitely start planning for you, I promise."

The puppy's face drooped a bit, but then she looked up with those sad eyes. _~Okay… What if I Big Bro and I practice together? You should be able to use us together easy, right…?~_

Swayed by Rosa's sweet little eyes, Dawn nearly melted. "Aw… Who can say not that? I've definitely got plans for you. I just need to test them out."

 _~Yay!~_ Rosa cried, bouncing back over to her meal.

"What plans ya got in mind, Dawn?" Ash inquired, himself confused. She never said anything to him.

The bluenette looked over to her starter and smirked. "That's a secret."

"What?! Dawn, that's not fair!"

"You kept your Cerulean team a secret from me!"

"You found out in like, what, ten minutes?! Twenty maybe if we count the walk over!"

"It's a surprise! You'll like it, and you'll be busy until then so just let me plan in peace! I won't take Rosa away from your gym battles, so it's fine, right?!"

Pouting but finding no reason to argue further, Ash huffed and continued eating his meal.

"Hey, don't grump on me," Dawn chided. She reached into the bottom of the togo bag, a mysterious box in hand. "If you do… then I guess I'll just let Pikachu eat this all by himself."

Despite having just finished his meal, Ash looked eagerly over, ear seeming to twitch. He was listening…

"Tada!" Donuts! Jelly filled ones with coconut shaving. "They looked like rice balls, so I figured it'd be cute!"

"Aw, man, gimme!" Ash begged, leaning over to snag one from Dawn. "Mm! Thanks!"

"You're welcome."

"No… Seriously." He looked around the room. "I wanna thank all of you. We had a setback today, but we're that much closer to make our dreams a reality." The trainer looked intently at Dawn. "I'm gonna need your help to keep my attitude in check sometimes, like how I did with you and Ember. Can I keep counting on you?"

Where had this self-aware side of him come from? She supposed he'd always been that way for as long as she knew him, but he'd matured enough to know he needed to have contingency plans if he couldn't control his own emotions. "Right." He trusted her so much. She wouldn't let him down.

"Good, 'cause I'll still need you to cheer when I whoop Surge's butt a couple days from now."

Pikachu joined in with his trainer mirthfully, doing a little jig of celebration. Soon, everyone began to laugh as Rosa and Prinplup joined in. The group's evening felt more peaceful and the Pokémon Center was warm and inviting. The day might not have gone well, but for our heroes, tomorrow was full of potential.


	29. Playing With Fire

Hey, everyone! A new character's featured in this chapter, so feel free to check out our another-rxad tumblr to see their design. Hope you enjoy the chapter. Feedback is appreciated!

* * *

As the sun rose, so did the spirits of our heroes. A hearty breakfast for fuel started the day off right before they left the Pokémon Center. The warmth of the approaching spring weather only added to everyone's good mood. They would make the most of the day for sure!

"Prin! Prin!" Taking in all the energy from a bright sunny morning, as well as his spirited companions, Prinplup found himself quite excited, clanking two silver-coated flippers together in an excited display of his Metal Claw.

"Piiika!" Pikachu yelped in complaint, his acute and sensitive ears rattled by the sudden clash of metal. Holding his ears, the mouse pouted. It was probably a miracle that he hadn't let out a shock…

"Sorry, Pikachu… Guess that surprised you, huh?" Ash offered a sympathetic smile, rubbing the top of his best friend's head. "Prinplup seems excited, though! You looking forward to getting some training done, too?" Come to think of it, he hadn't had much of a chance to work on his skills since his evolution, had he?

Prinplup hopped in place, clanking his flippers together at the mention of training. "Prinplup! Priii!" It was time to start getting stronger again! And, maybe even come up with some new appeals!

"That's right! We still have plenty of work to do with adjusting to your new evolved form. We'll work together before training with the other Pokémon!" Dawn suggested, a finger raised. This would likely change his place in appeals and contest battles a good deal… "Hm… Hey, there's a field over there. Why don't we go over there and -"

Dawn hadn't had time to finish her sentence; by time the grassy clearing had come into the water type's view, Prinplup had rushed off, attempting a sprint before losing balance with his relatively new portly physique. Flopping over, he was quick to push himself up, ignoring his reddening cheeks to waddle over towards their destination. "Lup!"

"...I swear, it's like watching a preschooler sometimes." Dawn's face fell, a sweat drop rolling down her forehead. She wasn't sure if it was possible, but her energetic starter seemed even more stubborn and hot-headed than usual. Not sure how she felt about this, she had no choice but to follow along.

Ash, on the other hand, chuckled at the portly penguin's enthusiasm. "Evolving's really got him pumped up. Can't say I blame him!" With that said, he dashed his way over to the open field, a snide, all-too-characteristic grin forming on his lips. Both of his hands reached for his belt, pulling off three different red and white spheres before tossing them to the air. "Alright guys, come on out!"

White flashes of light greeted Ash's team. Tyranitar, Infernape, and Rosa appeared.

"Okay, guys. I know yesterday didn't go the way we wanted to… That one's my bad. But, we're gonna make a comeback, and turn that next match around our way! Are ya with me?"

Simultaneous cries of affirmation followed, in the form of syllabled shouts from Infernape and Rosa, and a wordless roar from the larger Tyranitar. The Riolu was rather oblivious to the past day's events, but training was always fun!

"Okay, Pikachu? You train with Infernape and Tyranitar. You can try to get them with electric attacks, so they'll be ready for the next battle with Surge. After you handle some of that, you guys fight back! Between the three of you, we'll be ready for that rematch in no time."

The three agreed, turning to face off against one another, making some proper space on Ash's half of the training area. With that, Ash's attention turned to the Riolu standing before him, whose little hooked tail wagged with anticipation.

"Rosa, we're gonna do some sparring, alright? By the time we're done, you'll be in shape to take on plenty of other pokemon! Just come at me with everything you have, and we'll both get stronger!"

 _~A-alright!~_ The Riolu yipped, nodding her head quite a few more times than necessary. They hadn't sparred in quite a while… This should be fun! She was quick to shift into one of her defensive stances taught by Riley, one paw at her narrow waist, and the other raised in front of her face. _~Ready when you are, Papa!~_

Meanwhile, in the distance, Dawn released the rest of her team. Prinplup watched on as honorary coach while Buneary, Quilava, Houndour, Togekiss, and Clefairy all appeared outside of their pokeballs. "Alright, gang, I'm gonna prepare a new appeal. It's gonna have mystery and spice!"

The pokemon looked amongst themselves. Spice…?

"Houndour, Clefairy, you two are gonna be my stars. No one's seen you yet in a contest."

The puppy and the fairy both beamed with pride.

"But, you're both really inexperienced. This appeal is for a double performance contest, so I'm going to swap you two out after the appeal for Togekiss and Buneary so they can battle."

Both previously chosen newbies suddenly seemed downtrodden.

"Hey, hey, it's only because you've never been in a contest before! Ash is blowing through these gyms. We can't fall behind in contests, you know. No need to worry. I'll get you two in top form for next time," she promised. "Now, Houndour, I'm going to have you work with Quilava. You're really loose and graceless, so I want you to get some pep and rhythm in your steps. Quilava's speedy and cute. She'll show you what to do. Clefairy, you work with Togekiss. She knows how to use Aura Sphere, so that might help you with honing your Moonlight. Buneary, you're going to be battling, so why don't you and Prinplup battle? I'll rotate groups so I can make sure everyone gets plenty of good practice."

The Pokémon all nodded before breaking up into their pairs. Houndour playfully nipped at Quilava's flames, only to get a bit of flame up his nose as a reward. Thankfully, he had the Flash Fire ability. He only spat a small bit of fire back at her in retaliation. At the same time, Togekiss took to the air, graceful flaps of her wings guiding Clefairy to a slightly shady area where they could practice her Moonlight move. Finally, Buneary shot Prinplup a dark look. She'd been brewing a bit ever since she tied with Rosa. Something in her - something ready to fight - had been brewed up.

"Buneary," she called, walking over to her sparring partner.

While not normally afraid of his fuzz bucket teammate, something about the gleam in her eye set him off. "Priii…" Oh boy, she wasn't just going to practice, was she?

Meanwhile, the other group's training was just getting under way. Ash adjusted the brim of his cap, throwing a hand outward. "Okay, guys! Let's get ready to bring the heat to Surge! Pikachu, give 'em a couple of Thunderbolt attacks to put on some pressure. Infernape, Tyranitar? Try 'n fend them off and counter-attack any way you can. If we can manage that, we'll be ready!"

"Pikaa…!" Pikachu howled, throwing his arms up to ready the sequence of electric attacks.

The first Thunderbolt struck down near Infernape. Fleet footed, he managed to dodge, with only the tip of his tail betraying him, acting as a conductor. Letting out a yelp, the simian snorted before flexing his fists. "Infern - "he leaped forward, fist crackling with electricity, "- APE!"

The Thunderpunch came down hard enough to crack the rock Pikachu had previously been resting on. Fortunately for Pikachu, and unfortunately for Infernape, the little electric type was faster. Preparing to unleash an Iron Tail on Infernape's exposed back, Pikachu wasn't aware enough to dodge the oncoming Stone Edges. Several sharp rocks crashed into his body, forcing the mouse to make an early landing.

Tyranitar unleashed a mighty roar, pleased that he'd taken advantage of the situation. The celebration was short lived, however. By time he'd been given the chance to celebrate, mind-numbing electricity had been sent running through his body. Lit ablaze by golden sparks, the Armor pokemon was displeased to notice that he'd been hit by a Thunderbolt in retaliation.

A fierce snarl followed incessant crackling, a barrage of purple rings firing from Tyranitar's maw.

Standing a safe distance away, Ash rested his hands upon his hips, watching the flashy exchange of attacks between his Pokémon, each of them cooperating to improve. "Looks like they're really kicking into gear. Now, we will, too! Do me a favor and come at me with all you've got!" Ash turned to the Riolu before him, raising his fists in a boxer-esque guard.

"Rio!" She cooed, not bothering with telepathy to show her excitement. Crouching down low, the Riolu raised her guard before springing off her small, but powerful feet. A fierce kick was launched, a padded foot threatening to slam into Ash's chest.

One arm was raised, however, blocking the swift attack. Ash grinned, rubbing a finger over the bridge of his nose. "Nice one, but you're gonna have to do better than that."

Though, Ash might've spoken a moment too soon. Already grit teeth began to rattle, an unpleasant numbness running through Ash's body. "Yeeowch…! You're getting stronger by the day, huh?" He couldn't help but smile, pardoning the lone tear of pain in his eye.

 _~I am, I am!~_ Spirited by his praise, the Emanation pokemon jumped up once more, letting out a yip that preceded a flurry of grey fists aiming to overwhelm Ash's guard.

Swift moves by Ash blocked each of the attacks, his arms and fists providing an ample guard from the tyke's assault… Even if it did make him a little numb. That was the price of sparring with a Pokémon, huh? "Hey, Rosa! Think fast!" He warned as the Pokémon descended.

"Rio?" Rosa questioned, already being snagged back towards the ground by gravity's persistent hold. Sure enough, her fall wasn't without hazards. By time she neared the ground, the boy's sneaker was already sweeping towards her feet!

A high-pitched yelp followed, the Riolu turning to dive head-first. Tiny paws pressed into the soil, springing just out of the way of the sweeping foot. Quick to land on all fours, Rosa pouted. _~H-hey, that wasn't fair!~_

"Heheh… Sorry. Was just trying to test your reflexes!" Ash rubbed the back of his head, offering an apologetic smile. The last thing he wanted was one of us his Pokémon mad at him! "Hey, c'mon. I'll give you a head-start on the next one!"

The Pokémon could hardly stay mad for long. Baring a mischievous smile, she sprung at Ash again. A Retaliate attack followed in the form of a swift bicycle kick, managing to strike Ash in the jaw.

 _~Papa!~_ The pokemon fretted. Maybe she'd gotten a little carried away there!

"I'm… I'm thine…" The trainer reassured, holding his jaw. "Gueth you don't know yerr own sthrength." He was pretty sure he'd bitten his tongue. "That just means you're getting stronger. At this rate-"

Mid-sentence, though, he'd caught something out of the corner of his eye. Running into the chaos that was the rumble between his own Pokémon was… A person!? "H-hey! Get outta there!" Ash panicked, running towards the scene.

Infernape, meanwhile, was growing frustrated with Pikachu's speedy attacks, and his annoying propensity to dodge most moves that came his way. Grunting in the process of a missed Mach Punch, he was quick to turn when he felt a presence behind him.

But, thankfully he hadn't quite spewed hot flames from his maw just yet. Blinking in confusion, the fire type wondered who exactly this was looking up at him with so much adoration.

"Hey! You can't just run into a battle like that!" Ash yelled, sprinting over. By now, his team had taken the hint, ceasing their sparring to allow their trainer some room. "What were you thinking?"

The girl, coming out of her trance, shook her head before suddenly growing shy. "O-oh, sorry… I've just never seen a fire type like this before." She twirled a bit, skirt flowing around her with her movements. She looked every bit of the shrieking violet she acted as. With thick, bouncing lavender hair and shy brown eyes and skin, it almost seemed odd that such a flowery, delicate youth would be so drawn to the fiery fighting type Infernape.

Jogging over, Dawn and her party arrived as well. "Ash, what's up? I heard yelling. Is everything alright?"

"More fire types! I haven't seen any like these, either!" the girl squealed, shyness fading upon seeing Quilava and Houndour. "They're all so cute! Can I pet that one?!" the stranger pleaded, pointing at Houndour.

Dawn looked towards Ash for an explanation, but he only shrugged. Dawn did likewise. "Uh… sure."

"Thank you!" Walking over, she kneeled down to pet Houndour.

"So… Who are you?" Ash finally asked aloud. Pikachu sat on his shoulder, taking a rest from the short lived match.

"Oh! My name's Ciara," the girl babbled, standing up. "I'm a coordinator! I keep fire types… Sorry, I kind of saw your… friend's?"

Dawn, realizing Ciara was questioning the nature of their relationship, nodded. "Yeah! We're traveling together."

The fellow coordinator grinned. "R-Right. I saw your friend's fire types, but then I saw your fire type battling really intensely. What kind of Pokémon are they all?"

A bit amused that Ciara was more into Pokémon than people, Ash happily obliged. "This is Infernape! He's from the Sinnoh region. He's a fighting type, too!"

Dawn spoke up next. "These are Quilava and Houndour. They're from Sinnoh, too. Houndour is part dark type."

Happy they'd introduced their Pokémon to her, Ciara got out her own pokeballs and released her team. A Ponyta, a Flareon, and a shiny Vulpix looked at our heroes' teams quietly. "You two seem pretty experienced… You probably already know what these are, huh? Oh! My manners are so bad… W-What are your names?" she asked with a blush.

"Hehe, well, I'm from Kanto, so I definitely know what these guys are!" Ash clarified. "I'm Ash Ketchum, a trainer from Pallet Town!"

"I'm Dawn, from Twinleaf Town," the girl answered. She got out her Pokedex. Flareon she already knew, but she needed a refresher on Ponyta. However, she didn't recognize the golden pokemon. "... It's a Vulpix?" she muttered. "What's up with it?"

"It's a Shiny!" Ciara explained. "She's nothing extraordinary from her peers, but she's very pretty."

"Pretty cool how that happens with some pokemon, huh? My Noctowl is, too!" Ash added in.

"That's the one you used against Conway, right?" Dawn enthused. "During the Lily of the Valley Conference!"

"You've been in a conference?" Ciara cooed.

"Yep! I came in the… top four." There was a slightly bitter edge to Ash's tone. Deciding not to dwell on it since he was sure he would get the gold this time, he nudged Dawn's side. "Dawn here came in second at her first Grand Festival in Sinnoh!"

"Whoa! You're that good?!" Ciara gushed, eyes growing wide. A hand reached out for Dawn's hand, only to freeze in hesitation. Swallowing, Ciara only reached for her skirt, playing with the hem of it. "You must be going for the Top Coordinator title here, too… You'll be a difficult rival…"

"Strong rivals make for good growth," Dawn assured, flattered by Ash's praise and Ciara's admiration. "Isn't that right, Ash?"

"You bet!" he agreed.

"Well… if that's the case. P-Please, b-battle me? Y-you're training, right, s-so it's fine, isn't it?" Ciara stuttered.

Ash grew excited as Dawn grinned. He loved watching a battle.

"Sure. Does three on three sound good to… Uh. Ciara. Where's Vulpix?" the bluenette asked.

The party looked around until they spotted a figure carrying a net with the trapped Vulpix.

"Hey!" Ash snapped, recognizing the uniform. While it wasn't a member of the trio he was used to, that black uniform definitely marked the pink haired stranger as a member of Team Rocket. "Give that Vulpix back."

"Hyuck, caught," the grunt muttered before turning around. "See, kids, the thing is… A rare pokemon like this should totally belong to Team Rocket!"

With Ciara panicking at the fact her precious Pokémon had been stolen, the older coordinator stepped forward, scowling on behalf of the victim. "Not so fast! You're outnumbered here," Dawn warned. "You're gonna have to battle me if you want her Vulpix!" As if to make her point clearer, Dawn's team bristled in anticipation.

If Dawn's team wasn't enough to break the grunt's confidence, then Ash's definitely was. With Tyranitar growling and leering down, Infernape impatiently cracking his knuckles, Pikachu's cheeks aglow with yet-to-be-spent sparks, and even Rosa frowning sternly, the trainer looked every bit as ready to punish as he truly was.

Holding Vulpix's net over his shoulder, the Rocket grunt's confident visage began shattering as he recognized the nature of the situation. "Hyuck… You guys think you're pretty tough, huh?" The grin returned, though beads of nervous sweat accompanied it. "Well, that's gonna work against ya, now!" He carefully weighed his options, trying to pick the best among the group. Soon, a pokeball was plucked from his belt and slung forward. "Ditto, I'm calling on you, hyuck!"

The revealed shape-shifting pokemon looked on, gelatinous and blank-faced as one would expect it to be.

"Your Infernape looks pretty tough, kid," the grunt commented. "Ditto, go ahead and copy that!" The blob looked to Ash's fiery simian, glowing before gradually changing shape. Within seconds, it had completely copied Infernape's physical form. "Use Flamethrower!" The clone spit brilliant flames from its mouth, indiscriminately attacking the heroes that had come to interfere with his capture. "Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck! Just try and stop us, with that kind of firepower!"

Dawn's eyes widened. At this short range, with Infernape's abilities…!

Prinplup wasted no time, stepping forward with a Hydro Pump. The hiss of steam which expanded and rose after the attacks collided cleared to show a very _pissed_ looking penguin. It was one thing to call him and his friends weak; he'd still fight over that; but to threaten Dawn…! "Prinplup!"

Proud of her starter's defensive action, Dawn grinned. "Alright, Prinplup! We know the genuine article, so let's sweep this thieving faker! Let's use Whirlpool, heavy on the whirl!" With the rest of her team plus Ash's party to make sure the grunt didn't run away during the battle, Dawn wasn't overly concerned about focusing on more than the current battle for Ciara's pokemon.

Prinplup obeyed, throwing his flippers back as he let a maelstrom head straight for the pseudo-Infernape. He always gave his best in battles, but this was bringing out the same intensity the Ariados horde had.

"Hyuck! Not bad! Ditto, jump over that attack and roast them with Flamethrower!" The criminal called, followed by the Infernape clone springing upward. The raging whirlpool was just barely avoided by a hair, flames gathering in the primate's maw.

While Prinplup could surely handle this himself, however, there was a Pokémon that had other plans. Ash's Infernape had been watching from the sidelines, fire burning his eyes; figurative, unlike the actual inferno constantly raging atop his head. This imposter was putting on a pitiful show of his abilities. A poor showcase if he ever saw one. Pride surpassed rationale, and a swift Mach Punch was delivered to the fake's jaw.

Rocked and spitting flames, the clone tumbled before managing to correct itself on its hind legs. Faux Infernape chatter followed, the counterpart rubbing its bruised jaw. The disguised Ditto expressed its shock and awe in plain Pokémon-terms.

The real Infernape only grunted, having little to say to this.

"Hyuck-hyuck! Your Infernape's mighty tough! Then I'm guessing it knows… Close Combat! Show 'em what happens when you mess with Team Rocket!" The nameless man shouted, quickly followed up by a nimble leap from Ditto. It lashed out with a brutal combination of punches and kicks, pummeling Infernape one blow after the next.

"Oh no," Ciara whimpered, watching as the second infernape attacked the original.

"No need to worry," Dawn assured. She knew enough about Ash and Infernape to just watch Ash's face with a battle like this. Right now, it was telling her all she needed to know.

The primate was quickly losing ground, being kicked and struck every which way, but his trainer looked none too concerned. "…Sorry, but you're gonna need a lot more than that to take on the real deal." A smile had crept onto Ash's lips, pure confidence exuded from the trainer from Pallet. Those blows didn't amount to what his own heavy hitter was capable of. "Let's show 'em, Infernape! Use Flare Blitz!"

Ash's boasting caught the clone's attention, a final punch landing before it retracted its fist. Returning to a less furious state of mind, it examined its opponent more carefully. Its opponent was actually… Smiling?

The real Infernape grinned, only feigning recoil from the last blow it was dealt. A whip of its head surrounded its entire body in white-hot flames, a nimble leap creating distance before Infernape crashed into its doppelganger in the form of a blazing brilliant blue comet.

The blow hit its mark. Hard. 'Infernape' was thrown back to the Rocket's feet, almost instantaneously losing its form to the gelatinous blob that was Ditto itself. The Rocket was already sweating, returning the Pokemon in a panic before sprinting into the forest.

Prinplup spat out a trail of ice, pursuing the Rocket member at full throttle. He was still brimming with anger at his trainer being threatened. While sliding on his belly, he shot out another round of Ice Beams, hoping to block off the space between the trees and corner the stranger.

"C'mon, guys! We can't let him get away!" Shrugging her backpack up higher, the coordinator began pursuit, her other pokemon following at once.

Ciara looked nervously around before running as well. "Shouldn't we call the cops?!"

"We don't have time for that!" Dawn shouted back.

"Good job, Infernape!" Ash quickly said, praising the primate; both were thoroughly satisfied with the victory. That would show an imposter for trying to one-up him. "Now, let's follow 'im!" With that, Ash and company took off in pursuit of Dawn and the others, chasing the man towards a dead end.

* * *

Meanwhile, still sprinting for his life with the net securely held, the bumbling Rocket was about to slip through the clearing, on his way to a place to hide. If he could just get out of their sight…

A yelp escaped him as he came to a screeching halt, a brilliant blue beam firing just past his head. It'd only missed by mere inches, sending shivers down the man's spine. Now, his escape had been bridged by a chilling, thick sheet of ice. Palms became sweaty, his head turning back towards his pursuers. "You think you're so tough, don't you! Fine! You're about to see what real power is! Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck! Go, Gyarados!"

A Pokeball was cast forward, bursting open to unleash a towering pillar of light that dwarfed anyone present, even making the trees look puny in comparison. A sea serpent soon replaced the snaking luminescence, letting out a terrifying roar. It was Gyarados - the Atrocious Pokemon.

"Hyuck! Now, hit that there Infernape with Aqua Tail!" The man shouted, judging it enough of a pain in the tail to pursue first. After such a humiliating beating, he couldn't leave anything to chance. Gyarados cried out before doing exactly as it was told, pointing its large tail fin towards the simian. A terrible cyclone of water fired towards the ape, seemingly dwarfing its victim.

"Infernape, look out!" Ash warned.

"Prinplup, Whirlpool!" Dawn cried out.

He obeyed. The opposing column of water span opposite the Gyarados's attack, causing slight dispersal upon initial contact between the rotating forces.

The simian had already raised its arms to defend itself, slowly peering back at the action when the oncoming torrent never made contact. Prinplup had taken over, putting a halt to Gyarados' assault completely.

"Ice Beam!"

The second attack managed to fully freeze the now slower Aqua Tail, leaving no doubt as to how powerful Prinplup was as well. Big as that Gyarados was, did it have the defensive fury Prinplup harbored right now backing it up? While he'd grown rowdier upon evolution, he also seemed to have taken on a more perhaps princely disposition. He would protect his loyal subjects - er, friends, indeed. "Pri!"

Infernape couldn't help but smile, hopping back to Ash's side. He understood; he'd interrupted Prinplup's first battle. It must've been a pride thing, along with returning the favor.

Dawn's eyes widened once she realized he wasn't content to hang back and see what would happen. "That's a water/flying type! Your water moves'll be weak against it!"

Taking heed to her split second warning, the water type would attempt to use Metal Claw to wallop his foe.

"Uh… why'd it have to be a water type," Ciara moaned, staying near Houndour. The remainder of Ciara's own party took pity on her, understanding their trainer's dislike of that particular type all too well.

Metallic fins struck at Gyarados' hide several times, prompting a roar of pain from the creature before it would attempt to swat Prinplup back with its tail. Fortunately for the sea beast, its trainer wasn't blinded by rage.

"Gyarados, take it down with Hyper Beam!"

A terribly powerful blast fired from Gyarados' wide, fanged maw, tearing through the ground before it making a ruthless path towards Prinplup.

"Prinplup, use Bide!" If Prinplup didn't get taken out by that attack, he'd need it to return fire as well as possible, Dawn realized. Buneary seemed to anticipate Dawn's plan, standing at her trainer's side on her tip toes, anxiously awaiting with everyone else to see if the move had knocked Prinplup out or not. If it had, she would continue the battle! And, though Dawn had faith in her starter, even she couldn't help but clench her fists in worry.

Ash had shielded himself from the smoke and debris, fists closed equally tight in worry for the penguin Pokemon.

As the brilliant beam of energy blasted Pripnplup, the bird stood, flippers out at either side of him. For a moment, he disappeared into the light, form obscured. Though the blinding brightness of the Hyper Beam made it difficult to see, a change was occurring. He'd held back for so long and now he was being pushed to his limits. It was time to grow stronger - strong enough to not just keep up with this Gyarados, but to defeat it!

As the ghastly Hyper Beam faded, it became evident what had gone into the Hyper Beam was not what was going out. In pain but holding on, the new Empoleon kept a deathly serious expression. He'd evolved just to bring the beat down. And, the Gyarados had better believe he was going to follow through.

Dawn's jaw dropped. He'd evolved. He'd not only endured the hit, but he'd evolved during. "A-Alright, Pri—Empoleon! All you've got to do is fire back!"

The time to take damage had ended. Empoleon let out a small smirk as his body radiated and used up its stored energy. Twice what he had been given, that he gave. He was glad he hadn't forgotten Endure.

The chilling beam of energy struck Gyarados head-on, earning a terribly loud cry of pain. In just one blow, its stamina had been reduced a great deal, leaving it hurting. Just what kind of Pokemon was this?!

"Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck! You guys are pretty tough! I like that! Gyarados, Crunch!" the Rocket hollered, and by now, the fatigue from Hyper Beam had worn off. The Atrocious Pokemon lunged at Empoleon without a second thought, aiming to snatch the royal Pokemon between its jaws.

Ciara let out a frightened squeal. What if the Gyarados ate Empoleon?!

"Stop laughing!" Dawn snapped. "This isn't funny!" Dawn yelled at the stranger. "Empoleon, quick, use Metal Claw!"

He obeyed, bringing up two brilliantly gray wings. The serpent's jaw rattled as it bit down on solid steel. Empoleon slid back, grunting with effort to keep that massive maw from getting purchase in his hide. Thankfully, Metal Claw had boosted his attack. It was exactly the edge he needed.

"Alright! Now spin!"

There was a moment for the water/steel type to release the Gyarados, those jaws looming down over him. However, he was then coming around for a heavy metal backhand straight to the sea serpent's jowls. Gyarados was sent reeling before collapsing beside the Rocket, knocked completely unconscious. The thief scrambled to call the Atrocious Pokemon back to its Pokeball, sweating and frozen in fear.

"…Ah, crud. You guys are good…! Like, really good!" He sputtered, making a pathetic attempt to salvage some civility as he clung to the tethered net. Though, it was certainly true; the kid with the hat and the blue-haired girl were remarkable trainers. They might even be a threat to Team Rocket, down the line!

"And you're bad, really bad." Dawn crossed her arms as Empoleon walked over to their enemy. The lumbering penguin stood just before grunt, one flipper shining metallic while his other reached over for the net with the Vulpix.

The Rocket practically turned blue in the face, shivering in his boots at the sight of the burly emperor looming over him. Wearing a _very_ nervous smile, he stuttered before tossing the net toward Empoleon, breaking into a sprint to escape the vengeful water type.

"Pix!" the shiny pokemon cried out, relieved to be freed. Once free, Vulpix dashed over and jumped into Ciara's arms.

Ciara, likewise, let out a happy sigh. "I'm so relieved… It's over." She hugged her pokemon close.

"We did it!" Dawn cheered, moving over to throw up a hand for Ash to high five back.

"We sure did!" Ash slapped his hand against Dawn's, baring a grin.

"Leon!" Empoleon grumbled. His appearance might have changed, but his need for attention had not. He walked up behind Dawn, nudging her with his flipper.

"You did great, Empoleon! Of course I know that." She reached up, giving him a quick pat on the head. It was harder now that he was so tall, but, well, he was still her precious partner.

Ash turned to his own Pokemon. "Infernape, you were great, too! Thanks a lot for all your help!" He raised a fist to the simian, who mirrored the same action.

"Infernape!"

"T-Thanks, guys." Walking over, the lavender haired girl grinned at them both. "Vulpix and I both owe you."

"Hey, it's no problem!" He turned his attention back to Ciara. "Just happy we could help out! Heck if we're ever gonna let Team Rocket get away with something like that!"

"Well… I don't have anything I think I can give you right now, but I like to collect rare items like technical machines and evolution stones… So, Dawn, let me give you my number. If you think you want me to find you guys something or whatever…! O-Or, maybe to hang out… s-since you're… both… really cool… J-Just call me!" the girl offered. A brilliant smile was on her face. Despite how shy she was, Ciara had definitely warmed up to Dawn and Ash.

"Perfect!" With that, the two girls exchanged numbers. "I'll try to keep up with you, okay?" Dawn grinned down at the slightly shorter girl.

"Thanks, Ciara! That's really generous," Ash noted. She was a good kid.

"You're very welcome!" the coordinator cheered. "… I hate to run, so suddenly, but I think my adrenaline wore off, haha." It was true. The girl was shaking a bit. "I'm gonna head back. Ash, good luck with your gym battles! And, Dawn -" her face for the briefest of seconds grew very courageous " - when I see you next time, I'll be a blaze of glory! You can count on it!"

"You know it," Dawn responded. "See you, Ciara!"

"See you later!" Ash echoed. He turned to his team and Dawn, positively beaming. "This is great! Empoleon's evolved, we got in some training, and we made a friend! What do you guys wanna do now? I'm already so psyched! Let's do some more training!" It seemed his own internal flame had been lit.

"Later, Ash, we gotta go report this to Officer Jenny," Dawn chided.

"Aw, c'mon... Don't you wanna see how good Empoleon does now?" he tried to tempt.

"Didn't we agree we both need to keep each other from getting hot headed?"

Shoulders slumping, Ash realized Dawn was right. He had learned his lesson, after all. "Alright, let's go."

With that, training was put on a short break while our heroes headed towards the police station. The day was still young, though, so they would be back at it soon. After all, tomorrow was Dawn's contest and the day after that, Ash would battle Lt. Surge once more! They had no time to waste!


	30. Gloom and Bloom

The weather was ever so slightly foggy thanks to being on a shipping bay, but the morning was no less brilliant than Dawn was. Smiling shining kilowatt when the sun could not, she led the way into the contest hall.

"Today's our day," she cheered, one hand clenched in a triumphant fist. Though none of her team was out except for Empoleon, he more than made up for it with his enthusiasm.

"Empole!" he agreed.

"You bet," Ash chimed in, mirroring Dawn's enthusiasm. "Time for you to get your next ribbon. I can't wait to see the appeal you've been working on."

Even Pikachu couldn't contain his excitement. "Pikachu~!"

"I'm gonna dazzle 'em," Dawn assured, a sly grin on her face. Oh yes, she certainly had plans for this double contest.

"You'd better get signed up now, huh?" Ash suggested, eyeing the line that was beginning to form before the front desk. If Dawn didn't hurry, she might miss the cut, at that rate!

"Yeah," she trailed off. "Well, if not before, I'll definitely see you guys in the winner's circle!" With a final wink, the bluenette rushed to the signup counter, while Ash began to walk towards the stands.

"You got it!" Ash waved her off, looking to Pikachu. "Alright, buddy. Let's try 'n find a good spot in the stands while we still can! Then we'll get a great view of the contest!"

"Pika!"

With the mouse's shared enthusiasm, Ash slipped and pushed through the crowd, eager to claim a seat.

* * *

There were many coordinators here today, crowded behind the scenes with their Pokémon. Some were grooming and pepping up their pokemon, while others chatted and bragged amongst their fellow competitors. The competition left Dawn both nervous and grateful. Many coordinators meant the show would get more viewing, meaning she would earn a better reputation! However, that also meant an increase in competition… It didn't help that she was first up today!

' _That's fine with me, though! We've been working hard for this… There's no way I'll lose!'_

An all-too-familiar voice could be heard from beyond the curtains, then. "First up is a coordinator all the way from Sinnoh! Dawn, take the stage!"

Stepping out from the cool shade behind the velvet curtains and into the bright spotlight of the stage on the master of ceremony's cue, Dawn felt electric. Bundled nerves did little to inhibit her in front of the crowd, which was admittedly rather large. Gripping two Pokéballs within her hands, the teen spun with grace, tossing each into the air above. "Houndour, Clefairy, spotlight!"

As their Pokéballs burst open, the seals Dawn had decided to use went off. The black hearts from Houndour's Pokéball contrasted nicely with Clefairy's golden sparkles. While it wasn't a true part of her performance, it was still a good way to gain crowd favor. Now, it was time to move onto the meat of her appeal.

"Houndour, use Smog!" the bluenette commanded.

A thick plume of black smoke cascaded out of Houndour's mouth, rolling across the floor of the stage, soon shrouding all three participants within it. Only the gleam of Dawn's belt buckle and Houndour's bone armor could be seen. Quiet muttering from the crowd marked the beginning of her gamble.

"Magical Leaf, Clefairy!" Dawn knew it was time to make good on what she was betting on.

Though invisible to the crowd, Clefairy lifted her hands, sending tiny, glowing leaves throughout the cloud of smoke. The effect was mesmerizing. In mere moments, Dawn had created a small galaxy by combining Magical Leaf and Smog; it was the brilliance of hundreds of stars and the blackness of space. This kind of view is why telescopes were made, but here it was, bright and beautiful for the audience's viewing pleasure.

Even the judges were pleased. The lights from the glowing leaves cast eerie and fanciful shades from Dawn's Pokémon, highlighting them as the real stars of the show. Of course, Dawn's endeavor to really bring them into the spotlight had only just begun.

"Now, Moonlight!"

A pale imitation of the night's greatest light rose above the Smog cloud, cutting through the darkness just in time for the black toxins to fade. As it did so, everyone got into position. Clefairy stood on Dawn's head, still orchestrating her Magical Leaf attack. Meanwhile, Houndour was held lovingly in Dawn's arms.

The light show seemed to have pleased the crowd, judging by the volume of their applause. All the same, Dawn hurried off stage. Poor Houndour, being the backwoods little thing he was, had begun to whimper and was soon to squirm. All the chatter and cheering had proven a bit overwhelming for the dark type's sharp senses.

"What a dreamy performance! Thanks Dawn! Let's give a warm welcome to our next contestant!" Lilian praised, raising a hand up high in her typical way to build on the audience's excitement.

While she scurried off stage, Ash had found a snug space in the crowd ahead of time. "Rock on, Dawn!" he yelled, cheers nearly drowned out by everyone else's. Pikachu danced and shouted his support.

And, though he was supportive of his talented traveling companion, Ash was also possessed good sportsmanship. It'd be just as fun to watch the other coordinators strut their stuff!

He found himself entertained by a goofy fellow and the antics of his Aerodactyl and Zubat. The Zubat was clearly not stronger than the Aerodactyl; it might not even hold a candle to the stone dinosaur in strength. However, that didn't stop the Zubat from chasing the hagrid pseudo-dragon all over the air space of the contest hall with a series of Bites and Super Sonics. Eventually, the Aerodactyl lost patience and used Bite itself, causing the little Zubat to disappear theatrically. The appeal ended with the Zubat escaping by using Leech Life in the Aerodactyl's mouth. Murmurs had turned to chuckles at the unorthodox, comical display.

The growing teen couldn't help but chuckle at the performance, clapping with enthusiasm. "It's not what ya normally see at contests, but that was fun!" Pikachu and Rosa got caught up in laughter, as well.

Soon, a young woman with a Gloom and an Oddish made Ash feel homey. A Mega Drain from Gloom seemed to make it bloom and blossom, glowing green particles circling its rouge, odorous flower. Truthfully, minute bits of energy were being gathered from Pokémon in the crowd. Too subtle to notice, but enough to give a floral appearance. Likewise, the Oddish used its various spore moves to mimic pollination. Between blooming and the various powders, the appeal had a very natural feel; it was like walking on a farm.

The regal performance of a man and his Nidoking and Seaking followed. While Nidoking buffered artificial land with Earthquake and Rock Tomb, Seaking contrasted with Surf and Whirlpool, creating quite a thematic clash of the elements. Grandiose as it was, though, Ash couldn't help but feel as if it were too focused on the coordinator rather than the pokemon. The fact that he stood on a spire above both of his pokemon was quite telling…

"Man… Pretty cool, but this guy's making Jessilina look modest." Ash remarked, resting his cheek against his hand. He couldn't help but frown at the wasted potential.

Ash felt sorry for one young coordinator whose Abra disappeared off stage. At least her Dratini was loyal and followed through with the performance, doing its best to salvage the appeal with a Twister attack.

There were many other coordinators, but those were the ones who stood out to him. The next competitor was the last, prompting Ash to pay extra attention.

* * *

"Our final performer is a fiery young lady from Kanto! Please welcome Ciara!"

Was the master of ceremonies being ironic? Timid and slow in her steps, the lavender-haired coordinator stepped out, trembling a bit. Stopping under the attentive glow of the spotlight, she took a deep breath, a certain boldness flashing in her gaze.

Tossing two Pokéballs into the air, she spoke with command that seemed uncharacteristic, booming through the arena. "Vulpix, Flareon, let's give them a show!"

The Pokéballs burst open, both foxy fire types landing gracefully on the stage. A few gasps and chatter could be heard over Vulpix's unusual color.

Swallowing her fear, Ciara began her appeal. "Vulpix, use Sunny Day!"

Turning its head to the sky, Vulpix shot off a shining orb. It reached its zenith and stayed there, bathing the stage in light and warmth. The extra light further illuminated the healthy and luxurious shine of the two fire types' lustrous and well-groomed coats. Vulpix seemed to turn into moving gold under the bright light. It drove the crowd to cheers.

Ciara tugged at the collar of her sweater, a little too warm for once. They were off to a good start, though. She just needed to push through. "Flareon, Fire Spin!"

Powered up by the Sunny Day, Flareon's Fire Spin burst into a tornado of flames. It roared magnificently, waves of heat rolling from it. This pushed the crowd to grow louder, wilder at the beautiful display of fire.

"Now, Confuse Ray, Vuplix!"

Adding in ghostly rings to the inferno, the pillar of fire was now purple as well as red and yellow. The crowd's cheers became deafening. All of it was disorienting for Ciara. The heat, the attention, the noise - she felt like her head was full of cotton. But, she had to finish!

"Vulpix, Flame Burst!"

A single fireball was fired into the eye of the flaming storm, lasting but a few moments before bursting open. The supercharged Fire Spin exploded, raining down sparks and embers upon the ground below. Recoiling from the heat, the young coordinator flinched and swayed before being joined by both of her pokemon.

"There you have it folks!" Lilian shouted over the crowd. "An explosive performance!"

* * *

Dawn was in awe. While her own performance had slowly lulled and won over the crowd, Ciara's had been a storming charge. The shy girl fought for their admiration and won it. A bit floored by the powerful display, Dawn could have sworn Ciara was glittering as she came back into the waiting room.

Of course, it could have just been sweat. It had been very hot on the stage.

"That was great!" Dawn chimed in greeting, grinning widely. "Lots of impact, very impressive!"

"Oh, t-thank you!" Ciara was quick to bow her head shyly to the older coordinator, fighting a losing battle against the streak of red present in her cheeks. It was such strong praise from an incredibly powerful trainer! Just yesterday she'd witnessed the bluenette take down a terrifying Gyarados, but now the older girl was praising Ciara! She wasn't sure if she felt faint from the admiration or her temperature. "Your performance was beautiful, too! It's easy to see you really know what you're doing."

The two broke off from their mutual admiration to look up at the display screen.

"Looks like we both made it," Ciara noted, relief in her voice.

"I'm up first again," the coordinator noted. Dawn supposed that was fair. She'd had the most rest, after all. "Hehe, wish me luck. And, get yourself something to drink!"

"Right… y-you should get going, through! Before you're late. And, g-good luck!"

* * *

"Our first match is between Pomme of Celadon City and Dawn of Sinnoh! Let's see a good match, ladies!" the master of ceremonies said, beginning the preliminary battle rounds.

Dawn released her Pokémon at the same time as Pomme. "Buneary, Togekiss, Spotlight!"

The grass type using coordinator seemed surprised before frowning. That was right… People could change what Pokémon they used in the appeal round and the battle rounds. Why hadn't she done that? Now she had no idea what moves her opponent had, but her opponent had an idea of her own! Pomme wanted to kick her own butt.

"Gloom, Oddish, let's start off strong! Gloom, use Acid on the Buneary, and Oddish you use Poison Powder on the Togekiss!" Pomme ordered.

"Not happening," Dawn warned. "Togekiss, use Safeguard! Buneary, use Ice Beam to freeze the Acid!" Dawn called.

Togekiss took to the air, creating a thin, translucent shield to keep the poison powder from reaching herself. Buneary, meanwhile, stopped the Acid in its tracks, though it ate through her ice shortly after being frozen. No matter; a puddle of goo on the floor was better than being lathered in poison, herself!"

Taking initiative, Dawn decided the next course for the match. "Buneary, use Bounce! Togekiss, use Air Slash!"

Pomme stomped a foot. Fantastic, the Buneary was out of reach for now. She had to make sure her two grass types wouldn't get hit with that Air Slash, though. "Oddish, dodge! Gloom, you use Lucky Chant!" At least nothing would hit too hard, now.

Thankfully, Oddish was able to duck out of the way.

Gloom, however, wasn't so lucky. The whipping damage of Togekiss's Air Slash was quite beautiful, as well as devastating. All that time spent training was paying off big time. Pomme lost points.

To add salt to the wound, Buneary came down on poor Oddish with a mighty stomp, nearly knocking the little grass-type out.

"Gloom, use Mega Drain on Buneary! Oddish, you use Absorb!" No matter how strong Dawn was, Pomme deduced, she couldn't recover energy.

"Buneary, use Dizzy Punch on Gloom! Togekiss, use Aura Sphere on Oddish!"

While Togekiss successfully pulled off Aura Sphere, eating through Oddish's Absorb and knocking out the first stage evolution, Buneary's attack was less effective and cost her energy and Dawn points. Likewise, it seemed very ineffective…

Hand going to her backpack only to remember she'd left her PokeDex back in the waiting area, Dawn grit her teeth. What had Buneary just done?

Thankfully, the master of ceremonies was making observations. "Well, folks, it looks as if Buneary's learned a new move… or become disobedient of her trainer! That use of Jump Kick just cost Dawn some points!"

"A new move," the bluenette noted. They could worry about that later. Right now, Dawn had to finish up this match. "Buneary, use Ice Beam! Togekiss, use Sky Attack!"

"Gloom, come through with Mega Drain on Buneary…!" Pomme nearly begged.

Thankfully, Gloom was able to steal some energy from Buneary, enough to help it last through Buneary's attack. Unfortunately, lady luck wasn't quite smiling on the grass type, or her trainer. Chilling energy coursed through its veins, taking the form of a block of ice that froze Gloom in place.

Dawn watched with anticipation as Togekiss came swooping down, her biding time finished. Ordinarily afloat and elegant, the Jubilee pokemon had become a crimson missile, targeting Gloom with Noctowl-like precision. Sky Attack hit its mark, colorful streaks of light endowed with a glistening orbit of shattered ice.

Gloom was sent tumbling and unconscious, and Pomme was left with barely half of her points while Dawn had more than three quarters of her own. It was a decisive victory with strength and style.

"It seems we have a bit of a surprising powerhouse on our hands! Congratulations, Dawn!" Lilian cheered.

* * *

Ash was enjoying the show, a smile plastered on his cheeks, both fists held closed. It was good that Ciara made it past the appeals round as well, though her match was a little less one sided than Dawn's was. Ciara was facing a boy about her own age with a Wartortle and a Charmeleon.

Just as he and Pikachu had gotten rowdy during Dawn's match, the two also did their best to cheer on Ciara. Her opponent was particularly tough, a devastating Whirlpool and Fire Spin combination on his end costing her many points. However, she quickly countered by combining Sunny Day and Flame Burst. The 'Flame Pool', or so the boy had dubbed his own combination, was quickly burst into steam and glittering embers, turning it all into Ciara's favor.

The battle dragged on, clearly too close for Ciara's comfort. When a combination of Charmeleon's Flamethrower with Wartortle's Rapid Spin turned the boy's Wartortle into a spinning star of embers, Flareon countered it with Flame Charge, adding to its own move's style and beauty, and pushing Ciara just above the boy in points! The clock hit zero as that happened, leaving the winner to be decided with baited breath.

Lilian chimed in, answering the question that hung silently in the air. "Ciara has won by just a few points!" In the face of her victory, Ash couldn't help but feel proud for his new friend.

* * *

Eyes glistening, the young coordinator beamed as she bowed to the crowd, recalling her Pokémon after thanking them both for a job well done. Rushing backstage, she came across Dawn before catching her breath. "Dawn… Dawn, I did it! We both made it again!"

"You did great!" Dawn praised, not missing a beat.

"Thank you," Ciara squeaked, once again flattered.

"... I guess this means we battle each other."

Ciara picked up on the flatness of Dawn's voice and likewise seemed to calm down. She swallowed heavily.

The air seemed to grow a bit heavy, but the older coordinator just stuck out her hand. They were friends, yes - how could they not be considering what happened yesterday - but now they were also rivals. Dawn would give Ciara her due respect. "I wanna see how brightly you really burn! Because you're gonna see the true radiance of Dawn!" What happened to being serious?

Ciara managed to smile. Dawn really knew how to function under pressure. "I-I'll do my best! You'll see how tough we really are!" Reaching out, the younger coordinator shook Dawn's hand. Soon, it'd be time for them to face each other. A quick visit to the nurse for everyone to get their Pokémon healed would follow, and the contest would come to its culmination.

* * *

The spotlight shone down on Dawn and Ciara alike, highlighting how tense, yet eager both were. Their faces smiled down at the crowd from the scoreboard, both point bars full.

"Now, it's time for the final round of the Vermillion City Pokemon Contest! Crowd pleaser Ciara will be facing off against the clever coordinator Dawn! The match will go on for five minutes, or until both of one trainer's Pokémon have fainted!" Lilian explained. "Now, you may begin!"

The two girls smiled at each other before summoning their pokemon.

"Let's go! Vulpix, Flareon!"

"Buneary, Togekiss, spotlight!"

Aware of the prowess her opponent possessed, Ciara called out for attacks without hesitation. "Vulpix, Quick Attack; Flareon, use Swift!"

The crowd was treated with the dazzling sight of the golden Vulpix chased by a horde of golden stars. It already cost Dawn points just for the incredible display Ciara was starting off with, and the speed of it all didn't help matters any. Ciara must have already seen what a powerhouse Buneary was during Dawn's last battle, since Vulpix targeted Buneary.

"Bun!" the rabbit cried, her head being used as a launching point.

With Vulpix sailing out of the way, Togekiss and Buneary were left to get the Swift attack split between the two of them. Shimmering stars barraged the two, forcing them back. While neither gave any under the assault, seasoned as they were, the clever maneuver cost Dawn a few points.

Realizing with a delightful mix of awe and panic how seriously Ciara was taking this, Dawn decided to retaliate just as strongly. "Togekiss, Aura Sphere on Vulpix. Buneary, let's get after Flareon with a Dizzy Punch!"

Still in the air, Vulpix couldn't help but be hit by Togekiss's Aura Sphere. Meanwhile, Flareon was faring a bit better.

"Flareon, Fire Spin!" Knowing she couldn't do anything for her poor Vulpix, who was just now landing in a heap, Ciara focused on the other fire type's defense.

Buneary winced, attack stopped by the sudden wall of flames around Flareon. The beautiful display once again cost Dawn points.

"Now, Vulpix, use Confuse Ray! Flareon, use Bite!"

Buneary, distracted by the Confuse Ray, was left open for Flareon's bite, earning a cry of pain from the normal type. She winced and cowered, none too eager to suffer another attack. Bite's secondary ability to induce flinching had done its job.

Togekiss, unfortunately, was indeed hit by the Confuse Ray.

Frustration bubbled in Dawn's chest while Ciara became confident. The two were both clever girls, but Ciara's fire types were blazing the trail to victory! Dawn would have to beat that plan down!

"Jump Kick!"

Wasting no time, Buneary sent Flareon tumbling backwards. "Neary!" she quirked, proud of her excellently placed short range kick.

Dawn merely pursed her lips, noticing the wobbling way Togekiss took flight, barely managing not to hurt herself. There was no point in using a move, but perhaps… "Togekiss, use Safeguard!"

"Flareon, Flame Charge! Vulpix, Flame Burst!"

Taking a running leap, Flareon launched itself into the air, ramming into Togekiss in a fiery bullet. Buneary, meanwhile, was hit with an inferno, the explosion splashing hot embers onto Togekiss. Thankfully, Togekiss's Safeguard removed any chance of a burn resulting from those attacks, but it had been devastating. Ciara was firebombing them!

At least the flames sputtering against Dawn's planning Safeguard cost Ciara points. Red embers burst against the glowing veil, giving the defensive move the appearance of a small net of fireworks. The gleaming of the two attacks mixing was her only saving grace right now.

"Wow, what a show! Dawn's Pokémon seem powerful, but Ciara's giving us quite the show with her aggressive fireworks! Now, let's see if Dawn can return to grace under that pressure!" Lilian narrated, capturing the audience's awe in the violent, but beautiful display.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Dawn noted. She had no type advantage to exploit, so she was going to have to go for full power and make it dazzling. "Togekiss, Sky Attack!" However, that attack would take time. Buneary would have to buy it for the dazed Togekiss. "Buneary, hit Vulpix with Dizzy Punch!"

"Neary!" the normal type confirmed, going in to slug at the now-skittish fire type with a series of jabs. Eventually, one blow sent the little fox flying back. The solid punch to the jaw made Vulpix see stars; she was confused, now.

"Flareon, Swift!" A bit of desperation was in Ciara's voice. She couldn't lose either of her battlers. She and Dawn were too close in points!

Golden stars were launched, landing a hit on the stalling beacon above. The Jubilee pokemon huffed, less than comfortable taking all of these hits. As she'd always learned at the kingdom, though, she maintained her composure. Mere moments away, she'd be needed.

Dawn merely smirked. She'd bought the time she needed. "Buneary, Bounce."

The rabbit stomped her feet and took to the heights of the stage, clearing the air for her partner.

Momentarily obscured from view by the fluffy lagomorph, Togkeiss sailed in, aiming to divebomb whichever Pokémon came within her crosshairs first.

"Flame Charge!" Ciara called, not willing to let her pokemon be defenseless.

The two attacks met in a fiery explosion once more. Both coordinators covered their eyes, holding their breath and hoping beyond hope that their pokemon would come out on top…

But, when the inferno cleared and the smoke settled, both were in a heap, knocked out.

"Dawn's Togekiss and Ciara's Flareon are unable to battle! That leaves just two of their Pokémon left!" Vivian recounted, eyes turning towards the scoreboard. Both girls' points were barely an inch away from a loss, and the clock made matters all the more desperate. "Oooh, and to top it off, there's only thirty seconds left and counting! One of these two will have to pull out a narrow victory if they want to walk away with a brand new ribbon!"

"You did your best," Dawn said as she returned Togekiss. "So, Buneary, let's finish it! Pave your way with Ice Beam!" It was time to chill out Ciara's burning will to win!

"Quick Attack to escape!" Ciara cried out.

"Cut her off!"

Mimicking how Empoleon had cut off the Rocket grunt the other day, Buneary cut off Vulpix's escape until the little golden fox found itself stranded in a forest of ice, only able to watch in terror as Buneary came crashing down on top of her. The thunderous impact caused the ice nearest the two contenders to shatter, costing Ciara for the beautiful, twinkling display.

Dawn breathed out a sigh of relief as the buzzer sounded, confirming what she couldn't quite see for all the ice on the field: Buneary had successfully hit Vulpix with her Bounce attack, knocking her opponent out and securing Dawn's victory.

"And that's it for the final round of the Vermillion City Contest! Knocking out her opponent's Pokémon in the last few seconds, Dawn and her pokemon have come out on top!"

The disappointment was plain to Dawn even from this distance as Ciara returned her Pokémon. Between the point advantage and the fact both of her own Pokémon were knocked out, it was quite the decisive victory. Or a stinging loss, on the younger girl's end, rather.

Dawn's heart went out to her younger friend, though. Ciara was audibly thanking her Pokémon; she was a good person.

Though it wasn't typical to make such a big deal of going across a damaged battlefield, Dawn couldn't resist it. Hurriedly crossing the ice - only stopping to snatch up Buneary - the other coordinator nearly ran to greet Ciara.

"You did great! Don't frown! You really gave me a run for my money!" Dawn assured, not wanting to see her friend too discouraged.

There was a murmur among the crowd at this emotional display and a shuffling of paper among the judges at it. Lilian stepped back on the stage, clearly intending to recover the natural order of the contest.

"What a touching wrap up to an incredible battle! It took Ciara's heated skill to make our cool coordinator Dawn break out a sweat! Clearly though, there's no ice on either of these girl's shoulders! Just a warm, friendly affection! Still, Dawn, if you would let Ciara go backstage to tend to her Pokémon we've got something we, the judging panel, would love to give you!" Lilian rounded off, hurrying the conclusion along.

Ciara offered a timid smile one last time before running backstage. Dawn, meanwhile, adjusted her clothes before hugging Buneary tight and walking to the front of the stage.

"That was simply incredible," Mr. Contesta rambled, stepping onto the stage. He bore a small velvet box. Within it, shining under the lights, was the Vermillion ribbon. "It's my great honor to present to you your prize for showing such prowess, such finesse, such gentleness… You have earned this ribbon and our admiration. We look forward to seeing you in more contests, my dear!"

Dawn giddily accepted the medallion, showing it to Buneary who held it gently in her paws. "Check it out, Buneary! That's our second ribbon in the Kanto circuit! You and Togekiss did a really great job earning it."

"Bun, Buneary!" The normal type enthused, waving her paws about in her trainer's secure hold.

With that, Dawn used her free hand to wave at the crowd, who had begun to applaud.

"That concludes our contest! Make sure to congratulate all our contestants when you see them!"

* * *

The backstage had cleared out pretty quickly. In fact, Dawn only spotted Ciara brushing up her Flareon, making sure the fire type's mane wasn't too frazzled after the big event.

"Hey," Dawn greeted.

Ciara jumped in fright, not expecting anyone to still be here. "Oh! Hey, Dawn! Congrats!"

"Congrats to you, too, miss runner-up," the older girl praised.

A thick silence fell over the two of them. Dawn didn't like it. "...You know, you've got a very boisterous style. The crowd loves it."

"Thanks," the lavender haired girl murmured.

"But, sometimes, you're a little cumbersome with your words… Have you thought of using an opening phrase? A little calling card so the crowd thinks, 'yeah, that's her, that's Ciara'? Like, how I say 'spotlight'!"

Ciara blinked. "Um… I suggested 'flame on' to my parents, but they said that sounded weird…"

Dawn wrinkled her nose. "Okay, yeah, that's maybe not the best idea… How about 'charm up'? I originally said that, but I realized I wanted to command the spotlight. You already do that! So, how about playing up your charm?"

The younger girl hummed, thinking it over. "It'll be weird using a new phrase… But, I'll try if you think it's a good idea!"

"It's a great idea!" Dawn assured. "There's this trainer in Hoenn and he's famous for saying things like 'you've got no style'! Everyone loves him!"

Encouraged by Dawn's advice, Ciara nodded. "I'll make myself recognizable, too! Don't you worry, Dawn! I'll keep giving you a good challenge."

The older coordinator snickered. "Good, good! It's rare I get one of those these days."

"That better not have been a slight at me, 'cause I whooped your butt last time we battled!" Ash chided as he entered the room, making it clear he'd been able to hear the conversation outside the room. Pikachu swished his tail, looking just as smug as his trainer. Only Rosa genuinely smiled, clearly still enamored by the contest and barely holding back her mental conversation from Dawn.

"How strong is Ash, Dawn?" Ciara asked, noting his cocky behavior.

"Strong enough," Dawn answered, somewhere between proud and miffed. She'd catch up to Ash, too, one day… Hopefully. Hm. Maybe just aiming right now to make him use his entire team in a battle against her was an okay goal. He'd gotten crazy strong on that mountain.

Flexing with a wink in play at the girls, Ash didn't deny this. "Oh yeah! And, this tough guy's gotta get his rest for a battle tomorrow! So, let's grab dinner!"

"Ciara, wanna join us?" Dawn offered.

The younger coordinator shook her head. "I wanna go call my mom and let her know! I'll see you guys around, though. Thanks, bye!"

"Bye, Ciara!" Dawn and Ash called in unison.

As soon as Ciara left the room, Rosa yipped, sending her empathetic waves through the remaining group's heads. _~Dawn, that was so pretty! I can't wait to be in a contest! Why did you pick Houndour and Clefairy? That was a little scary, what they did, but then it was pretty! It reminded me of where I was born! You could see stars everywhere, and - ~_

The traveling couple of trainers giggled as Rosa babbled on. They could stay here a bit and wait for Rosa to get all her ideas out before they got dinner. After all, tomorrow, things would be serious again. Might as well enjoy the evening together!


	31. The Comeback Kid

Hey, everyone! It seems we've made it halfway through the gym challenge... Time really flies, doesn't it? I appreciate you all sticking with it this far! Fanart for the chapter will be on our another-rxad tumblr blog as always, and feedback on the story is very appreciated! Enjoy!

* * *

The luckiest star of them all shone brightly in the mid-morning sky, flooding Vermillion City's streets with warm sunlight. The occasional blossoms in resident's flower boxes could be seen blooming and the distant chirping of flying types rounded out the jubilant spring weather. It seemed that during the night warm southern breezes had swept away the last bitter frost of winter. From here on out, there'd only be rain showers to watch out for!

But, no one was going to rain on Ash's parade!

"Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate: Ash! Ash!" Dawn practiced, bashing her pom poms together. It'd been awhile since she'd gotten a chance to dress up and even longer since it was to cheer for a friend. The contest yesterday was very fulfilling, but this was exciting, too! "Hm… How about this: Ra-ra-rattle, win this battle! Ra-ra-rass, you can do it, Ash!"

Ash chuckled as Dawn skipped and marched beside him. He appreciated her enthusiasm. Besides, the outfit was cute on her!

The trainer paused, blinking dumbly. Where had _that_ come from?

Noticing that her companion wasn't keeping up, Dawn turned around, tilting her head. "Ash? What's up?" Empoleon mimicked Dawn except his entire body tilted over as he no longer possessed much of a distinction between his head and his neck.

Deciding that whatever had just happened wasn't worth dealing with right before his match, Ash merely shook his head. "Got distracted. Sorry. Let's go!" Pikachu clung to Ash's shoulder as the trainer broke into a jog, determined to leave that momentary _whatever_ behind.

"...! Wait up!" Dawn insisted, giving chase.

Empoleon rolled his eyes before lazily blasting a trail of ice along the streets of Vermillion. He would just slide on the ice there; running was no longer exactly efficient for him for long distances. Sliding on his belly, he managed to catch up to Dawn, ramming into her and causing her to fall onto his back with a loud squeal on her part. The duo even caught up to Ash…

Which was fortunate, because if the super-strong trainer hadn't been waiting at the end of the street with the gym for them, no one would have been able to try and brace against Empoleon's failed stop. With a yelp, though, poor Ash took the brunt Empoleon's impact beautifully, only sliding back a yard or two from it!

"Why were you sliding through the street!" Ash yelled.

"It's not like I told him to!" Dawn quipped back.

"Well?!" the two humans then asked in unison, looking down at the misbehaving Empoleon.

For a moment, he felt like a Piplup again, back when his journey was just starting and Ash would chide him just as quickly as Dawn would. It was oddly comforting, to have the two of them work as a team like that. He felt like he did when they were all back at the cabin with just these two humans watching after all those Pokémon… His eyes glistened a bit.

That said, the warm and fuzzy feeling didn't keep the big water type from grumbling at being chided. He still had his pride, after all. "Empo!"

Standing up, Dawn merely hummed before dusting off herself and then her starter. "You're too big to go acting reckless, now. Don't forget: act like a big boy, okay?"

"Empoleon…" he begrudgingly agreed.

Smiling a bit at the exchange, Ash then turned towards the entrance. "Alright. Let's do it."

* * *

Opening the double doors to the large facility, Ash felt confident. He was ready this time. He had a plan and there would be no mistakes. "Surge is gonna see what I can really do," he boasted under his breath. With Dawn and Empoleon cheering for him, his head level, and all his training, there was no way he could lose!

"Surge!" Ash bellowed. "I'm back for another rematch!"

"Well, would ya look at dat! Da baby's back!" Surge barked, rowdy as ever. "Aw, an' the babe's all dolled up."

Everytime Surge acted overly familiar with Dawn like that, the blood in Ash's veins pumped hotter. Blowing an irritated breath through his nose, the trainer tried to redirect Surge's attention from his clearly disinterested friend and back onto himself. "Hey! I already told you last time that I'm here to challenge you!" Ash snapped.

"Heh, ya gonna act like a big boy now, huh?" Surge teased, clearly amused with how defensive Ash got. It didn't help his companion looked cute when she was peeved.

Not entirely sure what Surge meant by that, Ash merely kept pressing to keep the focus on the match. "All that matters is that I'm gonna beat you this time! C'mon, let's go!"

The giant gym leader let out a rumbling laugh. "Right, bwahahaha! Show me ya done growed up, huh, ya li'l baby!"

With that… Somewhat unpleasant exchange over with, the trainers moved to their rightful positions on the battlefield, while Dawn went to the stands once more to prepare to support Ash.

The referee took his spot as well. "This will be a three on three battle! No substitutions from the gym leader! No medicinal items! The one with the last Pokémon remaining wins! The battle between Gym Leader Lt. Surge of Vermillion against Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town… will now begin!"

* * *

"Haha, Magnezone, let's bring the pain!" the soldier cried out, tossing the Pokéball. "Don't go disappointin' me, baby!"

Surge's Pokéball burst with a thunderous glow, taking the form of the Magnet Area Pokémon. The huge steel type hovered above the field, watching with a gaze as sharp and impartial as the high noon sun.

"You don't have to worry about that! Infernape, let's show them!" Ash barked. A tiny multicolored sphere was grabbed from his belt, arm retracting before launching the Pokéball forward.

The ball burst open, a brilliant light taking the form of the fiery ape. Already poised to fight, he eyed Magnezone with an equally intense gaze, golden hues burning with anticipation.

"Use Mach Punch!" Ash commanded.

Powerful leg muscles launched the simian from his position in record time, a glowing blur of a punch reaching to connect with Magnezone's steely body in barely the blink of an eye. The rematch had begun.

Sent spinning in the air, the metallic monster stilled after a brief turnaround. Well, _that_ was a decisive way to begin the match.

In the stands, the revelry had already begun. "Great start!" Dawn cheered, lifting an arm as Empoelon mimicked her. After a moment, she felt a slight chill.

"Haun-haun!"

The purple ghost materialized behind the girl. Having put his escape routine to use once more, he allowed his claws to glow with the light of Will-o-Wisp, cheering in unison with Dawn. Though, perhaps with a bit more eccentricity.

"Haunter!? Where'd you come from?" Dawn yelped, a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. Though, it was hard not to smile. He almost looked like he was pouting. "You wanna cheer for Ash too, huh? Well, I can't say no to that!"

Meanwhile, on the battle field, Surge wasn't taking this all sitting. "Le's hit 'em with'a Zap Cannon!" Surge ordered, crossing his arms.

The front magnets of the electric type whirred, picking up speed until an emerald bundle of electricity shot out and at the Infernape. If the challenger was going to come out swinging, then so was Magnezone. Chilly and indifferent he appeared to be, he was a warrior, same as Electivire and Raichu.

Zap Cannon, Ash knew, wouldn't be fun to endure. "Infernape, dodge!"

Sporting a grin after landing the initial punch, Infernape quickly took several acrobatic leaps backward, hands pushing him safely out of the range of Zap Cannon. An explosion followed, dust clouding the field.

"Good! Now use Flamethrower!" While they couldn't perfectly make out the form of Magnezone through the dusty veil, it surely wasn't an incredibly fast Pokémon, so a hit was likely. At least, as far as Ash figured.

Hot flames were then spewed from Infernape's mouth, the tremendous heat parting the clouds with ease.

The ape was faster than the machine. A second blow from Infernape smote the gray hide of Magnezone, earning a grinding screech of fury from the robot, an un-ordered Metal Sound.

Surge noted this. That blow would have had to done considerable damage to break discipline. Boisterous as he was, the soldier was authoritative as the day was long. Time to return fire. "Zap cannon, again!" How nimble was the monkey?

"Smooth start, smooth start," Dawn sing-songed in the stands, pom pom shaking before her. Haunter mimicked her while Empoleon was focusing more on the actual battle than cheering.

A smile worked its way onto the corner of his lips when he heard Dawn's cheers, though he couldn't stay distracted for long. That'd cost him dearly in the past and he wouldn't allow it again. Meanwhile, they were faced with another brutal electric attack. "We can't just keep dodging forever…" He mused, brows knitting downward. "…Infernape, Flamethrower!"

Once again the ape pulled his head back, hot embers building in his maw before spewing forward in a stream of inferno, meeting the crackling sphere center-stage. Fire and bolts crackled with volatile heat, each stubbornly pushing against the other in a bid for dominance.

Soon, heat consumed Zap Cannon, surrounding it before both attacks exploded at center stage. Countless embers were sent flying within the battlefield's perimeter, blue electricity crackling violently in tow.

The magnetic machine did not fault in the roar of the heat or the burst of its explosion. Surge, likewise, merely lowered his shades, watching it all with grim joy, exposed arms turned slightly pink with at the ambient warmth the gym was briefly bathed in.

Meanwhile, Empoleon brought a flipper, blocking some of the scattering embers and sparks from his trainer. Haunter didn't cease in his cheers.

"Hm. Okay, so's the baby's got a way to dodge. Le's try one more time, Magn'zone! Use Lock-On an' then Zap Cannon! Take da monkey out!" Surge called

A red beam of light zeroed in on Infernape, making the target. Then, another crackle of thunderous roaring could be heard as another Zap Cannon ripped out, headed for Ash's Sinnoh fire type.

"Lock-on!?"

A target was placed upon the simian, damning him to an inevitable hit from Magnezone. Knowing he wouldn't be able to dodge, Ash scrambled before calling for another command. "Infernape, Flamethrower!"

Alas, in his shock, Ash was too late. Before the white-hot embers could leave Infernape's maw, the compact ball of electricity struck home, drawing a loud, pained screech from the fire monkey. Blue electricity lit up his very form, devastating currents running through his form. Soon, the lights faded, leaving him to slump over on the gym floor, supporting himself on one knee. Golden electricity danced along his limbs before fading.

"Infernape! He's paralyzed…" Ash lamented, his fists locking up. This was no good.

As Surge let out a satisfied snort, the cheer team let out collective noises of disappointment. Each reaction was momentary, though. As Surge began planning his next move, Haunter and Dawn likewise put their energies forth to a more productive outlet: remaining optimistic.

What were the chances Infernape would remain completely paralyzed, anyway?

"Magnezone, up close 'nd personal-like! Gyro Ball!"

Perhaps he'd been saving the move until there was low chance of the ape's escape. At any rate, the grand steel Pokémon hit the floor, sending slight tremors through the gym before it whirled, blurring into a shiny sphere before launching itself like a sluggish bowling ball towards Infernape.

"Come on, Infernape, you're still faster than that big, bulky magnet!"

"Hau!" the ghost type cried in the stands, worried.

As it drew closer, however, Ash's confidence waned even with Haunter's cheering.

"Infernape, look out!"

The hindered simian attempted to pull himself to his feet, pushing off of his limbs to spring out of the way of Magnezone. His movements were far too clumsy, however, only allowing him to stumble head-on into the furious assault.

Infernape was thrown for a loop, rocked across the battlefield before landing in a heap. Slowly pushing himself to a standing position, though, he absolutely refused to give up. Dark narrow slits glowered upon the machine, victory being the only thing on his mind. Painful bruises and numb limbs be forgotten. He **was** going to win this.

"I know you can do this, Infernape… Use Mach Punch, now!"

He crouched, holding a glowing fist back before springing towards the large magnet, aiming to pulverize it with a swift right hook. Though slower than usual, he still carried quite a good deal of momentum.

"Hit 'em wit' a Gyro Ball again!"

Above the battlefield, Dawn furrowed her brows at Surge's call for action. "He's banking on the fact Infernape won't be able to take that much weight on his fist," she muttered.

Empoleon, upon hearing that, smirked. The penguin was aware of how strong Inferape was; that considered, there was a chance the fire type just might punch on through the Magnezone! Clattering his metallic-tipped flippers together, Empoleon let out a whoop of a war cry to cheer on his friends.

The silver hide of Magnezone had blurred again, the hunk of metal colliding pointedly upon the fist of the great ape.

The other, meanwhile, was only moving at half his usual speed. Speedy as that was, his glowing fist lacked the sureness it usually did. While it'd taken Ash a moment longer, without hearing it, the same conclusion Dawn had reached… Well, dawned on him.

"That won't work… Infernape, use Flamethrower, right toward the ground!"

Infernape was eager to meet this challenge head-on. He knew, however, that Ash was the main brain behind their battles. His input was equally important, but he would trust his trainer's instinct. He turned his maw toward the gym floor and let out a shrill shriek. A torrent of white-hot flames spewed from his mouth, propelling him upward into the air above.

"Say _what_!?" Surge sputtered, doing a double-take at the sudden launch.

Having already built up momentum, Magnezone barreled forward, charging through little but hot embers. Confused and disoriented, the Pokémon let out a metallic, ear-splitting cry before losing balance. It skidded across the arena floor, able to do little to regain composure.

In the face of his successful maneuver, Ash grinned. He was quick to act on his momentum. "Great job, Infernape! Now, pull on through and use Dig!"

Moving around on his feet was cumbersome right now. A simple dive, however, wasn't a tall order for the hot-blooded primate. Allowing gravity to play its role, Infernape struck and swiped at the gym floor, tunneling under the arena almost immediately.

"Magnezone! Pull yaself together! You know bettah than to hang around like a sittin' duck!" Surge barked, his military demeanor on full display.

Though it may seem cruel, his Pokémon were, in fact, in step with his orders. Although its sense of direction was less than optimal right now, Magnezone pulled itself up, electromagnetic waves pushing it above ground.

Was it fast enough, though?

"Now!" Ash shouted, punching a fist into the air.

With that gesture, Infernape followed. The ground gave way under the electric/steel hybrid, almost instantaneously replaced with a blurred fist. Dig made its impact, crashing brutally into Magnezone's underside. The fierce uppercut didn't relent, propelling Infernape upwards, and Magnezone with it.

Knowing well to mind his distance in this battle, Infernape leapt backwards, landing before Ash once more. A jolt of numbness punished him for his agility, though, drawing a growl from the disgruntled ape.

Fists trembling, Ash watched on intently. "Can you still fight…?"

"Infern!" The Pokémon nodded, still eyeing Magnezone, who had turned quite a few times before stabilizing opposite of its spirited opponent.

"Alright! I knew you'd hang in there, Infernape!" Ash cheered. Though, he had barely a moment to relax, as another call for Zap Cannon from Surge made his heart race. He had to think of a counter, and fast.

"Hold on…" The image of Flamethrower wrapping around Zap Cannon from earlier in the match sprang to mind. If he could just recreate that now… "Infernape! Use your Flare Blitz to form a Counter Shield, now!"

Quickly picking up on his trainer's orders, Infernape dropped to his back to begin spinning in a fashion remarkably similar to breakdancing, unleashing a brilliant blue flame around his form. Fiery wisps spun around his body, ensnaring the crackling sphere of electricity in a fiery grip. Blue bolts were torn from its pitch black center, circling the ape's brilliant form as another addition to his already incredible aura.

"Great, now give it everything you've got!"

Infernape flipped to his feet, crouching to one knee before whipping his head around, building up a brilliant blaze. He then launched towards Magnezone, surrounded by a terrifying comet of bolts and flames.

Empoleon once again moved to use himself to block a bit of the heat. Haunter continued to cheer, enthused by the wilder energy produced by the combination attack. Dawn, after the first wave of intense heat had passed, returned to cheering as well. She thought she knew what was happening next…

And, Surge, who watched all of this with a frown, far from ignorant on how this would end without interception.

"Metal Sound."

As the Zap Cannon crackled over the Counter Shield, proving ineffective, the poke-craft lifted itself into the air again. Muted by the sound of flames and electricity, it rang through all the same.

Surge's eyes widened at the return fire. "Magnezone, use Zap Can—"

The resulting boom of the collision obscured the last syllable.

The Magnezone was slammed back. Surge's proud posture momentarily faltered as the wind from the monster's passing ruffled his collar. He was back in fighting form nearly instantly though.

"I said Zap Cannon!" Surge snarled.

And, his first-on-the-field would have obeyed, too, if it had not been burned. After all that damage, its burnt form could not handle it. It laid where it had landed, moments from blacking out.

"Magnezone is unable to battle! This round's winner is Infernape!" the referee called, impressed.

And, the gym leader returned it with haste. "Huh. A real heavy hitter, huh? Fine with me!" The lightning Unovan lobbed another Pokéball forward. "It's your turn again, Raichu!"

"Rai!" The mouse emerged, arms outstretched, a cocky look on his mug reflecting a battle-ready spirit. After a humiliating thrashing by Pikachu last time, the electric type was eager to redeem himself.

"Infernape's running low, now… With him paralyzed, we gotta make every attack count." Ash noted, his brows furrowing. Exchanging a nod with Pikachu, he turned back to the field to throw an arm outward. "Give it your all, Infernape! Hit it with another Flare Blitz!"

He had no intentions of holding back. A whip of his head gave his body a blazing blue glow, accompanying his fiery launch towards Raichu. If he was going down, he was bringing another Pokémon with him.

The head-on attack earned an amused huff from Surge. "Gutsy! But, if you wanna win, you gotta treat a battle like a war! 'N you don't rush into war without a plan, baby!" As content as he was to lecture the younger trainer, though, the incoming streak of blue gave him little time to continue. "Raichu! Thundahbolt on da battlefield!"

With a sneer, Raichu obeyed, pressing his rotund paws to his golden cheeks. "Chuuu!" He shrieked, unleashing a fierce barrage upon the ground where he stood. Bright bolts boomed and crashed against the gym floor, setting off one explosion after another.

Golden flashes turned to black smoke, further blinding Infernape.

The fire type launched through the debris, skidding across the floor. Embers danced from the friction, though they never found a proper target. He'd launched right through thin air!

"That's weird… I don't hear a thing. What happened to Flare Blitz?" Sweat trickled along Ash's brow. Whether its source was frustration or the uncomfortable flash of heat was hard to say. "...They're using the smoke to hide! Infernape, be careful!" Ash warned, eyes wide and pupils narrow.

The Pokémon's head whipped about, angrily seeking a fled opponent. How dare that ratty little…

"Body Slam!" The Lieutenant slammed a fist into an open palm, giving quite the visual of what his attack was sure to become.

Ashes and smog made a great veil for the incoming shadow, obscuring Raichu from Infernape's view until it was just a bit too late.

"Raiiii!" A battle cry echoed, coming from the large, portly electric rodent. Arms outward and stomach downward, Raichu allowed the earth to pull him down upon his target.

Golden orbs just barely caught on before a pained shriek escaped Infernape. A great deal of weight crashed upon his body, the latter giving weight in a great deal of pain. Wind knocked out of his lungs, Infernape fell unconscious.

That shout was unmistakable, even in the veil of combat. "Infernape!" Ash bellowed, panic clear in his voice. Unfortunately, his fears were realized.

The referee spoke up again. "Infernape is unable to battle! The winner of this round is Raichu!"

"Infernape… You did your best out there. Why don't you get some rest for now?" Bearing a grateful smile despite the results, Ash held a Pokéball outward to return the exhausted Pokémon to his capsule. Looking across the field to Raichu, Ash could only grow more excited. Their tactics were definitely a step up from the last time they battled. Maybe Surge knew to take Ash more seriously, after seeing the kind of power they could throw around. "Alright, Pikachu, it's your turn, now!"

Pikachu had no hesitation in leaping off of his trainer's shoulder, a smirk forming as he eyed the evolved rodent across the field. "Pika-Pika! Pikachu!" Wearing a smirk and furrowed brows, he challenged Raichu. This time, he was the one known to have the upper hand. With that in mind, he requested a great battle of his evolved form, nonetheless.

"Rai, Rai!" Raichu chanted, smacking a paw against in his chest with his usual bravado. Bring it on, he said!

"Alright, Pikachu! Let's go! Start this round with Quick Attack!" Ash shouted, throwing a fist forward. Speed blitzing like last time would be too predictable, and a super powered Electro Ball would only prove harmful once Raichu had been defeated. It was time to return to the basics - all-out offensive battling just like they'd always done.

"Chuaaa…!" Pikachu shrieked, building up power before launching towards Raichu in a silver-glistened sprint, darting left and right at speeds that were difficult for even an experienced to follow. Soon he would close the distance between himself and Raichu, aiming to tackle it head-on.

"Let it happen!" Surge commanded. There was no point in getting Raichu frustrated and confused by trying to keep up with the little yellow blur.

Meanwhile, in the stands, Dawn's cheers quelled momentarily, pensive. When Raichu took the blow, bracing himself but pressed back anyway, Dawn exploded into jubilant noise, Haunt and Empoleon joining her.

The excitement was short lived. Surge grinned. "Now, Mega Kick!"

He'd grounded himself after skidding along the floor, and Pikachu's incredible momentum had only brought him closer. Bearing a sinister smile, Raichu spun, throwing his weight around to deliver a brutal roundhouse kick.

Silver streaks flared and dissipated around Pikachu's form, disappearing after a cry of pain from the smaller mouse. Raichu's superior mass and ability to hold his ground proved fruitful, forcing Pikachu back quite a bit.

"Good! Now, Thundahbolt 'im!"

"Raiii… Chu!" Wasting no time in his assault, the military man's signature Pokémon flexed his muscles, producing thousands of volts of electricity that bolted for Pikachu.

"Dodge it, with Quick Attack!"

"Chu!" Not eager to receive a second blow in a row, PIkachu darted aside, followed by a glowing trail.

Having vaulted to the side of Thunderbolt, Pikachu had found himself in the clear… Or, so he thought.

"Don't let 'im run! Thundahbolt, right in his path!"

"Rai!" The Mouse slapped his tail against the ground, sending a biting current across the gym floor.

Electricity was kicked up in a torrent just inches before Pikachu, forcing the mouse to come to a heart-stopping halt.

"Watch out, Pikachu!" Ash warned, a hand outstretched. This had to be some sort of trap!

And, that it was. Just as the smaller mouse had skidded to a stop, a large silhouette waded through the smoke.

"Now! Focus Punch!" Surge's booming voice ordered, the man sure of himself as ever.

"Raiii…!" The heavyset electric type growled, one fist drawn back that began to take on a brilliant glow, all but obscuring the surrounding debris. Raichu only got a momentarily look at Pikachu's taken aback visage, foregoing further satisfaction to throw a haymaker right at his pre-evolved form. "Chu!"

"Cha!" The mouse squealed, rocked by the powerful punch to the jaw. Pikachu flipped several times over, finally digging his paws into the ground to skid to a halt. "Piii… Piiika…!" He growled, shaking his head.

"Don't let 'im rest! Body Slam!" Surge ordered.

"Pikachu…!" Ash gasped, watching the incoming rodent prepare his dive. That'd be their third successful attack in a row… "Surge isn't taking it easy… You can do it, Pikachu! Iron Tail, on the ground!"

"PIka!" Brows furrowed, the electric type's jagged tail standing upright. Quickly coating itself in a silver shine, the tail was prompt to be slammed against the ground. Leaning back into the extremity, Pikachu launched himself into the air, leaping mere inches out of Raichu's reach.

The latter was greeted with the all too familiar, unpleasant taste of gym floor. Skidding painfully across the arena, he found himself helpless, and with no tiny yellow target in sight.

"Move it, Raichu!"

"Now, Iron Tail, again!"

His target was a sitting duck… Or mouse, rather. Flipping down from above, Pikachu seized his opportunity. His tail was still charged and sturdy, allowing for a brutal attack on Raichu. "Chua… Pika!"

While Infernape and Magnezone's match had been more long distance, Pikachu and Raichu's battle quickly turned to close range melee.

In turn, Dawn's cheers gained in intensity. Whereas they had been fighting with of kicks and wide swings of her arms, perhaps she'd been subconsciously inspired to make upward jabs.

All of that aside, Empoleon watched keenly while Haunter helped cheer.

Surge grimaced, spitting aside in a crude show of disappointment. With every failure, though, came an opportunity. That was no secret to a man who was well-acquainted with combat. "Grab 'em, Raichu! Hold 'm tight!" The command was coupled with a sure squeeze of his gigantic fist.

Just as Pikachu had gained the upper hand, he was ensnared again. Squirming and wriggling, he found himself tied up in Raichu's long, bolt-tipped tail. "Pi… Pika!" Tried as he may, his stubby arms were trapped.

"Good! Now, really throw 'im for a loop with Focus Punch!"

Raichu righted himself, standing with Pikachu coiled in his grip. "Raiii…!" The electric started, eyeing Pikachu with a predatory grin. This was proving fun; Pikachu could really take a punch! But that wasn't going to stop him from going all-out. His fist was reared, shining with latent energy.

"Ah…! Pikachu!" If he kept taking hits like that, they were in trouble. Fists closed and eyes shut tight, Ash shouted, echoing through the entire gym. "Use Thunderbolt, full power!"

There was no way in hell Pikachu was giving in. Black beady eyes narrowed, the mouse coated himself in golden sparks, the electricity in his body building. "Pikaaa…." Calling upon the conductors in his cheeks, he unleashed his full wrath upon Raichu. "Chu!"

The scene in the middle of the arena was blinding. Golden bolts shot every which way, fleeing the epicenter that consisted of two hardy rodents. Ash was forced to duck, narrowly dodging a particularly hot spark of electricity. Surge lowered his shades, unperturbed. Empoleon had opted to shield Dawn, while Haunted merely became transparent.

Overwhelmed, Raichu could do little but release Pikachu from his hold, his tail normally used as a ground buzzing with excess electricity. He stumbled back, ashen and trailing wisps of smoke. Teeth grit, he was forced to ride out the pain. If he had forgotten from the last battle, he was promptly reminded. Unlike years gone by, Pikachu's electric reserves were not a force to be trifled with. The evolved Pokémon could no longer dust off direct attacks without caution.

Pikachu had finally found his escape, vaulting back to land on all fours. He panted, having exerted quite a bit of power with that last move. That didn't stop a snide smile from showing on his cute features, however.

Stumbling back a bit from electrified assault, the Raichu shook, teeth gritted as spare electricity crackled over his fur and sparked off.

"Haha, dunno whatcha up to, baby, but ya cain't out 'Chu a bitter 'Chu!" Crossing his arms smugly, the gym leader decided to amp up their game. No rest for the Pikachu, then. "Raichu! Let's get goin'! Hit 'im wit' anotha Focus Punch!"

"Chu!" Crisped but still battle-worthy, Raichu pounced forward, stopping just before he reached the yellow rodent to swing a brown balled up paw. He'd throw a shovel hook, aimed for Pikachu's side.

"You just watch us!" Ash shouted back, adamant and stubborn as ever. The two of them hadn't seen just how much Ash and Pikachu had improved. It may not be as easy as simply blitzing Raichu, but if they had to overpower it, then they would find a way. "Hit back with Iron Tail!"

Still on all fours, Pikachu raised his tail toward the ceiling, quickly covering it in a shiny layer of steel that glistened under the hot spotlights overlooking the arena. Just as Raichu threw his first forward, Pikachu would throw his body around, smashing into the punch with an acutely-placed Iron Tail. "Chuaaa… PIKA!"

The two attacks struggled against one another, Pikachu's tiny fangs grit together as he attempted to out-muscle his evolved stage. While he had a lot of power, though, Raichu the advantage of weight and gravity in his favor. Luckily, Pikachu was particularly stubborn, and refused to lose this close-up brutal brawl.

"Now, come around for another Iron Tail!"

Pikachu didn't waste a moment, a devilish grin forming when he understood Ash's command. It was the same tactic they used against Paul and Electivire. This time, though, he'd succeed. He loosened his footing, allowing Raichu to send his body spinning. A turn of his heel allowed him to come back around, a second swing aiming for Raichu's face.

Slapped down by the whirling iron tail, Raichu snarled in pain.

As a joyful roar came up from the stands, Surge was quick to react.

"Raichu, let's play with thunda again! Thundabolt! Follow up wit' a Mega Kick!"

While he was a pudgy enough, Raichu was capable of rolling into himself. Tucking just before his chin would have hit the gym floor from the force of Pikachu's blow, the bigger electric type twisted and turned until he was also on all fours. He then raised his tail, teeth bared. "RaiCHUUUUUU!"

The scent of ozone crackled through the gym as his own bolt came down. It was unlikely to do a lot of damage to Pikachu.

That wasn't the point, however. Working up a sweat - to be so "little", their opponent really could land a nasty blow - but determined to not give in until his limbs quit on him, the Raichu hopped forward. Rather than kicking how one might expect, he skidded to a stop at the last moment, bringing his huge haunches around and kicking how a kangaroo might.

"Chu!"

The bolt was nearly bright enough to blind, and it was every bit as mighty as it was intimidating. Pikachu was struck head-on with the strike of lightning, his head thrown back by the pain dealt to his body by the overbearing electricity. Of course, he was plenty used to the element himself, enduring through the assault before answering it with a smirk. There was no way that'd be enough to-

"Pikachu, look out!"

Surge's tactic had gone just as planned. By time Pikachu's beady black eyes had found their way back to his larger opponent, he was already practically in his face, skidding forward before kicking both legs out. The results were brutal to say the least, the two-legged kick sending Pikachu flying into the air above.

This was quickly becoming a war of attrition. Neither Pokémon was gaining an edge that the other wouldn't snag away… It time to end things with a bang. "Now, let's finish this! Use Volt Tackle!"

Eager to prove himself as ever, Pikachu threw his limbs outward, halting his flight through the air. Diving forward, he charged, successive chants of his name picking up in volume as a golden aura burst around his body, electricity crackling and snapping at the air. "Pikapikapikapikapikapikapikapikaaaa…!"

The shades which were usually perched so securely across the giant's forehead slipped down. His head had whipped back, shock written across his face. Volt Tackle? But, that move was—right. Pikachu hadn't evolved. There were plenty more moves they could unlock.

"We've got a big impact comin' in, Raichu! Brace for it and get ready to return wit' Focus Punch!"

Having pushed himself upright, Raichu retaliated. The pre-evolved counterpart was coming in like a missile, and there wasn't a chance he'd just give in. "Raiii…!" Pulling his fist back yet again, he readied himself, loading his remaining vigor into just one point.

Not a moment too soon, with Pikachu mere seconds away from hitting his target. "Chu!" The larger rodent shrieked, turning his entire form with him as he threw his fist forward.

Fighting type energy clashed with electric vigor. Fist against skull, with plenty of overflowing power to boot. The white and golden auras exploded, shaking the gym floor below the duo. Teeth grit, both chanted their names, adamant to hold their own. A deafening explosion followed, consuming the arena.

It was good Surge's shades were already down, as he found himself unable to look away. There was no way they were both going to be able to walk away from that; he didn't even know if Raichu would walk away. Would Pikachu be able to?

"Incredible…" Dawn muttered. Haunter chattered excitedly beside her while Empoleon blinked, clearly taken back.

Meanwhile, Pikachu was faced with the terrible recoil of hitting Raichu with such tremendous force. Likewise, the full force of Raichu's punch rattled through his system the moment they collided, overwhelming his body with pain.

Ash was forced to shield his eyes with his arm, legs braced and locked to hold off the shock wave emanating from the collision. _'C'mon, Pikachu… I believe in you!'_

The smoke soon began to clear, and Pikachu lay in the middle of the field, unmoving. Sparks danced over his unconscious form, residual effects of the thunderous clash. Raichu lay not far from him, also floored by the collision.

"Both Pikachu and Raichu are unable to battle! This round ends in a draw!" the referee announced.

"Pikachu!" Ash didn't waste a second in sprinting onto the field, scooping the electric mouse into his arms. "You did a great job, buddy… Why don't you sit this one out for now? I'll handle the rest!"

Barely conscious, Pikachu managed to nod before blacking out.

Ash made his way back to his box on the battlefield, turning his gaze on the gym leader. "Alright, Surge! I guess it's time to finish this!" The Pallet-native reached for his cap, turning it backwards in one quick swipe of his hand. "Now… It's up to you! I choose you, Tyranitar!" A Pokéball was grabbed off his belt, held outward toward their opponent before Ash turned back, winding up before lobbing the ball towards the battlefield.

The sphere burst open, releasing the Armor Pokémon in a bright flash of light. The Pokémon let out a fierce roar upon his entry, dark eyes cast at Surge. This time he was going to win. For Ash's sake, as well as his own pride.

"It's been real, baby," the gym leader chuckled, returning Raichu and letting out Electivire. As the behemoth electric type eyed its equally colossal opponent, Surge took the split seconds he usually did to consider a plan of attack. Pummel them - that was the plan now; just pummel them.

"They've been really serious this time around," Dawn murmured, noting the momentary still in the battle.

Empoleon nodded.

"He's not the type to make the same mistake twice, and they aren't a team to tread lightly with."

The brief calm was ended decisively. "Electivire! Brick Break!"

"Vire!" Black hands jutted out to crash into Tyrantiar's verdant scales as Electivire's short legs propelled him onward.

The first move of the match was called, and it was one Tyranitar couldn't afford to endure. With a double type weakness, even the sturdy mountainside Pokémon would suffer major damage.

"Tyranitar, Dark Pulse, now!"

The gargantuan Pokémon opened his mouth wide, firing off his counterattack - a barrage of eerie dark rings of energy that quickly closed in on Electivire.

The Electrivire was slowed and eventually stopped by the dark pulses. He flinched as well, his assault ruined. Taking a momentary break, the red eyes of the brute never strayed from his opponent.

There was a quiet shift in Surge's stance. They were going to have to get in close range if they wanted to deal with the Tyranitar; keep away would only spell disaster on the gym leader's half. That being said, Thunder wouldn't be good to use yet. He wasn't that desperate… "Vital Throw!"

Taking off again, the Electivire aimed to jerk Tyranitar off balance before slamming him into the ground.

"It's down to the wire now," Dawn giddily cheered.

It was clear that Surge wanted to turn this battle into a brawl - and honestly, who could blame him? If Ash wanted to walk out with a victory, though, he had to play this right. A smirk picked up on the trainer's lips, his eyes spotting the perfect opportunity to put his plan into action.

"Alright, Tyranitar! Let's show them your Sand Stream ability!"

The Armor Pokémon threw his arms outward, firing voluminous streams of sand out of the gaps in his armor, flooding the battlefield once more with a very thick cloud of dust. Along with dealing out damage, the abrasive barrage would likely make it very difficult for Electivire to properly track its target. Following the instructions from their training, Tyranitar lunged to the side to avoid Vital Throw.

"Now, use Dragon Claw!"

The dark/rock hybrid wielded its arm up high, sporting sharp streaks of blue extended from its claws. Its arm swung forward, attempting to slash down upon the burly electric type.

"I can't see anything… what about you two, Haunter, Empoleon?" The Empoleon shook his head whilst the Haunter nodded. "… Are you seeing or can you just tell where they are because you're a ghost?"

"Hau!" Well, that was an inconclusive answer if there ever was one.

Back on the battlefield, Electivire let out a low grunt of pain as the Dragon Claw racked across his body. Visual contact lowered and already agitated by the grit in the air, the blow following his own lack of contact rubbed him the wrong way.

"Sandstream ability, huh? Alrighty then!" Meathead he might be, but stupid he wasn't. "Thundapunch!" While it wouldn't do much damage, any of this grit in the air they could strike down would be an advantage, however small.

"Vire!" He had to assume the biggest, most solid looking thing on the field was Tyranitar. With that, Electivire aimed for what he supposed would be the belly of the beast. That had to be a critical hit zone, right? As his fist swing, flecks of glass formed where the sparks had been, leaving a dazzling trail behind the brute.

Thunderpunch hit its mark, striking Tyranitar right in his belly. The creature let out a cry of pain, hit right in his most vulnerable spot. The yell, combined with bright visible sparks, tipped Ash off to the result of the move from outside the storm. That was no good. They had to get distance between Tyranitar and Electivire, or they'd be in real trouble!

"Use Earthquake, Tyranitar! Shake it off!"

Panting and hurting from the critical hit, Tyranitar persevered, more than eager to give the match his all for Ash's sake. One leg was lifted up high before slamming into the gym floor, sending terrible seismic waves through the battlefield. Worst of all, towards Electivire. With any luck, they would uproot it, forcing it to lose its close proximity to the Armor Pokémon.

Earthquake worked funny indoors. As the gym floor cracked beneath Electivire and he backpedaled to avoid a catastrophic injury from the jutting spires of rock now being elevated, he fumbled and fell, landing on one of those stones anyway. It propelled him up as the move finished, the gym floor thoroughly changed.

"Did… did Electivire just get thrown? What just happened?!" Dawn exclaimed, puzzled. For the briefest of moments, she swore she had seen the electric type break the sand cloud's top.

Empoleon and Haunter both whooped, thoroughly impressed.

Hearing the smack that was no doubt his own Pokémon landing again, Surge frowned. Judging from experience, he knew that had probably taken all but the last bits of Electivire's strength. "Electivire, ya still swingin'?!"

"Ele."

They might not get in a next blow if they weren't smart. Actually, he noticed more spires out there now. Maybe…? "Electivire, get to higher ground! Then jump 'em wit'a Brick Break!"

Climbing on the stones, the Electivire waited. His fur might offer him a bit of camouflage while he waited for one of the "rocks" to move and give away Tyranitar in the storm. But, he thought he'd seen movement and he struck out at it.

The thud caused by Electivire left Ash with a grin. Now they were one step closer to finishing this battle. Surge's call for Brick Break alerted him, leading Ash to call his next command.

"Block it, Tyranitar! Dragon Claw!"

A large limb was thrown his way, striking Tyranitar right in the chest. The creature let out a cry of pain, his breath shortening under the force of the blow. He didn't give in, however, swinging his charged claws to push Electivire away from his hide. The Armor Pokémon slid away from his opponent, adrenaline at an all-time high. Now was their chance!

"Now, finish it! Giga Impact!"

Tyranitar let out a thunderous roar, surrounding his body in a swirling purple aura gilded with orange streaks of energy. Launching forward with titanic force, he rushed toward Electivire without any signs of slowing, aiming to end the battle in one final powerful blow.

Tyrantiar hit Electivire like a freight train on a water tower.

Beyond the battlefield, Dawn could only assume that the distinct boom she heard was in fact the move Ash had called being used successfully. Haunter's enthusiasm would lend to that idea. Still, she hesitated…

Until Electivire's unconscious form fully cleared the sand storm, tumbling to a stop just before Surge's feet. Slack jawed and swirly eyed, it was clear the behemoth had been bested.

"Alright!" "Haun-ter!" "Poooleon!" The crowd went wild, clearly.

Taking off his shades, the gym leader let out a low chuckle, returning Electivire.

"Electivire is unable to battle! Score: zero to one! The challenger wins!" the referee announced.

* * *

The referee barely got his declaration out of the way before Ash whooped in glee.

"We did it!" he enthusiastically hollered, running out onto the field as the sand clouds began to dissipate. The trainer pulled the weary behemoth into a tight embrace, not even minding as the huge rock type rested its head on the human's shoulder. "Tyranitar, you were awesome!"

A pleased, tired cry of victory slipped passed the Armor Pokémon's lips. The hug was returned in full.

Perhaps the hug was returned too well, actually. Ash's eyes suddenly doubled in size and he let out a yelp before it turned into pained laughter. "Youch! … Thanks."

"Pikachu!" cheered Ash's starter. During the tail end of the match, the little electric type finally returned to consciousness. He was quick to dash over and leap onto Tyranitar's shoulder, also praising one of the newest members of their expansive team.

Surge had returned Electivire by then, crossing his beefy arms. "Ya beat me again finally, baby," the old soldier solemnly stated with a nod, patiently waiting for the sandstorm to die down. "Ya gotta go give 'em real hell now. I don't lose to no losers."

Ash broke from Tyranitar's embrace to turn his attention to the giant of a gym leader across the battlefield. "You bet. This time, I'm totally gonna beat the Indigo League! … With the help of all of my awesome friends, of course." Ash turned back to his Pokémon, giving them a thumbs up. Then, he turned to the trio on the bench. He particularly caught the eyes of his very own cheerleader, met with a smile and the very same gesture from Dawn. Ash could only grin; she'd given him plenty of morale, too!

Meanwhile, Surge let out a barking laugh. "Ya better! 'Cause, if ya don't, I'm puttin' ya through boot camp m'self!" Was that a promise or a threat? Regardless, the aging gym leader headed to the back of his gym, no doubt going to attend to his team.

Ash laughed. "No need to worry!" After all, this was a sure thing.

Waving excitedly as she ran down the steps with Empoleon and Haunter in tow, Dawn was already chattering by the time she reached the battlers. "You guys did great! I knew you could! You just had to keep your head cool. And, Pikachu, that was incredible. The same to you, Tyranitar!" the coordinator praised.

Empoleon nodded along enthusiastically while Haunter drifted back to Ash's side, positively beaming with pride for his trainer and teammates.

"Thanks a lot. They were really awesome, huh? Infernape was, too!" Ash insisted, suddenly realizing the poor fire type would have to get his praise in person after everyone was healed up at the Pokémon Center. "The cheer squad sure helped, you know; I gotta hand it to you guys." Ash even looked at Haunter fondly, grateful to the newest cheerleader.

For a brief second, Haunter smiled. Then, he popped his facial features out of his immaterial form, earning a yelp from Ash.

"Gah! I'll take that as a thank you, I guess," the trainer muttered.

By now, Tyranitar's strength was waning. His slump became more pronounced and Ash pulled out a Pokéball.

"I guess it's time to go get some rest. Good job, buddy." The trainer waited for Pikachu to hop onto his shoulder before returning Haunter as well and then turning to Dawn. "Let's get everyone to the Pokémon Center. They need it."

"Right."

With that, the two trainers fell into step at each other's side, Empoleon walking behind the two while Pikachu found himself nuzzling into Ash's neck sleepily. They'd rest, relax, and celebrate tonight. As Ash remembered it, Surge was one of the toughest gym leaders he'd faced. From here on out, it should be smooth sailing on his part! Or, so he thought...


	32. A Terrible Rampage!

After a night of rest and relaxation, the group was headed out of Vermillion City and northward. Celadon City was their aim. The big, vibrant city's description had jogged Dawn's memory as they all walked along the forest-lined road that sunny spring day.

"And, well, you know how people are. It apparently doesn't matter if it clashes; they're going to judge it on intention, not color schemes," Dawn said almost nastily, remembering how one of the critics had viewed Piplup and Buneary's outfits during their brief modeling performance in Hoenn. "Of course, that woman thinks all orange seals are a good statement piece for any Pokéball," she continued, rattling on. "Paris was with me. We knew that just wasn't true!"

"Uh… Yeah! Right!" Ash struggled to keep up with her rambling about fashion and colors, occasionally exchanging sympathetic glances with Pikachu. They respected her and her work, they really did, but talk of fashion quite frankly bored them to tears. It was nearly enough to put them to sleep! Speaking of sleep…

"Is that a microphone?" Dawn stopped her fashion frenzy and came to a halt upon spotting a small, seemingly innocuous device in the hands of a small Pokémon.

Her companions, however, weren't so unassuming. Ash had similarly stopped in his tracks, but for an entirely different reason. Eyes went wide at the sight of a round, pink puffball with giant green orbs. An expression as innocent-looking as one could be, and a tiny curved smile on its features.

"Ahh! Jigglypuff!"Ash yelped, accompanied by a similar horrified shout from Pikachu.

"Piiiikachu…!"

Jumping at his yelp, Dawn looked for danger… before looking down. "Are you two serious right now?!" she snapped. She'd thought it was Team Rocket or something! Heck, even an Ursaring—were they even native to Kanto? "It's just a Jigglypuff!"

The two had gone stiff in an uncharacteristically frightened posture, each turning blue in the face. It was still walking around Kanto, then! And, if it still had that microphone, it still liked to sing! "That's… Not just a microphone, Dawn!"

Before Ash could utter a warning and explain himself, there came a distant shout.

"A Jigglypuff?!"

The Jigglypuff, who had momentarily been registering her audience - the boy she knew, but where were the red haired girl and the taller boy? - returned to attention at the shout. "Puff!" She shouted, puffing her cheeks up to inflate. She rushed forward, using Ash's head as leverage to get herself higher and escape her pursuer.

The bouncy puffball had trounced Ash, sending himself and Pikachu ruthlessly to the ground. He and Pikachu let out a groan of pain, soon pulling themselves together. "What… What the heck was that? I know I heard someone else just now!"

"Phfft," Dawn momentarily giggled at the duo before she was bowled over by Jigglypuff's follower.

"Jigglypuff!" he shouted, knocking Dawn over and into Empoleon's waiting wings. "Get back here!"

"Hey!...What in the world?!" Dawn snapped, watching as the duo - the Pokémon, and an unidentified kid - dashed.

"Lemme tell ya, though, that's no ordinary Jigglypuff!" Ash continued, finally.

"Piiikaaa." The mouse uttered in agreement, dusting himself off after climbing to his feet. The last thing he wanted was to end up falling asleep in the middle of the road again, or possibly something worse. You never knew with that thing around.

"If you say so," Dawn muttered.

"I wonder who Jigglypuff's running from… Let's follow 'em!" Just like that, Ash had his energy back, already taking off in the direction Jigglypuff had taken off towards. Who the heck was looking to capture that Jigglypuff? It was all too likely they didn't know what they were getting into yet.

With that, Dawn started jogging after the quickly escaping duo. "… oh, right." Empoleon would be at a disadvantage. "Sorry, buddy!" she lamented before returning the big water type. He'd only gotten less mobile on land with size.

Meanwhile, as the adventurers caught up, Jigglypuff managed to jump directly on top of her would-be captor, sending him butt first into the dirt.

"Hey, kid! You might wanna be careful dealing with… That… Oh." Ash trailed off as he approached, witnessing the younger trainer being painfully outsmarted and outmuscled by the puff. His warning had come a bit late.

"Jiggly!" Jigglypuff hopped off of the boy who'd been chasing her down. Just who did he think he was? If he wasn't going to listen to her singing, he might as well beat it. Especially if he was doing such a poor job keeping up.

"I've got it!" the kid snapped. He stood up, sniffing a bit at the impact. "Gr… Zubat! I need your help!" Tossing a Pokéball out, the child prepared to battle the fairy type.

"Why's he so intent this one Pokémon…?" Dawn wondered. Not that she needed to talk, particularly considering her history with Buneary.

There was a pause before the child whirled around. "My name's Terry! And, my motto's never giving up! If we try hard, we can achieve anything! Right, Zubat?!"

"Bat!"

"So, Zubat, use Supersonic on that Jigglypuff!"

"…Well, he's got spunk," Dawn confessed.

Well, Jigglypuff wasn't going to take this sitting down! Leaping up from its standing position, it was quick to take the initiative by smacking Zubat with a brutal Pound attack! Upon landing the blow, it hopped clean out of the bat's range.

"Here we go again." Ash uttered dryly, already feeling sorry for the kid. He knew for a fact that Jigglypuff was one tough customer. Have you ever seen a single Pokéemon beat up a whole squad of Clefairy? Ash and Pikachu had.

With his Zubat grounded and seemingly down for the count, Terry panicked. "Oh no! Aw, sorry, buddy! But, don't worry! We'll continue in your honor! Return!" Fishing through his backpack, the kid got out another Pokéball. "Alright, Rattata, we've got this!"

The purple mouse looked around, saw their audience, and sheepishly grinned. He was gonna battle in public…?

"Should we do anything?" Dawn asked, nudging Ash.

"It is his battle." Frowning, Ash surprisingly decided to leave it to the kid to continue. He understood what an issue of pride that would be. "If things get rough, then we can step in and help him out!" Yes, that was his plan.

Meanwhile, Terry was on the offense again. "Rattata, use Hyper Bite! … I mean Super Bite! Er, Hyper Fang—no, no, not Hyper Fang, Super Fang! There!" Why were all of Rattata's moves so similar?! The only really different one was Quick Attack.

"Rattata!" The mouse cried out before leaping at Jigglypuff.

Of course, things only got worse from there. Rattata proved to be a bit faster than Zubat, managing to sink its fangs into the very unhappy Jigglypuff. A high-pitched cry of pain was uttered, round emerald orbs leering upon the rodent.

Its cheeks puffed out, its entire body inflating into a surprisingly intimidating balloon. "Jiggly… PUFF!" The angry Pokémon retaliated with a brutal Doubleslap attack, pummeling the poor rodent with several relentless slaps.

The Rattata was made of tougher stuff than the Zubat, if only slightly. While the Doubleslap knocked him heavily to the ground, the mouse refused to stay down.

"Attaboy! Now, try for Quick Attack!" Terry ordered.

"He seems to be really desperate for just a capture… Maybe he should try for a Pokémon that won't be so incompatible with him?" Dawn muttered, not willing to interfere either. "… I wasn't like that with Buneary, was I?" She felt a little bit of second hand embarrassment, really.

"Seems like he really wants that one… You're probably right." It wasn't exactly your run of the mill pushover. "…Kinda, but I was pretty strong on catching it, too!" Come to think of it, he'd almost forgotten he originally planned on catching Buneary. "And, I'm pretty sure even you did better than this."

The Quick Attack landed, causing Jigglypuff to bounce, bounce and roll! It soon came to a stop, righting itself with fury in its big, round eyes. It wasn't about to take this sitting down! "Jigglyyyy… Puff!" It closed in on Rattata, aiming to slap it silly with a final Pound attack!

Rattata let out a final groan of pain as he was flung back. "Rattata!"

"Yeah, it was cute that you thought you were gonna catch her, though," Dawn teased.

"I was totally gonna catch her!" Ash turned his attention to Dawn, his pride challenged by her words. Okay, maybe it was a little bit petty… But the child's complaints finally caught his attention.

"Can you two cut it with the nostal… nostall… the oldie crap!" Terry snapped, on the verge of tears as he held his Rattata. "I need that Jigglypuff! Now, either help me or get lost!"

"…Nostalgia." Now was not the time, Dawn.

" _WHATEVER."_

"Alright, alright! I've got it covered." Reaching for his belt, Ash grabbed a single Pokéball, ready to toss. "Alright, Haunter! Help us out…!" When he was about to toss the ball, though, a familiar sound dominated the air. One that made Ash and Pikachu freeze in horror.

"Jigglypuff… Jiggle-yy… Jigglypuff~!" Feeling triumphant, the puffball had begun to sing, If these three couldn't keep up with it, then they could at least listen to its song!

"Ah! That's… That's the song…! Dawn, cover… Your… Ears…!" The teen struggled to spout, eyelids already becoming heavy. The ghost was never released. His knees began to feel weak, a loud yawn escaping him as the song started to claim his consciousness.

"It's just si… singing," Dawn mumbled through a yawn, not realizing what was happening until she'd landed on her butt. "Oh…" This was why he freaked out earlier.

Terry, being younger and arguably more hyped up than the older duo, stood on for a moment more, failing to properly toss not one but three Pokéballs. His poor muscles just weren't coordinated enough right now. "No no no… no… nahzZZ." Well, kiddo was down for the count, too.

Pikachu was the last to succumb. The little electric relaxed into a cuddle-loaf at Ash's side.

All of their slumber was peaceful and undisturbed… For the most part.

* * *

Dark hues once again revealed themselves to the world as the teen pulled himself into a sitting position. "Man… I can't believe it got us **again**." His arms stretched over his head, a rather loud yawn escaping him.

His face was marked with a number of silly designs, including a twirly mustache, a villainous goatee, and duplicates of the z marks on his cheeks. He wasn't alone, however. Pikachu had a pair of angry eyebrows drawn on. It seemed that old habit still hadn't been ditched.

Terry awoke with a start. He looked over, saw Ash, Pikachu, and Dawn's faces, and at once furiously frowned. He could only guess what his own looked like. Truth be known, what suspiciously looked like the word "FOOL" was written across his forehead, along with a monocle around an eye and big tear marks on his cheeks. He stood, wobbly from sleepiness. "You're both so useless!" the boy snapped, directing his anger and shame at the duo, rather than his own failure.

As Dawn began to stir at his yell, Terry ran off.

Sitting up and rubbing her eyes - a shame, she had the most well done Zigzagoon eyes - she blinked dumbly. "… Ash, why are we in the middle of the road?" After a second, it clicked. She cackled, pointing at his and Pikachu's faces, unaware of the whiskers drawn on her own face or the target on her forehead. "What in the world happened to you two?! Hahahaha!"

"Jigglypuff. That's why!" He'd hardly been conscious enough to respond to Terry, rubbing his eye before starting to gain a bearing on his surroundings. Judging by Dawn's laughter, he didn't need to even ask what had happened next. Glancing up at the bluenette, he could barely suppress his own laughter. "Forget mine… You oughta get a look at your face, Dawn! You look like a Zigzagoon!" Ash lost his self-control at this point, laughing rather loudly at the sight before him. "Man, and look at Pikachu! Ahah, you guys should see yourselves!"

"Pikachu…" The mouse muttered, woken as well by the boy's shout. That Sing attack was really annoying, and he was sure he looked ridiculous right about now.

"…My face?" Oh no. Dawn scrambled, getting out her compact. For a full moment, there was absolute silence. "Is… Is this permanent?! We can't go into town like this! We have to camp out here. I can't be seen like this, I'll be a laughing stock! What if Ember hears about this?!" Beautifully handled. When someone else got their face drawn on, it was all giggles. When she got her face drawn on, however...

Ash'd damn near fallen on his rear at the outburst, his heart likely skipping a beat at Dawn's panicked fussing. He hadn't seen her _this_ upset in quite some time! "H-hey! Take it easy..! We've wiped it off before!" He held his hands out in front of him, doing his best to soothe the vexed coordinator. "No one's gonna see you… Looking like… That… Pffthahaha!" Ash burst into laughter once more, practically clutching his stomach. The marks looked funny enough, but with her livid expression, well she just looked hilarious!

"Pika…" Pikachu did his best to keep his amusement to himself, already hiding behind his trainer to avoid the worst of this. He'd almost forgotten about Dawn's temper.

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you! You… look… phfft. No, this is… this is stupid." Her anguish subsided with the equally marked up duo's attempts to end her rage. They all did look hilarious.

With a defeated sigh, she reached into her backpack. "Empoleon, I—" She paused before she released him. "…No, no, I… might not want a Bubblebeam to the face from an Empoleon…" She settled for digging around until she found her make-up kit and some removal wipes. "Want one?"

"Sure, thanks." Ash took one, scrubbing the marker off of his face. Pikachu took one as well, doing the same. In the process, a thought struck the trainer that admittedly came rather late. "Hey, what happened to Terry? I don't see Jigglypuff anywhere." It usually didn't stick around long, so that was no surprise. Didn't everyone usually wake up from Sing at roughly the same time, though?

Fresh faced, Dawn shrugged. "He was probably embarrassed." She knew she would be. "…I thought I heard yelling, though?" So, if it wasn't Ash, it had to be that kid.

"Well, I guess we head on now, huh?" She questioned, standing up… only to realize how awful her legs felt. "Okay, so, naps on the road are awful. Right."

"Sounds good!" Ash gave a chipper nod, lightly rubbing his leg as he stood. Dawn was definitely right about that. "Ain't that the truth… Alright, let's go, guys!"

* * *

After a long day of traveling the path to Celadon City, Ash and Dawn camped out for the night, still regrettably short of their destination. The following day began bright and early, the duo setting off on their journey! As it just so happened, though, they were about to find themselves involved in quite an uproar!

"This sign says we're close to a place called Cream Town! I don't remember ever running into that place before." Ash gazed down at a crude wooden sign, marginally more professional looking than one of the posts naming a route. A small collection of buildings and homes stood over the next hill, parallel to a river running alongside the dirt road they'd managed to find.

"How long's it been since you were in Kanto, again?" Dawn teased, nudging his ribs with her elbow playfully. "We could be lost…" Oddly, she didn't sound too bothered. "If there's a river, Empoleon could just jet us around 'til we found a Pokémon Center, right?"

"If I had a badge for every time I got lost around here…" Well, he'd be able to enter the league ten times over, probably. Dawn's idea did cause him to perk up a bit, however, breaking his slump before it truly began. "Hey, that's a great idea!"

The Empoleon chirped in agreement. He was definitely strong enough for that! "Empooooooleon!" he cheered.

"Great! Let's go then." Dawn seemed full of vigor this morning. She started up the path, her loyal starter following her at a slower pace.

Ash sped up beside her, the spring in his step returning, despair fading away.

The water type couldn't help but toss his head to and fro. Some of these trees looked suspect. The dents and dings in them weren't natural at all. "Empo," the water type called out to Pikachu, catching the electric type's attention.

Pikachu had mostly been paying attention to Ash and Dawn until now, but prompted by Empoleon's observation, he turned left and right to take in the scenery. A couple of them did looked damaged… Some caved in at the side in a way that few wild battles would be likely to bring on. "Pika…" Now, he was suspicious, too.

Empoleon kept his eyes on Dawn as she jogged up the hill. His doubts about the safety of the area were proven correct when the coordinator tried to clear a little crag in the ground and misstepped, getting ready to fall back down the hill.

"Poleon!" he squawked, catching his often unfortunate trainer.

"Whoops!" she apologized, grinning up at the water type. "Sorry, I won't fall again."

Well that was sudden. "Close call," Ash remarked.

Clearly, the Empoleon was getting agitated. He didn't know what was going on. Absol would be useful right about now.

Just about then, the duo was closing in on the town. All the racket must have garnered some attention, because they came near, they were approached by an elderly couple.

"Hey! You trainers! Do you have any badges?" an elder man, a resident of the town, inquired.

Being flighty as usual, Ash rushed over to the elderly man questioning him. "I sure do!" He grasped one side of his jacket, pulling back the red fabric to reveal eight badges pinned to the inside. He was going to need them when the league came around, so it made sense to have them on hand, right?

Coming down the hill at a slower pace to avoid repeats, Dawn also fished out her ribbon case, displaying her two Kanto ribbons proudly. "Well, they're not badges, but I've got some ribbons."

The old man nodded eagerly upon seeing badges. "Eh… I dunno much about ribbons. They're Hoennian things, ain't they?" Yelling over his shoulder, the old man inquired more. "Muriel! Whatcha know 'bout ribbons!"

"Ivan, whatcha askin' about ribbons fer when we're tryna find a - " an old woman asked before spotting the duo. "Oh my, is that an electric type? Hm, kinda small… But, they've got badges and ribbons? Yes, they might do…"

"Heheh," the old man cackled, laugh coming out like a wheeze. "Tell us, whippersnappers, ya got any big ole electric types? Somethin' like an Electabuzz or a Luxray?"

"I don't," Dawn confessed. "What do you need them for, anyway?"

"Nope. Just Pikachu!" Ash clarified. "He may be small, but he's totally tough!"

"Ya see, this town's had a doozy of a problem, lately! The last couple o' days, our town's been terrorized by a Gyarados! The darn thing lurks in the river, causing a ruckus whenever it shows up! Whatever that thing's problem is, nobody's been tough enough to stop it! We were hoping a couple o' strong trainers could show up 'n take care of it!"

"Aye, it's been a real shame. Land's damaged, some houses got hit. Even the wild Pokémon are scared to show up around here!" The elderly women added in, crestfallen. "Surely, one of you two could do something about it?"

Empoleon pointedly look at Dawn. Only she would manage to find bad luck before they got to the actual problem. It figured all that was just the first bump in the road. He knew those trees weren't right.

Ignoring her starter's silent sass for a second, Dawn nodded, raising a fist in determination. "Absolutely! You're looking at two grade A problem solvers right here! This guy just beat Lt. Surge, actually! And, I'm a pretty good battler, myself! Between the two of us, this Gyarados won't be much of a problem!"

"Well, you two'll have to keep on your toes. The thing's randomest thing I've ever done seen! It'll come in like the weather and leave just as quick!" the old woman warned.

"I've got an Absol," Dawn mused. "Ash, Pikachu should be quicker than even a fast Gyarados if he has a bit of a warning, right?" she checked as she released the dark type, who at once tensed, getting a feel for the area.

"I'm still not sure 'bout that little mouse o'yours," Ivan continued. "But, if you think it'll take care of it and ya took on the old veteran himself, I suppose…"

A little insulted that they were still doubted him and Pikachu, Ash couldn't help but brag. "Quick thinking's what I'm all about!" Well… At least when it came to battles. While quick wit and reactive planning was his style, Dawn's suggestion would probably come in handy, too! "Hey, that's a great idea! Alright, let's get movin'!"

Before the excited duo could set off, an earth-shaking roar assaulted their ear drums, earning the attention of trainers and their Pokémon alike. The sound of an explosion rang through the air to boot, a faint smell of smoke and ashes drifting past the group.

Absol's hackles bristled, her tension proven correct.

"Oh dear… There 'tis again! We're counting on ya, kids! Be careful!" Ivan called.

"You've got it! Let's go, Dawn!" The teen sprinted off without a second thought, leaving the old couple behind in a race to the river nearby.

"Right! Empoleon, Absol, we're gonna make sure it doesn't run away, alright?!" Dawn commanded as they took off after Ash and Pikachu.

"Leon!" "Sol!"

They hardly had to move far at all, though, a towering serpent standing tall among the trees. Another angry cry forced the dwarfed trainer to cover his ears before a gigantic jet of water fired towards a nearby tree, caving the trunk in.

"There it is…! Man, they weren't kidding! That thing's steamed!" Ash blurted out.

"What's its problem?!" Dawn blabbed, eyes wide at the creature's sudden assault.

The Gyarados seemed to have noticed them, its fins bristling and maw hanging open as if it were processing what it saw. Having used a Dragon Rage but a moment ago, it decided a Bite attack might serve it best.

Its aim? Over the teeth and past the gums, look out stomach, here some trainers come!

Noting the positioning, the Absol ushered Dawn back. If this wasn't their battle, she wouldn't risk her trainer being harmed. Empoleon followed.

"That Gyarados is gonna make us its lunch!" Ash and Pikachu alike couldn't help but scream, each of their faces going pale as the gigantic jaws closed in on their soon-to-be snack. Wits striking him just in the nick of time, Ash threw a hand to the air, bold determination returning to his gaze. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

He refused to become pika-chow. Leaping off of Ash's shoulder, the stubborn mouse let out an unholy shriek. A blinding flash of electricity discharged from his body, looking to strike and stop the ravenous Gyarados in its tracks.

Well, a little mortal terror usually brought out the best of someone's fighting spirit. Dawn looked away, the burst of light too intense for her. As the scent of ozone and singed scales entered the air, she looked back up. "Huh?!"

The Gyarados looked… pretty bad off, actually.

All the same, the Absol guided her and the Empoleon further from the battle as Gyarados threw himself towards Pikachu in a reckless Tackle attack.

"Something isn't adding up…" Getting out her Pokédex, Dawn scanned the Gyarados. Aside from realizing he was caught - who was this neglectful?! - she also realized the thing was actually pretty low leveled. "Hey! Ash! It's all bluff! That thing's **way** below Pikachu's power level!"

"Seriously!?" The trainer's head turned toward the coordinator, wide eyes gawking over the reveal. "Pikachu musta hurt it bad, then… We're gonna have to try something else!"

Pikachu, meanwhile, dodged Gyarados' lunge handily, using his superior speed to get well out of the Atrocious Pokémon's range. Ears raised and alert, the mouse waited for Ash's next command before acting further. That Thunderbolt had done a lot more than he'd thought it would!

"We can't hurt it like it is… I'll have to stop it myself!" Copper seeping into his focused hues, the teen reached for the brim of his cap before turning it backwards, charging toward the leviathan. "Here I come, Gyarados!"

"Something else?" Dawn asked, a bad feeling in her stomach telling her she already had an idea of what he meant. "Ash, no!"

In a seemingly inhuman feat, Ash had managed to clear the water and land atop Gyarados' scaly hide. He'd only been able to cling to the lower half of its body, however, and it was doubtful the beast would hear him properly. Ash did the only thing he could think of - he began to scale the serpent, shouting to it all the while. "Gyarados! I don't know what's got you so upset, but you've gotta stop attacking Cream Town! People are gonna get hurt!"

No good. He was on top of the squirming, writhing beast as it vainly attempted to nip at himself and thus the trainer traversing over his hide.

"C'mon… Calm down, would ya?! I can't help you out if ya turn me into an Ash-kebab!" The unusually athletic teen clung to the sprawling body for dear life, stubborn hands pulling him higher up the sea beast's body whenever he found the chance. Otherwise, he was busy avoiding losing his hands and legs.

Dawn shook her head. "Think, think, what kinda problem could a low… leveled... It just evolved. That has to be it. It has to be confused and scared!" she muttered. "Ash! Can you hear me?! It's tired! I think it needs to rest! Maybe a Pokéball?!" Where was its trainer?! They wouldn't be able to catch it themselves, right…?

Soon, though, over the angry serpent's roars and cries, he was able to hear Dawn's warning. "Tired, huh? It's sure… Wah! …Not acting like it!" Taking her advice without another word, Ash reached for his belt, pulling a spare Pokéball free.

One click on the center button expanded the sphere to its normal size, readying it to be tossed toward Gyarados. "After that Thunderbolt, it should be weak enough to catch by now… Go, Pokéball!" It was tossed upward, metallic jaws parting to absorb its target in a red flash of light. Just as soon as it was basked in the rays, however, Gyarados' body dispelled the capture mechanism.

"The Pokéball didn't work…! That means someone else already caught it! Maybe they should… Wah! … Get over here and calm it down, already!"

Dawn felt a little guilty that she'd gotten so excited. She'd hoped beyond hope that if the Pokémon was abandoned it could be caught by someone else. Aside from helping out this village, that Gyarados might shape up to be a good Pokémon for Ash. Maybe not ready for the league like the rest of his team, but perhaps in the future. But, that idea was quickly thrown away.

"We don't even know where the trainer is!" Dawn yelled back. This wasn't good. "Ash, get down! We're just going to have to make it faint!"

"Yeah…! Sure thing…!" Ash answered, trying to think of a way to get down.

She was about to ask Absol to see if she could jump over and provide Ash with a means of escape - but she realized the Absol had disappeared. "Where'd she go?! Aw, Empoleon, can you help me -… Ash, look out!"

He hardly had the time to escape, though, a particularly brutal thrash of Gyarados' tail throwing Ash soaring into the air! The grass was the first thing he saw after the fall, his head bringing him back to speed with a dull ache. "Agh… So much for that…!" The trainer gently massaged his sore head.

"Ash!" Dawn ran over as well, fretting. It was just then, too, that a light pink orb was bouncing towards the scene.

"Oh, great..." Spotting Jigglypuff headed their way, Dawn supposed anything that could go wrong would go wrong. Her only surprise was seeing the scrawny form of Terry, of all people, following after the Jigglypuff.

"GYARADOOOOOOS!" The kid called.

"Jigglypuff!? And, Terry, too!?" Ash yelled only to regret it, his head throbbing. This was just getting more and more chaotic… Pikachu had rushed to his side, uttering his usual worried cry of Ash's nickname as the latter climbed to his feet. "I'm fine, Pikachu…" It had taken him a moment, but the child's cry for the rampaging Pokémon finally clicked in his head. "Terry, what do you know about Gyarados!?"

Terry looked over his shoulder, brows furrowed in determination. "That's my Gyarados! I'm gonna help him, no matter what!" Continuing his pursuit, he yelled. "Now, **Sing** , you stupid pink powder puff!"

"Will Gyarados even hear it over its roaring?" Turning back to her traveling partner, Dawn knit her brows. "You need to hang back… I don't even know if Terry needs to get close right now."

"I'm… I'm fine..!" Ash protested, finally shaking the ache free for the time being. "I never woulda guessed that was his Gyarados!" He seemed to be a beginner, but to have such a big and ferocious Pokémon… Then again, Ash wouldn't be one to talk. "It sounds like he wants to put it to sleep!"

Of course, the diva wasn't going to let this opportunity slide! Holding up its microphone, the puffball dove into its smooth, soothing tune. "~Jigg-ly-puff… Jiggly~"

"Looks like Gyarados is about to get an ear-full… And, so are we…!" The teen shuddered, bracing for what would soon be a long, graffiti-filled slumber. At this point, it was all but inevitable!

"Oh, that's why he was after Jigglypuff! So, Gyarados could get some rest." Dawn deduced. The touching moment was ruined by Ash's outburst, however. "What?! Not again!" she whined, clinging to Ash as if he could somehow block the sound waves.

At any rate, the first to go down was Terry. Slipping mid-step due to drowsiness, the boy slipped on the muddy bank and fell chest first into the sun warmed, shallow slough just by the river. "Alright… thanks," he managed to say to the Jigglypuff. If his Gyarados would sleep, so could he.

Next was Dawn, still clinging to Ash, beet red as she'd realized only on the verge of sleep how close she was to her companion. Empoleon gracelessly fell next.

"Yeah… 'Fraid so…" Ash let out a yawn, quickly becoming drowsy, thoughts scattering and his head beginning to feel light. Though, he couldn't help but smile at what he saw. "Hey… Look't that…! Gyarados must be gettin' tired, too!" With their main worry quelled, Ash finally slipped into slumber, falling beside Dawn. Pikachu had nodded off as well, curled up in a bolt-tailed ball.

Last of all would be the raging Gyarados, not unlike a cranky toddler he would continue to fight his nap until it was simply overwhelming. In a huff, he'd fall upon his side, quite near his trainer, before finally resting.

"…Jiggly?" Finished with her ballad, the puff would open her eyes to find a very familiar, unwelcome sight. Everyone had dozed off to sleep! Even Gyarados had collapsed. "Puff…!" Jigglypuff inflated like a balloon, a sour pout on its features. The cap of its 'microphone' was removed, revealing its trusty marker. Not before long, everyone present was marked with a series of crude drawings!

* * *

Not long after, guess who would return? Ditchy McAbandonpants - Absol. She trotted ahead of Ivan and Muriel, pausing ever so often to bark to assure she was being followed. By the time she returned, however, Jigglypuff was long gone, leaving only the sleeping party.

"Say, there's them trainers! And, they got the Gyarados to be at peace!" Ivan cried happily.

"And, there's little Terrence! I thought he was off on his journey," Muriel added.

Sometimes people have things they don't like to the point that they'll wake out of a dead sleep to rebel against it. "Terry," the boy half-snored, snuggling closer to his Gyarados.

The Absol finally loped over to her trainer and her trainer's companion, nudging the girl awake.

"Huh…?" Dawn looked around, seeing Ash's face not far from hers. Mild confusion took over her. Why were they wet and slightly chilly? Wait, ew, what was under them…? This wasn't a bed?! Realizing the squiggles on his face, she bolted up right, letting out an agitated growl. "Again?!"

Seeing the couple, Dawn let out a resigned sigh. "Ash, please wake up, I'm ready to find somewhere with a shower." Between the dirt and the swirls drawn on her face, she was completely through with this whole misadventure.

"Huh… Wha?" The bluenette's voice roused the sleepy teenager, one hand raised to rub his drowsy eyes. Once they were open, though, a smirk cracked onto his lips. "Looks like you've got a new style, Dawn! It suits ya!"

"Are you serious right now?!" Dawn snapped. He was lucky there were more pressing matters other than her currently shattered pride.

"Ahah…! Hey, I was only kidding!" Departing from his joke before he got scolded for it, he scanned the scene before spotting the boy and his Gyarados, both out-cold. "Looks like they're doing just fine… I wonder what was wrong with Gyarados in the first place?" Better yet, how did Terry lose track of it like that, even? His muddy condition hadn't crossed his mind yet, nor Dawn's or Pikachu's.

Terry, who was up and for the most part indifferent to how his face looked—he had almost gotten used to it—more so focused on his still sleeping partner. "He… he wasn't like this when he was a Magikarp," he admitted. The kid frowned, petting his big fish. "I don't know what to do. He got so angry, I didn't know what to do." Looking over his shoulder, he frowned. "It didn't help that there weren't any trainers to give me advice." He looked back down at his Gyarados, not ready to return him to his Pokéball without some kind of proper closure. "I just wanna be a good trainer. He's my starter! We promised we'd take on Forrest at the Pewter Gym together!"

Frowning, Ash nodded along to the young trainer's story. It sounded all too familiar to him, really.

The two elders exchanged looks, then looked at Ash. Dawn also looked up, waiting patiently.

"Didn't you have some disobedient Pokémon? Maybe it's a respect thing—maybe he just needed to adjust," Dawn suggested, her blue orbs turning toward Ash. "I'd tell him… but it may mean more from someone with more experience, you know?"

"I sure did! You should've seen my Charizard back in the day. Wouldn't listen to a word I said, and was even more wild than Gyarados!" Ash practically boasted. He was sure he still had a few burn marks left over from those terrible Flamethrowers.

With that shudder-worthy detail in mind, Ash turned to the boy. "I'm not sure how you'll do it… But you've gotta earn Gyarados' respect! Let him know that you'll be able to take care of him and train him properly. With Charizard, he nearly lost his tail flame in a battle, so I stayed up all night taking care of him. After that, he started listening to me! With Gyarados, I guess you'll just have to earn his trust, too!" Following his monologue, he looked to Dawn.

"Dawn said that he seemed tired and confused. Maybe he's having a hard time adjusting to evolving! Going from a Magikarp to a Gyarados is a pretty big change!" It beckoned to memories of his Bayleef adjusting to its increased size, way back in the day. "I guess you'll have to let it know that you'll be there for it, and help it get used to all of the new challenges it's gonna face!"

"Hm…" Terry kept his eyes on his partner, hand still clutching the Pokéball. "So, I've got to let him know nothing's changed, huh? That it's still the same as when he was a Magikarp…?"

"You got it!" Ash affirmed, flashing a thumbs-up.

The young trainer nodded. He put his Pokéball back on his belt and moved to try and pick up Gyarados's huge head. Struggling and knees knocking under the weight, he looked on the verge of collapsing.

"That… Might not be such a good idea!" Ash warned, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead.

The Atrocious Pokémon finally started to rouse. Eyeing its surroundings, the Gyarados slowly gained recollection of the events leading up to its slumber. He lifted his head some, giving the child a great deal of relief.

The gesture didn't go unnoticed, though. A smile spread on the Pokémon's large, normally scowling lips.

"Aw, Ash, look at that! Gyarados is smiling!" Dawn beamed, her hands clasped together. "I guess Terry used to carry him when he was a Magikarp…"

Ash couldn't help but mimic Gyarados, a smile spreading from cheek to cheek. There might've even been a nostalgic tear in his eye… No, he was tougher than that! "Yeah, I see it, alright! Looks like things turned out alright, after all!"

Terry looked to the two more experienced trainers before grinning. "Well, I'm gonna take him back to camp and use some potions on him! Thank you guys! I'll try to give you a real battle if we meet again!" He promised.

"Sounds like a plan! I'll look forward to it, Terry!" Ash agreed with a grin.

"Well, that's settled," Ivan concluded, flooded with relief.

"Speaking of settled…" Dawn interjected. "Do one of you two have a spare shower?"

"Well, I s'pose we're the reason yer all muddied up in the first place. We'd be happy to let the lot of ya clean up before you're off on yer way!" Muriel chimed in, happy to help the group that had restored peace to the small riverside town.

"Alright, great!" Grabbing the muddy hand of her travel buddy, Dawn pointed towards the village. "We're super grateful!"

With that, as the elderly couple began their trek back to the village, Dawn more or less dragged Ash with her.

"H-hey, wait up!" Ash struggled at first before running along with her. Once he'd managed to catch up, he couldn't help but chuckle. Some things never changed.


	33. Snap to it!

The hilly path led down into a flat woodlands as the group left Cream Town behind. They'd long passed the trees damaged by the formerly fussy Gyarados and everyone was healing well after the ordeal. With better directions from the natives, Ash and Dawn were well on their way to their destination: Celadon City. Surely they had to be getting close to it by now, right?

"I hope Ivan's directions were right. We should be there by now," Ash whined, his hands stuffed in his pockets. According to the old man's directions to use the sun as their orientation guide, they should be going the right way. Kanto's forests and routes always seemed to bring confusion, though.

On top of that, a nice, warm meal and a bed would really be appreciated. "I have a gym battle to win," the teen sulked. "And, three more after that before it's time to enter the League!" They had the time, sure, but he was getting impatient!

"We should invest in an updated map," Dawn said flatly, not too bothered. Things had a way of working themselves out. "I could get out Togekiss," she reminded as the fairy type was still in her party from the Vermillion visit. If they really needed to reorient themselves, they could. "Though… You just want to practice," she teased. "You could always just find a place with a lot of battlers and go challenge everyone." Her contests, on the other hand, had to be attended to on time.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Ash could just do that. "Still, I wanna see how strong the rest of the gym leaders are. If I'm going to get through the League, I need to be able to beat them all!" Surge had been the one of the strongest last time, but even Misty had been beefing herself up. How would the others be now that they weren't holding back at all?!

Empoleon toddled behind Dawn, a bit intrigued by the idea of going around fighting everyone they saw. "Empo?" he inquired, craning what little neck he had around his partner's shoulder.

That was when a distinct flash went off.

The entire party turned to look, curious.

A young man about Ash's age was standing there behind them, a bit dirtied. Brown, curly hair, scruff, and a camera around his neck stood out. He'd likely come from the woods beside the path. "Sorry! It's rare to see an Empoleon around here. I won't see any where I'm headed for sure! Hope you don't mind me… Oh, hey!" he trailed off, recognizing Ash. He then frowned, looking at Dawn. "Uh… Misty, you sure changed a lot…"

"Hey, Snap!" Ash greeted. He stammered after, though. "That's... Not Misty…" The two girls didn't even look remotely alike, did they? Ash glanced over at Dawn, considering it. No; aside from the fact that Dawn was shorter than Misty and now him with his height gain, she had a different style all around.

"She's got a water type and she's hanging out with you," Todd countered. Was that leftover sass from the way Ash had treated him all those years ago or was he really that oblivious?

Deciding to diffuse the situation that would likely arise since Dawn didn't like not being recognized, Ash ignored his... Interesting observation to introduce her. "This is Dawn! She's a coordinator from Twinleaf Town in the Sinnoh region! She's traveling with me through Kanto!"

"Nice to meet you," Dawn said, trying to be nice. "I have to ask… Why did you think we looked alike?" There was nothing wrong with looking like Misty, but Dawn recalled Misty being a lot more muscular than Dawn was. Though, Dawn considered perhaps she was okay with not looking like Misty fashion-wise.

"Oh, I just don't remember people very well!" Todd chipperly confessed. "I only remember Ash thanks to his Pikachu." On that note, Todd quickly lifted his camera up, snapping a picture of the electric type in hopes of a candid shot.

"Pikaa…" Pikachu rubbed the back of his head after the flash, shuddering a bit at the suddenness. Sure, he'd gotten less camera-shy over the years, but the candid shot still gave him the jitters.

Satisfied that he'd gotten his shot, Snap grinned. "What're you guys doing out here, anyway? You looking for the haunted house?"

"Uh… Haunted house?" Ash's head tilted, as did Pikachu's. "I haven't heard about anything like that."

"Oh, yeah! There've been some rumors about an abandoned home around here, and there are supposed to be plenty of ghost Pokémon… They've even said some of them look unusual compared to ordinary ghost types! But, they'll chase you out before you know it."

"Unusual looking Pokémon, huh? Sounds pretty cool! Lemme guess, you wanna get pictures?"

"You've got it! If I can get good shots of those Pokémon in that perfect setting, it'll be a hit!" Though, popularity was only a bonus. Great photography was a goal in itself!

"I… hm. Are you sure you really want to go there?"

Dawn's hesitance earned a head tilt from Ash. "What's up? … You thinkin' of that Mismagius…?" The forced dreamworld they'd entered into with Brock thanks to that particular ghost back in Sinnoh had certainly been eerie, but Ash had seen worse. He probably shouldn't tell her that, though. "Hey, it'll be fine. We're plenty tough, right?"

Dawn blinked, suddenly remembering the ghost he was talking about and blanched a bit. "I hadn't thought of that… I was just worried they'd all act like Haunter. I'm through with pranksters for a while, what with Jigglypuff…" Still, if Ash wanted to go escort a friend while checking out a haunted house… "It'll be fine. No need to worry!"

Upon hearing about the Haunter, Todd looked to Ash. "It's yours, I assume? Why not get a shot of 'em? With the wild ones, maybe?" With that, the duo had just unofficially sealed the deal to being Todd Snap's escorts during his ventures in photographing ghosts.

"I do!" Ash confirmed. "Hah, sure! If he sticks around long enough." He knew all too well of the specter's tendency to appear and disappear, especially when called upon.

"Alright," the photographer agreed. "Well, come on, it's not far from here! It should be early afternoon when we get there. The lighting through the windows will be bright but not as intense as high noon!"

Following after Todd with Empoleon trailing her, Dawn leaned towards Ash. "He's a little eccentric," she whispered.

"Kanto's pretty colorful," Ash concurred as they walked along, shuffling with Todd as he headed towards his ghost-type paradise.

* * *

The group stopped just before the cast iron fence marking the front yard of the abandoned house. Four stories tall and elaborately constructed, it was a delicate preservation of traditional colonial designs with a few reserved, modern updates. It was someone's dream house, once, though it now laid forlorn without maintenance or cleaning. Yet, a for-sale sign laid on the ground, crisped ever so slightly.

Seeming to not be phased by the house's ominous appearance, Todd began making small talk as he unlatched the gate. "How are you doing on your goal, Ash?" He snapped a few shots of the yard for his personal collection of photos.

"I made it to the semi-finals of my last League," the trainer answered, following Todd. Long neglected grass was trampled under Ash's feet. It'd grown so high and so wild that it almost hid the gravel path winding down to the house. "This year, though, I'm definitely winning the Indigo Conference!"

"We're both making strides to our goal, then," Todd concluded. "I got a slot to do coverage. They only let the best do that, you know. So, good luck to you. Gimme some good shots, huh?"

Cracking a grin at the photographer, Ash minded his feet as he almost stumbled. "I wonder who'd let this place get so run down," Ash wondered. Pokémon Tower never looked all too inviting, but this place didn't seem as old as the tower by far. As Ash opened the door and walked in, he found it was much darker than the tower, too.

"It used to belong to this old woman. She came from a rich family. She just up and moved out, said she couldn't stand being here by herself," Todd explained.

Scant daylight filtered in through gauzy draped windows and dusty air filtered the daylight further, giving the whole entry way a twilight feel. For the most part, the furniture remained where it had been. However, several pieces such as a coffee table and a book shelf were overturned and slightly charred. Something had happened.

"Kinda creepy in here," Ash mused, walking across what was probably once a nice rug. "I can hardly see a thing." He felt around the wall and found a switch that didn't work, much to his disappointment.

While Ash searched in vain for a light source and Todd carried on taking pictures, Dawn couldn't help but coo over the chandelier that had been left behind in the dining room. Having found a small entry way off the side of the living room, the coordinator looked over the table. Long rotten flowers remained behind, dry and neglected.

Empoleon swiped around the room, removing cobwebs as he went.

Meanwhile, Ash let out a gagging sound. He'd found the kitchen and something definitely was left to fester. Trying to quickly walk on, the trainer at first though perhaps he'd run the poor electric mouse in his shoulder into a cabinet when he heard a squeak.

However, a struggle under his shoe prompted Ash to look down - barely saving his ankle from a Bite attack from a disturbed Rattata. It quickly fled, squeaking all the way. Many other squeaks could be heard and as Ash kept walking along in the kitchen, he found the origin of the rotting smell.

A huge, fat Raticate sat upon the kitchen island, eating something that looked like a bunch of long discarded bread. Upon seeing Ash, though, the huge normal type also fled.

"I wonder what the problem is?" Ash inquired, a bit hurt they were so frightened of him. He knew some wild Pokémon ran away from trainers, but it wasn't like he was hurting for a battle right now. Maybe he'd really frightened that Rattata?

"Pika!" the mouse gasped, eyes wide and little claws sinking into Ash's shoulder.

"Hey, what's the problem?!" Ash turned around quickly, catching a glimpse of shadowy grandeur, something brilliantly dark and immaterial…

But when he focused upon it, it was gone.

Pikachu remained tense, fur bristled and faint crackles of electricity pouring off his cheeks.

"... weird," Ash muttered, not entirely willing to ignore the hairs rising on the back of his neck but unsure of what he could do about it now.

Besides, there were more pressing matters.

"Whoo-hooo-oh!"

Running into the next room, Ash saw Todd looking between his camera and the hallway leading to the backyard. The man looked paler than usual, a grin that was somewhere between panicked and excited plastered onto his face.

"It was there," he whispered so faintly Ash could barely hear. "I knew I saw right."

Stepping closer, Ash's eyes bulged at the image Todd had captured. A malevolent form with a vague outline leered from around the corner, eyes red as embers and chasm-like mouth gaping. Had that been the thing stalking him in the kitchen?

A crash was heard in a different part of the house followed by a distinctly feminine yelp.

"Shit," Ash grunted, quickly coming to his own conclusions. "Dawn!"

The trainer raced to where he heard the sound. The photographer quickly followed after. However, upon reaching the room, they found Dawn scolding Empoleon who was retorting very angrily.

"What happened?" Ash asked.

"Empoleon took a chunk out of the wall!" Dawn pointed at a part of the doorway. Indeed, there was a deep cut in it. Empoleon must have used Metal Claw.

"Empo!" the water type argued back.

"That's definitely not gonna help property values," Todd dryly noted before raising his camera. He could label this photo something like Terror or the like. This was surely someone's aesthetic - old homes with violent damage.

Ash paused. "Empoleon, did you see something?"

The big steel/water type's eyes nearly sparkled. At least Ash believed him! He nodded adamantly.

"... Heh. I guess you spooked 'em off."

Just as quickly, Empoleon frowned.

"Well, whatever the case, I don't think we'll get any more good shots here. Let's head upstairs." Todd led the way out of the dining room and towards the staircase.

Recalling what had happened below, Ash headed up first. Next up were Dawn and Empoleon. Finally, Todd walked up, too. The wooden stairs had another luxurious, heavy carpet on them. The old owner must have really left in a hurry to not bring all these nice things with her.

And, it was biting Dawn in the behind.

"Ah!" The coordinator slipped, falling forward faster than she or anyone else could catch her. She landed hard, chin hitting the stairs and clacking her teeth together while her shins and knees slammed down, too.

"Pikaka!"

Quickly turning around, Ash helped her up while Empoleon fretted. "You alright?"

"No need to worry," the coordinator said, not even believing it herself. "Ugh, thank goodness that carpet's thick. I might have busted my chin if it wasn't there."

"You're certainly an unlucky one," Todd noted.

Embarrassed and now miffed, Dawn merely walked ahead. Ash let out a sigh and shared a look with Pikachu before they followed. Empoleon did likewise, as did Todd.

* * *

The second floor was beautiful. Or, it had been, once upon a time. A dusty black piano and a faded gold harp made up the center of the expansive floor. A balcony laid beyond dirty double Kalos-style doors. Tarnished portraits and spaces where paintings had once been marked the area as a forgotten place of exquisite taste.

Dawn paused, looking at the lace trimmed table and the single, lonely violin that laid upon it. "Dang," she muttered. "She really didn't wanna stay here, did she? I'm surprised no one's even come back to try and sell this stuff!"

Todd was busy snapping away photos of the porcelain plate cabinets. Dishes too ornate to ever be eaten on were displayed. Some of the pieces were missing. Was that what the white shatters were on the floor? He took pictures of those too. "It's a waste for them, but it makes great material for me."

Ash cocked his head, blocking at one of the harp cords before grinning. He ran both hands along it, making a miserable but merry noise.

He flinched when a plate flew past his head, crashing into the glass balcony doors and cracking them as the plate shattered.

"Hey!" he roared, whirling. "If you didn't like my playing, you could have just said so!"

"It wasn't me!" Dawn clarified.

Todd shook his head.

"... If it wasn't you guys, then… Who?"

As if to answer Ash's question, the table that Dawn had been standing by lifted into the air. Everyone's eyes widened.

"Ah!" the coordinator screamed, her and her starter quickly running away from the floating object and towards Ash.

No good; it was thrown all the same. Thankfully, Ash rushed forward, managing to catch it before it hurt anyone. He let out a grunt, a painful tingle going down his arms from the shock of catching the sudden weight.

If they were waiting on relief, it wasn't coming.

Todd fell over then, a clock having clocked him on his noggin. He groaned painfully, rubbing the back of his head.

With that, the onslaught began. The chaise lounge which had so picturesquely been situated under a portrait of what was once a vibrant garden was abruptly thrown, covering up the stairs and crushing the rails. Then, all the porcelain plate cabinets opened.

"Empo!" the Pokémon snarled.

Likewise, Pikachu bristled. "Chu…"

Todd scrambled over as the plates were thrown, hiding behind the wall of defense Pikachu and Empoleon were putting up. While Pikachu used Thunderbolt on the majority, any of the ones that got past the electric attacks were broken with a Metal Claw.

"We've gotta get out of here!" Ash yelled. "We can't keep this up."

True enough, the plates ran out. Then, the cabinet itself was thrown. Empoleon sliced it in half, one half harmlessly flying past the group and the other requiring Ash to catch it before it hurt anyone.

"We've gotta go upstairs!" Dawn noted, seeing it as their only escape route. "Empoleon, return!" With their main cover missing, Ash barely had time to snag Pikachu before the four of them all sprinted upstairs.

* * *

Ash checked over Pikachu once they reached the next floor. "You did good, buddy. Thank you."

"Empoleon can have as many poffins as he wants after this," Dawn muttered.

"I only got a few shots," Todd complained.

Ash whirled. "We almost all got crushed!" he snarled. "You're worried about some -!"

"Be quiet!" Dawn suddenly snapped.

And, for once, everyone was. There were two beeping noises, very much so out of sync. After a moment, the two trainers realized it was their PokéDexes. In almost perfect coordination, they looked to each other before reaching into their bags and pulling them out.

In unison, the PokéDexes began chattering: "Horde encountered! Extremely rare outside of the Kalos region, though not unheard of, some trainers seek these out to cut down on training time. Pokémon species encountered: undefined. Pokémon has not engaged. Please equip a Silph Scope to engage the undefined Pokémon."

"... Silph Scope! That means…!"

When they all looked up with Ash, the brood waited. A massive collection different purples, blues, grays, and blacks with splashes of red mixed throughout looked down upon them. Then, a duo Shuppet's eyes glowed and an\ gale came through the room. As a purple haze obscured the group, the last thing they saw was the horde descend.

"Gaaaas!" Ash heard as he was knocked onto his side, a Sucker Punch sending Pikachu flying from his shoulder.

"Pikachu!" the trainer cried.

The little electric type chattered angrily, looking around and moving to and fro. He shot blindly into the purple wall of supernatural fog the Ominous Wind had brought in. The Thunderbolt missed its mark.

Ash grunted, trying to focus in with his abilities, but there were just too many auras here. They all felt like they were merging into one another. "Darn it!"

"Ah!" Dawn whimpered, a Pursuit knocking her into a wall.

Todd nearly dropped his camera when something Screeched beside him. "Can someone do something about this?!" he demanded.

"Absol, go!" Dawn answered, hoping her dark type could help some. When the Disaster Pokémon materialized, Dawn wasted no time. "Night Slash!"

Just as blindly as Pikachu, Absol fired off into the purple haze. A Psywave was returned, thankfully in vain. Still, the dark type was clearly perturbed that her attack had missed. She tensed, using Detect to see where the closest move was coming and barely dodged a Duskull's Shadow Sneak.

"Night Slash!" Dawn commanded again.

Without haste, the Absol twirled her massive black horn, knocking out the Duskull.

"...It's weak, then," Dawn realized. "I wonder if they all are. If only we could see them."

Absol seemed to agree, pensively staring at the wall of purple around them as if she were willing it away. Then, after a moment, suddenly, she leaped forward, twisting her head. An invisible zephyr ripped through the supernatural fog, knocking a few of the little swarming ghosts back and exposing the rest.

Dawn's PokéDex, from where she had dropped it when she had been attacked, went off. "Perish Song was forgotten. Razor Wind was learned."

Dawn blinked before smiling, getting up to hug Absol. "Thank you!"

"No time to celebrate!" Todd warned as he quickly snapped some shots of the exposed ghosts. There were so many! "Ash, maybe your Haunter can help…?"

"Uh, as much as I love the big guy, he's… not quite reliable enough to trust. I'm scared he'd think this was a game," Ash confessed. "Don't worry, though! Now that Pikachu and I can see 'em, it's a shoe in!"

"Right! Absol, you pitch in, too!"

With that, the battle turned around. Absol and Pikachu began picking them off left and right. Ash noticed what Dawn noticed earlier. It wasn't obvious at first given Pikachu's extreme strength, but when even Absol was able to take them down in one blow, it was telling.

Soon, the few that were left gathered together, desperate evident in their eyes. The remaining Gastly, Shuppet, and Duskull began synchronizing, readying what could be a devastating Night Shade.

"Detect!" Dawn called out.

Absol stepped forward, ready to figure out a way to deflect it… But, she couldn't think of any. While she and Pikachu might be able to pick off some of them, the rest would fire. She and the electric type might survive the attack, but what would that do their human friends?

She had to do something, though. Frustration coursed through her before she closed her eyes, listening to the warped sounds of the group Night Shade powering up.

Then she opened her eyes. Though none of the humans or Pikachu could see it, the look on Absol's face was too much for the little ghosts. They gave up their attack, fleeing through the ceiling to the fourth floor.

Absol let out a sigh. She'd bluffed and it had worked. It was just a Leer. She hadn't used that move since she was young, but apparently all young Pokémon were really psyched out by it.

"Good job, Absol!" Dawn praised, running up and hugging her dark type. "Good, girl!"

The dark type remained stoic, seemingly indifferent to the praise. A low purr, however, betrayed her.

Ash likewise picked up Pikachu, grinning at the electric type.

"We gotta go upstairs," Todd concluded. He looked to the others. "Pokémon aren't that aggressive without a reason."

Ash and Dawn calmed, looking between each other. Then, they looked to Todd and nodded.

* * *

The fourth floor was different from the third. While a massive, group bedding area had been arranged there, it was all storage here. Abandoned boxes and strewn about toys marked the area. It was quiet and cold.

A shriek echoed through the room, nearly making the group fall back down the stairs. Angry red orbs and terrible fangs towered over the trio and their Pokémon, making their hearts pound from what turned out to be a Mean Look attack. A sickly blue ghoul hovered, casting a purple holographic eye upon the group.

"Ah… A Gengar!" Ash gawked, a hand held to his chest. Not looking to show that his heart was pounding from the sudden scare, he stood his ground in the wake of the aggressive ghoul. Something about it seemed out of the ordinary, though. A few sparkles fell from its unusual form, and its shadowy body seemed discolored. "It looks like a shiny, too."

"Gengar, please! We don't want to fight!" Snap rushed to explain, moving aside to attempt a better angle. That Gengar was plenty scary enough for his photoshoot. "I just need to get some better a-agh!" The young photographer yelped, his attempt to circle the Pokémon halted by a rough, psychic tug.

"Hey, that's Mean Look!" Ash closed a hand, his teeth grit. "That means we've gotta fight if we wanna get out of here… Alright. Time to show your stuff. Haunter, I choose you!"

The purple specter cackled upon his release, only thrown off when he spotted his opponent. Grinning, he spat out his tongue comically at his evolved counterpart. "Hau-Hau-Hau!"

"Gen! Gen, Gengar!" The ghost spat, a notable grimace on her features. Where Haunter expected to find mutual amusement, he was greeted with disgust… Maybe even fear?

"Haunter…" His face fell… Quite literally, even. Disappointed eyes and a frown cascaded from his gaseous form, hanging cartoonishly in the air below.

"Sorry to break it to ya, Haunter, but this isn't the time for fun! We've gotta battle this Gengar if we wanna make it out alive! You ready?" Ash warned. Admittedly, at any other time, he would've laughed.

"Ha-" He would have been, had a sneak attack not struck him just then. A shadow of a fist slammed into his face, squishing in the barely material form that Haunter took.

"Shadow Punch…! That was a dirty trick." Ash frowned. "Fight back with Shadow Ball!"

The purple ghoul's concave face popped back into place, Haunter's mouth coughing out what was left of the spectral hand in disgust. A mischievous grin followed the call, both disembodied hands conjuring a black, crackling ball of energy. A swing of the extremities launched it forward.

In a panic, Gengar ducked under the Shadow Ball, missing it by mere inches. Ignoring the explosion behind her in a frenzy, she pointed both clawed hands towards Haunter, firing off a barrage of purple energy rings. This time, she used Dark Pulse.

Explosions laced with dark energy pummeled Haunter, landing a super-effective hit.

Guarding his view with both arms, Ash held his hopes high. Surely, after all that time with Sabrina, he wouldn't go down that easily, right? "Don't give in, Haunter. Lick attack, now!"

Haunter's long, cartoonish tongue shot outward, greeting Gengar with a rather unpleasant, numbing slap of the appendage. If her coloration didn't make it moot, she likely would have gone blue in the face.

Ash and company weren't out of the woods yet, though. A spectral hand reached for Haunter's retreating tongue, grabbing it before it could make its way to the second-stage ghost type.

"Delcatty got your tongue, huh…" Ash trailed off.

"This really isn't the time for jokes, you know!" Dawn reminded, suffering from a mixture of fear and second-hand embarrassment. "You might want to get serious before Haunter ends up in trouble!"

"Yeah, you're right. Try 'n get out of there, Haunter!"

Unfortunately, the opposite happened. Gengar yanked on the tongue, pulling the jovial ghost in closer. A second transparent fist shot out of its influence, knocking Haunter with an unforgiving punch to the face.

"That's gotta hurt… Fight back Will-o-Wisp!"

Tangled in his own tongue, Haunter quickly unraveled, floating hands spinning all the while. Blue sparks danced on each of the claws before bursting into a full-fledged flame, which was promptly united and tossed at Gengar.

Gengar let out a groaning roar upon having the fire pass through her amorphous form. She flexed her spiny quilled hide, throwing off another Dark Pulse towards her enemy.

Haunter had grown wise to her ways and faded out of the way, reappearing after the attack had passed. "Hau-hau! Hau hau hau hau!"

Grit fangs were bared in the opposite of a grin. Gengar's red orbs darted, desperation growing Her gaze soon landed upon the crowd behind Haunter, a sinister plot brewing in the ghost's mind.

Both stubby, pale blue hands were outstretched, recoiling with the explosive release of a Dark Pulse barrage. Dark rings swept across the room, unhinging from their designated launch to pummel the group.

Only having mere moments to register the threat, the group collectively shouted, eyes comparable to saucers. Able to do little in the moment of panic, the three humans could only think to huddle together.

Finding himself to not be the target of Gengar's assault, Haunter fretted, zipping in towards the group. His hanging claws gripped onto Ash's arm, sending a chill up the trainer's spine.

"Haunter!?" Ash gawked in the brief moment he could. Haunter _had_ saved him and Pikachu before. Maybe he could…?

Ash, Dawn, Snap, Pikachu, and Empoleon were all expecting a great deal of pain… And they found none. They felt nothing, even. eyes that had been shut tight slowly parted, greeted with a bone-chilling sight. Their bodies were a faint blue - nearly transparent.

"A… Are we dead!?" Snap fretted, head darting left and right. Soon enough, he found his camera securely around his neck. "Phew… I still have my camera, at least!"

A bead of sweat dripped down forehead, an incredulous look plastered on her face. "Nice priorities… But, uh, are we dead?! I don't wanna die yet! What's going on?!"

The original duo looked about as well, panicking only momentarily before finding solace in the lack of lifeless bodies on the floor. "I think Haunter helped us out. I can't feel a thing! He musta made us… Intangerine?"

"Intangible," Dawn deadpanned.

"Right!" Ash smiled upon the ghost type, reaching to pat him on the head, for what it was worth. "Thanks a lot, Haunter! That was a close one. Now, let's finish this!"

"Haw-Haw!" Haunter chortled, lowering the group to the ground before releasing their forms. Turning back towards Gengar, the Pokémon now seemed unusually serious. Any hint of a smile had disappeared, a grimace greeting Gengar. There was rarely a time where he took anything seriously. Threatening his friends, however, hadn't earned a laugh.

If Gengars could sweat, this one would probably be sweating bullets. Cowering back from its secondary stage counterpart, the Pokémon let out an unholy shriek, staging a last resort.

Pain seemed to overcome the Pokémon, a shuddering form distorting before unleashing what looked to be a flurry of spirits that surrounded and consumed Haunter.

"Hau?" The ghost looked about, feeling nothing initially. That hadn't been so bad…

A cry of pain followed, a red, sickly aura surrounding the ghost type as he felt his vitality drain.

"What kind of move is that?" Ash pondered, pulling out his Pokédex.

" **Curse: A move that ordinarily increases attack and defense at the expense of speed. When used by ghost types, health is exchanged for a curse that slowly drains a victim's energy."**

"That's no good… It must really be desperate. Haunter, Giga Drain!"

The dimly lit attic was assaulted with a neon green glow, first surrounding Haunter before ensnaring Gengar.

The move was ineffective in terms of typing since grass type attacks were disadvantaged against poison Pokémon, but it was potent nonetheless. What was left of Gengar's fading vitality was stolen, rejuvenating Haunter in the process.

Exhausted, the Gengar began to descend, thoroughly weakened. The battle had taken its toll.

"Alright, we've got this, now! Haunter-"

"Gen! Gengar!" the ghost cried, both arms outstretched. Her expression was poignant, bitter tears threatening to spill out of her raging red eyes. The fury was taken out of her. As she wailed her own name, it was evident only desperation and sorrow were left. "Gen!" she begged.

The entire party was taken back. Even Todd stopped his picture taking. Haunter hovered before his distant kin, moved to silence.

Breathing evenly, Ash decided to try and decipher what she was saying. However, as soon as his tapped into his aura abilities to read her mind, he was overwhelmed with sadness and the passionate love of a mother. "Oh," Ash muttered, his own eyes flooding with color and silvery tears. "Oh, man."

"Ash, what's wrong?" Dawn inquired. While he was no stoic, to see Ash get moved this much… Something had to be up.

"She's just trying to protect her kids," he explained. "She… She says she's trying too hard to protect them. She doesn't want them to get taken away." Gulping to swallow the lump in his throat and shaking his head to clear his eyes, the teen walked forward past Haunter and kneeled before the trembling, frightened Gengar.

Though she flinched away from his hand at first, she eventually stilled, barely touchable body alive with supernatural energy under his gentle hand. "Hey, we aren't gonna take your kids," the trainer assured.

"Gen?" she asked, not entirely believing him.

"No. We didn't even know you were here. Our friend came to take pictures of the haunted house."

Relieved, Gengar stood up, wiping her face of tears. She smiled and apologized. "Gen…! Gengar, Gengar!"

"But… I gotta ask. Why are you and your kids hiding here? You're a strong Pokémon! You guys could go wherever! Or, stay with a trainer to make sure you're extra safe!"

The Gengar's face fell and she adamantly shook her head. "Gen Gen Gen Gen Gar!"

Ash's stomach churned. "What a jerk!"

"What'd she say?" Todd asked as he and Dawn walked over. He was tempted to take a picture of the mother looking so sincere, but somehow he didn't feel right doing that.

"She used to be the favorite Pokémon of this… sleaze ball. He thought he was the coolest thing. He liked her best because she was shiny. But, he kept getting her to have eggs. Gengar was okay with it until he began giving her children away when he ran out of space to keep them because they weren't shiny!" Ash slammed his fist down onto the ground. "It's so sick! But, she came here when she had a shiny baby hatch. She said he didn't obsess so much over her, so they ran away… Her and all of her children that she could find. Now she's been living here, adopting any little lost ghosts and taking care of them."

"Oh my," Dawn gasped, putting her hands over her heart. "What a good mother…! She fought so hard against Haunter! Your kids really love you, too, huh? They were doing their best to protect this place, too!"

The Gengar nodded, a proud smile on her face. Her children were strong despite being so young! "Gen-gen!" she chuckled. Still, there was the matter of the pictures. She didn't really want anyone thinking there were ghost Pokémon here, just real ghosts - the bad kind. "Gengar…?"

"... I'll talk to him," Ash assured.

Standing up, Ash looked to the photographer. "Hey, Todd, do you have to have pictures of ghost Pokémon or just ghosts? Because, Gengar is scared people will want to come here to catch Pokémon if they know there's any here."

"Hm… I suppose. But, I'll need more scary pictures. Gengar, do you think you and your kids could help me set up more photos that don't show you? You guys were able to turn invisible earlier… When you threw plates at us."

Noting Todd's bitter tone, Gengar let out a nervous laugh. She then nodded. "Gen!" In exchange for their continued safety and seclusion, Gengar could totally help Todd out! "Geeeeengaaaaar!" she called out.

Suddenly, fading in from the roof, dozens upon dozens of little first stage ghosts filtered in. There must have been nearly a hundred! Among them, floating beside the Gengar was a little Gastly in the same off-color as the mother. There was the shiny child.

"Well, let's head down stairs, then!" Todd cheered. "We've got pictures to take!"

The little specters let out a round of rowdy agreement.

* * *

With Todd's camera memory maxed, the trainer stood on the porch of the haunted house while the mother Gengar and several of her children saw them off.

"Bye! It was nice to meet you!" Ash greeted. Haunter had been returned during the shoot as he'd been unable to resist not sticking to the script of what the photos were supposed to be like, but Pikachu did wave with Ash at the mother.

"Take care!" Dawn called, Empoleon waving alongside her. Absol merely blinked and nodded her head in respect before tapping her forehead against the Pokéball Dawn had out for her and returning herself.

"Thanks for being such good models for me!" Todd gratefully said.

The ghosts waved as well before fading out of sight. What might have been a sudden breeze came through, slamming the door shut and letting the ghosts have their peace again.

"Well, it's on to Celadon City for us. You were headed there, right, Todd?" Ash inquired.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I'll turn in my portfolio there in a few days, but I wanna take pictures of the contest, too. Newspapers and magazines are always looking for good shots of contest Pokémon."

"Contests, huh?" Dawn nearly purred. "So there's one coming up in Celadon City, too!" So she had a way to win her third ribbon! "Well, if you're looking for pretty Pokémon and their pretty partners, I am your girl!" Posing with Empoleon, Dawn did really look every bit the coordinating master she aspired to be.

However, Todd seemed uninterested. "I prefer taking pictures of Pokémon, to be honest."

"Huh? B-But, they'll be doing the appeals and battles with me!" Dawn insisted.

Ash let out a sigh. Oh boy; Dawn was going be denied her spotlight and Todd was going to be annoyed. "How far is it from here to Celadon City, anyway?" he asked. Maybe he could trick them into running. They couldn't argue if they were both out of breath.

"About three hours," Todd answered.

"That's plenty of time to change your mind," Dawn cockily stated.

Ash groaned. He couldn't make them run for three hours. "Uh… Maybe let's find a new topic." Artists, he internally bemoaned, always at each other's throats.


	34. A Picture-Perfect Performance!

It looks like we've hit 500 followers! We couldn't have gotten to that milestone without you guys, so thank you! There's plenty more where this came from, so stay tuned! Feedback is always appreciated, so please drop by in the review section if you can! Now, time for the next chapter.

* * *

Just three o'clock, the trio arrived in Celadon City. Skyscrapers towered over crowded streets. People and Pokémon alike scurried around, running their errands and talking amongst themselves. Even the occasional car could be seen, though bikes were much more visible. Numerous shops showed off their various good and services. The delicious odors of spas, restaurants, and home goods stores beckoned out to the travelers as well.

Ash's stomach rumbled. "Man, I could go for some chow… You guys wanna stop in somewhere?" Ash inquired.

"Let's go to the Pokémon Center first," Dawn insisted. "We need to rent a room so Todd can drop off his stuff and we can heal our Pokémon."

"I dunno, it won't kill us to get a snack," Todd disagreed, eyes glued onto a shop that boasted organic goods. He breathed deeply. "They've got apple chips."

Snickering, Ash clapped Dawn on the shoulder. "You heard him!"

Dawn rolled her eyes as the boys headed into the shop, following them. While Ash loaded up on goodies such as cauliflower mash and fried mushrooms, she settled for a simple cucumber sandwich. After paying her share and waiting off to the side while Ash tried to decide which drink combination he wanted from their fancy soda machine, she noticed an intriguing sign.

"Celadon City Game Corner… Anyone can be a winner," she trailed off. The coordinator cocked her head, nibbling on her sandwich as she read. Empoleon likewise nibbled on his half of the sandwich. "Oh! They've got a special set of items in! Smoke balls, silk scarves, and even those gorgeous mystic water necklaces!" Her eyes were practically gleaming.

Empoleon cocked his head. Weren't those Pokéemon items? He supposed a trainer could wear them, too, though.

"Oh, man, that's gross, Pikachu!" Ash laughed as he walked over, a bag of treats slung over one shoulder while Pikachu dug apple chips out of his bag. He'd smothered them in ketchup and the little rodent was quite enjoying himself.

Seeing that Ash had gotten his fill, too, Todd stood up from where he'd been reading the paper. The contest was still set for the same time as before, which would be good. "Alright, to the Pokémon Center we go! Dawn's contest is tomorrow and I've got to submit these photos before then!"

"Right!" the two trainers agreed in unison.

* * *

As they entered the Pokémon Center and approached the counter, Ash's mind began whirling. There was someone he ought to call… With all the milestones and updates he had to offer, he couldn't just keep his mouth shut!

After putting his Pokéballs on the tray and saying a hasty goodbye to Pikachu, the trainer excused himself. "Gotta call someone," he said. "Dawn, Todd, will you book the room?"

"Sure!" Dawn said as he retreated, headed to the video phones. "Hm, that was sudden. Guess he forgot about something important," she supposed. Dawn shook her head as she put her whole party's Pokéballs on a tray. "You're lucky you're still small, Pikachu. I kinda miss carrying Empoleon," she admitted before scratching the electric type's back.

The little electric type leaned into Dawn's touch. "Cha~!" Empoleon's loss was his gain, it seemed. Poor guy.

Todd grinned as he got the card key from Nurse Joy. "Well, let's put our stuff down, huh, Dawn?"

"Actually," she trailed off, "I was really inspired by, uh… what happened today." Secrecy was still necessary. "So, once Absol's healed, I'm going to go train with her! Ash should be off the phone by the time you're done putting your stuff down. Just give the keys to him. I'll wait in the lobby and then go to nearest training field."

"If you're sure," Todd relented.

* * *

The Celadon Contest Hall was relatively new and it was very green. Erika's influence as gym leader stretched out even this far. The Contest Hall had an opera house feel, surrounded by a lush garden which trailed into the woods outside of town. Lining the way to it were tall palm trees. The ambience was paying off, though. Numerous peddlers of official merchandise and some custom items had booths set up outside.

"I'd like to get on a notebook or something, one day," Dawn mused. Maybe if she did well enough in her second run, she could. "Oh, wow, I think I see something with Zoey on it! That's quick! I'll have to grab it after the contest."

"Already?" Ash remarked. "She just won like… what, not even half a year ago?"

"Yeah, she became a Top Coordinator around half a year ago, I think. Hehe, I'll have to send her a picture!" Dawn chirped as they walked into the Contest Hall.

"The lighting in here's marvelous!" Todd enthused. "They really set up this place well." Unable to hold himself back, Todd got out his camera. He spotted a Raticate drinking serenely from one of the provisional water troughs before the registration and seating entrance counters.

As soon as the click went off, Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, and Empoleon's attention was drawn to Todd scrambling back from a shrieking Raticate while its trainer tried hard to calm the poor rodent down.

They'd drawn quite a bit of attention in the crowded lobby.

"Todd, what are you doing?!" Ash yelped.

"Getting shots," he answered as if it were the most obvious answer. Spotting a Venomoth flying above, likely attracted to the beautiful chandelier, he went for another shot. The loud shudder startled several Pokémon, but the sudden flash made the Venomoth shiver and drop down some of its scales. Thankfully, they didn't do anything. This time.

"Aw man, I gotta get you seated…"

"Nope! I have a photography pass!" Todd bragged.

Sweat dropping and crossing his arms, Ash frowned. "You're gonna get yourself whooped."

Pikachu chattered in agreement. "Chu…" Todd was kind of bad at respecting other's privacy like that.

"Well, you two go get seated. I'm gonna go get registered," Dawn interjected.

"Huh? You never did tell me what you were gonna do!" Ash complained. She was getting awful bad about being secretive.

The bluenette winked. "It's a surprise. You'll find out in the contest." With that, she and Empoleon headed to the registration counter.

"... I guess I'll have to keep an extra eye out for her, then," the trainer decided. With that, he left Todd to do what he would. Ash would get a good seat even if Todd decided he was going to piss off the wrong Pokémon.

* * *

The appeals went by rather slowly. There were numerous coordinators in this contest, though not quite as many as the last contest. It was a big city, after all. However, Erika's influence was evident. Many of the coordinators were girls and even more of them used grass types, a clear homage to the gym leader. As such, their appeals were languid and, quite frankly to Ash, a little cumbersome.

The first girl to go out had a Bellsprout. Starting off with Sweet Scent, she lulled the entire audience into an easy comfort. In the thick haze of the pink aromatic clouds, the Bellsprout used Growth three times in a row to triple in size, temporarily of course. As the Sweet Scent's pungent odor faded to a faint flowery scent, the Bellsprout released Poison Powder. The air turned stale, almost powdery. However, when the Bellsprout belched up an Acid attack and shed its excess height for it, the entire audience gagged for the sharp, disgusting scent.

"I hate to say it, but I hope they don't make it through," Ash whispered to Pikachu.

The mouse nodded in agreement. If it had to smell that super strong Acid again, he was gonna be sick!

The next person on stage was a young girl with, of all things, a Pikachu! The Pikachu started off her appeal with a Play Nice followed by Quick Attack. She seemed exceptionally playful, having gone from winking and twisting in the air to dashing around. The fun only increased when she used Double Team, making it seem as if there were many yellow bundles of joy dashing across the stage. The appeal ended with the Pikachu racing back to her trainer and jumping into the trainer's arms with a Nuzzle. Though the trainer seemed to be moving more stiffly, the smile on her face sold her to the judges.

It probably helped that her appeal was so cute after everyone had been disgusted.

"That was really cute, huh, buddy?" Ash chuckled.

"Pika." Personally, he thought the younger Pikachu's movement was a bit delayed. She was probably newly evolved as she didn't take full advantage of the easier change of direction her tail could provide. Pichu were clumsier than Pikachu, after all. But, he was no evolution enthusiast, so he'd keep his comments to himself.

A few more coordinators went on, but Ash didn't really find himself interested in all of them.

A boy who walked onto stage with a Tangela did catch his eye. The Tangela started off with Ingrain and the boy seemed enthused that this even worked. It then used Growth, which was quickly shaping up to be a popular move among the grass users. That would probably cost them with the judges. However, this Tangela used Grassy Terrain, a move yet to be seen in this appeal round. Finishing off with Natural Gift, the whole appeal had a very natural and earthy tone the others had lost in trying to be showy. On top of that, the boy was so humble and proud of his Tangela.

The next coordinator to catch Ash's eye was a guy with a Nidoking. Hadn't he seen the fellow somewhere before?

"Our next coordinator is a native of Vermillion City! Everyone give a hearty round of applause to Quijote Mancha!"

Stepping onto the stage with his absolutely massive Nidoking standing behind him, Ash realized he recognized the guy from one of Dawn's previous contests! Back then, he seemed a bit too conceited to get far, but maybe things were different now? "This guy had some talent. Let's see how he does this time!"

"Nidoking, show them the power that lies in your Poison Tail!"

Bellowing and stepping to the front of the stage, the monstrous brute whipped his tail to and fro. The crack of the muscular appendage against the contest stage echoed throughout the arena. It was clear that the last thing anyone wanted was to get in the way of that massive appendage.

"Now, raise your noble head to make the might of your Poison Jab known!"

Tossing his massive head back and forth as well, the whole appeal had a feral feel. The Nidoking invoked the primal aggression of a warrior.

"Venom Drench!"

The quills and ridges along Nidoking's back fluttered, oozing and flinging Venom all over the stage. Hazardous purple liquid puddled around the brute.

"Earth Power."

Releasing one final bellow, the Nidoking sent the puddles of venom up in smoke. The fire from the Earth Power took on a short lived green hue before the tremors set in. Quijote was not asking for their attention; he and his Nidoking were _demanding_ it.

Satisfied with his performance, the young man bowed before returning his Pokémon.

"Well, that certainly was an exciting performance from Quijote Mancha!"

As the appeals went on, Ash's mind stayed on the Nidoking. That thing was strong. Could Dawn's Pokémon stand up to it? What Pokémon was she even using? Todd told him that she was training with her Absol last night, but he missed what she was actually doing. If they both ended up using those Pokémon during the battle rounds, Dawn might have some trouble… He was never one to underestimate the underdog, but Absol hadn't been on the team all that long.

When Ash finally came to, Pikachu was nudging him.

"Pikaka!"

"Dawn's on!" Ash realized. Indeed, he'd actually missed her introduction. Absol was already out of her Pokéball.

* * *

Meanwhile, under the spotlight, Dawn steadied herself. "Okay, Absol, you know what to do. Future Sight!" Both arms were crossed before being thrown upward, hands outstretched as if calling upon a heavenly power to assist her.

A growling crescendo came from Absol's maw, eyes falling shut as psychic power was conjured from the Pokémon, acting upon its signature ability of goading the future. A series of colorful orbs launched into the air above, seemingly disappearing into a black hole above.

"That's weird… Future Sight takes a bit of time to activate," Ash noted from the stands. "I wonder how she's gonna use that during the time she has for an appeal."

"And, Dawn's Absol starts out with a Future Sight! Very pretty, but when will it strike? I'm sure the audience will keep their eyes peeled for that!" Lilian narrated, her own blue orbs having followed the attack's ascent. Mutters among the crowd confirmed her observation.

A smile picked up on Dawn's lips. Now she had them interested. Time to captivate! An arm was thrown outward to mimic the arc of the coming move. "Great. Now, Razor Wind!"

The white furred dark type jerked her head to the side and then up. Violent waves of energy sent the air churning. At first, it was a light breeze, as if fans were blowing. Then, it grew more violent until there was a virtual windstorm onstage. Absol's thick mane was tossed about in it, as was Dawn's hair along with the coattails of her pink vest.

The gales were so strong it almost took the coordinator's breath away, but the dark type's appearance made it all worth it. A beast that was known to be an omen was made even more terrifying, ghostly white fur fluffed and billowing in the eye of the storm. Red eyes and a wavering horn stood out among the chaos, worthy of a shiver down the spine or two.

This satisfied Dawn. While she hadn't enjoyed every moment of the haunting she'd been through, a racing heart was plenty for this scenario."Now, add Night Slash!" Her voice could barely be heard by Absol over the winds, but the Disaster Pokémon obeyed.

Tossing her head again, Absol released sickly purple blades from her horn, allowing its evil influence to meld with the air currents. What had merely been a howling wind turned to a ghastly, foggy moan, crowding the contest hall in a haunting motif. Certainly a large step away from the traditionally calm appeals that had preceded her. How that would go over was anyone's guess, but for now, they had hearts racing, and children clinging to their parents.

* * *

"Oh man, this is… Greaaat!" Snap yelped, struggling to hold onto his camera as he took shot after shot. The whirling winds… The threatening, bristled Absol in the center… Though Dawn wasn't the focus, she did make it in a few of the shots. "These'll make great sho- ah!"

In his haste, Todd felt the camera slip right out of his hands, much to his heart-stopping horror - much more striking than anything Dawn was conjuring, for sure!

Fortunately, Ash's quick reflexes allowed him to snatch it, handing it over. "Might not be the best time to be doing this… You oughta be more careful."

"This is the _best_ time!" Snap countered, clinging to his camera.

A sweatdrop rolled down Ash's head as he turned back towards the stars of the show. Even he was starting to feel tense, waiting not-so-patiently for the follow-up.

* * *

An uncomfortable silence overcame the arena, Lilian included. All eyes lay upon Absol.

A fact that would soon prove itself ironic, without a doubt.

"That really set the mood," Dawn spoke aloud, lauding herself and Absol with a bit of praise for their efforts. "Now, let's make things really frightening! Use Leer, now!"

The menace at the eye of the storm complied. Ruby hues lit, consuming the Pokémon's eyes with an eerie, devilish red glow. Bared teeth and furrowed hues made Absol nothing short of a real life monster. Of course, the fun didn't stop there.

The dual lights were projected, launching from Absol's face into a quickly growing gaze that glared daggers at the crowd. Glowing, mean-spirited slits circled the spinning winds, giving every section of the audience a chance to hold their hearts.

Time for the grand finale.

Above the haunted arena, space itself parted for an all-too-familiar attack. Orbs of telekinetic energy rained down from above the storm, crashing down upon none other than the leering red eyes that had been terrorizing the crowd.

The dual projections flashed all sorts of colors before bursting in an ear-ringing explosion. Along with it, the storm reached its peak, dispersing under the duress of the terrible Future Sight.

The dramatic jump-scare sent the audience into frightened yelps and screams. One of the judges even fell out of their seat and another clutched their chest out of fear.

Satisfied with her results, Absol grinned a bit before trotting back to Dawn's side. The coordinator smiled sweetly, her hair billowing in the remains of the wind, and waved to the audience before heading back stage.

"Oh, man… That was really something else!" Ash slumped into his chair, holding his chest. He could still feel his heart racing - and Pikachu's, too! "I guess Dawn's really scary when she wants to be…" He shuddered. Hopefully, that ferocity would never be turned on him.

"Pikachu…" The mouse sighed, sitting securely in Ash's lap. He wasn't looking for anymore jump-scares after this; that was for sure.

It was a rough go for the coordinators who came after her. The audience was still too shaken up for the most part to pay attention.

* * *

"Probably a good thing I didn't let Rosa out," Ash mused. "That woulda scared the pants offa her!" That was, if Pokémon wore clothes at all.

"Pika," his companion agreed. That definitely would have had bad results.

"Come to think of it… I'm sure nothing's gonna be half as scary as that. Maybe she'd like to see the rest!" Ash grabbed a Pokéball from his belt, clicking the button to release a small flash of light.

It took shape atop his shoulder in the form of the Riolu, who looked about, a shiver running down her spine. Try as she may, these big events still gave her chills. _~Still too many people… Oh! What's that?~_ She gawked, mesmerized at the latest appeal. While it was underwhelming to most, the preceding events were lost on the easily amused pup.

Her distraction earned a gentle smile from Ash, who reached to pet the back of her head. "See? It'll be fine. Just keep focusing on the fun!" Keeping the Pokémon comforted was an ongoing effort, but it was very much worth it.

Unfortunately, those efforts didn't go without their hiccups.

Countless snaps of a camera could be heard as the remaining appeals went by, much to the annoyance of those immediately surrounding the eager cameraman. Rosa in particular yelped, distancing herself from Snap further.

"Hey Snap, do you really need those? After what Dawn did, these probably aren't gonna get much better." Ash frowned, consoling the uncomfortable Pokémon.

"Maybe, but the more the merrier! This'll be great for my latest… Huh?" The overzealous artist would find that his lens was becoming distorted, much to his dismay. "W-what the!?"

The aura of a certain disgruntled fighting type emanated in a blue glow, expelled in something just short of a burst. If the startling snaps didn't stop soon, there'd be real trouble!

"Hey, hey, easy!" Ash swallowed, scratching the Pokémon behind the ear. "If you wanna keep any of those shots, ya'd be better off calling it quits now!"

"If you say so… I guess I've already gotten plenty for the appeal rounds!" Todd declared smugly, much to the exasperation and relief of his companions.

* * *

Stepping onto the stage, Dawn saw her opponent. It was an ornately and traditionally garbed young man. His hair was coiffed and slicked to the side, a single blossoming lily tucked behind his ear.

"Let the match between Dawn and Larkspur begin!"

"Leafeon, let the show begin!"

"Mamoswine, spotlight!"

The tank of a pig-mammoth landed with a heavy thud at the same time as the magnificently plumed forest-fox touched down on the stage.

The opponent frowned before clicking his tongue. "Leafeon, use Sunny Day."

The judges seemed impressed with the brilliant shining pseudo-sun the little grass type created. They deducted a few of Dawn's points for it. The Twinleaf native didn't let it get her too bothered, though. She had a plan, after all.

"Mamoswine, Hidden Power!" she said with a smile.

Snorting, the big ice type blasted a bubble of energy forward. Given his unique personality and nature, the Hidden Power turned into a watery orb. It splashed forward, leaving a trail of puddles behind it.

The Leafeon was hit by the splash, though it sparkled over the Pokémon's fur under the sunlight, costing Dawn more points.

"What is she up to…?" Larkspur wondered before deciding he should go on with the battle. "Leafeon, use Swords Dance!"

The grass type stepped forward, dancing across the watery puddles and being followed by the illusions of swords it had created. A few more points were lost on Dawn's part for this.

Still, she seemed unbothered by this. In fact, she was absolutely beaming. It was probably making her opponent very confused, but things were going her way. Of course she should be happy! "Mamoswine, use Ice Fang on the ground and then get going, Freight Train style!"

"Freight Train _what_?" Larkspur parroted.

However, by the time he realized what was going on, it was too late to do anything. The minute Mamoswine's icy tusks hit the ground, the puddles nearest him froze over, creating a slick rail way of sorts for him. When the massive brute launched himself forward, it was too late for Leafeon. Caught up in its dancing, it didn't move out of the way fast enough. On top of that, the creature was absolutely covered in the water droplets from earlier. The super effective move went absolutely critical.

"Great job, Mamoswine!" Dawn cheered.

When Leafeon stood up after being slammed into, it was obvious that had taken a lot out of the little grass type. Furthermore, Dawn more than made up for the points she'd lost earlier with the points she had cost Larkspur. Aside from marking the stage as hers in the most beautiful and powerful way for combining the beauty of ice with Mamoswine's raw power, she'd also proven she could play her opponent right into her hands. The brilliance of that was not lost on the judges.

Nor, her opponent, who was now looking rather nervous himself.

"Synthesis!" he commanded. Luckily, the Sunny Day wasn't close to running out yet. As such, Leafeon was able to recover quite a lot of energy.

They were going to have to wait out the Sunny Day, then, Dawn realized. As strong as Mamoswine was, they weren't going to be able to make enough critical, super effective hits to cancel out a Sunny Day charged Synthesis being spammed. Though, the judges would eventually take off points for that. Still, they were racing against the clock.

Knowing she had to keep Mamoswine's new move hidden, Dawn pointed down. "Mamoswine, Dig!" Though her smile wasn't as wide now, it was only because she had her game face on. Brows furrowed, she still looked to be enjoying the match immensely.

The Pokémon disappeared under the stage. Well, they were going to have to do some cleaning up after this, huh? No matter; if they could clean up after that Nidoking's Earth Power, they could handle this, too.

"Leafeon, stay on guard! Use Leaf Blade as soon as it comes through!"

"Lea!" the Eeveelution barked back.

Soon, Mamoswine burst out of the ground right under Leafeon. However, the little grass type braced against it, ears and tail glowing green in defense. Mamoswine's tusks couldn't break through the Leaf Blade used defensively, unfortunately, so the two moves canceled each other out. However, Leafeon did have to propel itself up and away from Mamoswine.

That left it open to attack.

Dawn didn't miss her opportunity. "Ice Fang!" She pumped a fist into the air out of enthusiasm.

Mamoswine, not about to give Leafeon one moment of rest, tossed the grass type back into the air with his tusks.

The bluenette crossed her arms, a little confused herself. "Huh… I thought for sure it would have frozen by now."

"Leafeon can't! She's got Leaf Guard! As long as Sunny Day's going, we're fine! We can outlast you!"

He might be right about that, Dawn supposed. However, upon looking up, a smug grin crept back onto her face. She pointed up, a hand on her hip. "Yeah… Probably. But, can you outlast your Sunny Day?"

Larkspur's face paled as he looked up. The Sunny Day was fading.

"Hidden Power," Dawn commanded with glee.

"Dodge it!" Larkspur cried.

Leafeon did so successfully, though it was clear the grass type was strained once more.

"Synthesis!"

Dawn noted the way Leafeon stood still. Time to attack. "Ice Fang! Bear down on them!"

Mamoswine did as told, approaching the Leafeon at the end of its Synthesis and pinning it under his icy tusks.

"Leaf Blade for defense!"

The limbs went up just in time to keep Mamoswine from about crushing the smaller Pokémon. However, the sunlight was fading and frost could be seen traveling down those glowing green limbs. With Larkspur just barely behind points in Dawn and falling as Leafeon turned into an icy statue, was there any hope for recovery for him?

Well, the time running out settled that. Just as Leafeon's head was beginning to frost, the match ended.

"She's become quite the wily Vulpix, folks, but she's our winner for this match! Give a big round of applause for Dawn and make sure to cheer her on in the next round!"

"Dawn came out of that without breaking a sweat," Ash noted, looking on in awe. "The guy wasn't bad, but he wasn't getting anywhere staying on the defensive." One thing was for sure, though. The girl that had at one point been a greenhorn herself had come a long way in coordinating.

* * *

Lillian raised a fist. The first battle rounds had gone by swimmingly. Particularly, two contenders had really caught the audience's eye: Dawn, who had originally started off as a fireball of energy in her first contest, was now looked upon as a cunning and elegant coordinator; and, Quijote, who was previously known for his narcissistic nature but who, in this contest, was proving that every inch of his pride was well earned.

"Let's get excited, folks! The Sly Vulpix from Sinnoh will face off against the Full Force Fighter of Vermillion! The match between Dawn and Quijote Mancha will now begin!"

Dawn wasn't sure how she felt about that title. Still, at least she was getting recognition, now. Kanto would know her name by the end of this. "Mamoswine, spotlight!" she began, tossing her Pokéball up.

"Seaking, time to rule the stage!" Quijote called. "Give 'em a Waterfall!"

He wasn't waiting around! Dawn's eyes widened in slight panic as a torrent of water was summoned, slamming down onto Mamoswine before the ice type had really oriented himself on stage. Seaking's entrance had been very flashy, and the judges didn't forget that. Dawn had points deducted.

It didn't help that Dawn saw Mamoswine flinch. He'd need a moment to recover...

Quijote was all too happy to take advantage of that. "Megahorn!"

"Mamoswine, use Hidden Power!" He would be slow to recover, but she wasn't going to be a sitting duck for anyone!

The Hidden Power transformed into water and didn't do much to slow down Seaking. The Goldfish Pokémon burst straight through the bubble.

However, it cost Quijote a few points. The sparkling water splashing over Seaking won the judges over a bit.

More importantly, it bought Dawn the time they needed to get a breather. "Ice Fang!" A bit of relief went through her. There was no way the Seaking could slow itself down right now. It had flung itself right at Mamoswine, after all.

"Hmph. Use Scald instead!"

The burning hot water melted off the sheen of ice that Mamoswine had built up. The Ice Fang was nullified and Seaking bounced off, mostly unharmed. The ruined Ice Fang cost Dawn points.

This was too unpredictable, she decided. She needed to see what her opponent could do. He was strong, sure, but how strong? What were his tactics? "Mamoswine, use Dig!"

Happy to get some relief from his fast, fishy assailant, Mamoswine dug under the stage hastily.

"You're using all the same moves! You've got to attack me head on, stupid! I know all your tricks!" Quijote boasted. "Seaking, flush 'em out with Surf!"

"Why, you…!" Dawn hissed, seething momentarily before remembering where she was. She had to hold her tongue, and keep her cards hidden until the last minute. She watched silently as Mamoswine's Dig was spoiled. He had to come up for air, not really aiming to attack.

Besides, right now, they were on the defensive.

"Megahorn!"

"Counter with Ice Fang!"

Though his breathing was labored, Mamoswine was able to fend off Seaking's threatening horn with his tusk. Thankfully, the judges seemed impressed this time. Even as the ice coating his tusk cracked under Seaking's pressure, the shimmer of it cost Quijote some points.

Waterfall, Megahorn, Scald, and Surf, Dawn counted off. That was four moves! None of those could stop what Dawn had planned. She just had to goad Quijote into using Surf again. Until then, she had to keep Mamoswine moving so he wouldn't be an easy target. Thankfully, the last Surf left plenty of puddled water on stage.

"Mamoswine, same as last time! Use Ice Fang on the floor!" she cried.

Mamoswine nodded before touching down, creating numerous ice paths for himself.

"Gonna meet us head on, huh? Fine! Seaking, use Megahorn, again," Quijote growled.

"Haha, whoa, no," Dawn chattered nervously. "Mamoswine, use the Freight Train style to dodge it."

Sending himself sliding, Mamoswine's speed vastly outdid Seaking's. The big ice type glided out of the way thanks to his ice.

Quijote gritted his teeth when he saw his opponent smile in satisfaction. Even worse, the judges seemed to think that big lummox sliding around was cute! "Seaking, hit 'em with a Waterfall!"

"Freight Train out of the way," Dawn called, throwing out an arm in a suggested direction. Her smile was up. She could see Quijote getting pissed. Hopefully the goading was working. Even better, the judges were still taking points from him since Mamoswine was lifting his legs at her encouragement, mimicking Buneary's usual gracefulness on the ice.

He'd had enough. "Seaking, Scald those paths. This isn't a circus."

Dawn gulped. Oh, boy. They were in for it now. Ignoring the points the judges awarded Quijote at her expense for how cool the steam from all of that looked, Mamoswine was cornered now!

"So clever you turned out to be! How's it feel to be cornered?" Quijote taunted. "Seaking, use Surf!"

Dawn let out a huge sigh of relief upon seeing the massive wall of water starting on Quijote's side of the stage, Seaking riding it all the while. "Heheh," she chuckled. "I wouldn't know." Pointing forward, she suddenly looked fierce and commanding. "Blizzard!"

Mamoswine's fur bristled and he braced himself, eyes shut tight from effort. Opposite side of the Surf headed for him, a massive ice storm brewed on stage. The audience shivered a bit. However, the real trouble was headed for Seaking. The storm and the sea met in the middle. The waters slowed, ice chunks forming in them. The further into the Blizzard attack that Surf and Seaking ventured, the more ice developed. Soon, even Seaking was feeling the effects!

The tidal wave finally stopped just inches short of Mamoswine's snout. The brute was very pleased with himself upon opening his eyes, snorting.

Quijote's jaw dropped. A Blizzard that strong… What did she do for training? Who did she train with?! Where?! "Argh! No matter! Seaking, use Scald aga -"

"That's the match!" Lillian interupted. "Quijote, you're out of points," she said apologetically. It was true. The huge, glimmering ice sculpture on stage settled it. They'd been battling each other intensely and all the little exchanges had added up, but Dawn's gutsy risk paid off big time.

With that awkwardness handled, Quijote finished his order. "Seaking, use Scald." Though the battle was over, Quijote still needed to return his Pokémon. He did so quickly, walking off stage in embarrassment.

Dawn ran over to Mamoswine, petting him atop his snout and sneaking a poffin out of her pocket. "Act right," she hissed when he got overzealous eating it.

"Dawn!" Lillian called out.

The coordinator jumped out of her skin, not wanting her partner's snacking to be seen. "Y-Yes?"

"Why don't you come over so you can accept your ribbon. After all, you're our winner! You and Mamoswine did wonderfully together, and we can't forget that Absol you started out your appeal with!"

Mr. Contesta walked up, ribbon gleaming from within a velvet presentation box. "Dawn, it is with great pleasure that we of the Celadon City Contest Judgement Committee award you this ribbon! Please keep giving us thrills and chills!"

"Thank you!" she said, graciously accepting her award. She looked back at Mamoswine. He was too large to stand on the end of the stage with her, but he winked at her. If this performance didn't get her merchandise, she didn't know what would. "It's been a pleasure competing here!"

* * *

Todd clicked away through all the pictures he'd taken with his digital camera, eager to see what would turn out to be a good shot. Dawn, meanwhile, hovered near him, trying to see herself or her Pokémon in his shots.

"Well, that was sure something!" Ash cheered, stretching his arms. Rosa clapped in agreement on his shoulder while Pikachu chirped from where he made himself cozy on Empoleon's head. "That Quote-y guy was intense."

"There were a lot of good scenes from the contest. The end of your match is probably going to be my crown jewel," Todd noted as he looked down on the phone.

Dawn let out a happy squeal. "Oh, there I am, in the corner!" The coordinator finally backed off, pumping both fists. "This has got to be it! I'll be well known for sure!"

Ash couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, you took a risk and it might be worth it. But, didn't you say you wanted to pick up some merch with Zoey's face on it?"

"Right! Oh, and I wanted to go visit the Game Corner… How about after your gym battle?" Dawn suggested.

"Yeah. We should practice for Rosa's contest soon, too, right?"

However, their conversation was broken by a jingle. Ash looked around before realizing it was his cell phone. No one ever really called that. "Uh, sorry guys, I wanna take this. I'll catch up, alright?"

"If you're sure. Well, come on then, Todd! Maybe they'll have some stuff for you, too!" Dawn enthused, pulling the man along.

"I would like some Smeargle stuff," he supposed.

Empoleon waved to Pikachu as the little electric type hopped back to his trainer. With that, Empoleon waddled off after Dawn, too.

After watching his friends run off, Ash picked up his phone. "Hey! How was your trip?"

* * *

Todd hummed as he looked through the plushie booth next to the stall selling all of the coordinator goods. Empoleon was looking hungrily down the rows at a food vendor; it smelled briney down there.

"Hm… Todd, would it be creepy if I got a notebook with my friend's face on it? Maybe I should just get a keychain… Then again, I really only have a key to my house," Dawn mulled.

"It's your choice," he flippantly replied before finally spotting what he'd been looking for. "A Smeargle!"

She put her hands on her hips, a little insulted he'd ignored her question for his own obsession. "Why don't you just catch one?"

Todd gulped. "... Uh, don't wanna."

"What?! You're clearly enamored with them." She paused. "... Hey, I haven't seen a PokeDex on you. Todd, are you even a trainer?"

"Hey, we all have our secrets!" he snapped, slamming the money for his plushie down on the table before snatching it up and heading off.

Dawn rolled her eyes, picking up the notebook before deciding to grab a set of Pokéball polishing rags with various Champion's primary Pokémon on them. "Not all of us have secrets!" she argued as she trailed after him.

"Yes, everyone does," he insisted.

"Nuh-uh. Ash and I tell each other everything."

"Everything?" Todd inquired, turning to look at her while raising a brow.

"Yes, every - " She paused, thinking about the secret she was keeping. But, that was fair, right? He wasn't keeping any secrets from her and she was only waiting for the right time to tell him that she liked him. That was completely fair! Still, now she was blushing. "... I guess you've got a point."

Unsure of what he'd done to shame her, but glad she let his own issues go, Todd focused on more important things. Raising his camera, he snapped a photo of Empoleon eating a very salty looking riceball.

"... Where did you get that?!" Dawn shrieked. "Did you pay for it?! Now we've gotta go back and apologize and pay for it!"

"Empooooo!"

"... Say, where's Ash?" Todd realized. "I've got to get going, and I wanted to say goodbye."

As Dawn tried to snag the half eaten rice ball from her now very tall starter as his punishment, she grunted out an answer. "Probably battling someone. He'd let us know if something came up." Giving up, she shook her head. "I'll tell him you said goodbye, if you want."

"That works. Alright, see you, Dawn! Good lu-"

"Back!" A familiar voice called, followed by a cry of "Pika!" to greet the group once more. Ash dashed in before coming to a halt, growing conscious of the fact that he was yelling rather loudly in public. "Sorry 'bout that. Did I miss anything?"

"Well, _Empoleon_ here decided to have a snack without paying for it." Dawn deadpanned, eyeing her shameless starter. "I'm gonna go handle that at the register." With that, Dawn turned to approach the cashier, planning to beg for their forgiveness.

"And, I was getting ready to leave, just about now. I've got to submit these pictures soon, if I want them to be the ones used as highlights!" Snap added. "It's been really nice getting to catch up with you, though, Ash. And, your friend."

Ash's eyes followed Snap's, a chuckle leaving him as he watched Dawn try to goad her starter into an apology. "Yeah, you, too! Shame ya have to go so soon, but it's been fun!"

 **Snap!**

The sound of a shutter went off, along with a bright flash. A startled Pikachu's heart jumped, ears shooting up, and cheeks crackling with electricity.

Try as he may, Ash could do nothing to hold off the electric onslaught.

"Chu!" Pikachu shrieked, the startled mouse unleashing a torrent of electricity upon Ash and Snap, pained yelps gaining the attention of the entire store. As if the flashes of gold weren't enough.

"Huh?" Dawn craned her neck, just barely catching the end of the Thunderbolt. She shook her head, exasperated. "Unbelievable… Looks like you actually did me a favor, Empoleon."

"Pol!" The Pokémon chirped, proud of himself.

"That doesn't mean you're off the hook."

Meanwhile, a soot-covered Ash groaned in pain before shooting a look at the cameraman. "What's the big idea, huh!?"

"You've gotta understand… That was a perfectly natural shot of Pikachu! He didn't see it coming; I just had to take it!"

"Yeah, no kidding, he didn't… Way to get us roasted. You alright, buddy?" He reached to scratch behind his companion's ear, soothing his shaken composure.

"Chu…" Pikachu sighed, neglecting to glare daggers at Snap. Seems some things never changed.

"Yeah, well… Ah! My camera!" Snap gawked in horror, his device crackling with leftover static. "If this is ruined, I'm finished…! Uh, I'll see you guys later! I'll send you the pictures! Adios!" The overzealous teen sputtered out, rushing out the away from the stall-lined boulevard before the contest hall with nary a moment to spare.

"Uh… See ya," Ash trailed off, exchanging a smile with Pikachu. Spotting Dawn then, he let out a sheepish chuckle. It was painfully obvious that the group had attracted some attention. "Eheh… You ready to go?"

" _We_ are. The cashier was pretty understanding; he even let us buy a few more snacks for Empoleon!" She rested a hand on her hip, giving the teen a sly smile. "The better question is, are _you_ alright to leave?" Ash's blackened figure was obviously noted.

Coughing up some soot at quite an inopportune moment, he nodded. "I'll be fine. Let's head to the Pokémon Center! I wanna see what Snap sends us when he gets the chance."

* * *

Without further incident, the group made it to the Pokémon Center. After grabbing some grub that was being offered complimentary to their stay, the duo relaxed for a bit. Ash polished off both his portion and Todd's, since the photographer never actually checked out, in between tending to the Pokémon in his party while Dawn decided to turn them over to the nurse for group feeding, given that Mamoswine wouldn't fit in the room at all.

"I'm going to go check my email," Dawn announced as Ash took care to keep Rosa's Pokéchow separate from the poffins Dawn had given her. "Maybe Todd's pictures will be there."

Lo and behold, with a bit of poking around, she'd come across a message from the eccentric photographer. "Hey, there it is!" The bluenette beamed, clicking on the files that had been sent along with it. Along with a few shots of other competitors were shots of Dawn and her Pokémon - during both the appeal and the battle rounds! Absol's round was every bit as spooky and chaotic looking as she'd hoped, and the battle shots were rather dynamic. He'd… Even gotten a snap of her fury from when Quijote had insulted her. How embarrassing…

Fortunately, fixing up the pup's meal didn't take long. "Hey, let me see!" Ash chimed, running over to peer over his companion's shoulder. "Hey, check it out! He did a really good job. The contest looks great!" Ash leered through some of the more action-y shots, satisfied with Mamoswine's successful attacks, along with the devastating Blizzard counter he'd pulled off.

Beyond those were the appeal shots. Absol looked absolutely - Ash belly-laughed at the play on words - terrifying! With wild snow-white fur, leering red eyes, all amongst the storm, it was a sight he knew he'd never want to meet face-to-face.

Up next was a shot that captured both Absol and Dawn, towards the beginning of their combination. Razor Wind had just begun to stir, Absol's horn letting loose a shining gust. Next to her was Dawn, standing firm with an arm out and a bold expression. Her blue locks, normally carefully managed and hanging, were thrown about by the gust. That bold confidence… It looked cool on her, Ash couldn't help but note. "Hey, you look pretty damn good here," he remarked without a thought.

Dawn at first accepted the compliment with her typical vain flair. However, after a second, her brain processed who had said it, she barely muffled a squeak and turned her head so fast to look at him that her hair whipped around her. "You mean it? Thank you!" Her gaze lingered on his, her cheeks lightly dusted with a faint tinge of rose. Her lashes fluttered, eagerly awaiting his response with baited breath.

Likewise, it took Ash a few moments, and a bit of extended eye contact for him to reach the same realization. "Uh… Yeah, well…!" Had he really just said that out loud? That wasn't like him at all! His shoulders locked, eyes wide and breath hitched as he scrambled for a proper response. "Oh, right! There's someone we gotta see now, c'mon!" He scrambled to attend to Pikachu and the others, who'd thankfully finished their meals by now. Lest he had to explain _that_ conversation. "We gotta get moving, guys. C'mon, Dawn! We're gonna be late!"

"Late for what?" she squeaked, a bit upset that he'd blown off their _moment_ , if it even counted as a moment, but all the same rushing out of the room and towards the counter. She had to have her Pokémon, after all!

Ash chased after her, all his Pokémon returned except for Pikachu. "You'll see!"


	35. Underground and Undercover

Two new pieces of fanart based on this chapter are up on our another-rxad tumblr. Check them out; preferably after you guys finish, though! Wouldn't want to run into spoilers. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Dawn let out a huff, trailing barely behind Ash as she attempted to keep up with the boy who'd so quickly decided he was in a rush. Had he been _that_ uncomfortable…? Ash wasn't the type to go to such ends over social conventions.

Lost in her thoughts, though, Dawn had only just returned to reality, slowing in her steps as a familiar face came into view. Blue orbs widened, disbelief written on her features. "Hey, isn't that…?"

"Bertha!" Ash chimed, his smile wide as he came to a stop on one of Celadon's sidewalks. "You made it!" He let out a jovial chuckle, echoed by a cry of greeting from Pikachu.

"Ash!" The familiar voice greeted heartily, a friendly smile on her aging face. "And, Dawn, too! It's been far too long." Indeed, the eldest of Sinnoh's Elite Four - as much as she detested the title - had arrived in the flesh. She stood on the street's corner, arms folded behind her back in her usual posture. "Ah, and your Piplup's evolved! That's great to see." She noted, eyeing the Empoleon standing beside his trainer.

"He sure has!" Dawn affirmed, a proud smile forming that was mirrored in her starter. "I hope it's not rude to ask, but what're you doing here?" Her head tilted. Is this what Ash had been preoccupied with?

"Well, it just so happens I ran into Ash a little while back," Bertha started, looking to the growing boy. "I was impressed with his progress, so we promised to keep in touch."

"...And, I thought I'd call and catch up after we got to Celadon! I've been practicing a lot, after all." Ash finished, notably proud of himself.

"So, that's who you were talking to on the phone earlier," Dawn deduced.

"That observation would be correct," Bertha poked, calling back to her lessons on that very subject. "I'm hoping you've been working hard too, Dawn? It'd be disappointing if my lessons went to waste."

"I sure have! I just won my third Kanto ribbon earlier."

"Yup," Ash testified. "You should've seen her in the battle rounds! Read her opponent like a book." The trainer grinned, clearly proud of his companion.

"Well that's great news." Bertha peered around, having almost been blindsided by a rude bypasser. _Almost._ "Maybe we should move to somewhere more convenient? Kind of hard to carry a conversation in the middle of all this ruckus."

"Yeah… Probably a good idea!" Ash chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Hey, there's a battlefield over there!" The trainer pointed out, spotting an open space for casual battles down the block. There were even a few benches and tables on the side!

"Good eye," Bertha remarked. "That'll be our destination, then!"

"Let's get to it!" Dawn chimed.

* * *

Settled at one of the tables on the sidelines of the open fields, the trio casually talked amongst themselves. Pikachu and Empoleon lounged in the sunlight, soaking up the warmth while their trainers chattered.

"I hadn't realized _he_ was ever the Pewter City Gym Leader," Bertha mused, a tinge of bitterness in her tone when referring to Brock.

Ash laughed a little. "Well, things haven't been easy there. The official title of gym leader, uh, gets handed through the family a lot," he confessed. He wasn't about to go telling all of Brock's family business, but he supposed Bertha might want some clarification on why she didn't know that.

"Hm, on that note, is the Cerulean Gym still run by three trainers?" she inquired. She remembered the kerfuffle at the annual multi-League meeting over that. It wasn't traditional at all to have that, but Unova had set a precedent by having numerous co-gym leaders, even for their premier gyms. Like Kanto, every other gym had lesser gyms that badges could be earned from but the premier gyms hosted the toughest and most well-regulated gym leaders. Those badges were most likely to be accepted for tournament entrance.

"Oh, no!" Ash corrected, shaking his head. "My friend Misty finally took over in full from her sisters. They haven't run the gym in, gosh, years I think."

"That would explain why it's been quiet this way. Though, there's some Jazz and Flash gym here that is still trying to get proper accreditation," Bertha trailed off.

Despite not being the academic type, Ash was pretty good at remembering how the parts of the Pokémon League worked, especially for his home region. "Kaz and Yas! I remember them. Though, I've never really heard for what it takes to get licensing to be a gym leader…"

Dawn tried to be polite, but now she was getting really bored. She understood most of what they were saying, but it meant a hill of beans to her. She wasn't a trainer, after all. Still, they were so engaged in this conversation that she felt it would be rude to try and change it. So, instead, she coughed into her hand, catching their attention. "Sorry! You two seem caught up in gym talk, so I'll let you catch up, alright? I wanna try out the game corner… Maybe I'll win something! I'll be at the Pokémon Center when you need me!"

"Oh," Ash bashfully said, suddenly feeling a little bad. She must have felt left out. "Alright, see you later!"

"See you, dear," Bertha bid.

The duo watched as Dawn collected Empoleon before the two walked off. As Pikachu hopped onto the table, Bertha let out a sigh of relief.

"Your friend is really polite. I didn't want to challenge you to a battle when she couldn't participate," Bertha explained. "I was a little afraid I was going to have to battle you both to not hurt her feelings. She seems prideful, like you. But, I want to see what _you_ can do."

Ash was a little taken back. Bertha went through all that trouble to get a private battle with him and mind his friend's feelings? She really wanted to see how far he'd come, then. "If you're that eager, then I won't turn you down," he assured, grinning.

"Wonderful. I figured you'd be as bold as ever." A smirk formed on the old woman's lips, before a thought struck her. "...Oh! How's little Rosa doing? Riolu and Lucario tend to specialize in observation; maybe it'd be best if she saw this battle, too."

"Oh, right!" Ash fumbled for her Pokéball, grabbing it off his belt. "She's been great. We train now 'n then when we're not on the road… Alright. Rosa, come on out!"

The ball parted, spitting out a flash of light that took its tiny form.

A Riolu appeared, standing on top of the table. Spotting the familiar face, she tensed some.

"Hey, it's alright." Ash reassured, patting atop her head. "You've met her before, remember? Nothing to worry about."

The pup hesitated before letting out a yip of greeting. She seemed friendly enough, after all.

"Well, she didn't hide away like last time. Maybe you're rubbing off on her," the elite chuckled before standing up. "Right, then. Ash and I are going to have a battle. I want you to watch closely."

"You're gonna wanna catch this. She's one of the strongest trainers in Sinnoh!" Ash enthused… Though, noting her grimace, he relented. "...Anyway, it's gonna be fun! Keep your eyes peeled!"

"Rio!" The Pokémon yipped, sitting on the edge of the table. Battles were usually fun to watch!

"Now, let's make this a one-on-one," Bertha suggested. "I want you to focus on nothing but the match itself."

"Fine with me!" Ash agreed.

The two trainers, old and young, went their separate ways, taking their spots on each side of the battlefield. Bertha stood straight, stoic as ever, while Ash's heart raced.

' _Now's my chance… Another shot at one of the Elite Four! I can't mess this one up.'_ Ash tensed, a fist closed rather tight. For all of his improvement, he still found the woman intimidating.

"Well? You can choose first. You're the challenger, after all."

Wait, hadn't she challenged him!? Ash's face fell a little. How confusing… That was fine with him, though! "Alright… For this battle, I guess I'll choose you… Glalie!"

Ash had lobbed a Pokéball forward, the sphere bursting open. The Face Pokémon appeared, looking just as intimidating as ever. Floating above the field, he awaited his opponent.

Unlike Ash, Bertha did not make any sudden decisions even when he chose. Had this been a real battle within the league's rules, she would've been forced to choose within ten seconds, or face penalty. Thankfully here, she had all the time in the world. What was the sense of rushing?

A wry smile bloomed on her lips as her professional experience seeped in; standing straight and hands no longer clasped behind her back. A certain fire flickered in earthen colored eyes as she scanned the battlefield; gaze drifting around. The field was small, but adequate to accommodate Pokémon of most, if not all sizes. The Pokémon Center was off limits and out of the battlefield area.

"Glalie? My, what an interesting choice. I hope you don't think you've won already, my dear. Let's see just how strong you've gotten –" she pulled a Pokéball free, tossing it forward. It opened, revealing..

" _GOLEM!"_

The Megaton Pokémon landed with surprising grace for its type; fangs briefly bared before it remained stoically silent. Already this battle was shaping up to be something interesting and unusual. Bertha clearly had a type disadvantage, and this was a Pokémon Ash only seen in action once – removing Team Rocket's hideous machinery.

Her smirk remained, almost taunting. Her Pokémon were well trained enough and bond so strong that she need not speak a single command for them to know what she wanted. It was a similar trick she pulled off in their last battle. Clearly, the lack of action shows she was letting Ash go first – perhaps a mistake? Or, perhaps a simple defensive tactic? Time would only tell.

"She's not doing anything," Ash noted, a brow raised. This was nerve-racking. The pressure was all on him to start the battle off. Then again… He thrived under that pressure. "...Alright, if you won't start, I will!" Ash declared, throwing a hand outward. "Glalie, Ice Beam, now!"

"Glalie!" The Pokémon roared, cyan light sparking between its demonic horns. Two currents of cold energy merged, taking the form of a bright ray of ice that shot across the field. The air around the move was chilled instantly, bits of frost emanating over the battlefield.

Glalie was no slouch.

Nor was Golem. Without any verbal command, the rock type retreated into its stony shell, spinning like a tire before taking off across the field. Ice Beam had clearly missed its mark.

"That's Rollout…" Ash grit his teeth. For such a heavy Pokémon, it was fast. "Ice Beam, again!"

Glalie fired a second ray from his horns, this time aimed at the location Golem was going to be, rather than aiming right for it.

Golem was heading right for the assault. Seemingly on a collision course… An Elite's Pokémon wasn't so predictable, however. Launching leaps and bounds above the field, Golem cleanly avoided the Ice Beam once more.

"What the…!" Ash gawked, jaw slack in disbelief. Was a Golem seriously flying over his head!?

"We've got it now. Ice Beam! Don't let up!"

"Gla!" The Pokémon grunted. A continuous stream of ice followed the rock type, persisting in the Pokémon's descent. No luck came to it, though, the Pokémon resuming to roll as it hit the ground.

"We're not gonna hit it like this," Ash resigned. If they couldn't hit it directly, though…

"Keep firing!"

The stream of sub-zero rays continued to trace Golem's path in a seemingly futile effort.

"That boy… What's he up to?" Bertha's eyes narrowed. He should know that he wouldn't be making any headway like this.

Of course, her talents came into play soon enough.

Ah! He was freezing the field over. In an attempt, she assumed, to limit Golem's mobility. Clever, she was tempted to praise. But perhaps not quite clever enough.

 _'There we go,'_ Ash thought, a smile slipping onto his lips. _'Now, there's no way it'll be able to move around the way it has! Glalie has the home field-'_

"Hidden Power!" The Elite's voice bellowed, bringing Ash out of his thoughts immediately.

Golem's spinning stop, the Megaton Pokémon vaulting above the field before belching out a red orb of energy. It splashed over the icy field, bursts of flame flickering and eating at the frost from one end of the battlefield to the next.

By the time the attack had subsided, only steam trailed from the arena.

Ash swallowed. "That Hidden Power must be Fire Type… That could be trouble." Far be it from him, though, to give up at the first hint of trouble. "Let's kick it up a notch! Gyro Ball!"

Dual silver orbs lit on Glalie's horns, coating his body in a steely hide as he began to spin like a top. Rotating into what was barely more than a blur, the pokemon built momentum before launching at Golem. A glimmering ring of energy surrounded him, protecting his body.

"Rollout!" Bertha commanded.

The rock type tucked into a sphere once more, tearing through the battleground with remarkable power and speed. Only mere moments passed before it clashed with Glalie, sending a booming shockwave across the open field.

Ash held his hat down upon his head, swallowing as the sheer power the two were putting out made itself quite known. Golem was an unbelievable powerhouse… Nothing short of what an elite's Pokémon should be. Glalie, however, proved himself equally impressive, refusing to give in.

Neither seemed to budge an inch, one spinning vertical and one horizontal, each pummeling in the other in a test of will. Neither cowered, but the clash was beginning to take its toll. With each spinning in different directions, the two inevitably bounced off one another with a second burst of power, thrown spinning away from the other.

"They're dead even," Ash noted, eyes wide.

A small smirk picked up in the corner of the other trainer's mouth. "Rock Blast!"

Several silver rings started to circle the heavyweight's body, the orbs soon taking the form of numerous large stones that orbited their creator. With a roar, they were launched forward.

"That's dangerous… Dodge it, Glalie!"

As powerful as Golem's attacks were, the floating head was notably fast. Zipping and lacing between the large rocks, Glalie came mere inches from being struck each time, slowly closing the gap between itself and Golem.

"Great… Now, Gyro Ball!"

Already building momentum was poured into another spinning tackle, the metallic horned orb slamming into Golem. This time it was a clean hit, taking the rock type aback.

Bertha didn't falter an inch. "Hidden Power!"

Golem skidded to a halt, far from being slowed down. Another red orb was spat out.  
"If that's a fire type move, then…" A smile picked up on Ash's lips, a hand thrown outward.

"Water Pulse!"

An orb of condensed liquid conjured in front of the icy Pokémon's mouth, giving the Pokémon a bit of recoil as he shot the blast forward.

The shot of water ate through the fiery projectile, dissolving it completely before crashing into Golem.

The rock type let out a pained cry, enduring the move. He stood his ground, letting out an irritated huff. Glalie was powerful, but its defenses were second to none.

"Oh, crap…" Ash cursed under his breath, baring witness to the Pokémon's durability. If they were going to win this one, they'd really have to kick their attacks up a notch.

Crossing his arms before throwing them out dramatically, Ash called out. "Blizzard!"

"Glalie!" The Face Pokémon grunted, firing a harsh, icy storm from his cold reserves. Within moments, the torn and burnt battlefield would surely be sheeted in ice. Bertha would probably count herself lucky that she dressed heavy.

...Or, so Ash assumed, that was.

Bertha tutted. So quick to assume he had the advantage. "Rock Blast, then Hidden Power!"

Golem let out a mighty roar, knowing just what its trainer had in mind. A multitude of orbiting trails wrapped around Golem, conjuring a great deal more stones in its wake. With a cry, they were launched, forming what was more or less a wall to take on the Blizzard.

They weren't done, however. Several bursts of fire were spit out, ensnaring the incoming boulders in flames. The burning projectiles met with Blizzard, quickly silencing the storm.

Ash swallowed heavily, sweat dripping down his forehead; whether it was his fear or the heat wasn't certain. Glalie, quite literally, had a wall of fire coming his way.

"This is bad… If that hits we're done for! Glalie, Blizzard Counter Shield!"

"Glalie!" The pokemon didn't have to be told twice. Once again spinning like a top, the pokemon built up speed as he unleashed a freezing flurry, firing Blizzard in what soon turned into a sub-zero tornado, completely encasing the ice type Pokémon.

Ash hugged his arms to his chest, hoping desperately that he'd avoid frostbite.

As potent as it was for Ash, it was far more dangerous to the assault flung Glalie's way. Bitter winds chipped and pounded at the brittling stones, blowing them away under the sheer force of the storm.

"Alright…. We did it!" Ash cheered, finally exhaling in relief. Now they were out of the frying pan, and into the…

"Glalie!" The Pokémon cried in pain. A very effective Rollout had nailed it head-on, sending the poor ice type reeling.

"...Into the Golem." Ash finished his thought aloud, his heart sinking. Stubborn as ever though, he didn't relent. "Hang in there, Glalie. Ice Beam, now!"

Like trainer, like Pokémon. The Face Pokémon halted his flight, releasing another wave of cold from between his horns. The energy homed in on the retreating Golem, landing a perfect hit.

"Alright!" Ash cheered, watching the Pokémon recoil from the temperature. If they could just keep Bertha from sustaining a distance between them, they just might pull this off! "Time to take the offensive… Glalie, get in close to Golem, now!"

Bertha eyed the Pokémon before her. The consecutive strikes, piled with Water Pulse's moisture making Ice Beam's influence even worse were taking their toll. She scrunched her nose, calling out. "Don't let it through, Golem! Rock Blast!"

"Golllem!" The stubborn Pokémon cried, firing off one large boulder after the next.

"Water Pulse!" Ash countered. "Keep firing, and fight your way through!"

Glalie barreled onward, charging an orb of water before letting it loose. The first boulder collided with the attack, blasting the assault to bits in a super-effective clash.

"Again!"

A second boulder came, and it was met by a second water pulse, cracks running through before it burst to rubble, much like the one before it.

This happened twice more, and Glalie was rapidly closing in.

"She's getting desperate," Ash noted to himself with glimmering orbs. "Now, finish it! Use-"

"Rock Tomb!"

Ash recoiled. "What!?"

Heavy feet slammed into the ground below, sending quakes threw it that resulted in mountainous stones jutting from the field, striking and encapsulating Glalie. Before the Pokémon knew it, he was trapped in a cage of solid rock.

"Ah… Glalie!" Shake your way out of there!" Ash stammered. He hadn't accounted for that at all!

"It's been fun," Bertha trailed off. "Rock Blast!"

Another earthly cry came from Golem, several orbiting stones forming before launching at the earthy prison.

A series of loud explosions, and copious amounts of dust followed, shrouding the field.

"Damn it," Ash muttered. Waiting for the debris to clear, he feared for the worst.

...And, indeed, the worst did come. Laying in a pile of rubble was Glalie, swirls in his eyes.

Golem stood tall, shaky as he was. He'd narrowly come out on top.

"Well, I suppose that settles that," Bertha concluded. "Very good, Golem." A red beam encapsulated the rock type, returning it to a Pokéball that the elder pocketed.

"Man… We came so close that time." Ash's shoulder slumped. "Awesome job, Glalie. You were great." He held out a Pokéball, ready to return it.

"Now, wait," Bertha interrupted, approaching the Face Pokémon. Kneeling before it, she reached for something out of her jacket, pulling out a Max Potion. "Here, try this." She advised gently, spraying the ice type.

Blue eyes tensed before opening, the pokemon revitalized. "Gla! Glalie!" The pokemon happily chattered, grateful, to say the least. Grinning, he began to charge coldness between his horns.

"Ahhh…! Wait!" Ash stammered, rushing to call his pokemon back in the nick of time.

"Sorry… He gets a lil' excited when he likes someone."

"Well, I can at least commend you for catching onto that in time." Bertha playfully noted, approaching the younger trainer. "I don't want to hear you chiding yourself for that. Self-improvement is vital, but you've shown that you've done plenty of that. That was quite an enjoyable match."

"Thanks, Bertha." Ash managed a smile, disappointed as he might have been. "It sure was! I couldn't rest for a second there… I was so sure I was about to win this time, too."

"Well, being perfectly honest, I know Golem, and he wasn't far from being maxed out." That was about as close to saying she came close to losing as willing to say.

"But," she interjected, "Observation works both ways. It can be used both to your advantage, and against you. I'm hoping my lesson hasn't been a wasted effort."

"Your lesson?" Ash's head tilted. His pride in nearly toppling an elite, even one on one, took a backseat to curiosity. "You mean about observation? What was different this time?"

"Last time, it was teaching you to observe your surroundings and using them to your advantage. _This_ time, however, there was something else you had to learn. Deceit can be a great vehicle of using someone's good eye to their detriment. Time and again, I allowed you to grow sure of your victory in ways that seemed to paint the match as going your way. In those moments, you get careless…" The tail end of the match in particular came to mind. "That's something you should both be wary of, and be mindful to use to your advantage."

"Oh, wow… I see what you mean." Ash's eyes were wide. She certainly lived up to her title. "I get it, now! Thanks for the great rematch, Bertha!" He grinned, holding a hand outward.

A soft smile formed at his sportsmanship. Doing the same, she shook the taller boy's hand. "I'd like to thank you for the same. You're on a clear path to improvement, Ash."

* * *

After the excitement of the battle and the mental strain of trying to keep up with the tricky, skilled battle matron, Ash found himself very satisfied… And, judging by the rumbling of his stomach, very hungry.

"Hehe, sorry," he laughed. "Guess I'm a li'l hungry."

Bertha let out a soft, motherly chuckle at his situation. "Tell you what: why don't we grab some food, my treat?"

He needn't be told twice. "Lead the way!" he gratefully agreed.

After a short walk, the duo found themselves at a small outdoor bistro. With spring fully arrived, the afternoon was pleasantly warm with an invigorating nip from the wind. Distant clouds on the horizon promised rain by tomorrow. The sun was still out by it laid lazily in the western sky, waiting to clock off work for the day not unlike the humans below.

After ordering their meals and appetizers in one go - Ash was very hungry and knew exactly what all he wanted, while Bertha seemed so picky that once she found the (expensive) thing her heart desired, she had no hesitation - the two settled down comfortable with their drinks. Despite being outdoor furniture, the wicker chairs were fitted with plush cushions.

Even the Pokémon were given nice accommodations. Pikachu and Rosa lounged nearby on pillows, lazily eating out of bowls of Pokéchow and drinking sparkling water. Or, in Rosa's case, asking Pikachu if he could ask the Sandshrew serving as the Pokémon's waiter for regular water.

"So, what's it like traveling without your loudmouth friend?" Bertha inquired, more interested in Ash's personal life now.

"He's doing good, and so are we," Ash gently answered, aware Bertha was probably still stinging from the slight Brock had caused her with his blatantly proclamation of her title all those months ago. Given that she ignored Reggie's insistence to not call him Reginald, it seemed whenever she was vexed by someone, she didn't let it go. Ash preferred not being on her bad side for that reason.

"Mmhm," she agreed. "Dawn seems sweet. Cynthia even remembered her, and she usually doesn't pay much attention to coordinators. Fantina's probably the only other one she cares about, but Fantina's been a gym leader since before Cynthia's Garchomp was a Garchomp."

"Whoa, really? Does Cynthia remember me?" Ash inquired.

Bertha smirked. "Why do you think I got permission to leave Sinnoh? It's off season, but we try to stick around in case anything sketchy happens. However, for mentorship of good trainers or personal vacation time, we tend to get free time. She's hoping you return one day." The old woman's frown suddenly dropped. "Flint feels the same."

"What's with the face?" Ash asked as their appetizers were placed before them.

The ground type specialist shook her head. "Flint says whatever fool thing comes to that cotton lined head of his."

So, he'd probably somehow insulted her, too. Deciding to steer the conversation away from that, he grasped for new topics. "So, are you liking Kanto?"

"The sun's a little hazier here," Bertha noted. "Closer to the equator, more humid. Not good for my hair," she said with a laugh. "Speaking of hair, do you and your blue haired friend train together?"

"We try to! Even if we aren't battling, we offer each other advice. We really push each other." He shoveled croquettes into his pie hole while Bertha gently nibbled on one.

"Support brings the greatest growth," she agreed. "It's good that you're working together, then. Perhaps she'll be the Volkner to your Flint." She paused. "... Perhaps not that exact dynamic."

Soon, their meals were placed in front of them. The talking trailed off as Ash stuffed his face. Bertha ate slowly, minding her manners. It was all delicious and soon everyone was satisfied.

"Ah, that was good!" Ash noted with a delighted sigh as the check came. "Thanks, Bertha."

"You're welcome," she replied. "Well, it's getting dark out, so why don't we -"

Her thought broke off when Rosa dashed over, crawling up Ash's leg and standing in his lap to bury herself in his chest, bright red eyes darting around. She felt something familiar! That desperation and greed was disgusting and a little scary!

"Rosa, what's up?" Ash asked.

Pikachu came over as well, trying to comfort the frightened pup.

 _~Bad!~_ she cried. _~Someone bad is nearby!~_

Bertha looked to Ash, waiting on an answer as she wasn't aware of what Rosa was saying.

"Uh… She felt something," he explained. "I guess we should check it out."

Bertha nodded, putting down the payment and tip on the table. "Even if this isn't my region, as an Elite trainer it's my duty to make sure all is well. Lead the way, Ash."

The four quietly walked. Rosa pointed them in the right direction, soon leading them behind the restaurant and into a shady neighborhood. Eventually, among the red lights and neon signs, a startlingly bright vermillion series of shirts could be seen.

The residents of the neighborhood kept their eyes down as the Rocket grunts walked by. Bertha held her hand out, pressing Ash back against the alley as she herself pressed back against the grimy bricks. The herd of grunts walked past, not looking to the side at all. They watched only the one leading the group, mucky oil on the back alley street squelching under their steps.

Bertha paused. "... Put your jacket in your bag. I'm doing the same with mine. The material's too good, we're going to stand out."

As Bertha shed her nice coat, Ash obeyed. "We're gonna follow them, huh?"

"Mightyena in a group spells trouble for a Stantler, and Rocket grunts gathered means something's about to get stolen. Let's see who they're after."

* * *

The Celadon City Game corner was decadent. Ornate white columns supported a high roof decorated with some copycat artist's rendition of a truly famous piece while replicas of fine art pieces and local artist's attempts at classical art lined the walls. Music meant to feel classy but falling just short and diving straight into corny played over the speakers along with occasional calls for a patron to head to this station or that.

Tables for Electrode Flip were set up near the entrance while the crown jewel of the joint - Clefairy Slots - sat row upon row between the entrance and the exchange counters. Security officers dressed in sharp black outfits made infrequent rounds, flanked by Machoke and Hypno. Waiters and waitresses offering complimentary refreshments ventured from the snack bar to make sure their high stakes patrons wanted for nothing; Lopunny and Gardevoir were helping in this task as well.

On Row E's fifth Clefairy Slot machine sat Dawn. The bluenette felt a hot, heavy feeling stretching across her back and up her neck as she watched the screen spin. She'd already blown twenty dollars here. If she didn't make it this time, she _had_ to quit. She picked up the latest sparkling gourmet cream soda the waitress who monitored her row gave her.

Empoleon breathed deeply, eyeing his trainer. He didn't like the look in her eye she got when she was playing this game. She looked a little obsessed, honestly. If she didn't leave at this loss, he was going to make her.

As the spinning stopped, both grew deathly quiet. The silence intensified as the first two slots landed on 7 each. Dawn felt her heart hammering in her chest as the final stopped.

"Yahoo!" she cried out, throwing her hands in the air as 777 displayed on her screen. "Hahaha, I knew I'd win this one for sure! I had to!"

Empoleon let out a sigh. "Empo…" Maybe she'd get her money or a prize and they could leave.

However, the revelry was short lived. The waitress returned to Dawn's side. "Oh my, what a lucky winner! I think you could get a couple of plushies with that, or even one of our nice Silk Scarf sets!" The waitress's voice dropped. "But… You know, if you double that, you could get a really nice prize: a Mystic Water necklace. Or, if you quadruple it, we do have Technical Machines."

Dawn's grin widened.

Empoleon frowned.

"That's true… Hey, can you get me another cream soda? I'm gonna go for that Mystic Water! It looks nice…"

Empoleon shot Dawn a look.

"It's fine! I'll set my limit at twenty again. If I can't make it off the first twenty of my winnings, we'll take the… Uh, how much is this win worth, miss?"

"Three hundred!"

"Yeah, that's still way over two hundred for us to take home! It's fine, Empoleon. Aren't you supposed to be a big boy? This is how the big kids play!" Dawn insisted.

The penguin snorted.

"Well, miss, if you're going to keep playing, I'll take your win ticket and get you some more tokens. Why don't you take a short break to our snack bar! We'll set you up with some cakes."

Dawn grinned. "Certainly. Thank you so much!"

Empoleon slapped a flipper to his face. Why was she taking so much joy in gambling?! They should just leave now. She already lost twenty-one dollars; she'd only made two hundred and seventy-nine by his math! If she didn't make good on her promise this time, he was definitely dragging her out of here!

* * *

Their patience paid off. One grunt, blinded by the contrast between the neon lights and the swiftly coming night, slipped and fell in the ichor on the streets. Sputtering, the poor disenfranchised youth looked up just in time to see where his peers had run off to and darted after them, staggering.

Bertha and Ash did not run, walking slowly into the alley that the grunt stood in, at a loss as to where his peers had gone. He was alone, having failed in the number one task of all Rocket grunts: do not get caught.

Upon spotting Bertha and Ash, he froze. The safety he had been afforded in numbers was gone. Now, he was just another Rattata in these back streets in the rough part of town.

Bertha walked forward, Ash flanking her. "Don't move. You're under arrest by InterPol - the International Police."

The grunt went sheet white. "No, c'mon dude, I haven't done anything. This is my first night. C'mon. Please. I don't wanna go got jail. I ain't done anything. Dude, c'mon."

"Stop sniveling," Bertha snapped. "Compliance to the law is always rewarded. Strip yourself of your uniform." She reached into her bag and tossed out what was probably her pajama dress at the grunt. "Here. In exchange for giving up your association with this criminal organization, I will dismiss your current association. Do you accept these terms?" she demanded, arms crossed.

The grunt couldn't start stripping himself of his uniform fast enough. "Yeah, man! C'mon, I don't wanna go to jail. I'm out of 'em! You can keep 'em! I'm gone!" Scurrying past the two dressed in Bertha's pajamas, the former grunt disappeared into the night.

As quickly as she'd become deathly serious, the old woman chippered up. "Very nice! He even left them on the crate. They aren't dirty. Now, Ash, you have a way to slip in among the group!"

Ash gulped, a little unnerved. How commanding could Bertha really be? "Got ya…" He slunk over, stripping and putting the uniform. It was a little snug in the shoulders and arms thanks to his abundant musculature. He was thankful that the uniform's top was a little long as the pants were a little too short, too. He had to sag them to cover up his ankles.

"You shouldn't stand out too much… Except for Pikachu. He's too iconic."

"Yeah, he's kind of wanted by them, too," Ash noted.

"Very well. I'll keep ahold of him. We both have our Xtransciever and cell numbers, so we'll keep in contact if we need it. I'd return your Riolu for now. I didn't see any other Pokémon out."

Ash nodded before returning the pup. With that, he looked around, spotting a ladder. That must be where the Rocket grunts went! Using his aura briefly, he confirmed that he could sense a group of people on the rooftops. "Well, I'm going," he said before departing.

* * *

"What kept you?" barked the leader of the pack as Ash reached the roof.

He looked down, seeing the oil mark from where the grunt had fallen. "I, uh, fell… But, I can still work!" he scrambled.

The leader sneered before rolling his eyes. "Alright. We're headed for the game corner. The other team should have already infiltrated; they did all the hard work of intel gathering. So, you recruit maggots will just be doing the puke jobs. Don't mess up too bad and it'll go good on your record when we get back to base."

Ash's eyes widened though he kept quiet. Wasn't Dawn going to the game corner?! Was she still there?! He couldn't worry about that, now. They were heading out.

The leader placed a wood plank between the two roofs, moving hastily. As Ash was the last across, he noted that it almost seemed to snap under his weight. This was getting dangerous. At this height, he probably would have broken a bone. Thankfully, they _only_ had to do that _ten_ more times before they stopped.

"We're here," the leader announced. "We're going to enter into the maintenance room on the third floor. Keep aware. Some of the afterhours workers are not our people. If anyone raises a fuss, handle them but don't get loud."

Sure enough, a Rocket grunt dressed up as a waitress stepped onto the roof from the exit door. "Just in time! The mission leaders were getting worried."

The recruit leader scoffed. "As if those mess ups need to talk…"

"Well, the redhead is persuasive and the short one is good at planning, so that's why they get to call the shots and you play nanny, isn't it?" the Rocket agent disguised as a waitress teased. "Alright kiddies, follow me before someone wonders why my smoke break is taking so long."

Soon, the entire group of recruits and Ash were in the building, leaving the maintenance supply room. Ash made sure to keep his pace slow, falling to the back of the group as they headed towards the balcony overlooking the actual game room. Ash breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw the room itself darkened except for the glow of the occasional machine some other grunts probably trying to break into. The place was closed. Dawn wasn't here.

With that, Ash held back when the rest of the recruits were led down a hall. Ash looked around, trying to spot an important looking room. There was a metal set of doors! Maybe whoever was in charge was in there!

However, when Ash made it over, the door opened with a ding. It was an elevator and inside of it was a white uniformed Rocket agent.

"... Recruit," she spat, "What are you doing away from your group? I just saw them down stairs."

Ash swallowed thickly. "I, uh, got lost. I fell earlier," he explained, continuing the same lie, "and my ankles a little bad. I was hoping to use the elevator to get down easier."

The agent snorted. "A bum ankle is useless. But, you'll make good bait if the cops come. So, do me a favor: either pick up the pace or stay by the entrance like a good decoit, hm?" With a cackle, she walked off.

"Yes, ma'am!" Ash agreed, pretending to be frightened. As he entered the elevator, his fake fear faded away. "Yeah, right. I ain't goin' to jail for you jerks."

The elevator opened again and Ash walked out. He released Rosa, ears straining. In the distance, he could hear footsteps, but none were close. "Rosa, help me keep an eye out for any other Rocket members."

 _~Okay!~_ she agreed.

With that, the two made care not to go down any of the halls but to also stay out of sight of the balcony. He heard the occasional muffled scream and felt guilty. Somewhere, a poor janitorial worker was being bound and gagged for seeing something that wasn't their fault for being witness to. Ash had to get to the bottom of this for them, at least.

As Ash passed in front of a heavy looking wooden door, Rosa tapped his shoulder. He kept going for a few feet, eyes towards the ceiling until he spotted a security camera. Confident he was no longer within its view, he sat down.

 _~There's someone in there!~_ Rosa warned. _~Three someones. … Papa, do we know them?~_

Ash thought for a minute then frowned. "We better not," he whispered.

As they quieted down, faint voices could be heard from within the room.

"- It's what they get for stiffing the Boss on payment! We've been busting our butts to supply this over glorified arcade with the best Pokémon for years!" spat a harsh woman's voice.

"I know that, Jessie. I'm just trying to figure out what we're going to do with them. We can't just sell them. It's always raised brows for anyone who isn't a breeder to sell Pokémon, and there's no way we can get the licensing for it. It's too messy, logistically," a man corrected.

A scratchy, thick city voice chimed in. "Das why we're gonna set up our own game corner! W'the prizes adults like gone, these jerks'll lose mosta their business! We'll take back our Pokémon we delivered with interest! The Pokémon, the Technical Machines, and the good items! They can keep those cruddy plushies and become the kiddy corner for all we care!"

"Excellent point, Meowth!" Jessie purred. "These fools will be out of business in a week's time with only school kid's allowances lining their purses! Ahahaha! … What's wrong, James?"

"You think the recruits are okay? This is their first mission, and this place has really good security. If the cops come, they'll all be arrested…"

"Don't go soft on me, James. You and I took the same risk. Fair is fair. For the glory of Team Rocket, you must take risks. We only want good recruits, anyway."

Ash was gritting his teeth. "I don't wanna listen to anymore. We know what we need to, anyway. C'mon, Rosa. We need to find out what we can do to stop this. Some evidence in case we can't, so the cops can." With that, they started walking again.

Shortly, they came before an open door. They paused before peaking in, seeing a scientist asleep. He was surrounded by bottles and the room stank of a harsh odor. Whatever he was drinking wasn't soda. The screens flashed with the different monitors and various codes. Some of the screens lining the walls showed various Pokémon in cages and different rooms filled with stock. Ash could see grunts working to recapture the Pokémon and move the goods out of the rooms. It looked like it was in a basement.

"... That's what the B in the elevator stood for," he supposed. "Rosa, can you go in there? I see some files on his desk, but there's not enough foot room for me between the bottles near him."

The puppy hesitated before nodding. She crept in, speedily moving until she hit the sea of bottles where she slowed down. She even dropped down to all fours, creeping past the bottles. She paused as she reached the desk. It was too high for her to reach. She would have to jump. Swinging her arms back and forth, the Riolu leaped up, landing heavily on the desk.

She and Ash both winced, expecting the scientist to wake up. However, he only snored, mumbling something or other. Rosa picked up the documents and slipped back down, narrowly missing the bottles again.

Right then, the entire building was lit up with the alarm system going off.

"Augh!" Ash whined, clutching his ear. He looked to the screen, seeing a janitor clutching onto an alarm bell as grunts surrounded him. Ash couldn't blame the guy. But, he and Rosa had to get of here! They couldn't get caught in these uniforms!

Ash snatched up Rosa, scrambling to get his communication system out.

Just then, the white uniformed agent slid into the room. "Elmer! Shut off the system now, or -" She froze before blossoming into fury. "You! You're a double agent! I'll kill you!" She tossed out a Pokéball, a Grimer materializing. "Sludge!"

Ash braced himself before diving to the side. He grinned triumphantly as the screens began glitching; between the moisture and the acidic nature of the Sludge, he'd managed to trick the Rocket agent into messing up the computer system. Ash dashed out of the room as she was still processing what happened while Elmer was finally waking up.

"Catch him!" she screamed.

Ash flipped open the device, punching Bertha's number as he carried Rosa with one arm. The pup clung desperately to the documents. "Whoa, man, am I glad you showed me that tricky crap earlier! But, uh, hey, anyway I can get an evac?" he said, trying to keep the mood light as he headed for the elevator. He could see grunts trailing him, now.

He quickly pressed the button to open it, slipping inside but unfortunately allowing a single grunt to follow him in.

"I'm on my way, deary! Don't you worry! Meet me in the basement! There's a delivery port under the building I can get into!"

"Got ya!" Ash answered before being clocked by the grunt. Was this jerk not going to battle him?!

"Put up ya dukes!" the grunt called.

Ash rubbed his jaw before clicking his Xtransceiver off. Well, that hurt. It wasn't anything compared to Lucario's punches, no, but it was enough to piss Ash off. "Fine."

The grunt was lucky the elevator opened to the bottom floor right after Ash hit him. The guy went flying, landing on his back and knocked out.

Ash perked up. "Hey, the loading area! I can see an opening to the streets!" he enthused. It was a straight shot down the hallway to it!

Or, at least it was before all the grunts stepped out of the side hallways to it. Ash had momentarily forgotten this was where most of the goods were stored.

"There's the intruder," they growled to themselves. "If our operation gets busted, so does this guy! Let's get him!"

"... Rosa, you know how we're not really supposed to use our aura unless it's an emergency?"

 _~Yes.~_

"This is an emergency." Ash shifted to the side, narrowly avoiding a nasty Bite from a Rattata. He felt bad about having to fight Pokémon, but he and Rosa had to get out of here. He admittedly felt a little less bad when an Ekans tried to Coil around him and he instead flung it back at its trainer.

Rosa, meanwhile, was doing her best, too. She seemed to pick up on the way Ash wanted to avoid an actual fight and was doing her best to just dodge everything. However, for every few steps they were making forward into the hallway, they got even thicker into the cluster of Rocket grunts.

The two were even being cornered into another one of the side halls.

"No! Get off us!" Ash snarled. Was he really going to have to use an Aura Sphere? Even worse, was he going to have to ask poor sweet Rosa to battle for her life and not for sport? She was just beginning to enjoy it all!

Thankfully, that didn't happen. As Ash and Rosa were tucked safely away in one of the side hallways, what seemed to be a massive boulder rolled by, burying the Rocket grunts and their Pokémon under it. The sheer might of the thing knocked them all out!

Ash looked out of the hallway and towards the elevator. Now that it was untucked, Ash could see that it was a Golem!

"That must mean..." he said hopefully. He ran over to the entrance, snatching up the documents Rosa had dropped when she had to start fighting. "Bertha's here!"

Dropping down with surprising nimbleness for a woman her age, Bertha twirled before lifting a hand in the air. Pikachu, who was perched on her shoulders, even left off a few sparks for emphasis.

"The one and only!" she agreed. "I think we make a pretty good clean-up crew! What do you say we get going? I want to greet our boys and girls in blue properly!" she cheered.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jessie called out as the lights dimmed. She and James along with Meowth revealed themselves, shutting off their only escape out to the street. With Golem having crushed the elevator, they were stuck unless they got past those three. "You'd better prepare for trouble."

"Since there's two of you, we can definitely make it double," James agreed.

"We meant to protect this place save for our own devastation!"

"To punish those who would not be grateful for Team Rocket's exploitation!"

"To denounce a partner who cannot pay!"

"To punish a twerp who's always in our way!"

"Team Rocket will send you blasting off at the speed of light!"

"Don't surrender now, it's time to fight!"

"Some things never change… Meowth, that's right!"

Bertha smirked as Ash ran to her side, Golem standing behind her. "Here's your clothes, my dear. It seems we've got a double battle on our hands."

"I don't wanna change right here," Ash whined. "But… Here's Glalie's Pokéball! So, I'm game if you are."

"Are ya sure it's a good idea to tango with one of da strongest trainers in da Sinnoh region?" Meowth hesitated, sweat dripping down his forehead. "I got a bad feelin' 'bout this."

"Oh, can it. Do you really expect to become Team Rocket's greatest with an attitude like that?" Jessie scoffed, dramatically tossing a Pokéball forward. "Nidoqueen, let's prove our worth!"

"Nidooo!" The matriarch cried, stomping her heavy feet into the basement floor.

"Meowth kind of has a point," James sulked. "...But, so do you, I suppose. You, too, Nidoking!"

A second roar followed, the purple giant eyeing the group he was set to fight. His tail racked the ground below, an eagerness to fight showing in the poison type.

"Alright, Glalie… Let's show 'em! I choose you!" Ash called, tossing his Pokéball forward.

The Face Pokémon appeared once more, hovering besides Bertha's Golem. With Team Rocket's presence, he knew the drill. There was no need to explain the situation, even.

"Now, I'm limited by our location," Bertha noted. Being in the basement, we can't quite shake up the ground. I'll be counting on you to make up for that." She flashed a smile at the boy.

Could she compensate for that herself? Most likely. But it was good for him to grow into his own.

"Let's go, Nidoqueen! Blizzard!" Jessie commanded, a grin on her lips.

A feral cry conjured yet another burst of cold; as if there hadn't been enough today already.

Glalie could probably handle this no problem. Mt. Silver would prove adequate endurance training. Golem on the other hand, wasn't quite so lucky…

Fortunately, its trainer had this accounted for. "Hidden Power," she ordered.

Intentions were understood without many words needed. A multitude of orbs were belched, forming a fiery wall that ate through the harsh storm before Golem.

Glalie held his own, faltering little in the midst of the cold.

"Nidoking, Double Kick!" James ordered.

Perhaps offense wasn't the storm's only purpose. A large, bulky leg kicked through the snow and winds, crashing painfully into Glalie. Before the Pokémon could recover, a second roundhouse kick followed, hitting its mark.

"Hang in there," Ash encouraged. "...And use Crunch!"

Still within range, Glalie rebounded, managing to clamp down upon Nidoking's tail with his powerful jaws.

The poison type let out a roar of pain, flailing to shake the ice type free.

"Hold on tight!" Ash ordered. The longer they kept that Pokémon out of commission, the better.

Sweat dripped down James forehead, his face falling. "Get rid of it, Nidoking!"

Flailing his tail with all of his might, the Nidoking found no relief in the effort to rid himself of the pesky pokemon. This was getting really irritating!

"Don't just stand there, Nidoqueen, Toxic! If that oversized snowcone won't let go, we'll make it!"

The large Pokémon parted her maw, toxic goo bubbling in her throat.

Bertha frowned. That would certainly spell bad news for both of them. "Golem, Rock Tomb!"

The large, heavy Pokémon punched the ground before it, sending a smaller quake through the ground; he'd heard Bertha's warning. The attack was only enough to raise a rocky barrier around Nidoqueen, trapping it, as well as stopping the toxic goo in its tracks.

"Hey, nice one! Thanks a lot," Ash remarked, letting out a sigh of relief.

A mischievous glimmer appeared in James' eye. "Hit it against that Rock Tomb!"

Nidoking let out a furious roar, brutally slamming his tail into the rocky enclosement, and pummeling Glalie with it. With that, the Face Pokémon was finally forced to let go.

"Now, Megahorn!" He called.

Nidoking ducked its head, the sharp horn atop his head obtaining a sickening glow. It was then jabbed into Glalie, sending the poor Pokémon reeling back towards his own side of the battlefield.

"Now, pummel them with Superpower!" Jessie ordered.

The weakening barrier crumbled under Nidoqueen's weight, the navy pokemon vaulting towards Golem, brandishing a glowing arm that slammed into the sturdy rock type.

Golem recoiled, sliding back before regaining his balance. Painful, but far from crippling.

"Now, follow it up with Toxic!" A smirk picked up on the villain's cherry red lips.

Nidoqueen belched out more corrosive acid, aiming to poison the Megaton Pokémon.

At such close range, the Pokémon could only brace itself.

"Crap," Ash panicked. "Glalie, protect it with Gyro Ball!"

Just now recovering from Megahorn, Glalie vaulted to the rescue. Spinning into a blur with its usual silver orbit, the ice type shielded Golem, sending the acidic substance to and fro, well out of Golem's way. Or anyone else's for that matter. Indeed, the metal sheen had done its duty of protecting Glalie, as well.

"Persistent, huh?" James frowned. This was getting annoying. "Nidoking, Flamethrower!"

Eager to punish Glalie for its earlier transgressions, Nidoking roared, mouth parting wide to fire a deadly spray of flames towards the particularly susceptible pokemon.

"Look out!" Ash warned.

Of course, he wasn't alone. "Golem, you know what to do."

Eager to return the favor, Golem affirmed, rolling under the floating head to take the blast head-on. His rocky outer shell heated, ignited by the powerful stream of fire. Sturdy as ever, though, his hide protected him from the worst of the damage. He scratched his hot shell, unperturbed.

"You really saved our butts there," Ash acknowledged. "Thanks a lot."

The Elite simply flashed a cheeky smile. "This is a double battle, is it not?"

"Right," Ash nodded, turning back towards their opponents. "If they keep moving around, this is gonna be trouble… Alright, Glalie, Ice Beam! Freeze all of their feet to the ground!"

The Pokémon was eager to comply. Turning as he fired, he unleashed a hellish ray of cold across the basement floor.

"Jump, Nidoqueen! You can dodge that!" Jessie ordered.

"You too, Nidoking!"

Both Pokémon proved agile, jumping far above the attack's attempted range. With two heavy thuds, they landed afterward, unaffected.

"Nice try, twerp, but you'll have to do better than that!" Jessie taunted.

"All that training, and you still can't touch us!" James flicked his lavender hair, a smug smile on his lips.

"Wanna bet?" Ash grinned, throwing a hand to the side. "Water Pulse!"

Glalie let out a grunt, firing a concentrated aquatic orb at the two Pokémon.

"Dodge it, both of you!" Jessie ordered.

The two readied themselves to make a quick escape, only to find themselves slipping and sliding. They couldn't keep their balance at all!

"What the!?" Jessie sweated, fists balled. "Pull yourselves together!"

"Uh, Jess?" Meowth tugged on her pants, his face gloomy. "We got a problem here."

Jessie and James looked over, only just now noticing their predicament. The ground below Nidoking and Nidoqueen had been frozen over. The two could barely move!

It was then that the Water Pulse hit its mark, a potent splash assaulting Nidoking and Nidoqueen.

"Good work," Bertha praised, turning towards the rockets with a smile on her lips. "Once again, this is the end of the line for you. Golem?"

"Golemmm!" The rocky beast cried, calling upon several massive stones before launching them.

Already worn, the duo could do nothing to stop the incoming onslaught. Rocks pummeled them, swarming the field in debris.

"Dis looks really bad," Meowth sulked. "I think it's time we pack up our bags and got da heck outta here."

Indeed, his instincts were right. Dust settled to reveal an unconscious Nidoking and Nidoqueen, each piled on top of the other. Soundly defeated.

The entire group paused as sirens could be heard in the distance.

Jessie let out a growl. "Ugh, I wanted to sell this, but we've got to get out of here! Nidoqueen, return! James, get your stupid Nidoking, too!" As soon as both Pokémon were returned, Jessie threw down the object she'd pined over. It was a Smoke Ball.

Bertha and Ash coughed as the trio made their escape.

"Ash, come on!" Bertha insisted. "We've got to get out of here!"

Remembering that he was still in his uniform, Ash obeyed. After calling back the elevator to the street that Team Rocket had used, Bertha and Ash were also free. The last thing they heard from the basement was an Officer Jenny breaking down the slammed in elevator doors.

In the grimy backstreet, Ash let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Bertha."

"It was a team effort," she assured. "Let's find somewhere for you to change real quick and then we'll head to the Pokémon Center. After all this battling, I think Golem could use a rest!" she chipperly noted.

* * *

It was good to be back in his own clothes. After stopping hastily in a public bathroom so that Ash could ditch the Rocket uniform, he and Bertha as well as Pikachu made it to the Celadon Pokemon Center.

However, as the center doors opened, they found themselves face to face with Dawn and Empoleon.

"There you are! There was a news report about some kind of hostage situation? You weren't answering my calls, so I was going to find you!"

"Sorry," Ash apologized. "We had to take care of some business before we came back."

Calming, Dawn let out a relieved sigh. "You guys probably need to heal up your Pokémon, huh? I'd hurry. Nurse Joy said they're about to reserve a few machines for the officers that might be coming in for their own Pokémon."

"Thank you, dear," Bertha said, accepting Dawn's advice. As she and Ash put their Pokémon on trays at the counter to be healed, it occurred to the Elite that they hadn't asked how Dawn was doing. "So, how was the game corner?"

"Oh! Uh, I made out with sixty dollars! Good, huh?"

"Poleon!" the water type snapped.

She flinched, frowning. "Fine… I played the slot machines. Sixty dollars is the net of what I earned. I don't wanna talk about it. Empoleon dragged me out of there. Apparently I was acting weird," she mumbled, thoroughly ashamed of herself.

Ash chuckled. "I'm glad you weren't caught up in any of that," he said.

"You, too," Dawn agreed.

A brief silence slipped over the group as Ash felt guilt. Should he tell Dawn…?

Bertha didn't allow him to mull it over. "Well, that was quick." Her tray was already back. Then again, she only had one Pokémon to heal. "It's been good to see you, children, and I'm so proud that there are plenty of good trainers in this generation who will take their training seriously. I think I'm going to let you enjoy yourselves, though."

"Oh! Where will you go?" he asked, silently making sure she wasn't going to try and take on Team Rocket by herself.

"I'm just going to relax. I hear there's a gentleman about my age near some lovely islands. You two will probably reach it long after I leave a few days from now, but it's always good to talk to other veterans." She winked at Ash. "Hopefully nothing that happens here will be worth any nagging back at the Sinnoh League! You two enjoy your journey." With that, she headed towards the exit.

Dawn blushed, wrongly assuming that by avoiding nagging Bertha meant whatever scandal she caused with that gentleman wouldn't make it back to Sinnoh. Ash, on the other hand, knew the truth: she didn't want Cynthia chewing her out for handling tonight's situation herself. Bertha was probably even going to cover for him, as well.

"Bye, Bertha, have a good time!" Ash called.

"E-Enjoy yourself," Dawn managed before looking to Ash. Did he realize what he was saying, she wondered. "So… Is your idea of a good time the same as Bertha's?"

"Hm?" he asked, not catching on at all to her implications or false assumption. "Yeah, probably."

Dawn mentally catalogued that away. If they would eventually go to those islands, if she didn't already, she would definitely confess there!

"... Speaking of a good time, my gym battle's tomorrow!" he realized.

Dawn grinned, forgetting just that quickly about her romantic woes. "That's right! It's against Erika, isn't it? I'm excited!"

* * *

Condensation beaded on the tumbler of whiskey. In the dimly lit office, the big boss himself reclined, his many gold rings gleaming from screens behind him. A rough estimate of every recruit lost flickered on one screen while the profiles of the grunts and agents arrested on the others. Giovanni picked up the glass, swishing it ever so slightly to clack the ice against the sides.

"Well, this was a net loss," he hissed. Just an hour ago, the extraction had been completed. "So much money wasted. That doesn't even begin to cover the human resources we lost. And, our reputation…!" He slammed the glass down, glaring at the trio of agents before him.

Jessie, James, and Meowth kept their heads down, taking the verbal beat down without retort.

"But, the Celadon Game Corner has been burned. They know they were involved with us. Even more, we did manage to recover a few assets. You three even managed to find their financial forms," he praised, voice sickly sweet and rumbling lowly like thunder on the horizon. "You probably feel proud of yourselves, don't you?"

"Well, honestly, a little bit, because -"

"You shouldn't!" Giovanni snapped, slamming a fist down. "We are a generationally large organization. In all of my years… We never have experienced so many seasons of barely breaking even! It's disgusting! If I wanted to struggle by, I'd get an office job. I bet they could get the paperwork right and stay out of trouble!" He calmed himself. "We are Team Rocket. We do not 'manage.' We succeed."

From where Persian lounged beside Giovanni's desk, it got up, circling the trio.

"You know, the bounty on your heads would help offset tonight's costs. What could you say now to convince me that I shouldn't render you speechless? I know there's an agent with a Hypno that would love to see how adept he is at messing with, ah, what's the technical term again? Something with long term memory," Giovanni trailed off.

The three flinched.

Meowth quickly spoke up. "Boss, we weren't plannin' on battlin' no Elite Four members! We didn't go in w' no heavy tanks or nothin'! Our Nidos coulda handled the Twerp, yeah, but they ain't no Elite busters!"

Giovanni paused. "Which one?" Was the League trying to raid them again? He'd had to shut down most of the Johto branch after last time! He wasn't going down that route again. If they were, he would, he would -!

Giovanni's rash formulations to firebomb League member's homes at random was forgotten with James's response.

"She's from Sinnoh," he replied.

"And, the boy went to Sinnoh, correct?" Giovanni checked.

"Right. That's where we just got back from. He built a lot of good connections there, so he might have dragged her along with him," Jessie supposed.

The boss breathed deeply. "Very well. I understand. You are dismissed. I apologize that we didn't have the foresight to keep track of him. Unfortunately, given your incompetence with him, I have no further use for you in taking care of this. I'll see to it that this is marked correctly on your records. You will continue with missions as always."

The trio hesitated.

"... Boss, what're you gonna do?" Meowth inquired.

"I said you were dismissed," he repeated.

Persian hissed, prompting the three to finally leave the room. With the underlings taken care of, Persian returned to Giovanni's side, resting its huge head in its trainer's lap.

"What was the boy's name again… Ah, yes. Database program: Ash Ketchum." Giovanni turned around to face the many monitors behind him.

The monitors obeyed, opening loosely connected case files. The boy's name was highlighted, passively showing his involvement with the team. Likewise, official documents from regional media all over the world showed his name as well.

The weathered business man couldn't help but laugh when he read one quote about the boy. "He likes a good challenge, huh? He'd better mind the League, because I'll give him a challenge to die for if he keeps up."


	36. Somewhere Over the Rainbow Badge

Their day was off to a good start. In fact, they'd woken up early, knowing the Celadon Gym was filled with early risers, given that they tended to the garden both within the greenhouse dome and lining it. As they approached, they saw a familiar looking woman outside of the gym. Dawn paused, cocking her head in attempt to figure out who it was.

"Empo?"

"Dawn? What's wrong?" Ash asked.

"Pikaka?"

Their chattering around Dawn drew the attention of the woman tending to the bushes near the entrance of the gym. She turned, wiping her brow of sweat before smiling. "Oh, hello! You're Dawn, right?"

"... Pomme! Oh, wow, I wasn't expecting you here!" Dawn greeted happily, walking over with the boys in tow.

"I'm actually one of Erika's juniors! I do coordinating in my… spare… Why are _you_ here, Ashley?" Pomme spat, changing gears very quickly.

Dawn flinched from the harshness of her tone. "His name is Ash!"

"No, I never forget a face! I was but a lowly entering junior when he was here last, but that is definitely the deceiver, Ashley!"

"Uh, nope, my name is Ash!" he loudly corrected, cheeks burning up. He'd totally forgotten about that incident until now. "You're thinking of someone else!" he insisted. Please, let Pomme have some sense and drop the issue.

"As if I would forget someone who beat the talented and gentle Erika!" Pomme snarled.

Now, Dawn was getting suspicious, too. She crossed her arms, raising a brow. "... What _is_ your full name?"

"You know it's Ash Ketchum," Ash fervently reminded, balling his fists up at his side under all the accusations. "I don't know what this girl's talking about!"

A bead of sweat rolled down Pikachu's forehead at his trainer's attempt at more deceit, his tail subtly patting Ash.

"... I'll just ask your mom," Dawn decided.

"It's not my real name!" Ash fumed, shaking both of his fists now. "Go ahead 'n' ask her, you'll get the same darn answer!"

Pomme frowned. "Hmph. For being deceitful again, I'm going to punish you in a battle!" She whipped out a Pokéball, releasing her Gloom once again.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm here to battle Erika, not you!" Ash barked. His arms were shaking a little with anger.

Dawn noticed this and finally quelled herself, reaching out and putting a hand on Ash's shoulder. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He looked cornered. She wouldn't keep pushing him into that corner. "Hey, Pomme, we did mean to come to challenge Erika. Is it okay if we just go ahead and do that?" On top of it all, if he was turning down a battle, he wasn't his usual self. It wasn't worth it to prod him like this.

"Are you really okay with him lying to you, Dawn?" Pomme inquired, taken back a bit.

The bluenette smiled. "I know Ash. We all have our bad childhood stories. If it was anything important, he would tell me. I trust him." Removing her hand from his shoulder, the coordinator looked to Ash, waiting to see his response.

He felt a little guilty now for what all he was keeping from her, but now was neither the time nor place to address it. He adjusted his cap, covering his eyes. "Right. I just wanna get this battle over with."

"Well," Pomme mused, "If that's the case, I suppose it's his business. Gloom, return." With her Pokémon back in its Pokéball, she gathered up her gardening supplies. "I'll let Erika know you're here. Please remain in the lounge and entrance area until someone comes for you. We've increased security measures, so visitors aren't allowed to roam freely anymore."

Entering the main lobby of the gym, they saw it was refurbished to look like an outdoor patio area. Empoleon spotted a small pond surrounded by mangrove trees and almost ran to it, diving right in. He nearly took up the whole space, but he looked comfortable enough.

Ash and Dawn went to go sit on one of the benches facing the pond. Pikachu hopped off and sat on the little table before them, standing between magazines.

Noting how sour Ash's mood still was, Dawn tried to think of some way to cheer him up. "I guess I'll have to leaf through these magazines." Hm… No response. Not funny enough, then. "I hope they don't mind me rooting through the pile," she said a little louder.

Ash looked over at her, blinking. Had she really just…?

"There's a 'zine on the League here. After your talks with Bertha, I guess I should branch out and learn something from it!" she joked with a wink.

Ash finally burst out laughing. "I can't be-leaf that you're doing all this!"

She settled down with a fit of giggles herself, finally picking up a magazine. Now that his mood had improved, she could relax while they waited on Erika to get ready for his challenge.

* * *

About half an hour later, a girl walked into the lounge area. Ash had resorted to playing games on his Xtransceiver while Dawn was part of the way through the League-centric magazine. Empoleon had fallen asleep in the comfortable warm, shallow pond and Pikachu mimicked him on the coffee table.

"Miss Erika is ready now. You may enter," the girl greeted, opening the small wooden fence to guide them further into the garden-gym. The foursome quickly scrambled after her.

Dawn looked around, thoroughly impressed. Beautiful blossoms and foreign plants were everywhere. She breathed deeply, enjoying the delicious scent of the florals. "It's so beautiful here!" she chimed. "I wouldn't mind being the kind of trainer who stays in a gym if it was somewhere like this!"

Empoleon made an indignant squawk. If she became a grass type specialist, whatever would happen to him? "Oleo!"

"Aw, Empoleon, you know I'm just kidding," she chided.

Soon, they approached a clearly. On the other side of it, under a canopy of pure white lilies, was Erika dressed in a loose, breezy yukata. Her colors had become less vibrant in choice since the last time Ash saw her. She was maturing, it seemed. "Why, if it isn't Ash. It's been quite a while. I'm glad that you have come to me respectfully as yourself this time." She didn't seem malicious if her gentle smile was anything to go by.

Ash tried to stay calmer this time. "Yeah, it's me, alright." He cleared his throat, a bit uncomfortable. "I, uh, came here for the rematch."

Dawn blinked, but declined speaking up on the matter.

Unfortunately, that didn't slip by Erika. "... She looks lost. Ash, have you been honest or dishonest again?"

Ash's patience had finally reached its end. "Ugh, just tell her already, then." Ash pulled his cap down further on his head, turning away from the two girls.

"Very well! Well, you see, when Ash was younger…" Erika began, trailing off into the tale of a young Ash offending a younger Erika. The tale evolved, including Ash's return as Ashley and the involvement of Team Rocket's trio. It ended on a pleasant note, though. "I suppose it isn't all bad. The remodeling turn out nicely, don't you think?"

Meanwhile, Dawn had gone quiet, one hand on her cheek and a thoughtful look on her face. Ash… In a dress… With long hair… That sounded kind of cute, actually. Yeah, she decided, Ash would look cute as a guy or a girl.

"... Are you disappointed in me, too?" Ash finally prompted, confused over why Dawn had grown so quiet.

"Huh?" The bluenette shook her head. "Was that all you were worried about? I mean, it's a little dumb that that all happened, but hm… I guess your pride was what hurt most, huh? For being turned down for an important battle?"

"Yeah," he agreed, none the wiser to Dawn's mind had wandered far from the subject matter. "Anyway, Erika, we've got a battle, don't we?"

"Yes, let us attend to this blossoming lotus! You deserve a proper test of strength. I shall see how far down your roots have grown." Taking on a battling stance, Erika smiled.

"Oh, that's my cue to hit the sidelines. Good luck, Ash!" Dawn chirped.

"Heh, thanks, Dawn." He lifted his cap a little, ready to get this whole mess behind him. "I don't know about lotuses, but I'll give it my best go!"

* * *

A smile forming on her lips, Erika made the first move. "Victreebel, let's show our challenger a good battle!" Reaching into her sleeves, she held out a Pokéball, clicking it to release her first contender.

The enormous, carnivorous flower stood upon the field, showing little emotion either way in its appearance. While many Pokémon appeared eager at the start of the battle, this one seemed rather indifferent.

"Well, challenger of mine, what shall it be?"

"Victreebel, huh?" Then Weepinbell must have evolved. _'If I'm gonna beat it, I'll need to start this battle big!'_ Ash reached for the brim of his cap, flipping it backwards before tossing a Pokéball forward. "Glalie, I choose you!"

The Face Pokémon popped out of its sphere, forming from a flash of light. "Glalie!" It chanted, voice fierce and gravelly as ever.

"Alright! Let's start this battle with Ice Beam!"

Ash's call was heeded without hesitation, the ice type charged a flickering light between his horns, readying himself to fire a freezing beam towards Victreebel.

"I'd gotten the impression you'd cooled your zeal, but your pace remains too quick!" Erika chided. "Sucker Punch."

The behemoth carnivorous plant lunged forward, cleanly avoiding the Ice Beam. The blast of energy surely should've been fast enough, but Sucker Punch's trademark ability of punishing haste and carelessness would come into play.

Victreebel's leafy appendages each spun to get their chance at attacking, slapping the floating orb silly.

For her big talk of keeping calm and steady, Erika was quick to initiate her own moves. "Still… I shall entertain your fiery passions. Sunny day." Time to turn up the heat!

The trainer had grit his teeth in frustration as Glalie was pummeled, sent reeling before spinning to a halt, eager to continue as ever. "Didn't see that coming." Before Ash could call another move, a blinding ball of light was fired toward the gym's ceiling, creating an artificial sunlight that basked the battlefield below.

"That's gotta be for Solarbeam…! Glalie, give it a Headbutt!" This time, if she attempted to use Sucker Punch, then Ash and Glalie would be prepared for it.

The Face Pokémon launched his round body forward, attempting to smash himself into Victreebel.

"Not quite," Erika chided. "Power Whip."

Though skidding backwards with the weight of its opponent, Victreebel all the same began battering the ice type with a barrage of vines, sending the ice type flying off once more.

"Looks like attacking head-on isn't gonna work." Ash remarked, watching his pokémon fly back before correcting itself once more. Though it'd be hit twice, Glalie hung in strong, sturdy as ever. "Alright, Glalie, use Ice Beam again!"

"Glalie!" The Pokémon cried, firing a chilling beam of energy towards Victreebel.

' _This time, we'll be ready for Sucker Punch..!'_

Time to stop playing with the ice. Though Victreebel hadn't suffered any of those moves yet, those super effective moves would have to catch up with them eventually. "Dodge."

Thank goodness for the sunshine. With surprising agility, the grass type contorted its body, ducking its leafy head under the frozen rays. The attack shot past it, turning a patch of the grassy ground into nothing but ice.

The leader frowned at the disruption to the flora.

"Man, it's fast…!" Ash grit his teeth, watching on in astonishment as the Flycatcher pokémon veered safely out of Ice Beam's range. "Wait… That's it…!" The trainer's eyes widened, realization dawning on him. "Sunny Day's made it faster. That must be Chlorophyll!" He'd encountered that ability once before, while battling Gardenia.

"Now, Solarbeam." Returning fire with a blaze of glory would be suiting.

"Bell!" the plant called, spewing a canon of concentrated light at its opponent.

Before Ash had time to articulate further, a massive way of light was heading their way.

"…Glalie, use Gyro Ball!"

Glalie responded quickly, winding into a full-fledged spin that coated his body in a silver ring. Not a moment too soon, as Solarbeam slammed into his form. Destructive rays of light fired every which way, ricocheting off of Glalie's rotating body. His icy body shot out of the resulting cloud of smoke, spinning closer and closer to Victreebel.

Dawn grinned as she watched, fists unconsciously raised in excitement before her. The glittering beams reflecting from Glalie's body were harmless by the time they made it off the field, and therefore only dazzled the girl.

Empoleon squinted, a little miffed by the brightness.

"That's unfortunate," Erika muttered. Though Ash had repelled it, her own attack had come close to striking a bystander. Perhaps they'd have to be more careful with their attacks going onward.

Though, right now, she had her own worries. Glalie's Gyro Ball had slammed into Victreebel brutally, sending the shrieking plant skidding across the flowery battlefield.

"Poor Victreebel… I know you have more spunk in you than that, right? Let's show them what grass type Pokémon are capable of." The leader commanded in a lulling tone, showing both sympathy and confidence. It seemed not much had changed since the last battle… Aside from the skill level of both trainers, that was.

An irritated grunt answered her, the Flycatcher Pokémon pushing itself back up.

"Good job. Now, let's try Power Whip, then, hm?"

"Bel." At a distance, the partial poison type tried again to knock into its opponent like a bullwhip.

"Aw man… Sorry, guys!" Ash's face fell, his cheeks heating considerably in embarrassment. Before he had time to dwell further over the sprayed Solarbeam, though, Erika had called for another attack. "It's still super fast! We've gotta find a way to beat that."

Furrowed brows lifted as an epiphany struck the trainer. "That's it! Glalie, use Icy Wind, now!"

The floating sphere of ice wasted no time, blowing out a freezing gust of wind from his mouth. With any luck, it would stop Victreebel and its vines in their tracks!

The grass type was not stopped, but heavily slowed. Those grassy tendrils which had gone out to attack faltered, growing brittle and slow.

"Hm. The sun's getting weaker, too." It had been some turns ago, Erika noted. "Sunny Day, once more. Then, use Power Whip!"

The grass type had hissed, quickly retreating its vines under the influence of the cold. Eager to regain the heat Glalie had diminished, it fired a scalding orb from its trap-like mouth towards the ceiling.

The orb basked the room in its pseudo-solar glow once more, granting discomfort at worst, to Glalie, and a luxury to Victreebel. Its bright green appendages reveled in the artificial light, its body overflowing with energy.

With the speed assurance restored, Victreebel finally delivered another blow towards Glalie.

Both of its long tendrils shot out from its mouth, stopping just short of Glalie to wrap snugly around its round, icy form.

"Try and shake free of it, Glalie!" Ash instructed.

Though the Face Pokémon struggled, it was having a hard time escaping the iron grip. It was clear that if Ash didn't act soon, things would only get worse.

"Hold on…" A mischievous smile picked up on Ash's lips. "Glalie, use Gyro Ball to spin your way out!"

Ash's idea had struck him just in the nick of time, rewarding him with quite a devastating solution. Glalie did just as told, turning his body into a fast-paced spin that would make Victreebel regret its grip.

The latter would be thrown for a loop, swung around violently by its wrapped up opponent as long as its vines held. Just how long would it last?

Erika squinted her eyes, wondering if her Victreebel would fatigue first or if the Glalie would tire itself out. Experience told her what she needed to know, and she let out a sigh.

"Victreebel, release your grip."

The plant sailed through the air, tumbling, turning, and thankfully shooting out more of its vines to land safely on the ground. Not without a loss of grace, though; the plant seemed rather dizzy at this point.

"…Let's try Solarbeam, again." Seeing how injured her first choice was, she knew she needed to quickly put an end to this, lest she be forced to bring out her second Pokémon.

The plant pointed its mouth at the opponent before firing the solar beam.

"Hey, it's still hanging in there! Not bad." A smile picked up on Ash's lips. "Glalie, spin out of the way with Gyro Ball!"

Though he had spent plenty of energy, Glalie did just that, turning his entire round body into a spinning top that barreled just past the beam of light.

"Now, keep spinning, and cover yourself with an Icy Wind!"

Still in motion, the ice type spewed frigid air from his maw, quickly coated in ice by the tiny blizzard. Momentum hadn't been lost, his frozen body closing in on Victreebel.

"But of course," Erika chimed. "My Pokémon are bred to be robust–"

Her Victreebel flew by her, disappearing into the foliage. She knew the poor critter was knocked out. After that combined Icy Wind and Gyro Ball, how could it not be?

Returning her Victreebel, some of the chiming quality had slipped out of her voice due to embarrassment. Her lovely eyes even shut a little, a faint pink dusting on her cheeks.

"–and beautiful."

"She'd be a good coordinator," Dawn muttered on the sidelines, joined by a small group of Erika's underlings.

"Bellossom, let's show them a bit more grace!" Erika twirled as she tossed out her next choice.

"Bellossom!" The grass type swayed before the Glalie, looking dainty as a rose.

"Bellossom, huh? Glalie looks pretty tired, right about now." He watched the floating Pokémon, who looked to be short of breath. "If we're gonna beat a Pokémon like Bellossom, I'd better switch." Raising a Pokéball, he spoke up before recalling the Face Pokémon. "You were awesome, Glalie! Return!"

With his first choice absorbed in a flash of light, Ash tossed another Pokéball. "Typhlosion, I choose you!"

The fully evolved starter let out a cry upon appearing, hunching over in a battle-ready stance.

Dawn cooed before reaching around for Quilava's Pokéball. She released the little fire type.

"Alright, pudgy pie, watch and learn."

"Qui!" she squealed, pushing Empoleon out of the way so she could get the good view.

"Alright, use Flamethrower!" Ash ordered.

The Volcano Pokémon drew his head back, filling his maw with hot flames before spewing a roaring stream of heat towards the small grass type.

"Bellossom, use Petal Dance," Erika instructed.

A single foot visible, the small grass type barely twirled out of the way in time, her movements conservative, as well as showy. Not an ounce of excess energy was used. She twirled again, grass skirt flowing around her as a bounty of petals were summoned around here. "Bellooooooossom!" she sing-songed, kicking just so.

The blades went forward; more powerful than a Razor Leaf, they were, and just as sharp.

"It's light on its feet," Dawn muttered. "Don't worry, Ash! You and Typhlosion are gonna bring the heat, I know it!"

Empoleon and Quilava agreed, chirping.

The petals barraged Typhlosion, who had just been occupied with spitting heat towards the agile grass type. It let out a cry as it skidded back, irritated by the sharp projectiles brushing its skin. Luckily, the grass type move could only do so much.

"It's not just a good dancer, it's powerful too! Typhlosion, use Flame Wheel!"

Typhlosion quickly obliged, leaping before surrounding itself in a scarlet ring of fire. The heated sphere tore across the grassy battlefield, intent on hitting Bellossom.

Petal Dance still had a few more steps left. However, her little grass type would be left extremely confused at the end, so Erika had to go ahead and have a plan ready

Twirling out of the way, the spell of the sashays was broken and Bellossom looked as confused as she felt. Yet, Erika had to take a gamble anyway.

"Sludge Bomb!"

The heat was still close, so Bellossom spat blindly, unsure of whether she hit her target or not. She fell over, momentarily dazed. She could only hope that her poison had landed, perhaps blinding her foe. Otherwise, this match was already sealed.

Erika held her breath.

Unfortunately for Ash, Typhlosion had rather impressive aim, and was right on his way towards crashing into Bellossom. The acidic goo hit the Volcanic Pokémon right between the eyes, stopping him in his tracks. Typhlosion let out a cry of pain, finding himself blinded by the sludge.

"Ah, that's no good…!" Ash's face fell, his spirit dampened at the sight of his hindered teammate. "Typhlosion, you gotta trust me! Use Flamethrower, straight ahead!"

The torrent of flames shot forward, unfortunately flying over Bellossom's head.

Erika let out a relieved sigh, still composed. It was through her nose, naturally, and only the fluttering of her lashes gave away her concern. "Alright, let's recover some energy. Giga Drain."

Growing momentarily bold with her opponent being blind, the Bellossom twirled past the Typhlosion, her little hands lightly ghosting over the massive fire type's hide in little hits that sapped away precious energy.

Restored a little, the tiny dancer let out a chirp of approval.

Meanwhile, Dawn had taken to holding her breath. It was clear Typhlosion trusted Ash, so she wasn't worried about them working together. Anyway, even in that case, he still had his third Pokémon and Glalie.

It was then that she realized she hadn't shown her support properly during this match. Perhaps it was because of the official, reserved atmosphere of the gym? Well, the other girls were playing music…

"Keep that fire going!" she decided. She wasn't in uniform, but she struck a pose all the same.

The more graceful crew looked over, a bit confused.

Quilava joined her, hopping on her hind legs.

Empoleon contributed as well, clanging his flippers together.

"Ah, don't do that, you'll distract Typhlosion," Dawn scolded.

Empoleon looked at her and squawked indignantly, offended that her making noise was fine but him making noise was not.

"You know it, Dawn!" Ash flashed a thumbs up to the coordinator. A hearty chuckle was earned at Dawn and Empoleon's bickering, too. "...Oh, right." He had a bad situation on his hands. Focus, Ash, focus!

Meanwhile, Typhlosion winced as energy was sapped from his system, however minute. More irritating than the damage was the lack of visibility. If they were going to turn this around, Ash had better come up with something, and fast.

"Typhlosion, stay calm! Use another Flamethrower, to the left, this time!"

Reassured by his trainer's words, the large mammal turned its head as told, spewing more heat at the retreating grass type. Unlike the last attempt, though, Typhlosion's aim was spot-on.

Bellossom let out a loud cry. Erika's brows flew up beyond her bangs. "Sleep Powder!" They had to shut the behemoth down, now.

Dawn's cheering only increased. They had Erika on the ropes! "Come on crew, fire burn then pull on through!"

"Was that a poem?" asked one of the girls. When Dawn looked over, she realized it was Pomme. When had the other girl joined them?

"… Kinda," Dawn answered, suddenly embarrassed.

"Alright, Typhlosion! You know what to do! Go ahead and use Smokescreen!"

Fortunately, this attack didn't require aim. Not in the way they planned on using it. The Volacano Pokémon spewed black smoke from his pores, surrounding himself in a murky veil. The spores were bounded off from the heated smog, leaving the pokémon inside unaffected. At least, that was what Ash'd planned.

"We can't afford another attack like that… If Bellossom keeps dancing around, Typhlosion might go down before it does. If only there was a way to keep it from moving around so much." As Ash spoke those words, an idea struck, a coy smile picking up on his lips. "…Duh! Typhlosion, use Flamethrower, all over the battlefield!"

Typhlosion did as he was told, spewing fire every which way onto the grass surrounding him. With any luck, then Bellossom's Petal Dance strategy would prove ineffective in blitzing the blinded fire type.

"Alright!" Dawn cheered.

Empoleon joined in with her, bashing his fins together.

Quilava's eyes shimmered brightly. Smokescreen to deflect the spores! How clever! She let out a happy squeal, bouncing in place.

Erika frowned. Fire had always been her least favorite element, and now it was truly proving to be a pain in her side. Though the match was not for a badge—she assumed, as Ash already possessed one of hers—she nonetheless had a ladylike sense of pride and her duty as gym leader to be concerned with; the match had to be tough, regardless of typing issues.

So, seeing that the field was ablaze and all but the most measured steps—something Petal Dance wouldn't allow for right now—would allow them to make it through the match, she pressed her glossed lips together. She could see that her Bellossom was burned by the wide spread blazes.

"Giga Drain," she instructed. It was a desperate ploy. If they could continue to tag the hindered Pokémon, though, perhaps Bellossom would have a shot at wearing it down.

The green translucent ray of energy collided with Typhlosion once more, slowly drawing the strength from the creature's veins. Suffering several attacks in a row, however ineffective due to type, was not proving fun. The Volcano Pokémon let out a hiss of pain, waiting for an order.

"Typhlosion, follow the direction of Giga Drain, and use Aerial Ace!"

Typhlosion did just as told, turning towards the source of the sapping glow before letting out a feral cry, launching his large body off the grassy field into quite an acrobatic stunt. he crashed into Bellossom's smaller form moments later, sending the grass type soaring into the air.

"Now, finish it with Thunderpunch!"

One paw was clenched, furious with electric bolts before being slammed into the opposing Pokémon, surely giving conclusion to the hard-fought round.

Like a pressed flower bouncing upon a floor, Bellossom–fainted, battered–landed heavily before Erika's feet.

The gym leader's lips pressed together briefly before she returned her second Pokémon. "Thank you." Her expression became more serious. It was time to deal with this, severely. It was a friendly match, but her honor as a gym leader…

Well. She couldn't tarnish it. If she lost, she would have to do so knowing she gave it her all.

"Tangrowth! Ancient Power!"

She released the third Pokéball in time with her shout.

The behemoth plant assessed the situation while it was still in the air, sending out a shower of stones to quench the fires where he would land, a platform created.

That said, there was no reason not to try for two birds with one stone, as it were; he spared a few of his smaller arsenal to batter Typhlosion.

Quilava let out a little gasp.

"It's down to the wire, I guess," Dawn muttered, feeling the gathering tension within the room. Even the other girls had grown quiet.

Ash gawked, the intensity of the situation setting in. Rather than another small, fleetly Pokémon, he was faced with the impressive bulk that was Tangrowth. To top it off, they had a rock type move heading their way that spelled bad news for Typhlosion. "Typhlosion, I need you to dodge! Just start running and follow my lead!"

Still short one of his five senses, the large fiery mammal sprinted forward, making use of his admittedly impressive speed. Each call to move left, right, duck, or jump was met with surprising swiftness, leaving him just shy of being struck by the supernatural boulders. As nimble as he was, though, the attacks were getting too close for comfort. Fatigue was starting to set in, and the temporary blindness wasn't making matters any better.

"Now, use Flamethrower! Straight ahead!"

Typhlosion did just as told, spewing a remarkable fire towards Tangrowth.

Erika dared to smirk. "Ancient Power. Once more."

Unfortunately for Typhlosion, the mass of rocks blocked most of the fire from getting onto the outer layers of Tangrowth's mass. Even worse, they were headed straight for the other contender. All the while, the grass type's stats increased, something primal and battle-worthy unlocking thanks to the use of the move.

Quilava cried out, concerned.

Dawn was torn between looking away and keeping faith.

Empoleon did not have such shame and looked off, uninterested in seeing the friend of a friend get hit in the face by a freakin' boulder.

Unfortunately, the large stone flying through the air was the end for Typhlosion. Unable to properly defend itself, the fire type was struck brutally by Ancient Power, skidding across the gym floor before landing nearer to Ash's feet, unconscious.

"You were awesome, Typhlosion… Thanks a lot for all your hard work. Why don't ya rest for a while? I'll take things from here." Ash smiled down upon the unconscious Pokémon, his image fading into a red flash of light that retreated to its respective sphere.

"Alright… I'm counting on you, Meganium!"

"Ganium!" The large plant Pokémon let out a loud cry… But not before turning to ambush her trainer instead, nuzzling her head affectionately against the poor boy.

"That's… Really nice, Meganium..! But we have a match to win!" Ash had done his best to hold his ground and not be knocked over, pointing towards Tangrowth in an effort to regain the Pokémon's focus. Soon enough it returned to the battlefield, a fierce eye set on the cluster of vines.

The coordinator on the sidelines couldn't help but giggle. His Pokémon really did adore him, and it was so precious to watch.

"Grass type moves are gonna be risky against another grass type that's that strong… I guess we're gonna just have to try something else." Ash muttered to himself, thinking briefly before deciding on his next move. "Alright, Meganium, use Body Slam!"

The Herb Pokémon did just as told, stampeding across the grassy field, mindful of the boulders and ashes before launching hers large, heavy body at Tangrowth, aiming to simply overpower it.

Meanwhile, Erika examined the Meganium with a keen eye. Ash Ketchum certainly did have quite the green thumb–two grass type starters! On one person? Incredible.

If only she knew about the others.

"Poison Jab," she called out all the same.

Unfazed, Tangrowth was slammed back some, feet sizzling for a moment on the dying embers. However, while the Meganium was still close, he'd go for a brutal dig between her ribs with his poison-tipped fingers.

With her unofficial big brother out of the match, Quilava's cheers weren't as intense, but Dawn and Empoleon were rooting for Ash loudly as the gym girls pulled for their mentor.

Meganium cringed as the opposing pokémon's hand dug into her rib cage, sending an unsettling surge of venom through her system before forcing her off onto the grass below. She skidded to a halt, overall able to endure the strike. Unfortunately, the attack had left its mark. A sick shade of blue had marked the creature's face, marking her poisoned status. The toxins sapped a bit of her health, dealing out a small amount of pain, to boot.

"She's poisoned!" Ash's teeth grit together, fists clenching tightly in frustration over his Pokémon's condition. "That's no good… I guess we've gotta fix that! Meganium, use Aromatherapy!"

A pink, faint mist began leak from the beautiful petals around Meganium's neck, a sweet, refreshing scent washing over her own ailing form. Toxins began to evaporate and fade, leaving Meganium's body free of its harmful status effect.

The challenger's cheer squad let out a rancorous, glad collective hoop. The home team's section was less enthused; their own advantages were being used against them.

Erika pressed her fan to her lips, considering her moves. They would need to wear down the Meganium before going for the finishing blow, then. She knew they were capable of vine-centric moves, but her question right now was whose vines were stronger and longer? Only one way to find out.

"Power Whip."

Rocketing out of his tangled form, the Tangrowth's vine aimed to slam into the Meganium and send her reeling. A second one would following, aiming to complete the task the first started. That'd be all for now.

"Use your Vine Whip to catch Power Whip!"

Now, whose vines would be stronger was anyone's guess, but Ash wasn't afraid to find out. Meganium launched dual tendrils from the grandiose flower around her neck, each of them lashing out before wrapping around the end of Tangrowth's vine.

"Great! Now, try to reel it in! Don't hold back!"

The quadruped dug her feet into the ground, anchoring her weight before attempting to pull the vine-covered creature in with all of her might.

"Hold your ground," Erika commanded.

Her Tangrowth obeyed, two vines digging into the ruined earth and another joining the first in grappling with the Meganium's. However, if anyone were paying close attention, they'd notice Tangrowth was moving forward.

Vegetation could only measure so well against an herbivore, after all.

"If it get close again, it'll Poison Jab," Dawn muttered. She paused, fluttering her lashes. "Then… why isn't it just letting Meganium pull it in…?" This felt like a trap, either way.

"This is gonna be tougher than I thought," Ash spoke to himself aloud, only catching Pikachu's attention. "Tangrowth's really hanging in there… So much for pulling it in for a Body Slam." Watching the two pull back and forth was a good way to judge their strength, and Meganium seemed to have a slight edge. Still, that wasn't quite enough to catch the creature off-guard.

"Guess we'll have to try something else! Meganium, use Petal Dance!"

The grass type still clung strong, her pride as stake as she continued to pull on Tangrowth's singular vine. Teeth bared, the stubborn Pokémon continued to give it her all, for her sake and Ash's especially. Ash's command didn't go unheard, however, a dense flurry of energized pink petals firing at the trapped Vine Pokémon.

The blossoms rushed on, over, and finally past Tangrowth. The behemoth's own vine-body seemed to react, coiling and moving in a manner like a brood of snakes climbing over each other. It seemed weakened, the vines which had held it firmly in place recoiling from the ground, and even the singular vine which Meganium held onto going limp, allowing it to be tugged closer.

A sure smile spread across the raven-haired boy's face, his attack seemingly going off without a hitch as Tangrowth was barraged with the onslaught of petals. "Awesome. As long as we can keep this up, we'll wear them down!"

But, while Meganium was stronger, Tangrowth was older. It knew this trick. What had appeared as weakness was merely patience.

"Focus Blast," Erika called out, waving the last of the stray petals away from her breathing space.

Tangrowth's vines spread. A place which may have passed for a mouth spread wider and wider, a black abyss forming. It could have swallowed Meganium for how large it grew, its vine-wrapped body either disappearing or fusing; or perhaps it had always been one with its vines, massive by now. All the same, in the pit of darkness, a ball of white and rust colored light formed. Pure fighting energy would soon bubble up from its gut…

And Meganium would suffer for it.

"Meganium!" Unfortunately, the grass type gym leader knew better than to allow Ash's onslaught to continue. A concentrated blast of pure fighting spirit fired out of Tangrowth's core, slamming into Ash's Meganium with explosive force. Her vines retreated from the battlefield, returning back to her neck as she was thrown across the ashen garden, landing on her side.

Direct hit. The magnificent boom of the Focus Blast's collision with Meganium didn't go unnoticed—not by a long shot. Dawn recoiled, raising a hand in passive sympathy. Empoleon let out a clicking noise whilst Quilava's little ears flopped over.

"Are you, alright, Meganium? Can you still keep battling?" Ash balled a hand at his side, perhaps a little too tight. Between Poison Jab and Focus Blast, the quadruped had taken quite a bit of damage, evidenced by her several bruises and burns.

Large, wide-set legs struggled to push the grass type to her feet, trembling before taking sure stance on all fours. Meganium let out a defiant cry, a fierce gaze set on Tangrowth and Erika. "Megaaanium!"

"This root's buried deep," the gym leader hummed, pleased and impressed with Ash's Pokémon… and not just because she was a grass type. "All the same, Tangrowth, use Power Whip to bring Meganium close."

Obeying his trainer, Tangrowth aimed to use one of its massive blue vines was to wrap around Meganium's hind leg and drag her over.

"What an incredible bond," one of the new juniors murmured. "Between him and all his Pokémon."

"That's Ashley - ahem, excuse me, Ash - for you. I don't know if he's matured since then anywhere else, but he's still as crazy about Pokémon now as he was back then," another corrected. He'd been a pain in the butt for them back then, but she remembered how he'd cared about Pokémon.

Dawn grinned at the chatter. "Yeah. If nothing else, he loves them more than anything." Cupping her hands around her mouth, the coordinator shouted out more encouragement. "Heeeeey! Meganium! Keep showing off all that training! You're doing great!"

"Meganium's weight is one o' her biggest advantages… I can't let them pull that off!" Ash bared his teeth, watching as the singular vine approached the Herb Pokémon. "Meganium! Why don't ya show them your Petal Dance Counter Shield!"

The quadruped let out a piercing cry, the rosy petals around her neck unleashing a torrent of scarlet petals that spun around her body like a vicious cyclone, batting the Power Whip away with stunning ferocity, intent on protecting the host inside.

"Now, let's **wrap** this up! Give Tangrowth a full-on Body Slam!"

In the meantime, Dawn paused in her cheering. "… That was a pun, wasn't it?" she rhetorically asked Empoleon. She already knew the answer. He was snickering. It was a pun. An obvious one. "I can't Bayleef this." Empoleon's cackling grew louder, turning into an ugly cawing sound.

Meganium stampeded forward, seemingly making the gym floor quake with every move. Still shrouded in petals, the grass type quickly closed in on Tangrowth to make her final bid for victory.

No matter how intent the Tangrowth was—and it was very, as evidenced by the fact the original vine was joined by multiple others, all writhing before the cyclone of petals like snakes before a charmer—it simply could not press through the blossom barrier.

"Poison Jab!" Erika called out. Again, it was no use. The vines could not penetrate the petal shield. Individuals and clusters of pink blossoms withered and turned brown, but the grass type herself remained untouched. In fact, contact was not made until Meganium slammed into Tangrowth. For a moment, the huge vine tangle merely collapsed under her weight, injured, but still capable of fighting.

"Now, use Petal Dance close-up at full power!"

Ash's Pokémon did just as told. An energized flurry of natural power barraged the amalgamation of vines at point-blank range, hopefully putting an end to the match.

"Vine Whip!"

If it were not for the close range execution of Petal Dance, Meganium would have been met with a face full of rapidly fired vines. As it were, the petals danced over Tangrowth's body like bats through the mouth of a cave. The teal of its body blurred with the petals, the royal purple of the attack's execution marking victory.

And, as the blossoms disappeared, Tangrowth's eyes were nowhere to be seen. The creature had fainted, receding deep inside the shell of protective vines.

Black hues watched intently as the barrage was unleashed, fingers crossed until the verdict was made clear. A smile spread wide across the trainer's face, pride shining through his visage. "Way to go, Meganium! That was totally awesome!"

The gym leader, meanwhile, fanned herself, short hair dancing around her. "It seems I've lost," she murmured, eyes shut. She returned Tangrowth before looking over at Ash. "Congratulations."

Dawn picked up Quilava, waiting a moment before making her way over.

Empoleon, however, didn't possess such good sense.

The bluenette merely sighed. "If Ash doesn't return Meganium, Empoleon's gonna get a one way ticket aboard the green bodied express all the way to slam town, too."

Needless to say, Ash didn't possess such good sense, either. He was quick to run and congratulate his pokémon, throwing an arm around the large grass type… Only to be tackled to the petal-covered ground. Laughter escaped him as the affectionate pokémon rubbed her cheek against his, letting out happy cheers in response to his praise. To be the one to secure victory in such a hard-fought battle, she was definitely proud!

Dawn giggled as Empoleon span, blown away by Meganium's surprise burst of speed. She walked over, clapping a hand on her starter's shoulder. "It's okay, buddy. We'll get time to celebrate later."

"Ahah…! Alright, Meganium! Jeez!"

Ash soon managed to wriggle his way out, calling back Meganium. Of course, not without thanking it first. "Thanks a lot for the match, Erika! That was a lot of fun! Your grass types are tougher than I remember!" Now, he was one step closer to being prepared for the league!

The grass type gym leader grinned, fanning herself. "They always are," she insisted. Even the well-mannered princess of petals had a bit of pride. "It was a pleasure doing battle with you again, Ash. After all the bravado from your letter, I wasn't disappointed… Now, if you'll excuse me." Erika concluded, headed to the inner quarters of her gym with her gang of girls following her. It was time to rest and recover…

And, perhaps, for this group, as well.

* * *

After leaving the gym and returning all their Pokémon except Empoleon and Pikachu, our heroes enjoyed the midday sun.

"Well, you did good back there! Great, actually! Wanna grab some lunch before heading out this afternoon?" Dawn suggested. "I think I remember seeing a map back at the Pokémon Center. We should be crossing a river or something like that soon!"

"Thanks!" Ash wore a wide, victorious grin. As for lunch… Ash's stomach answered for him! "Yeah… Let's take a break for some chow. We'll need our energy! Cycling Road is the bridge over the water, and after that is the Fuschia Gym!"

Pikachu chirped up as well, eyes gleaming. "Pi-ka?!" Could they go back to that organic place? He wanted more apple chips with ketchup!

Knowing what Pikachu meant, Empoleon let out a trill caw of agreement.

"Well, these two seem to know what they want. Wanna let the Pokémon be our guides, Ash?" Dawn asked.

He paused before grinning. "Sure, why not?"

With that, Pikachu hopped down, running down the street with Empoleon trying his best to keep up. Dawn and Ash pursued them, giggling happily. After an exciting few days, they deserved a break!


	37. Prime-time Pounding!

**Alright, we're back with another chapter! Unfortunately, though, we have an announcement. Due to real life constraints of the writers at this point in time, we're going to have to slow down a little, and post a chapter every two weeks, rather than every Tuesday. Until further notice, we'll continue this pattern to stay ahead, but that doesn't mean we're thinking of giving up. Please bear with us during this busy time, and continue to give feedback if you don't mind! We're always happy to hear what you think of the story.**

* * *

A visit to the organic cafe and a trip to the Pokémon Center later, and the group was back on the road. Particularly, they were traveling on a rock-rimmed dirt road. Nostalgia had struck Ash and Dawn happily followed where he lead.

Right now, though, she was busy bickering with Empoleon.

"No! You're too big! You'll have to go in the Pokéball if you're tired! I can't carry you!" she reasoned.

Ash and Pikachu were getting tired of it at this point. "So much for a quick start towards Fuschia City. Dawn, you and Empoleon are giving me a royal headache." Get it? Empoleon, emperor, royal? He thought it was clever, enough.

"Pikachu…" the mouse hummed in agreement.

Empoleon huffed, reaching out for her once again as he squawked. "Empo Poleon!" Finally, Empoleon managed to get his flippers around Dawn, beginning to pick her up…

Unfortunately, since Empoleon hadn't been able to express that he wanted to carry her, not the other way around, the balancing act of flippers carrying human went all wrong. As Dawn tumbled back out of his grip, she cried out.

"No, no, no, no!"

A screech later and a distinct cracking noise followed Dawn landing on her butt.

Empoleon panicked, worried he'd actually hurt his trainer. He hovered by Dawn, too caught up in his fretting to notice the cracking sound was repeating.

"What was that?!" Ash blurted, turning around to Dawn. However, he noticed the noise continued. Anyway, it was way too loud to have been Dawn the first time… He hoped. "Hey, let's check it out." Unfortunately, curiosity beat out concern. Ash headed towards the source of the noise before Dawn was even back on her feet.

"Hey!" Dawn called out. "Where are you going?!"

Empoleon, on the other hand, was ever loyal and helped his trainer up, still feeling a little guilty as he waddled after her in pursuit of Ash and Pikachu.

The origin of the cracking sounds turned out to be shrouded in dust and debris. As the latest bout of clouding dirt faded away, it revealed a familiar form hovering over a shattered stone.

"It's a Primeape! It must've broke that rock," Ash deduced. He didn't think much of it until he saw the trainer accompanying it: a tall, muscular man with an abnormally large chin.

"Great shot, Primeape! You turned dat boulder into a couple o' pebbles! At this rate, you'll be ready for da next P1 in no time!" He grinned, lavishing the Pig Monkey with praise until his eyes turned upon the boy who'd shouted the Pokémon's identity. "Well, I'll be! Is dat who I think it is?"

It was only then that Ash himself made the connection. "Hey, I know you! You're Anthony! And that must mean…" Dark pools turned down toward the fury-packed fighting type, quickly collecting tears above a quivering lip. "…Primeape! Is that really you!?"

The trainer wasted no time in sprinting over, lunging at the Pokémon to pull it into some combination of a hug and a Tackle attack. "Aw man, I missed you! It's me, remember? Your old trainer, Ash! Ahah, this is great!" He couldn't stop himself from blabbering on, overcome with joy.

The fighting type had been quiet, staring unbelieving at Ash until the boy ran at him. Two glove-like hands flew wide open, ready to embrace Ash. And, given that he was a fighting type, it probably did count as a hug. Sort of. If you ignored the headlock and scissor hold Primeape put Ash in once the two were on the ground thanks to Ash's tackle-hug.

On his dive in, Ash should have expected some sort of pain out of his actions. Unfortunately, he hadn't, and the resulting embrace left him floored. Letting out a whine of pain, he did his best to regain his bearings. "Ow…"

After that, the cream furred ape snatched off Ash's hat and was off, running around in a circle near his felled trainer. "Prime, prime, prime, prime~!"

This was the scene Dawn walked onto. She paused, tilting her head and raising a brow. She realized Pikachu hadn't attacked, which meant the situation couldn't be dangerous, at the very least.

"I'm guessing you're friends, since he isn't swinging yet, huh?" Over the hat, naturally.

Pikachu had already abandoned ship, and Primeape was dancing about with Ash's prized cap atop his head.

"Ergh… Y-yeah… Definitely friends…!"

"I'm guessin' yer a friend of Ash's, here." The older man addressed Dawn, approaching the fallen trainer and his enthralled companion. "This Primeape belongs to him! I just took 'im in for training… What was it, a couple o' years ago? Looks like Ash missed 'im quite a bit." He smiled upon the scene. "And, the feelin's clearly mutual."

"I am! My name's Dawn, who're you?" she inquired. "That sounds like him." While he loved spending time with his Pokémon- that was deathly obvious- at the end of the day, the boy would always do what was best for them in the end.

"I'm Anthony! I train fighting type Pokémon, and enter 'em in fighting competitions! We met back when he was a pint-sized rookie." Getting a good look at him now, Ash really had grown. It was amazing how quickly time flew by.

Meanwhile, Primeape had settled down a little bit, checking over Ash. "Ape?" he checked, plopping the cap back on his trainer's head as a peace offering of sorts.

"Thanks, Primeape." Ash finally pulled himself up, adjusting his cap back onto his head. "Still full of energy as ever, huh? It's great to see you're doing well!" After Ash had adjusted himself, Pikachu had come over as well to greet the Pig Monkey Pokémon.

Chattering in agreement and asking as many rhetorical questions as Ash was, Primeape got to catch up rather quickly. He noted Pikachu's impressive growth, confessing in his native tongue whenever he wasn't training or watching action flicks with Anthony, he'd tried to keep up to date with the leagues since he figured that's where Ash was.

Pikachu rubbed the back of his head with his stubby paw, thanking Primeape for the kind words. Judging by the rubble lying about, the fighting type had grown quite powerful as well! He would guarantee that Ash would be happy for that. Of course, he couldn't help but wonder if Primeape actually got to see them battle!

"Well, no sense in gettin' caught up all the way out here! Why don't you guys come back over to my place? It'll be a lot less dusty that way!" Anthony offered, gesturing a thumb towards it.

All for relocating, Dawn clapped her hands together. "Oh, that sounds great!"

"Alright, let's get going then!" Ash pumped a fist in the air, obviously in agreement.

* * *

A short walk down the dry road and the group arrived at Anthony's house. Outside of it, a young red haired woman aired out floor mats. She noticed the group quickly.

"Dad, who's that?" she asked before the memory hit her. She left the poor Hitmontop that had been helping her to juggle the assortment by itself. "It's Ash! Nice to see you again!" she greeted.

"He, Rebecca!" Ash flashed a smile at the young woman. She'd certainly grown a lot. "It's good to see you too."

She paused upon looking at Dawn, trying and failing to figure out who the other girl was. "And, um…"

"Dawn," the coordinator provided."

"Right, okay! Dawn," she parroted. "Oh, are you guys here to watch the Grand Prix? Me an' Dad are entering since he did all his fatherly duties this year." She looked rather proud upon proclaiming that.

"The Grand Prix is back?! That's awesome!" Ash raised his fists, eyes glimmering with nostalgia.

Dawn shot Ash a confused look. Fatherly duties? However, she felt comfortable voicing at least one question. "What's a Grand Prix?"

Ash hesitated. "Long story," he summarized, an unspoken assurance that he would explain later. "It's the P1 Grand Prix, a tournament where a bunch of fighting type Pokémon can compete to become a Champion. Kinda like boxing." A smug grin crossed Ash's face. "I entered the tournament with Primeape back in the day." Numerous things had changed since then, and in the case of the relationship between Rebecca and Anthony, they were for the better.

Realizing that he hadn't clarified why he and Dawn were actually in the area, Ash spoke up once more. "We're actually just headed through on our way to Fuschia City. I'm challenging gyms again to get ready for this year's Indigo League!"

"The Indigo League," Rebecca echoed. "My, that reminds me of the first time you entered. Primeape threw a little tantrum because he wanted to watch it so badly."

The Pig Monkey Pokémon's fur bristled and a look of embarrassment spread on his face. He let out a loud squeal, clearly wishing Rebecca would find a different topic.

"Aw, he did, huh?" A chuckle left Ash, but he'd had his share of humble pie as of late, so he wouldn't make Primeape eat any, too. "That one was fun, but I've had better ones now."

"I wish we'd known earlier. Entering a tournament like this would have been good practice," Dawn suggested. She looked over at Hitmontop in the distance.

"Aw, man, you're right. Rosa could use the experience now that I think about it!" On that note, Ash reached for his belt and released the Riolu. She noted the strangers and, while not fleeing entirely, did cling to Ash's pants leg. "We've been training really hard, haven't we?" he asked her.

"Rio," she barked.

Anthony grinned. "Actually, it's not too late. I can make a call tonight and get you both entered as long as you've got a Pokémon that can punch or kick."

"Would you really both enter?" Rebecca inquired. She smirked, then. "I hope you'll be good competition."

Noting the playfully challenging tone in Rebecca's voice, Dawn supposed she should release her own pick for this competition. "Buneary, spotlight!"

"Neary!" the rabbit greeted, landing delicately on one foot when she materialized.

"Oh, she's so cute!" Rebecca gushed. "I've never seen a Pokémon like this before!"

"Well, she and I are from the Sinnoh region! I think your Hitmontop's really cool, by the way."

Said Pokémon wandered over upon hearing his name. From that point on, the girls and their Pokémon were busy getting to know one another.

Meanwhile, Primeape had grown curious about Rosa. She was certainly new! He held out a hand, attempting to befriend her. "Prime, Prime-Prime!"

"Ri-Riolu!" The Emanation Pokémon held her hand out, shaking with the larger fighting type.

"Hehe, he's tryna make nice with the li'l cutie. Don't go thinkin' I'll go easy on you or the girl because ya've got cute 'mons, though," Anthony chimed in.

The girls returned from their side conversation, clearly having bonded just that quickly.

"Hehe, I can't wait! You two are gonna be tons of fun, I know it!" Rebecca chimed.

* * *

After a brief night's rest, the P1 Grand Prix tournament had arrived.

The opening rounds were fierce.

Rebecca and Hitmontop had to face off against a Hitmonchan schooled in the Saffron martial arts style. Given how common the school was, all it took was Rebecca remembering a few lessons from her father and exploiting the natural strengths her Hitmontop offered to overcome the wide reach of the Hitmonchan. The match ended with a decisive upside down roundhouse to Hitmonchan's chest.

Ash and Rosa were next, taking on a Magmar! Though the creature's furious fists were intimidating, Rosa found it all too easy to outspeed him. She was suddenly very glad she'd always trained with Pikachu when she was younger. The mouse's lightning fast reflexes had punished her then, but were now allowing her bring the pain to this Magmar. Rosa managed to trip and push Magmar out of the ring with a Force Palm, winning through skill… And, a bit of exploitation of technicality.

Dawn and Buneary went after them. Their opponent was a fleet winged Ledian. Buneary simply couldn't keep up, but the growing penchant she'd had for dealing out pain was making itself known. After being beaten around by her fast fleeing opponent, Buneary managed to catch him in a scissor hold after Bouncing down on him. After that, it was all over with. She had the Ledian right where she wanted him.

Last but not least for the opening rounds was Anthony against a trainer and his Ursaring. The two had traveled all the way from Johto for the event! Anthony wasn't going to complain. Appreciation for fighting types was dwindling. He would accept any popularity or patrons that felt like coming to the Grand Prix.

However, unfortunately for the bulky bear, all it took was one good punch from Primeape to knock it smooth out. Unfortunately, the poor stranger mistakenly believed this to be a League-style battle. He wasn't ready for Primeape's punishing punches.

* * *

Thankfully, there was a short intermission.

"I can't believe all four of us made it!" Rebecca cheered.

Anthony chuckled. "Don't ya remember what they told us last night, girly? Ash an' Dawn are from the big leagues. Li'l missy here almost won her home region's Grand Festival and Mister Master there came in fourth in Sinnoh. I hear them fellas are 'bout as tough as their winters!"

Rebecca furrowed their brows. "Isn't that a little unfair then?"

"Not at all! People'll take this seriously again. Eight competitors annually? What a joke! I miss the good ole days… People linin' up to compete! We once almost had to have a pre-entry tournament in Pewter! The glory days didn't last long enough," Anthony reminisced.

"That explains why there's so few people," Dawn mused. "We were only able to get in because there were originally going to just be six people, Anthony?"

"Yeah. I'm hopin' if you two give us a good challenge, folks will wanna get involved. Rebecca here and I bring in most of the viewers, these days," he admitted.

"Then, that decides it," Ash piped up. "No holding back, guys. We've gotta give 'em what they came here for: a good fight!"

Anthony let out a coo of a laugh as next round's scoreboard came up. "Hoo-hoo! I hope ya mean that, boy-o, because you and Dawn are up next!"

* * *

"Now, here it is folks, fresh blood and a returning P1 Champion! Let's hope they give us a semi-final match worth talking about!" the announcer narrated, egging the crowd on and trying to rouse Ash and Dawn's already inflamed fighting spirits.

Buneary rested on tense legs within the ring, fists raised and ears coiled in eager anticipation to tear into her friendly rival. Rosa, on the other hand, remained loose and balanced, ready to dart or dodge at the slightest provocation.

As soon as the bell rang, Buneary rocketed forward, a fist drawn back in preparation to deliver a swift Dizzy Punch.

"Attagirl, Buneary!" Dawn cheered.

"Don't dodge yet! Use Force Palm!" Ash coached. The passive training style of Grand Prix tournaments didn't sit quite well with him as a League trainer, but he could work with it.

The two attacks met in a flurry of limb movement. While Rosa was limited by only using her two forepaws, Buneary could use both of those as well as her ears. As such, though her first Dizzy Punch was blocked by Rosa's Force Palm, a second from a coil ear managed to send the Riolu skidding back.

Buneary shook her paw, nerves stinging from the blast of aura from the Force Palm. She grinned. This time, she wasn't going to settle for a tie. Rosa would either knock her out or get knocked out.

Rosa, encouraged by Buneary's eagerness to brawl, darted forward again, trying to keep light on her feet. When Buneary went to guard her vulnerable stomach, Rosa darted to the side, jabbing the rabbit's ribcage with another Force Palm. Previously, the massive difference in experience had cut out most of the bite of the super effective nature of these attacks. Now, Buneary was starting to feel it.

"Can't keep close this time!" Dawn warned. "Try a Jump Kick!"

Nimbly shifting her weight from one leg to another, the rabbit teetered, getting ready to launch herself. "Neary!" With that, she went flying.

"Wrong move!" Ash bragged. Dawn wasn't the only one familiar with old opponents! "Rosa, Detect!"

Eyes lighting up a brilliant blue, Rosa's fighting instincts reached their limit. With her aura sensing Buneary's attentions, the Riolu was able to lunge out of the way just in time to allow Buneary no adjustment in direction.

Landing in a heap, Buneary was momentarily dazed.

"No holding back, remember! Try an Aura Sphere!" Ash prompted.

With her opponent just coming to, Rosa prepared her shot before swinging it forward like how Ash threw his Pokéballs.

When Buneary looked up, it was too late. "Neary!"

"Oh, and we're off to a strong start. This is why you don't bring a normal type to these things, folks," the announcer explained. "These two little powerhouses aren't holding anything!"

Dawn winced. This was her fault; she should be gambling like that so early in the game when Buneary could use more accurate moves. However, the time for decisive action was now! "Bounce!"

Eager to get out of easy reach again, Buneary slammed down her powerful little legs, sending herself soaring into the air.

Try as Rosa might to find a place on the ring where Buneary could not follow, it just wasn't happening. Buneary was too used to this move; she could change direction better than most sky divers. So, with a heavy elbow to the Riolu's back, Buneary executed her Bounce attack…

Only for Rosa to flip the positioning with a quick Reversal. Unlike the duo's other opponents, Rosa nor Buneary could trick the other with their small size and cute appearance. It was every girl for herself.

Dawn noticed the fatigue in Buneary's face, but Johanna hadn't raised a quitter. "C'mon! She's sitting on your arms, but your ears are open! Dizzy Punch!"

Buneary did as told, striking directly into Rosa's chin. The pup backed off, teeth clacking. Getting up, Buneary went forward for another blow, this time with her fists.

"Use Detect!" Ash yelled out.

For a while, this worked. Buneary would go for a hit and Rosa would dodge with the help of her aura abilities. However, Detect could only work for so long. And, with the ropes nearing her back, the little Riolu would need a new plan soon.

"Buneary's looking dogged, but she just doesn't give up! Riolu's getting backed into a corner, but it's still a normal type against a fighting type, folks! Let's see what happens next!" the commentator bellowed.

The crowd cheered enthusiastically, completely absorbed in the match. There was nothing like watching a spirited underdog fighting and this match proved no exception.

Back against the ring, Rosa realized she was going to have to counter Buneary again. Once more, as she used Dizzy Punch, Rosa met it with a Force Palm. At first, it seemed as if they were just barely keeping up with each other. Then, Buneary began to favor one paw, then she switched to just ears before she backed off.

Electricity danced off the rabbit's limbs. They'd been neutralized.

Rosa sighed with relief. While she was catching up to Buneary, her elder was still stronger than her physically. Still, that determined look Buneary was giving her! Rosa had to end this properly. She began ready an Aura Sphere as Buneary backed up. As Rosa launched it, Buneary prepared an Ice Beam. For a few moments, the Ice Beam held off the Aura Sphere… Then the two exploded.

Through the dust, Rosa lunged forward, using a Force Palm to knock Buneary out.

"Good job, Buneary," Dawn praised. She wasn't upset that they'd lost, but now she knew a new item on their training agenda: properly compensating for going against a fighting type. With that, she returned the rabbit. The coordinator looked towards Ash and flashed him and Rosa a thumbs up. "That was incredible!"

"Awesome, Rosa!" Ash praised, throwing a fist in the air. Rosa also cried out before running over to Ash's side of the ring, leaping off of it into a waiting hug in his arms.

"That's the match folks! Buneary did her best, but there's nothing quite like an expert fighting type! Better luck next time," the announcer concluded.

As the duo headed to the sidelines again, Ash spoke up. "Thank you. You guys did good, too. It's always good to go toe to toe with you," he praised. He looked up at the scoreboard. "Guess we better get ready to cheer for Anthony and Rebecca."

"I bet their match is gonna be just as good," Dawn added.

* * *

"Folks, it's time for the attraction we've come to expect these last few years: the father-daughter throw down!" the announcer cawed. "In this corner, the dizzying dancer Hitmontop and Rebecca! In the other, that punch master Primeape and Anthony!"

On the sidelines, Ash scratched between Rosa's ears. "Keep an eye on this. They've been at it a while."

Rebecca spoke to Hitmontop as they waited on the bell to ring. "Remember, hit fast and run. If you stay in there, you'll get pummeled!" she warned. She'd raised this guy from a Tyrogue; it was going to be their year, she knew it!

"Top," he replied.

As soon as the bell rang, Hitmontop span forward. It headed towards Primeape only to dart to the side at the last second, circling around to dodge Primeape's attempted punch and deliver a nasty kick to the back of the fighting type. Hitmontop's Fake Out was impressive enough.

While Primeape stumbled forward, flinching, Hitmontop used Focus Energy.

"Not a bad start, Rebecca," Anthony praised. "But, we ain't lettin' ya get away with that! Mega Kick!"

The Pig Monkey Pokéemon whirled around, lunging forward with a foot outstretched.

"You haven't let me do anything," Rebecca taunted, only to eat humble pie as Primeape sent Hitmontop skidding back. "Uh… Rapid Spin," Rebecca suggested.

Hitmontop came back around, aiming to beat up Primeape with its rapid fire kicks.

"Careful, Rebecca. If ya get too cocky, it's gonna bite ya quick like." The elder bore a smirk.

Rapid Spin barraged Primeape with a wheel of kicks. The monkey grunted in pain, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. In fact, it was only making him more determined!

"Send 'em packin' with a Thunderpunch!" Anthony ordered.

Primeape threw a punch which crackled with electricity. Lit up like a pinball machine, Hitmontop ricocheted away, momentarily too shocked to control itself right.

When the living top's spin came to an end, Rebecca felt nervous. "Try Counter!" she coached.

After gathering himself Hitmontop obeyed, headed Primeape's way to return the favor with a super powerful kick!

"That's a pretty good strategy," Dawn noted. "Primeape's a lot stronger than Hitmontop, but Rebecca's making the best of it."

Ash nodded in agreement. "With this kind of battle, she's gonna need every advantage she can get."

Primeape took the devastating kick, reeling towards the ropes bordering the ring. Its furry, rotund body pushed the elastic border to its limits.

"Hang in there, Primeape," Anthony encouraged, pacing the ides. "Bounce back in there and throw Hitmontop for a loop with yer Seismic Toss!"

The Pig Monkey was flung forward like a rock out of a slingshot, grabbing hold of Hitmontop's foot as he shot by. Skidding across the arena floor, Primeape turned it into a spin. After tossing Hitmontop around, Primeape brutally tossed him up.

"Not this again!" Rebecca whined. Clearly, this was a move Anthony had come to favor of the years and she just couldn't cover for it. "Rapid Spin, Rapid Spin, Rapid Spin!"

No dice. Though Hitmontop wasn't disoriented due to being a species of Pokémon which primarily lived on its head and span around, it couldn't get out of Primeape's hold…

Or, avoid a crash landing. Hitmontop was out cold.

"Ooo, and that's the classic Seismic Toss!" the announcer prodded. "An excellent show as always, but it looks like age wins out again! Better luck next year."

Rebecca, thoroughly embarrassed, quickly returned Hitmontop before scurrying to the sidelines, sitting down by Dawn.

* * *

"Now, we're down to the final match of this year's Grand Prix!" the announcer called. "Longtime reigning challenger Anthony and his prize winning Primeape will face off against a former Champion who used this same Primeape to win his own title years ago! This time, though, Ash is using a different Pokémon. It's time to see folks: does the trainer make the 'mon or does the 'mon make the trainer?!"

The crowd went wild, their interested piqued to the tipping point.

"We won't lose," Ash challenged, looking fiery and bold. "I'll be expecting great stuff, though."

Rosa hopped over the ropes into the ring. Her eyes lingered on Primeape, a smile forming as she crouched into a defensive stance. She was excited to see how strong he was. All of Ash's other Pokémon were quite tough, after all.

"The same t'you, Ash, R… Riolu." Anthony hadn't actually learned poor Rosa's name.

Primeape's fighting spirit was renewed. He'd give Rosa the challenge she was looking for!

Soon, the distinctive bell marked the beginning of the match.

Primeape started off strong with a Mega Kick. He recalled seeing how the Riolu had done against Buneary and wanted to see if he was any faster than the rabbit.

"Primeape really packs a punch!" Ash warned. "Dodge with Detect!" He was going to have to go with brains over brawn this time.

Rosa's eyes took on a familiar blue glow, analyzing Primeape's aura and intent before sidestepping down and to the side, leaning inches out of the range of the kick. As soon as Primeape passed overhead, she turned, using Force Palm on Primeape's back.

Though Rosa's hit itself was not particularly strong to the tempered fighter, the aura burst after it was enough to push Primeape back a few inches.

Still, there was no holding back in this fight. Primeape reared his fist back, striking forward with Thunderpunch.

"Rosa, you've got to dodge it!" Ash's gloved fist tightened.

Try as she might, though, Rosa was not faster than lightning. She was sent flying into the ropes with a howl of pain.

"Oh! That's gotta hurt! Primeape strikes back with a devastating Thunderpunch!" the announcer narrated.

Primeape froze. Had he really hurt her?! She was so young and small… Perhaps he should be gentler. Not easy, no, but perhaps more aware of the fact she was growing still.

Ash ran over to the part of the ring where Rosa lay slumped in. "Rosa!" She was hurt, but still conscious. "Hey, are you okay? You can't give up. Get in there and turn things around with your Reversal attack!"

Pushing herself to her feet, the Riolu bore her fangs. She sprinted towards the larger fighting type and drew back her fist. Letting out a tiny roar, she executed her Reversal attack to deal out retribution.

"He's got a good heart," Anthony noted. "Pity I gotta go an' break it. Primeape, ya know how to deal with Hitmontop's Counter. Reversal's gonna be about the same. So, let it hit and then go for a Seismic Toss."

The reversal returned the damage Rosa had taken. However, Primeape grappled the Emanation Pokémon, spinning her around in a loop. She became dizzy under the duress, being thrown up into the air.

"Rosa!" Sweat trickled off the trainer's brow, eyes wide as he watched his Pokémon soar. "We've gotta come back from that… I know! Go into a dive, just like I taught ya! Really pick up some speed!"

Still airborne, the fighting type's eyes shot open upon the trainer's words being heard, turned down upon the Primeape below. She would then dive headfirst, tucking her arms and legs in. The tiny, aerodynamic Pokémon eyed her target like a bird of prey, rapidly descending towards the ring.

"Now, use Force Palm!"

"Riooo~!" The Riolu cried, one paw outstretched, every intention placed on slamming the padded extremity into Primeape's forehead. At that vital moment, yet another burst of aura would be unleashed.

"Ya gotta move, Primeape. She's gonna hit ya right on the noggin!" Anthony warned.

The Pig Monkey Pokémon took his coach's advice, hopping a few feet back to avoid the pup's descent.  
After all, Rosa couldn't fly. The way she was coming down could only be altered so much.

"We're gonna miss…!" Ash grit his teeth. "Got it! Use Force Palm with your other hand, behind you!"

Letting out a yelp as she was nearing the arena, the Riolu did as told, extending her opposite palm behind her, firing off a quick burst of energy. The aura was enough to give some recoil, pushing Rosa back towards her target.

"Yer better off bracin' for impact, kid. That attack's a lost cause!" However, before Anthony could get a good look and realize Primeape was still too close—he was getting older, okay?!—the aura blast went off.

Primeape let out a shocked squeal, piggy side showing through clearly. He was definitely not a fan of being blasted by aura head-on!

"I told ya to move, didn't I?" Anthony reminded, chuckling. It was all a grand game to him. He was taking this seriously, but the sport demanded it all be taken in stride and in good spirit. "Hit 'er with a Thrash then, huh?"

Obeying, Primeape tensed up. Then, it was time to start the beat down. He lashed out wildly, though he still kept aware enough of himself to avoid critical hits. Beyond that, though, it was a free for all frenzy of flailing limbs and full out punches and kicks.

"Thrash!?" Ash couldn't help but cringe, the Pig Monkey's relentless ferocity still fresh in his mind after all these years. "That means Primeape's ready to give a prime pounding!" Facial features twisting, Ash was forced to react quickly. "Use Detect, again and again!"

Primeape's aura and intent became the aura wielder's main focus, allowing her to duck under, sidestep, and leap over numerous attacks. She could only keep this up for so long, however. Primeape's attacks were growing more furious, and aura reading had its limitations. Blows began to scrape the Emanation Pokémon, soon pummeling her with one hit after another.

"Uh oh! Ash's Riolu is doing its best, but a young pistol like that can't seem to keep up with a Champion like Primeape! They better do something soon, or this match won't be lasting much longer! Does Ash have anything else up his sleeve?"

"This is bad… Really, really bad…!"

While Ash's confidence began to slip with each passing blow, the Riolu's spirit only grew to boil. Dark hues were cast back towards the ring, wise to the growing determination of Ash's teammate.

Small canines bore together, red hues concealed by narrowing lids. Primal instinct won over fear, allowing the Riolu to lash out with a wild volley of punches and kicks. Unhinged and undisciplined, Rosa began to strike out against Primeape's relentless assault.

Primeape's furor had been dominating, relentless attack by the seasoned Pokémon winning out over good eye and technique. Soon enough, though, he found himself greeted with quite the surprise.

Feral, relentless attacks were continued by the pup, unrestrained from any sort of planned assault. Hints of a pattern showed, though, however unrefined they were.

And, the hints hurt like a bitch.

"Oh, wow! Them's some hooks and jabs!" Anthony cheered. "Keep it up, Primeape! Ya got size n years puttin' in work on 'er!"

If he wasn't already going to do such, Primeape had all the reason to do so now. He continued to avoid going for critical hits, not wanting to injure the Riolu too badly, but the match had quickly become so intense that at some points a single foot of Primeape's remained on the ground, both hands and the spare leg engaged in giving his opponent the fight of her life.

"Is.. That Close Combat?" Gawking at the relentless barrage of blows being dealt out by his Riolu, Ash flipped open his pokedex, questioning the electronic encyclopedia.

" **Riolu are not capable of learning Close Combat. This move can be acquired after they evolve into their final stage - Lucario."** The mechanical voice recited, earning a nod from Ash.

"Maybe she's close to evolving…" Eyes turned back towards the ring, a more urgent matter at hand. "Keep hitting hard, Rosa! Give 'em all you've got! You can do it!"

The Riolu was only seeing red at this point, throwing punch after punch, and a kick whenever she saw fit. Her pride as a fighting type was being tested, but Primeape's strikes seemed to persevere. The two pummeled one another, one with more precision than the next.

And that experience won out in the form of a bone-rattling kick, knocking Rosa back through the air. The Emanation Pokémon tumbled, only to land on one knee, scratched, beaten, and short of breath. Despite the rush of adrenaline, Primeape still proved stronger.

A less trained Primeape would have given in to pure rage. Though he was perfectly capable of taking on his species' characteristic habit of going berserk during battle, and at random, he had much better self-control.

As such, when he Riolu was finally flung back, he paused, stance stone still exactly where he had been when what he assumed was the final blow was thrown. He relaxed a bit, getting back into defensive mode, watching her, waiting on the next instruction.

"Don't give in! Give Primeape all you've got with one last Reversal attack!"

Ash's words were shouted to the heavens, and they were heeded. A single fist was brandished, positively shining with the remainder of the Pokémon's fight-or-flight rush. A loud, high-pitched cry was uttered, a speedy leap carrying the Riolu forward as she swung her fist towards Primeape with all of her might.

She was strong, he had to admit.

"Thunderpunch, Primeape, and finish it." Anthony was much calmer, seeing the situation and realizing it for what it was.

The fur of the pig-monkey bristled as he waited, gloved hand crackling magnificently. She was close enough that he could begin to make out his own reflection in her eyes before he threw his fist, quick as the lightning which danced upon it.

The strike would be true. With her arms being shorter, would she even reach him as he broke his own no-face rule? His aim was her little jaw, to finally knock her out.

The stadium seemed to have fallen into a slight hush for the briefest of seconds. In that moment, all that existed was the desperate struggle of the battle.

And the proud, brotherly smile Primeape bore towards Rosa as his fist neared her chin.

Unfortunately for Ash and his upstart companion, a larger body meant wider range, and that meant a solid Thunderpunch to the jaw. Credit was given where it was due for her resolve, but even that crumbled under the electrifying force of a cold, hard knock-out. The audience's silence persisted as the Emanation Pokémon hit the mat, eyes turned to swirls, limbs limp.

" **And that's the end of that! Primeape puts an end to Riolu's bravery with a full-on knock-out, making it, once again, the P1 Grand Prix Champion! Ash and his challenger put up an amazing fight, but experience has won out. Let's give a big round of applause to both competitors, and everyone else who gave it their all!"**

Just as directed, the crowd erupted into thunderous applause, loud and full of excitement over a remarkably intense match. Loud enough that Ash really wanted his companion to hear. Crawling into the ring, he picked up the Emanation Pokémon, cradling it in his arms. "Hey, you were great. You gotta hear this! All of that cheering? It's for you and Primeape!"

The small Pokémon began to stir, ignoring a killer headache and static electricity in favor of her trainer's voice. Lids parted to view the proud teen, a smile growing at the sound of applause. Win or lose, she'd given her all. That was satisfying enough.

A bit of jealousy sprung up in Primeape's chest. No, not jealousy—he didn't begrudge Rosa the attention, but… well, he was also… he'd done very well… And…

Fair-minded as ever, though, Ash was quick to approach Primeape next, holding a hand out to his former partner. "That goes for you, too! You've gotten super strong over the years, Primeape! I'm totally proud of you."

The fighting type's unspoken wishes were granted. Looking up, he merely took Ash's hand, clearly struggling to fight back tears. It was all happening over again…! He was truly as proud of himself as Ash was, but, somehow he felt as if there was more for him to do, now. He'd mastered the Grand Prix, after all.

Speaking of which, Anthony came onto the mat, clapping Ash on the shoulder only to make an apologetic noise when he realized Rosa might not appreciate that. He instead focused on ruffling Primeape's fur, spotting the faintest signs of tears in the corner of the surprisingly softhearted Pokémon's eyes. "Hey, hey, hey, it's time for someone to receive their championship belt!" Anthony encouraged.

Soon, that took place as well. There were cheers and victory poses. Primeape looked pleased, as did Anthony. The crowd adored them. The coach had success and respect as well as a stable homelife. Primeape had learned a lot. Their relationship had, in essence, peaked. Anthony had taught Primeape almost all that he knew. So, they made merry freely, knowing they'd given their all in earnest.

* * *

Later that evening, the entire group returned to Anthony's house to celebrate.

However, Primeape remained quiet, contemplating to himself. Not even Buneary pestered him, though she wanted to, on how to better use fighting type moves. His seemingly random meditation was undisturbed.

Rebecca noticed this and found herself torn between concern for Primeape and the fact that her father was getting loud and rowdy. While she couldn't do much about her father, Rebecca could try to cheer up Primeape with some dessert. She excused herself to the kitchen.

The noise between the television and radio that Antony insisted on keeping on at the same time and his own high spirits was getting to be a bit much for Dawn. After the celebratory meal, she excused herself to a short walk outside.

With just himself, the Pokémon, Anthony, and Ash left, Primeape gathered his courage. He approached Pikachu, minding the question that had been on his mind all evening. "Prime," he began, noting that Rosa was a new member of the time. "Primeape Ape." Was Ash still trying to expand the team?

The poor fighting type felt feverishly embarrassed and terribly awkward. As his pulse increased, the veins in his forehead became visible.

A smile spread across Pikachu's mouth, knowing what Primeape was indirectly asking about. After passing poor still-bruised Rosa the soda she'd requested, the electric type turned to address Primeape. "Pika… Pikachu Pikapi Chu."

Somewhere between encouraged and embarrassed by Pikachu's directness, Primeape broke eye contact while his fur fluffed shyly. "Prime…" He'd missed his trainer dearly after all these years.

Gathering up his nerves, Primeape walked over to where Ash was finishing off his third plate of food. The fighting type tried to look serious and sensible, like he wasn't freaking out internally. "P-Prime… Ape!" he announced, pointing from himself to Ash to the Pokéballs on Ash's hip with a shaky hand. Guiltily, Primeape threw a short glance to Anthony.

"Hm?" Ash asked, piecing together what Primeape's gestures meant. "... You wanna come with us again?" There was a hit of happy disbelief in his tone. A smile spread from cheek to cheek on the boy's face and joyful tears pricked at his eyes.

"Ape!" the fighting type agreed.

Ash couldn't help but slip out of his seat to hug the furry brawler.

"What's happening?" Anthony asked, wandering over. "So… Ole Primeape's headin' out, huh? Right after he mastered my style." He let out a cocky huff. "Well, that's good. Ash is gonna challenge the League! If Primeape gets any use, word'll get out that I trained it so it could play with the big dogs!" The old man laughed. "Then, everyone'll come all over to get their 'mons trained by me and it'll be like the glory days all over again!"

"What's with crazy laughing, Dad?" Rebecca deadpanned as she came back in, a tray full of ice cream floats in her hands.

"We're gonna show off Anthony's fighting style!" Ash supplied, raising up a victorious fist in unison with an actually happy-crying Primeape. Patting the Pokémon on the back, Ash turned back to Anthony. "Thanks for taking such good care of him for so long. I won't forget this."

"Just do me a favor, kid," Anthony requested, "and come back to battle us sometimes when I get new students. It'll be a good exchange, huh?"

"Pi-Pikachu," the electric mouse cheered from where he lounged by Rosa.

"So, Primeape's leaving?" Rebecca double checked. "If that's the case, we can focus more on Hitmontop! No ill-intent to Primeape, of course, but it's time for a little TLC for my battling boy, too!"

Just then, Dawn returned, nerves no longer frayed. However, the light hearted scene she walked back in on wasn't exactly what she'd expected. It was more tender than rowdy. "... Did something else happen?"

"Sure did! Primeape's coming back with us! I've just gotta get in touch with Professor Oak and it's official!" Ash enthused.

"Aw, really?" she cheered. "That's great."

Buneary, who had gone on the walk with Dawn, perked up. She could definitely train with Primeape now! "Neary!"

"Well, you'd better hurry and go talk to the professor, or I imagine he'll be asleep soon," Anthony chided.

"But, I just make ice cream floats!" Rebecca whined.

Picking one up off the tray, Dawn winked. "I think we should stay and have a drink to this. One more night here shouldn't hurt, should it?"

A brief pause was followed by Ash shrugging his shoulders and agreeing before grabbing his own float. Soon, everyone had a glass and touched around to clink their own against everyone else's.

As soon as they finished, Ash guzzled his down in one go. "Mm! That was great! Thanks, Rebecca!"

Dawn shook her head, not exactly surprised. "How didn't you get brain freeze, drinking that in one go?"

Nudging Dawn's side, Rebecca whispered to her. "When you're as hotheaded as he is, you don't have to worry about it."

Both girls burst into laughter as Ash suddenly became self-conscious. "Hey, what're you two laughing about!? … I don't wanna stay anymore! You two get sneaky and giggly when you're together! What are you saying now?!" Ash prodded.

In the meantime, Primeape settled onto the couch by Rosa and Pikachu, Buneary following shortly after him. It was good to be back.


	38. A Bridge Too Far

After a stop at the Pokémon center to both rest and exchange Haunter for Primeape, the group was on the road again. They'd reached a very special building on a very special bridge, as evidenced by Dawn's excitement.

"The pink one!" she fawned, walking over to the bike.

Empoleon let out a sigh, perplexed by his trainer's infatuation with a bike.

"No! The black one!" She was torn. The first was super cute with its sparkles and pastels, but the second was super cool with a metallic finish and an edgy appeal. "What do you think, guys?!"

"Uh… Any of 'em look fine! The black one looks cool." Ash was the last one to give insight on style, no matter how much he may have thought otherwise.

Naturally, they had to have bikes to cross the bridge. However, Dawn had intention to purchase it. Given Pikachu's control of his electric attacks these days, she felt secure. They hadn't even seen Team Rocket in a while! "Yeah… I've got plenty saved up!" she enthused, looking between the two choices. "Oh, oh, Ash, there's a red one! It's got that old fashioned look! It'd be very stylist!"

"Hey, go for it! I'm… Just gonna rent one, if it's all the same to you." While they had impressive luck lately, something in Ash's gut told him to stay the hell away from bikes in general. Buying one outright just wasn't worth the risk.

The black one… yeah! Dawn was fawning over it, minding the sleek design and the comfortable looking seat. Ash just wanted to rent one!? Oh, man, she was gonna remind him of this when they were going downhill and she could unpack this baby and coast with ease~! "Your loss!" she chimed.

"I wouldn't bother if I were one of you." A voice from the other side of the center caught Ash and Pikachu's attention, bringing their eyes on what turned out to be a clustered group of individuals, all decked out in punk-ish clothing, leather jackets, and wild hair colors. They were lounged around the residential corner of the center, all looking a bit disgruntled, to say the least.

At the voice of disagreement, Dawn whirled, hands on her hips. Did she ask for the ominious voice—oh, shit. They were kind of scary looking. Adopting an odd grin—she wasn't scared as much as thinking maybe she shouldn't run her mouth quite yet—she watched everything play out.

One young man went on to speak, identifiable by unusually tall, spiky hair with shades of red and gold. "If ya go out there, the bikes ya just paid for are gonna get fried. All that money'll go out the window for nothin'!" After voicing his warning, though, the man got a second look at who he was talking to.

Fried? Why would they get fried? Was Kanto the homeland of property destruction? Not that she blamed Ash or Pikachu, but…

Actually, now that she thought of their journey thus far, she kind of figured that might be true. Kanto: Region of Property Destruction.

Bouncing up from his seat in a flash, he appeared in front of the trio to gawk at them, minus Dawn. "Are my eyes playin' tricks on me? I recognize you two! Yer Awesome Ash, and Pikachu!" He was joined by murmurs and stares that turned into a quick chorus of cheers.

"Awesome Ash?" Dawn inquired, casting a curious look at her companion. "What's going on here, exactly?"

The mystery man threw an arm around Ash's shoulder as if he were an old friend, turning his attention back towards Dawn. "This kid here is one of the baddest bikers I know! He biked through a storm right over a drawbridge, all to deliver some medicine to a sick Pokémon!" Looking back to Ash, he grinned. "Ya've really grown, huh? It feels like it was just yesterday you and your lil' friends came through!"

Giggling a bit at the affection the biker showed Ash, Dawn somehow didn't doubt his claims. If anyone was going to brave a storm—though she did have to wonder what the drawbridge had to do with it; had it been up?!—for the sake of Pokémon, it was dear old Ashy-boy.

"Aw, c'mon…! You're exaggerating!" Ash bore a polite smile, feeling sheepish as ever when he was made the center of attention. "I just did what I had to. It's good to see you guys again! Never mind that, what **are** ya talking about? Whatever it is has gotta be wild to keep you guys from riding around." He cocked a brow at the ominous warning.

Chopper finally gave Ash some space, his tone becoming more serious. "Out on the bridge, a big clunky jerk of a Pokémon keeps scorchin' bikes! And that's if you're lucky. If it feels like it, it'll snatch the thing right away from ya!"

"An electric menace!" A woman about the same age chimed in, with long, dark green hair. "…No offense, Pikachu. This thing's keepin' us from getting anywhere!"

"Pikachu." The mouse dismissed the words. No offense taken. What kind of Pokémon was behind this, though?

"Why?" Dawn automatically asked, knowing by now these types of things usually had a reason. "Like, why the bikes?" she clarified. What kind of Pokémon hated bikes? Scorching… maybe it was a Rapidash that felt replaced? A partner forgotten?

"No idea." Chopper shrugged his shoulders. "We can never get close enough to the thing to find out! I'd really like t'find out, though, and give it a piece of my mind!"

Inspired by dramatic notions of a forgotten Pokémon embittered by being abandoned by its partner, Dawn balled her fists. "We've gotta do something, Ash!" She turned, yelling to the staff. "I need to rent a bike! The black one, please!" She was going to ride in style. Also, if the "Rapidash" didn't destroy her bike, she was totally gonna buy it.

"Darn right, we do! Let's go and find out what's behind all this!" As quick to butt his nose into trouble as ever, Ash turned toward the front desk, himself. "Me too, please! I'll take the red one!" His eyes then turned toward Pikachu. "What do ya say, buddy? You ready to go out there and set things right?"

"Pika, Pikachu!" Pikachu chanted, punching a fist in the air. Of course he was!

"If Ash is goin' in, then so'm I! What do ya say we show that thing who's boss?" Chopper joined on the cheer, leading the entire bridge bike gang to hop in. If anyone was going to make this right, it had to be him!

In short order, the bikes were ready. Dawn quickly apologized to Empoleon; he was just too big and too slow to stay out while biking. Hurrying out of the shop, the bluenette and no doubt the rest of the gang—in both senses—would be ready to ride.

Meanwhile, the staff let out sighs. At least there were the deposits… but they'd be seeing those trainers again, as well as their usual customers, the actual biker gang.

* * *

Pedaling along, Dawn hummed. The poor thing probably just needed someone to ease its fears of being unwanted~! Maybe it needed a new trainer! The "Rapidash" could come with them and they'd find a new trainer for it! Oh, maybe she could contact her little fire specialist coordinator buddy, Ciara!

So caught up in her romantic notions of a big baby Pokémon was Dawn that she didn't notice the bridge beginning to crackle with electricity.

Meanwhile, Ash's notions were a little less romantic. Maybe this meant they'd get to have a battle! If it kept all of them away, it had to be a really tough Pokémon! Something like that would make a heck of a challenge. In any case, Ash was every bit as distracted as Dawn, and it just might come back to bite him.

The first to notice the ominous bolts was none other than Tyra, who skidded to a halt when the hazard became apparent. "Hey, you guys! You might want to stop now, if you know what's good for you!" She was quick to skid to a halt, as was most of the gang.

Ash, however, wasn't as lucky. "Huh? I don't see why… Woah!" Gloved fingers clutched down on the brakes, doing their best to bring Ash to a screeching halt. Sadly, he'd stopped a bit too late.

" **Waaaah!"** Ash yelped loudly, caught in a painful, golden flash of electricity surging through the bike below him. Soon, the electric current faded, pulling the charred bike out from under Ash, leaving him to fall in a dazed, soot-covered slump. "Ow…"

"Pikapi…" Pikachu exhaled, having landed atop Ash's back. While the shock did little to scar him, being thrown into the air after having your support pulled from under you certainly wasn't fun.

Dawn didn't exactly heed Tyra's warning, either. Fortunately for her and unfortunately for Ash, our hero was the first target of the mysterious Pokémon. Letting out her own gasp of surprise, she nearly fell off, trying to circle away from whatever had sent down the bolt.

While she managed to get away from the actual shock, the magnetic draw the creature had clasped upon her bike. As it lifted into the air, Dawn's knuckles went white as she stubbornly hung on. "Ahhh! Aaahh!"

It was only when the bike went vertical that she finally slipped off. She tucked into herself mostly in anticipation of falling, but as she did so, it shifted her weight which ended up causing her to roll forward and THAT caused her to flail…

And, in the end, she landed on her feet. Though her ankles stung from the impact, nothing was broken except maybe her pride. Which, at this point, should stop breaking so easily. "Oh my god…" she whispered, surprised she'd survived unscratched.

"Wo-ho-hoahhh. Check it out! That's one hell of a landing!" Chopper blurted out in awe as Dawn managed to tumble onto her feet, even after having her bike stolen out from under her. A couple of cheers followed from the gang itself, clearly impressed with her recovery. That might have even been as impressive as James riding with training wheels!

As she turned around to see what had snatched her bike, Dawn's eyes widened. "NOT A RAPIDASH, NOT RAPIDASH!" Would that make any sense to anyone but her? Probably not, but the Magnezone was closer now than it had ever been.

It glared down angrily at them, still crackling with latent potential to zap anyone who dared get any closer. The bridge below it, likewise, sparked every few moments. It was a trap.

"Oh… okay, now everything makes sense…"

By time this had all transpired, Ash was just pulling himself to his feet, he and Pikachu shaking themselves free of soot. "Ah… Alright. So that's the Pokémon who caused all this trouble!" His sights turned on the angry electric/steel hybrid, fists closed and stance widened. "I knew taking a bike was a bad idea…!"

"You couldn't have predicted that!" Dawn argued. "You just draw bad luck with bikes, that's all…" she muttered.

"Dawn, I think it's time for a battle! You with me?" He drew a Pokéball from his belt, eyes turning towards the coordinator.

Following Ash, she grabbed a Pokéball herself. Given her aerial agility and her Aura Sphere attack, Togekiss might prove a good match to this. "As always! Togekiss, spotlight!"

A Pokéball was lobbed, releasing the Jubilee Pokémon. The motherly Pokémon circled the bridge, letting out a coo.

"If we're gonna have any luck, we'll have to stay off the ground! Rosa, why don't you help Togekiss out! Jump up and give it your own Aura Sphere!"

Ash's Pokéball flew forward, splitting open to form a dropping Riolu that appeared right above Togekiss. Landing on the Jubilee Pokémon's back, she drew back a paw, readying an Aura Sphere of her own. While less experienced than Togekiss, it was still a fighting type!

However, before they could properly get to battling, the Magnezone released a Discharge. Try as she may to avoid it with turns and loops, Togekiss was unable to avoid the wide-range attack. The poor flying type let out a startled cry, and the accompanying Riolu with her.

"Togekiss!" Well, that wasn't how she was expecting it to start off. "Let's try Aura Sphere!"

"Tooo...gekiss~!" The Pokémon cried, conjuring an orb of energy on her wing before tossing it forward.

Though hit with the fighting type move, as it wasn't Togekiss's specialty and the Magnezone was incredibly powerful, all it really did was piss the Pokémon off.

She'd lost her Aura Sphere the first time, irritated at the static electricity. Rosa brought a paw up to charge another orb of life essence, utilizing her specialty as she tossed the move forward.

The Riolu's Aura Sphere did a bit more damage. Though less experienced, aura was her forte. As such, the Magnezone let out a terrific screeching noise before using Gyro Ball, hurling itself at the duo.

"Togekiss, dodge!"

Rosa let out a yelp as the spinning steel fortress closed in, diving to lay on its belly across Togekiss' back.

Managing to duck below, and just keeping her belly from touching the electrified bridge's surface, the fairy type barely kept herself and Rosa from being battered.

The quick maneuver by both just barely brought them out of the creature's range. The Riolu let out a sigh. That was close!

"It's really fast. And angry, too!" Dawn muttered.

"And pretty tough, to boot. It took two Aura Spheres and it's still going strong!" Ash grit his teeth, watching the Pokémon's movements. "We can't give up! Rosa, Force Palm!"

Leaping off Togekiss' back, the Emanation Pokémon lunged for Magnezone, aiming to slam one of her paws into its steely hide. Next would come a blast of aura, if she had the chance.

The Magnezone let out a scraping sound of pain upon feeling the Force Palm. However, acting quickly, The Magnezone conjured a tiriad of elemental orbs, firing them towards the attacking Riolu.

Having been none the wiser, the tiny fighting type let out a pained yelp as she was pelted with a swirl of fire, ice, and electricity, sent flying towards the edge of the bridge.

"Get in there, Togekiss! Don't let Rosa fall!" Dawn looked towards Ash. "This is dangerous. If we don't keep this battle under control, someone could end up in serious trouble!" Typically, commanding alongside the other was their specialty, but tending to a Pokémon unfit to stay in the air was making it difficult.

The motherly Pokémon was quick to swoop in, gliding by just as gracefully as ever to catch the pup atop her back.

The latter fell onto the fairy type, laying dazed, singed, and disoriented.

Ash let out a sigh of relief. "That was close… Thanks, Dawn." She'd been rescued, but Dawn had a point.

"We need to figure something out. Can you share aura? Maybe Togekiss can power up Rosa."

"I know Rosa and I can. I guess it's a toss-up with Togekiss."

Her brows furrowed after that, though, truly wondering. Would it be worth it for a move they couldn't guarantee would work? Not in this situation, most likely.

"Hey, if Ash 'n Dawn are joining in, we're not sitting on the sidelines! Go, Golem!" Spurred on by the bravery of the two trainers, Chopper joined in, releasing his own rock-type Pokémon. "Golem, Give it your Rock Throw attack!"

"Don't think you're leaving me out of this! Cloyster, Pin Missile!" Tyra was next, drawing back a Pokéball of her own before tossing it outside of Magnezone's range.

Golem retracted to its stony exterior, rolling into the charged territory with little trouble, thanks to its ground typing. Once it had gained momentum, it launched itself at Magnezone.

The Bivalve Pokémon was next, its rough exterior closing to hide its mischievous grin. A myriad of spiky projectiles then launched from its shell.

Meanwhile, Magnezone went on the defensive. Spinning into another Gyro Ball, the living magnet sent itself hurling at the Golem, smashing into the rock type. The move would do damage to both if it landed, but the Magnezone wouldn't stop, using the recoil from the collision to go for its next target—Togekiss.

Golem was the first to fall victim to Magnezone's counter attack, the large rock type knocked back towards Chopper at a rather frightening velocity.

The shell-shocked Pokémon's trainer broke into a sprint to avoid being flattened, letting out a wail before calling the Golem back to its Pokéball.

Magnezone's ricocheting body moved onward, slamming into its second target.

"Togeee!" Togekiss cried out, flipping through the air, struggling to keep her tiny passenger from touching the ground. A moment later, and the belly of the bird likely could have touched the bridge before she raced to gain momentum.

Togekiss was unfortunately outmatched.

In the time the flying/fairy type had spent recovering, Magneone had spotted its final target. Outside of its range, unfortunately… but if those pin missiles hit, surely one of its discharges would work! "Zone!" it cried, voice distorted and undeniably angry.

After Togekiss and Rosa had been thrown for a loop, a frightening blue bolt of electricity struck at Cloyster, earning a disturbing cry from the Bivalve Pokémon before it sunk back into its spiny shell, knocked unconscious by the Discharge attack.

"Cloyster…! Alright, return!" Awestruck by the quick end to the battle, Tyra let out a huff before recalling Cloyster.

"It's giving it its all," Dawn pointed out. "It's… there's gotta be a reason for this! It clearly isn't injured, so what's the issue?!"

"I dunno. It's gotta be something… But we can't find out if we get roasted first! Besides, no one can cross Cycling Road until we fix this." Noting that Togekiss had seemed to take quite a bit of damage from Gyro Ball, he drew his Pokedex.

" **Steel type attacks are very effective against fairy type** **Poké** **mon."**

"Looks like we're in a lot of trouble, then. Dawn, we've gotta give it a shot! Let's have 'em try to combine Aura Spheres. Then we could overpower it!"

Overhearing her trainer, the Emanation Pokémon put a paw forward, beginning to charge another orb of fighting type energy.

The rate and intensity of punishment being doled out was enough to make Dawn freeze momentarily, breath caught in her throat. It only vaguely registered to her what Ash was saying. However, she was a battler by nature—the momentary shock faded as she shook her head.

"Right!" Clenching her fist in assurance, Dawn furrowed her brows. "Togekiss! Try to fuse your Aura Sphere with Rosa's!"

The Togekiss obeyed. The Aura Sphere from her white maw filtered up, blue energy fading into the fighting type energy in Rosa's paw. Soon, it caused the orb to grow and glow, bigger and brighter than before by a long shot.

The Magnezone didn't seem convinced of the duo's combined move's power. The creature crackled, preparing a Discharge—it would take this bird down once and for all. A quick jolt of electricity should clip her wings.

"That's some real power!" Ash beamed at the sight of the growing Aura Sphere, clearly impressed. "Alright! Togekiss, Rosa! Give it all you've got with a Double Aura Sphere!"

"Rio~!" The pokemon let out a cry, unleashing the combined attack towards Magnezone.

The Aura Sphere impacted before the Magnezone could launch its Discharge. It let out a loud screeching noise, freezing in place. Finally, an attack which had injured it severely enough to make it reconsider whether the battle was worth it.

The behemoth contraption looked around before releasing a wave of electricity. However, this time, it was aimed towards the bridge. The parts which had been electrified remained so, crackling brighter. It had left a dangerous path behind its escape—and what a speedy one it was making!

"It's leaving!" Dawn cried. "But we can't follow!" She furrowed her brows. There wasn't enough rubber in the world—okay, there WAS, but, you know—to insulate them from the charge there!

"Good job, guys!" Ash was quick to congratulate, nodding along to Dawn's observations. "We can't just leave the bridge like this. We've gotta find a way to follow it and find out what's wrong."

Soon enough, an idea did come to Ash. "Hey, Pikachu? You go and join Rosa on Togekiss' back. Why don't you three go and try to talk to it?" Pikachu was quite experienced with calming conflicts, and the Riolu could always translate for them. "Just be careful out there, alright?"

"Pika Pika!" The mouse chanted, hopping up on Togekiss as soon as the Jubilee Pokémon would allow. _"Don't worry. We'll figure something out! There's got to be a reason it's so mad."_

"Are you sure it'll be alright with just the three of them?" Dawn double checked, mostly worried for Togekiss. Pikachu might be able to make it out alright since he was an electric type, but if Togekiss went down, that meant Rosa went down… "Nevermind, no need to worry, right?"

"You got it! No need to worry!" Ash was quick to reassure, spunky as ever.

Togekiss had flown a little back, picking up Pikachu. _"Righto! Surely she's not just banging around for the sake of making a nuisance of herself. Right then, let's go, the quicker it's done, the less likely she's to be back in fighting form!"_ Even as tired as she was, the flying type kept her chipper attitude. With that, she took off, mindful to keep herself and her party from the crackles of electricity.

* * *

It'd be several minutes before they reached the center of the bridge.

" _Hey, check that out!"_ Pikachu pointed towards the wreckage, which was obscured by the aggravated steel type. _"Are those the bikes?"_ He swore he saw a few wheels in there.

" _Looks like it,"_ Togekiss agreed. _"Whatever could she have wanted them for? That's an odd choice for décor…"_ the bird hummed.

But, when they did—

" _ **LEAVE!"**_

Floating before what looked to be a terrible mess of iron and loose wires was the same Magnezone as before. Judging by its tone and unsettling humming, anger had dissipated into desperation.

Cringing when the creature shrieked, Pikachu raised his paws in front of him as a sign of non-aggression. _"Magnezone! We're not looking for a fight! We promise! We just want to make the bridge safe for everyone."_ Quick as he was to make peace, though, he stayed guarded, one paw held outward to protect the younger Riolu from any potential attacks.

" _ **Liar!"**_ Magnezone snarled, her magnet hands whirling. They crackled with a threat, bolts and sparks just waiting to be unleashed. _ **"You're captured—you're just doing their bidding. What do you even need this bridge for?!"**_ She spat.

" _What do you need this bridge for?"_ Togekiss gently asked, clearly nervous but not intended to let her fear cause an accident.

" _ **None of your business."**_

Beyond the roar of the conversation and the buzz of electricity, faint crackling sounds could be heard.

* * *

Ear-splitting screeches made their way further down the bridge, forcing Ash and company to cover their ears. "Ye-owch! That really stings… Sounds like things are getting crazy down there!" Gloved hands reached for the boy's red cap, turning it backwards atop his head. "…So I'm not gonna just stand here and do nothing!"

"Ash, don't!" Dawn barely managed to yell out, herself just done covering her ears.

One leap forward into the net of electricity left Ash with less than pleasant results. A wail of pain gave Dawn and the others their fair warning. **"MAYBE WE SHOULD WAIT A LIL' LONGER…!"**

With that, the ill-fated trainer collapsed.

Dawn let out a frown, rushing over to tend to her hard headed crush. "You could stand to be a little more grounded," she half joked, starting to pick him up.

"That… Mighta helped out a little." Ash muttered, still in less-than-stellar condition.

"Doc Brock's not around, but I'm going to recommend some rest. Just relax a minute, 'kay?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Ash grumbled, not fond of sitting things out. As much as he begrudged to admit it, though, Dawn was probably right. Leave it to her to keep things together. "Now we've just gotta wait for Pikachu and the others to wrap things up." Man, and he really wanted to help, too. Unlike Pikachu, though, he couldn't take the voltage. Not like that.

"Hey, no worries! If Pikachu's anything like the two of you, they'll clean that thing's clock, no problem!" Chopper added in, confident in the duo and their teams.

* * *

Meanwhile, the situation with Magnezone remained at a stalemate.

" _People use this bridge to get from one city to another. If you keep attacking the bikes coming through, no one can come across! Us and our trainers are trying to get to Fuschia City..!"_ Pikachu tried to explain himself to the Magnezone. Surely, it could be reasoned with…?

" _ **Don't care. Find another way. There's water and land. This bridge is mine for… the next while,"**_ she decided, being a bit ambiguous.

But wait. What were those cracking noises? _"Togekiss, could you move over a bit?"_ Pikachu requested gently, trying his best to look past the angry Magnezone. Was something happening inside that conglomerate of trashed bikes?

" _Nearer or…?"_ the bird nervously asked, noticing the sudden aggression returning to the Magnezone's face. " _Oh, dear, are those…?"_

" _ **Stop looking at my eggs! You can't touch my babies, so don't even THINK about it!"**_ she screeched, throwing off waves of electricity.

" _Oh, dear!"_ Togekiss cried out, moving up a bit to avoid the new electric attacks, but not so high as to bring the party towards the arches of the bridge.

Pikachu geared himself closer to Togekiss' head, ready to take any incoming shocks, if necessary. _"So that's what this is about…! Magnezone, we're not here to hurt your eggs! Nobody is."_ While staying alert, Pikachu did his best to take on a sympathetic tone. _"People just want to get over the bridge. It's not fair to stop them."_

A stubby paw was then brought to the mouse's chin. _"But… Maybe there's somewhere else you can take them? Somewhere less crowded? This region's full of places like that!"_

The Magnezone managed to roll her one eye, letting out a noise that was almost… did she just click something at them? It was definitely supposed to be emulating a tongue click! _**"Sure you aren't. That's why everyone's so rowdy and loud, right?"**_ Furrowing her brows, the Magnezone was unwilling to admit she was a bit new to Kanto. _**"What would you know about places that are good to raise children, hm?! Only one of you's even fully evolved, and, one… of… you's… a baby."**_

Time seemed to freeze.

Then, Magnezone freaked out. _**"Oh, no, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize you were so young. Is that why you need to cross the bridge?! I know mine need somewhere safe and sturdy–are you headed somewhere like that. Oh, but I can't go until they hatch…!"**_

Togekiss was a bit relieved. _"Well, if that's the case, I don't think you've got much more need to stay."_

As she said this, six little Magnemite rushed to the Magnezone, either clinging or stuck to their magnetic mother.

" _Mommy!" "Mom!" "Ma!" "Mum!" "Mama!" "Momma!"_

"Pikachu~!" The mouse chimed aloud, uttering an expression of wonder rather than any string of words. They'd just witnessed a bunch of Pokémon hatch before their very eyes!

" _Congratulations, Magnezone! And trust me, there's plenty of space like that! I've seen enough of it."_ After his many endeavors with Ash and his friends, he'd gotten lost in the wilderness enough times for a lifetime, and then some.

Meanwhile, the Riolu gawked on in awe, witnessing her first example of the miracle of life. That was, besides her own. _"They're so little…!"_

Looking to the Emanation pokePokémon, Pikachu blinked before coming to a realization. _"Oh, and Rose can talk to Ash! She can let everyone know what's happened so you can leave safely!"_

" _Yeah! You bet your butt, I'll help!"_ The tiny fighting type raised a paw in the air, already eager to lend a hand. Meanwhile, as the Magnet Area pokemon began to calm, the current through Cycling Road began to die away, and the eerie glow along the road with it.

Meanwhile, Togekiss looked up at Riolu. _"…Do Magnezones possess a rear to speak of?"_

To Togekiss' inquiry, Rosa simply shrugged.

* * *

"Hey! Check it out! The road's back to normal!" Ash blurted out, hopping back to his feet as swiftly as ever. "That must mean that everything's fixed up! C'mon!" The teen sprinted further down the bridge, followed by the gang of bike riders, as well.

"Ash, wait up!" Dawn called out, a hand raised in futility to her friend. She then followed with a huff. "Can't ever wait for a second, huh…?"

* * *

" _ **Really? Oh, thank you!"**_ That was quite the one-eighty. Magnezone was decidedly calmed by the presence of her very alive, very safe children, it seemed. _**"I'd appreciate her letting them know… and a bit of pointing to on where I should go. I'm not exactly native to Kanto, you see."**_

Not long at all after, then the humans had arrived.

Dawn was cooing. "Aw, the Magnezone was just protecting its babies! They're so cuuuuute!" She was so enamored by the little bundles of new life that she failed to notice the metal nest falling apart—numerous bikes hit the bridge, some in better states than the others.

Well, the whole affair hadn't been as simple and romantic as she supposed, but it was dramatic, and the conclusion was rather satisfying.

"Hey, that explains everything! It was just scared about people getting too close. Isn't that right, Magnezone?" A smile spread across Ash's face, a hand resting on his hip.

 _~Uh-huh! Magnezone didn't know about any better places to have its eggs! Now, she wants to move somewhere else so they don't have to worry anymore!~_ The Riolu yipped aloud, only syllables coming across to the majority of the crowd. Ash, on the other hand, understood her words completely.

"Hey, if you need somewhere to go, you've got nothing to worry about! Past the bridge, there's a whole bunch of empty areas blocked off by forests! No one's gonna bug you out there!" Ash cocked a thumb over his shoulder, pointing toward the routes past the bridge.

" _ **Well. I suppose I'll be off. Good day! And, you all mind that pretty baby of yours, hm?"**_ With that, the mother strode off, her children still clinging to her. It was as if she wasn't responsible for the massive property destruction she'd caused, nor the pain and suffering.

But, hey, that's motherhood, right? Anything for the babies.

"See ya, Magnezone!" Ash waved enthusiastically, seeing off the cluster of steel types. He may not have understood her exact words, but the good will was clear!

While Ash, Dawn, and co. addressed Magnezone's problem, Chopper, Tyra, and the remaining bikers had run off to collect what remained of their bikes. "Aw, man… That's where our rides went, huh?" The man with clownish hair gazed sadly upon his charred bike, putting on a smile as he pulled the remains under his arm. "Well, at least we've got our turf back."

"And we couldn't've done it without you guys! Awesome Ash, and…" Tyra looked to the boy's blue-haired companion, silent until another member butted in.

"Dynamite Dawn!"

"Yes! Dynamite Dawn. Even after being pulled into the air by Magnezone, you pulled off a radical landing like only the best of riders could!" The green-haired biker gushed, more than impressed with her athletic abilities. And her battling, of course!

By the time the nicknames came out, Dawn was looking forlornly at the pike, spotting the black bike she'd briefly fallen in love with. "Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have—what?" Dynamite Dawn? She blinked dumbly before grinning.

That was a Dee Dee she could get behind!

"I did, didn't I?" Smiling at the gathered bikers, she then crossed her arms. "Let's get across your bridge then, huh? Awesome Ash and I have business to attend to!"

Of course, the teen in question couldn't help but grin along with his traveling partner. Finally, a nickname she actually liked! "You've got it! The two of us have gym battles and ribbons to win. I guess we'll see all of you guys later!" Ash turned to the bike gang, happy that yet another predicament had come to a happy end… Well, mostly happy, anyway.

"You guys go 'n keep being rad! We'll go back and get these things fixed so we can keep on ridin!" "Yeah, we'll be rooting for you guys!" The duo and their Pokémon were met with a couple more cheers and goodbyes, the delinquents showing their gratitude before heading back northward.

By then, Togekiss gave out. Between the stress of trying to make sure they were perfectly balanced between the dangerous sparks and the previous damage, she was wiped. Landing with surprising grace, the motherly fairy let out a coo. _"I could use about forty winks. Or, four hundred!"_

Pikachu and Rosa hopped off of the Jubilee Pokémon's back.

" _At least you can go back to a_ Poké _ball, right? Thanks for the help!"_ The former chimed in, more than happy that their endeavor had ended safely, for them and the family of magnets.

With that all settled, Ash and his friends had put an end to yet another misunderstanding, met up with some old friends, and brought them just a bit closer to Fuschia City! With a bit more experience under their belts, they came out stronger and wiser! Shame about Ash and Dawn losing their bikes, though!


	39. Hold on to your hat!

After a few more hours of journeying, the group stopped to eat. After the rough start to their day, they deserved it. Furthermore, it was a good time to try out the delicacies they'd brought from the big city of Celadon, as well as a few of the snacks Rebecca had sent them off with.

"I've heard of Kanto brewed teas being really good before, but this is really something," Dawn went on, setting her cup back down on the large, flat rock they'd decided to take over for lunch. "I think you could bribe someone with it!" she joked.

"Yeah, Kanto may not be as great as Sinnoh is with sweets, but there's a lot of good cooking around here! That's one thing I definitely miss when I leave home!" As much as that sounded like a joke, it really wasn't.

The mood was positively pastoral, though! She'd missed this, she admitted to herself. "Can't get this in town, though," she countered to his compliments of the cooking. She reached down, scratching Houndour behind his ear as the puppy let out a happy yip.

"You know, Mommy Magnezone aside, it's a really nice day!" she chirped, looking over to Ash. She was personally looking forward to the "dessert" she'd nabbed back when they were in civilization. Strawberries and a dash of sugar; simple, delicious, and relatively healthy.

Ash took a big bite into his sandwich, nearly choking when he was nudged by the long neck of his Meganium. Squirming a bit before swallowing his share whole, Ash let out a sigh of relief.

"Mega, Meganium!" The Pokémon's happy demeanor turned to worry, and then to shame. She uttered her frenzied apologies, using her vines to fix his hat properly atop his head.

"Hey, I'm fine, Meganium! Don't worry about it…!" Ash assured the herb-bearing Pokémon, reaching to pat her head. "Just don't sneak up on me like that! Especially when I'm eating."

The bluenette let out a giggle at Meganium's antics. She really was a sweetheart; lovestruck and thus often a bit unpredictable because of it, but a sweetie all the same.

While their methods for meals on the road had gotten a bit more humble since Brock was no longer with them, it was still very relaxing. While the grass type opted to stay close to Ash now that she had the opportunity, Glalie hovered near the icy nest of sorts that Empoleon had crafted, admiring the craftsmanship as the partial water type cooled himself. Typhlosion watched over Quilava as she dug shallow holes to hide in. In the distance, Togekiss perched on a low tree with Clefairy at her side, the two fairies chattering amongst themselves.

Back with the trainers, Pikachu and Rosa sat at Ash's side. Pikachu briefed Rosa on the colorful adventures he and Ash went through on their first trip through Kanto. Buneary sat at Dawn's side, gracefully nibbling on Pokéchow. Houndour sat at Dawn's feet, whining and begging for scraps as he'd already finished his portion. Dawn obliged him, of course, pulling out the lunch meat from her sandwich for him.

That left only one Pokémon unaccounted for. Primeape sat on his own, downing his chow in a hungry frenzy. As much energy as he spent, plenty of fuel was necessary, after all! In his haste, he'd finished his meal with time to spare. Everyone else seemed busy! What was a restless Pig Monkey to do?

Letting out a bored huff, the fighting type scanned the small clearing. As much as he wanted to spar with the newcomer Riolu, she seemed content talking to Pikachu. Now what else was there… Oh, lo and behold! The cap atop Ash's head stood out, like a brilliant red gem just begging to be taken.

No more than seconds later, Ash found his face smashed into his meal atop the rock, a hefty weight atop his back that left his head feeling all too bare. "Agh…! What the? Primeape!?" By time he'd sat up, the punchy Pokémon was dancing about with the red cap atop its head, chanting in grunts and cries. Teasing Ash, most likely.

"Hey! C'mon, gimme back my hat!" Wiping the mushed food from his face, Ash jumped after Primeape, aiming to secure his prized possession. Why did this always have to happen to him?

"Aw, come on, guys! You've gotta take it easy on Ash some!" Dawn called out once the peace was abruptly broken by Primeape's playfulness. A part of her was genuinely worried, but another part couldn't help but sit on the rock and chuckle. He'd get his hat back when Primeape was ready to stop playing, she figured. No need to be a party pooper.

… Especially not when Houndour was all over excited thanks to the noise. "Houndour! Buddy, there's no need to go barking like that!" she chided.

The sense of chaos seemed to spread throughout the group.

Buneary continued to eat quietly, though she scooted nearer Pikachu and Rosa.

Empoleon rolled his eyes from within icy domain, too "mature" for all of this. Glalie simply let out a chuckle. Little had changed since its capture in Hoenn, really. Ash's Pokémon were still mischievous and he was still hot-headed. Silly as it was, things never got dull. Though, Empoleon gave him a look as if to say "can you believe this?"

Togekiss and Clefairy watched on quietly, neither too inclined to get between the boys.

Quilava, however, was shaking what passed for her tail, yipping up at Typhlosion, asking him the way a younger sister might ask her brother for permission if it would be okay to get in on the madness. Typhlosion looked between his younger counterpart and the two involved in the chase, quiet for a moment before giving her a little nudge. She could follow, but she'd be better off showing caution and keeping her distance! Who knew what would end up happening with these two.

Leaping forward after being nudged, the little fire type waddled after Ash and Primeape, adding another element of chaos to the fiasco.

In the distance, Dawn couldn't help but burst out laughing. Quilava's fat little back was rolling as she ran!

Yet, Spearows still flew overhead and the sun shone down lazily upon the group. Surely it was just harmless play.

"Ga! Ganium!" Meganium cried, her vines shooting out in an attempt to retrieve the cap. Unfortunately, Primeape's movements were too wild and erratic to match.

"If Primeape makes it to those trees first, Ash can kiss his hat goodbye for a while," Dawn muttered to the trio of Pokémon still on the rock with her.

"Pikachu…" The mouse sighed. Indeed, the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

The Pig Monkey took its business into the dirt path ahead, scurrying about before quickly scaling a tree, standing atop a branch. "Pri! Pri!" It hopped atop the sturdy growth, playfully mocking his trainer. Could one blame him, though? They hadn't been together in ages!

"Aw, c'mon… Well, fine! That's not gonna stop me!" Ash shouted, brows furrowing as he jumped to latch onto the tree. Scaling the bark with all four limbs, he did his best to climb after the mischievous fighting type Pokémon.

"He's really going up the tree," Dawn giggled. Oh, what she wouldn't give for a camera right now. "Hey, Togekiss, maybe fly over, it'd be good to have a safety net, you know?"

The white fairy type nodded, momentarily leaving Clefairy's side to fly over to the grove of trees Ash and Primeape played in. She rested on a nearby branch, looking mildly concerned but aware it was all in good fun. Mostly. Okay, for everyone but the boy being teased.

Occasionally, her eyes flicked to the Spearows nearby. What did they keep circling for?

Persistence proved to be key as Ash threw a leg over the branch that Primeape stood upon, followed by an arm. Soon enough, the boy was hugging onto the limb, more than ready to reclaim his possession. "Alright… I've got ya now, Primeape!"

Sadly, by time Ash had begun to gain balance, Primeape was already raring to continue the chase. Dropping to grab the branch with one of his gloved fists, the primate let out another snort before swinging to a nearby branch. He was standing again soon enough, once again staying ahead of his stubborn trainer.

"Ah…! Gimme a break!" Ash whined, crouching upon the branch before leaping to grab the one Primeape had perched upon. Now, the two were engaged in a tree-borne game of keep-away.

"It's times like these it's good he wears gloves," the bluenette muttered, breaking out the strawberries. "You guys want some?" she offered the Pokémon. "Oh, he stuck the landing!" Was she keeping score or something?

Glalie floated over to accept Dawn's offering. It wasn't as if he could be any help in this situation anyway, right?

At least Glalie was relaxing with her. And, Buneary, surprisingly. She mostly looked forlorn, though.

Meanwhile, Pikachu and Rosa had given chase to their trainer.

Togekiss was clearly fretting, hopping beneath the branches where Ash and Primeape played. Her cries of "Toge toge ki!" only added to the chaos.

Quilava hadn't stopped yipping, either, trying in vain to pull herself up the tree trunk. She was just small enough that her claws made a decent support in climbing the barky trunk, but just heavy enough that she was ripping off chunks of wood rather than hauling herself up too well.

Typhlosion had his careful eye on Quilava from where he lounged in the distance.

"Ga, Ganium!" Meganium cried, circling the base of the trees.

Ash, meanwhile, swung around on the branch he'd caught before scrambling on top of it. Teeth bared in frustration as Primeape made yet another jump, he continued. "You're not gonna throw me off that easy!" Yet another jump was made as Primeape moved onward, and this continued through several more trees, despite Togekiss' pleas. At this point, Ash could swear he was closing the gap.

"Ah-ha!" Finally, he'd gotten close enough to reach for the red cap, grabbing the red brim just as Primeape moved on once more. "You're pretty fast on your feet, Primeape! But, I've gotten pretty quick, too!" Says the trainer recklessly hanging onto the edge of a branch.

"Clefaaa!" Clefairy called out, clapping her hands. There was the savior the clan had spoken of! He'd kept up with a Primeape and reclaiming what was his.

Suddenly, Houndour began barking in a frenzy. Empoleon sat up, checking the skies. What had the little dog heard? He was going nuts, trying to warn them of something.

That's when three Spearows flew past, knocking Togekiss, who had just settled on a branch, off balance. The lead's aim was to startle Ash; the second and third were to squabble over his hat, one of them hopefully snatching it out of his grip.

"Wah! Hey! What's the big idea!?" Ash scrambled to avoid the angry Pokémon, swatting at them with his hat - probably not the wisest decision. While the first had been repelled, the following Spearow snagged the prized head wear out of his hand.

"Whoa! Hey, hold on!" Dawn cried out, dropping the food on the rock without hesitation. The rest of her team followed in short order. What just happened?!

Having stolen Ash's hat, the Spearows begin a hasty retreat through the tree grove, hoping to use the trees as a means of defense against any potential attacks but to also take advantage of their aerial superiority to outwit their newfound enemies.

"Pika… Chu!" Ash's best friend shrieked from the ground below, unleashing a hasty Thunderbolt towards the offending group of Spearow. He wasn't going to just let them get away with that!

Synchronized, shrill cries of pain were wrought from the flying types, prompting a quick retreat. The one flying off with the cap let out a squawk as it escaped, dropping Ash's hat not far from where it had been taken.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the only thing about to drop. Losing balance quickly after the squabble, Ash let out a yell before falling towards the ground below.

"Ganium!" Finally, Meganium had her chance! Dual vines shot out from the petals surrounding her neck, quickly entangling Ash in their grip just above ground. He was pulled up to eye level with the Pokémon, greeted with an affectionate nuzzle from the Pokémon. "Meganium!" She was just glad he was alright!

"Ah, man… That was a close call. Thanks a lot, Meganium! You too, Pikachu!"

Everyone crowded around Meganium and Ash. Empoleon was particularly worried, though he occasionally cast glares in the direction of the retreating Spearows.

"Hey, give 'em some room!" Dawn commanded. "Togekiss, do me a favor and go see where the hat went. Buneary, go with her—if those Spearows are still around, scare 'em off." As the Buneary hopped on Togekiss's back and the two flew off, Dawn let out a relieved sigh, crossing her arms. "Well, I think we've had about enough excitement for the day. You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Dawn." The boy let out an exasperated sigh as he was let down.

Primeape, meanwhile, had hopped down from the next tree, snorting out an apology of some sort. He hadn't expected things to get **that** extreme! Not unless it was his doing.

Once Ash was settled, though, the issue of his cap came to mind. "Hey, I wonder what's taking them so long?" With that, he set off to pursue the duo, and his team came with him.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a different but not too distant part of the grove, Togekiss and Buneary found Ash's hat—but it'd already been claimed by another!

"—very good shape! Excellent find, Noctowl, good eyes!" an old man chimed, laughing haughtily as he inspected the red cap. "There were only so many of these given away, you know!"

"Towl," the bird responded.

"Toge," Togekiss muttered.

Buneary furrowed her brows. "Neary."

"Toge toge?!"

"Neary!"

"TOGE!"

"Bun-neary!"

With that, Togekiss begrudgingly flew lower, the two of them landing before the man and his Noctowl. As Buneary stepped forward, she pointed at the hat the man held.

* * *

In a few minutes, when the group headed in the direction Togekiss had flown off, they'd see the Noctowl attacking Buneary, and the rabbit ferociously fighting off the big flying type while Togekiss did her best to balance between helping her team mate and keeping the old man from running off.

"Hey! What's going on here!?" Ash gawked at the scene before him, watching Buneary and Togekiss fight with a stranger, who seemed to be holding his prized cap.

Buneary at once pointed to the Noctowl, chattering loudly. "Neary neary neary bun!" she shouted, clearly blaming the old man and his Pokémon for the trouble they were in. With her attention turned to the suddenly arriving reinforcements, her back was exposed to the Noctowl. Needless to say, the bird took advantage of this.

Or, at least, he tried.

"Neary!"

Empoleon winced. She'd gone straight for the Noctowl's breastbone, what she always did whenever she was fighting him.

"Noct!"

"Call off your little ruffians!" the gentleman demanded. "I demand it, or else I shall call the authorities!"

"Hey, he's got your hat," Dawn pointed out. All the same, in an attempt to calm the situation, she returned her entire team save Empoleon. Judging by the look of betrayal Buneary shot Dawn, she'd definitely wanted to finish scrapping with that Noctowl. "Sorry about that… I'm sure there must've been a misunderstanding. But, could you please give us his hat back?" Dawn gestured with her thumb towards her hatless companion.

She hoped that'd be the end of it. However…

"His hat?" the gentleman asked. "… impossible! A hat this valuable can't possibly belong to such a…" He eyed Ash. The untamed hair, the shabby clothes, the mischievous aura about him! Impossible. "… well, it definitely doesn't belong to such a scrappy looking fellow."

"What do you mean, 'scrappy?'" Ash frowned, clearly taking offense to this. "That **is** my hat. I won it years ago in a sweepstakes I entered. It's kinda really important to me, so could you please give it back?"

Chatters of agreement and pleas to the man could be heard from Ash's team. Particularly Primeape, who was none too happy that his little prank had landed Ash's valuable cap in the wrong hands.

"My boy, I would regretfully find it most unbecoming to truly go in depth with the reasons I have called you that which you are," the man drawled on, tone becoming stuffier and stuffier. "But! Know that I doubt you. The chances of that are… in the thousands! In the hundreds of thousands! Besides, what sort of child would just waltz around with this thing? It needs to be preserved in a museum, you know!" the old man barked. "If it's so important you should have held on to it!"

He inspected the cap before letting out an insulted snort.

"And, taken care of it! This thing looks as if it's seen hell!"

He looked at Dawn.

"Pardon my language, young lady."

"I wear it because it's my favorite hat! And I **was** holding onto it, but some stuff happened and it slipped away for a minute." The last thing Ash would do is blame his Pokémon, even if Primeape had started this whole mess. "It has been through a lot. That's one of the reasons it matters so much to me! I've had it since the beginning of my Pokémon journey, years ago."

"… You're good? For the cussing, anyway," the coordinator retorted, growing indignant a bit. She turned to Ash. "He's not giving the hat back. … we can't fight an old guy, can we?"

Looking to Dawn, Ash placed a hand on his hip. That wouldn't be the best move to make. "But that's my hat and he's taking it! He can't just get away with that, right?" And, heck if Ash was going to let it sit in some dumb museum.

"No… but we either do this now or it'll be a while before you see your hat."

Meanwhile, the gentleman was shaking his head. "It'll be a while more before you see it again! This hat is simply too valuable to be left with you. Tell you what, I'll leave my card," he explained, pulling out a slip of paper and flicking it in their direction. "I'm putting this on display for the world, where it will be appreciated properly. If it truly was yours, bring me some evidence, hm? I'll be glad to compensate you."

With that, he turned on his heel, headed off. His Noctowl followed after, lazily flapping its wings.

"Who gave you the right to decide that, huh?" This was starting to make Ash's blood boil. He didn't even know this guy and he thought he could just take something of his and walk away!?

"Pika-Pika! Pikachu!" In Ash's stead, his most reliable partner had hopped in the elder man's way, brows furrowed. Shrieking in defiance of the man's presumptuous attitude, he refused to move. He wouldn't just let someone steal his best friend's favorite hat!

The old man stopped, frowning. He flicked his wrist towards the mouse. "Go on, move along. Can't have you holding me up."

The Noctowl let out his own screech, landing before the Pikachu.

"You there, lad, collect your Pokémon! You're impeding my most important and sacred duty, and I am unafraid to use the full extent of my legal power and battle you for it!" he warned.

"Oh, now we're in for it," Dawn muttered, hanging back with Empoleon. One needn't wonder how Ash would respond to that request.

"It's not my fault you're taking something that's not yours." Quickly, though, Ash's tune changed when a battle was mentioned. A smirk building on his lips, Ash reached for what should be his cap, only to grasp at thin air. This was annoying him already! "A battle? That's fine by me! You want it, you've got it."

Ash was joined by several enthusiastic cries from his team on the sidelines. They were eager for Ash to get his possession back, and even more eager to have the chance to fight for it!

The old man frowned. "Fine, then. Arcanine, let's bring a little finesse onto the field!" If the little pup wanted a battle, he'd give the boy a battle!

"Nine!"

Ever so slightly grayed around the muzzle but still thick with muscle, the big fire type leered down at Pikachu and Ash. He let out a single breath, smoke curling over his teeth and fading into the air from his maw. His massive, luxuriously groomed maned glistened and his dander raised. Old but not obsolete, the fire type was clearly raring to go.

"You can still walk away," the gentleman offered.

"An Arcanine, huh?" Ash looked to the seasoned Legendary Pokémon. It looked like it'd seen its fair share of battles, to say the least. Maybe this'll end up being fun. "Not a chance! Typhlosion, I choose you!" Ash pointed forward, looking to the Volcano Pokémon.

"Ty!" The fire-type roared, dashing over to stand before Ash, soon eyeing Arcanine heavily. Just like any of Ash's Pokémon, it would fight its hardest for his sake.

"Alright! Let's start this battle, with Flamethrower!"

The fire type obliged, parting its mouth before spewing forward a stream of roaring flames.

The gentleman lowered his own hat a bit, chuckling. "All these young bucks—so brazen, so bold, so buffoonish!"

The Arcanine stood, Typhlosion's fire washing over his fur. As the Flamethrower faded, the old dog stood, still bristling, still snarling. Its Flash Fire ability had been activated.

"Now, let's see some good old fashioned fireworks! Arcanine, use Fire Fang!"

Running forward, the Arcanine's aim would be to avoid a full frontal engagement. It merely aimed to snatch at the skin along the sides of the brute, do damage but avoid chances for its age to be used against it.

"He seems like the type of guy to go on and on about the good old days," Dawn muttered as the battle began, crossing her arms.

Soon enough, Arcanine's fire-bathed fangs sunk into Typhlosion's side, earning a cry of pain from the Volcano Pokémon. Fangs were bared, a fierce gaze glued to its opponent.

"You can take it, Typhlosion! Hit it back hard, with Thunderpunch!"

A loud roar was heard as Typhlosion raised one of its fists, charging it with a glaring current of golden electricity. A punch was thrown with vigor, aiming to return the damage and then some.

* * *

Meanwhile, not far away from the action, it seemed Ash and friends weren't alone. Three pairs of eyes lay glued to the battle unfolding, snide smiles curving onto the corner of each pair of lips. They belonged to none other than Team Rocket. Jessie, James, and Meowth were hidden behind a nearby tree, observing the action taking place in the clearing.

"Oh, what luck. The twerp's fallen right into our laps, and he was gracious enough to not make us do any work!" Jessie quietly applauded their fortune, followed by James.

"And, he's lost his precious head wear. Someone still has some growing up to do."

"Meowth! And, he's gonna beat duh pants off dat old-timer to get it back! What won't the kid do to keep a hold of dat thing?" Meowth's question, however rhetorical, caused the three to meet eyes, a known thought of mischief coursing among the group.

"We do have plenty of time before the big catch," James added. Their luck was finally turning up.

* * *

The big brute let out a yelp, giving the Typhlosion some room after the hit. Arcanine was quick to retreat, kneeling into a cautious, battle-ready posture. He wasn't giving up easily.

All focus from Dawn and Empoleon was upon this, eyes shifting between the would-be veteran, his well-groomed guard dog, their traveling companion, and finally their favored for the match.

"Give them Thunder Fang, then!" The man cried. He was a bit nervous, actually. He kept forgetting there were still youth who took training seriously. So many washed out, it was rare to find anyone so young that actually had any skill… especially enough that one of their Pokémon could take a blow from his Arcanine and keep going like nothing had happened!

"Look out, Typhlosion! Move aside with Flame Wheel!

As speedy as the fire type was, a large quadruped like Arcanine lunging for a bite was quite the difficult assault to dodge. Fortunately, however, Ash had thought on his feet. Typhlosion quickly curled into a ball, the fires on his back igniting as he spun clean out of Arcanine's range. But, were they really going to attack with another fire move?

They missed. However, Arcanine reflexively stilled. While the impact of Flame Wheel might hurt, if that fire type move landed, it'd do next to no good. The gentleman let out an arrogant chuckle, amused by what he assumed was his opponent's foolishness.

Soon after, however, he was to be proven wrong.

"Now, come back in and use Focus Blast!"

Typhlosion was already clean on its path back to Arcanine. Soon before getting too close, however, the roll turned into a jump, the mammal's body uncurling to raise both paws above its head. A shining orb of energy was formed, promptly lobbed down at Arcanine.

Arcanine let out a yelp, the close range Focus Blast injuring the veteran. It had a bit more left in it, but that Focus Blast had been quite devastating.

Realizing this, the gentleman knew just the remedy. "Morning Sun!" he called out.

The canine seemed to almost smirk as its body glimmered. While not back at full power, the damage done by the focus blast was negated.

"Extreme Speed!"

"Man… Now we're gonna have to do more damage." Ash's teeth were bared, eyes glued to the healing Legendary Pokémon. Before they had the chance, however, a speedy assault occurred, coming in before Ash had proper chance to respond.

While the younger and thus livelier Typhlosion had previously outmaneuvered the aging canine, he broke into an easy stride, headed straight for his short distanced opponent to run right over him! The aim was to trample, you see, for Arcanine still could not overcome its frailty in age.

Typhlosion was struck by the rushed assault, letting out a cry as he skidded across the battlefield.

"Hang in there! And hit it with Thunderpunch!"

Once more, Typhlosion charged in, wielding a crackling fist before throwing the punch.

"Not so fast!" the gentleman called. "Catch it with a Thunder Fang!"

The Arcanine obeyed. As his crackling fangs laid into the charged fist of his opponent, the old fire type snarled. It would seem they were at a stalemate, wouldn't it?

Typhlosion's fist was caught in the crackling maw of Arcanine, making the Pokémon wince in pain. The charge from each cancelled the other out, but that didn't nullify the pain of fangs sinking into the Pokémon's paw.

Checkmate. A glimmer appeared in Ash's eye as he spotted an opening. "Use Focus Blast!"

Catching onto his trainer's plan, Typhlosion raised his free arm high above his head, letting out a cry as an orb of energy formed in his paw. With a roar, the blast was slammed into Arcanine.

It was too late to dodge it. The Arcanine's eyes widened just in time for its expression and yelp of pain to be obscured by the explosion of the Focus Blast. When the dust settled, however, the hind quarters of the dog were limp. Its mouth only remained reflexively attached to Typhlosion's own paw–there was no more bite force to it.

"Oh, bother… return, Arcanine. Good show, old sport." Gesturing to the Noctowl, he nodded. "You're on now." While Thunder Punch might prove a hassle, he didn't know if the youngster would return his current Pokémon or not. Best see what would happen before running in blind.

"Good job, Typhlosion!" Ash praised, just now noticing that the Volcano Pokémon was huffing, somewhat winded and injured after the intense match. Even with his superiority, he'd taken quite a bit of damage.

"Looks like you could use a rest… Return!" Ash recalled the Pokémon to his ball.

"Alright! If you're using Noctowl, then I'll choose… Glalie! You're up!"

"Glalie!" The Face Pokémon bounced over to the battlefield from behind Ash, raring to go.

"Now, use Ice Beam!"

Glalie did just as told, conjuring freezing energy between its horns before firing at Noctowl.

"Dodge!"

Well. Noctowl got A for effort, but Noctowls were not exactly notorious for being super maneuverable. At least, not at this size. However, the effects of the Ice Beam were limited thanks to the flying type's obedience. Only its tail was effected, but it was frozen solid. It would be much more difficult to fly with any degree of accuracy, now.

"Hmph. We'll need to buy time for that to thaw out… use Hypnosis!" The gentleman instructed.

The big bird of prey's eyes turned pink, focusing upon Glalie. If the move was successful, the ice type would be down for a nap in a second.

"Hypnosis? That's gonna be a problem." It was a good thing, though, that Ash had planned a counter-measure against that move quite a while back. "Make a Counter Shield, with Icy Wind!"

The floating sphere of ice began to spin, picking up momentum before spitting out a freezing gale of wind, twisting with Glalie as it went. A twister of cold air circled the Face Pokémon, repelling the psychic waves sent out by Hypnosis.

The gentleman frowned. "How peculiar… that's not the move's intention at all! The boy is quite the non-traditionalist," he mused. "All the same! Noctowl, use Sky Attack!"

The flying type spread its wings, body taking on a brilliant light. After a moment of delay, the move was executed. The emanating light had even begun to melt the frost on its tail feathers.

With Glalie busy protecting itself from Hypnosis, it was left unable to protect it from Sky Attack. It let out a grunt of pain as the powerful flying type move slammed into its body, rattling its form.

"Hang in there, Glalie! Use Crunch!"

Still rather close to Noctowl, it would attempt to sink its teeth into its opponent.

Hopefully Glalie liked the taste of feet and the rush of a critical hit. Flapping its wings furiously, the Noctowl unsuccessfully tried to flap away from the ice type, feet trapped and loud screeches of pain.

It was a bit comical, honestly.

"Echoed Voice, Echoed Voice, old sport!" the gentleman called.

Channeling its pain in a useful manner, the Noctowl essentially screamed directly at Glalie. It wasn't much like singing. At all.

Glalie's eyes shut tight, pain running through its head from the shrill cries of Noctowl.

"Man, that's loud!" Ash cringed, covering both of his ears to block out the irritating, high-pitched sound. "Try and shake it free, Glalie! Spin it around, using Gyro Ball!"

The Face Pokémon did just that, beginning to spin like a top with Noctowl still in its grip. Rather than shooting forward to tackle its opponent, Glalie simply released Noctowl from its maw, aiming to send the Pokémon flying.

It was somewhat of a miracle that the Noctowl wasn't knocked unconscious the moment after being thrown around and around like that. However, upon release, the bird was too disoriented to right itself; besides, even if it had been, its tail feathers hadn't completely thawed yet. Flapping blindly, it succeeded in only landing upside down and with its back to a tree.

It was unconscious by the time it slid to the bottom.

"Merciful crystal spires above," the old man groaned, clutching his chest. He wasn't hurt, just… nervous. Still, his spare hand hung stubbornly onto the cap. "I, Az Heauxl, Co-Chair of the Esteem Gentlemen's Club for the Appreciation and Protection of Rare and Valuable Hats and Head Gear, will have this hat if it is the last thing I do!" Dramatic much? All the same, he returned his Noctowl and released a Persian. This Pokémon seemed younger than the rest.

"Wait, your name is Az…" Ash trailed off, eyes going wide before realization struck. The not-so-mature teen cupped a hand over his mouth, doing his best to suppress a fit of laughter.

What was Ash laughing about? Dawn furrowed her brows before realization struck her. "Oh, man, is that the name his mama gave him!?" she snickered quietly to Empoleon.

Too busy with his amusement, Ash had failed to make a selection for the next round of the battle. Someone else, however, made their opinion known. "Prime!" Primeape cried, hopping over in front of his trainer. A gesture and a few grunts were given to Glalie, making sure the Face Pokémon understood his motives. After all, he was the one who'd lost the hat to begin with. He'd finish this.

"Glalie!" Ash's other Pokémon answered, floating back towards the rest of Ash's team.

"Ah, right…! On with the battle! I'll use Primeape, next!" Maybe now he wouldn't have to answer for his near-outburst. "Primeape, use Mega Kick!"

It didn't need to be told twice. Within an instant it had launched at Persian, one foot forward.

Az frowned. "Children these days," he gruffed. "Persian, use Fake Out!"

The cat considered its options before rushing at Pimeape, jaws wide open. It would appear at first as if it were trying to chomp on to the fighting type's foot. However, at the last minute it would leap over the pig-monkey, hopefully causing the other to flinch. And, it would whirl to try and scratch the other anyway.

Primeape struck at a vanishing target, eyes turning every which way. Bewildered, it was unprepared for the slash that crossed his side. It let out a cry, stumbling backward.

"Alright! Now it's close! Use Close Combat!"

Quickly getting steamed, the fighting type turned to throw a barrages and kicks at Persian.

It went without saying that Close Combat was a nasty move to be used on Persian. Skidding backwards and trying in vain to protect itself, the normal type yowled, hissed, and spat at every blow. By the end of it, it was hunched down, growling.

"Mercy me," Az murmurred. "… Persian, let's try Slash." That was their only hope, he supposed.

Persian needn't be told twice. Leaping forward, the big cat went head on for Primeape, claws out. "Sian!"

Persian was drawing close, and Ash was mere seconds from calling for their next move. However, it didn't seem that a conclusion to the battle was in the cards, as a lone figure swept seemingly out of nowhere, flying straight by Az before he, nor Ash could register what had happened. Joined by the figure were two taller ones, each letting out a cackle from above the battlefield.

"What in the world?" The elder man looked left and right, finally catching on to his unoccupied hand. The hat was gone!

"Hey! My hat!" Ash's face fell at the item's disappearance, and only further when he looked upward. "Oh, great."

* * *

"Hahahah! Lookin' for this, twoip?" Meowth cackled from above, hovering on a jetpack with the red cap between tightly between his paws. "Guess ya shoulda looked out for it better!"

"If you want it back, you're in for some trouble!"

"Your heart's in that headgear, so make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"They could have kept their line about making everything worse… It's not wrong." Dawn put her hands on her hips. "What are you gonna do, sell it?" … Actually, she hoped not. She cast a look over to Az who was still in distress over the fact the hat had been taken from him. His Persian had disengaged from the battle, comforting its trainer quite well.

Nodding to Ash, she assumed everything would go as routine. "I guess we can team up, huh?"

"Oh, please. Do you really think we're _that_ underhanded?" Jessie feigned offense, a hand resting on her hip.

A distinct _yes_ went through Dawn's head; they were that underhanded. All the same, she was already gesturing to Empoleon who flexed the little fingers on his flippers.

Meowth shrugged, playing innocent. "We're feelin' a little generous today! So we're gonna cut you twoips a break and give you a deal instead."

James cut in next. "You can have your precious hat back… Of course, if you give us something else of value. Pikachu would make a pretty good trade, don't you think?"

"I think that's a great idea, James. So, twerp? Are you going to play it smart?" Jessie asked.

"What are you, nuts!? There's no way I'm gonna give you Pikachu!" Turning to Dawn, Ash gave the girl a nod. "You've got it. Let's remind 'em just how tough we are!"

"Ah-ah-ah!" The lavender-haired man wagged a finger, tossing a Pokéball down toward the ground. Out of the sphere popped a Nidoking, who let out a fierce roar.

"Just a lil' insurance…! Ha-hah!" Meowth cackled, tossing the cap down to Nidoking. The latter caught the cap, securing it between its strong claws.

"You might want to watch your temper. Either you back down and hand over Pikachu…"

"…Or, my Nidoking will turn that merchandise of yours into toxic soup!"

Dawn looked over to Ash, feeling a bit useless. His hat, his call. She couldn't help but glare at Az out of the corner of her eye, though. "… I've got your back," she assured.

Ash's teeth grit together, a low growl of frustration leaving him. Damn it… They really had him, now. It was way too close to destroying his cap for Ash to attack it.

"And, just to be sure you don't pull anything funny… Why don't you put Pikachu inside his Pokéball? We're not looking to get humiliated again." Some bitterness lingered in Jessie's voice. They'd been put in their place far too many times. This time, though, they held the cards. Pikachu would surely be theirs.

"Chuuu…" Pikachu growled, electricity dancing along his cheeks. The last thing he wanted to do was get inside that contraption. Let alone, one held by Team Rocket.

"You want Pikachu?" Ash let out a huff, walking over before picking up the mouse. All of Ash's team had their eyes on their trainer, awestruck by his seeming compliance.

"...Ash?" Dawn held a fist to her chest, quite perplexed. He wasn't really handing him over, was he..?

"…You take him, then!" With that, Ash tossed Pikachu straight at James, allowing the mouse to cling to the Rocket's face.

The latter let out a terrified shriek, regressing from his intimidating demeanor from just moments ago. In no time at all, the mouse was being thrown around between the three like a hot potato. That was, one that could unleash thousands of volts at any given time.

Ash wasted no time, taking the moment of confusion to lunge forward. His target being none other than Nidoking, who was then put under the weight of the endlessly daring boy.

"Oh, man," Dawn chuckled, glad that'd had worked out about like she'd expected. "Alright, Empoleon, you go give some support to Ash!" If that Nidoking got too friendly with the poison, the Empoleon's new found immunity might prove useful. "I'll make sure they don't actually run off with Pikachu."

How she'd do that, she wasn't sure, but at least if she was nearby she might be able to offer some support!

The element of surprise had allowed Ash to snag the cap from Nidoking's grip, but unfortunately, he had only thought that far ahead. Now he was wrangling with a Pokémon much heavier and much stronger than him. Beginning to buckle under the Pokémon's strength. The trainer looked every which way before spotting his support.

"Empoleon! Get 'im, now!" With that, Ash slipped under the Nidoking's grip, ready for the prideful Pokémon to intervene.

The minute Ash retreated, Empoleon was already grinning, a Metal Claw waiting for the big poison type. "Pol!" he shouted, giving the Nidoking a sharp slap the minute he came charging after Ash.

The purple Pokémon reeled, stunned.

It only lasted a moment. In short order, the two titans were grappling. Though Nidoking was bulkier than Empoleon, the Empoleon was infinitely more stubborn. Besides, one of them had a nice crest they could use to give the other a good old Headbutt with.

Meanwhile, Pikachu had found his place among the trio, clinging to James' finger with his teeth. Ignoring the feminine shrieks, Pikachu took full advantage of his position to show the trio who really held the edge. A fierce Thunderbolt was unleashed in a golden burst, enveloping all three Rockets in an unprecedented display of power.

Each jetpack exploded in faltering smoke, allowing Jessie, James, and Meowth to fall to the ground below. Each let out a groan of pain, seething as they hopped to their feet.

"Alright. That's it! We tried playing nice, but you asked for it! Nidoqueen, go!" Jessie tossed a Pokéball of her own, letting out the other poison type's female counterpart.

Dawn looked towards Ash. "Finally! What'll it be, Ash?" She looked to Empoleon who had separated from the Nidoking, each awaiting the instructions for what would be a fierce battle. Now, the advantage was in their court, she assumed. From all she remembered, the trio had never been a battle worth sweating over.

Scrambling away the moment he was able, Ash stood and turned towards the trio of crooks, looking none too happy with their attempted scheme. Unlike Dawn, though, he'd seen their more recent endeavors. This time, they'd actually have to take the group seriously. "We'll just do what we always do!"

Relieved to have the familiar cap back upon his head, Ash couldn't help but grin as he reached for its brim, turning it around in one familiar motion. "Primeape, I choose you!"

"Pri! Pri!" It snorted, hopping into the fray. Of course, he was as ready for battle as always.

"You twerps won't win this time! Nidoqueen, Earth Power!" Jessie's Pokémon obliged, slamming a fist into the ground below. The battlefield splintered, letting a bright shine loose that exploded under Primeape. The burst of energy sent the fighting type soaring into the air.

"Nidoking! Double Kick!" Already raring to fight, the poison type lashed out with a brutal kick towards the Emperor Pokémon that would inevitably be followed by a second strike.

Dawn's eyes widened as the earth cracked and split. Empoleon let out a frustrated growl, his steel typing causing him to reel a bit from the move. It seemed the previous attack had been two-pronged, too, a golden light beginning to brim below his feet.

However, a jet of water counteracted the blast of heat that had been intended to be his share. Which was good, because he'd need to be ready to react to Nidoking.

"Empoleon, use Whirlpool!" Since Primeape was already sent flying, maybe he'd stay airborne long enough to get out of the wall of the all-consuming attack…! Dawn could only hope so, anyway. She looked to Ash. They'd been thrown into this really quickly, so they had to pick a strategy on the fly.

It was likely the two poison-types would take advantage of that shared element. Maybe Empoleon could cover Primeape from that! If Primeape could come through and do the heavy hitting, Empoleon could do the opening and clean-up work. "Should we take lead?" she checked, speaking to aloud Ash this time.

At any rate, the Whirlpool had been gathered and unleased towards the two ground types. With any luck, it would begin doing its work hastily. Empoleon didn't want to have to face too many more of those ground rending moves himself.

"Sounds good to me!" Ash gave a nod to the coordinator, more than eager to team up with her.

Primeape landed outside of the range of Whirlpool, free from the water type's wrath. Shaking off the pain of Earth Power, he was raring and ready to continue the fight.

The two poison types were swept up in the current of Whirlpool, thrown about by the powerful water-type attack. It proved painful, to say the least. However, they were far tougher than one would give the Team Rocket trio credit for.

"If dey keep dat up, our Pokémon are gonna end up watahlogged," Meowth sulked.

"Not on my watch," Jessie interrupted. "Nidoqueen! Toxic Spikes!"

Still in the midst of the twister, the Drill Pokémon opened her mouth, spitting out a number of poisonous projectiles. Each fell into the Whirlpool, tainting it with a purple ooze that leaked throughout its entirety. Nidoking and Nidoqueen alike struck out at the current, far more formidable against the familiar element. With their weakness subdued, they were able to successfully break out of the cycle.

"Looks like Nidoqueen's gonna give us some trouble. Primeape, Close Combat!"

Primeape showed no hesitation, leaping into the fray to pummel the larger Pokémon.

Well, that was short lived. Dawn frowned. They'd have to make sure Primeape didn't get ganged up on out there. "Metal Claw! Let's beat back Nidoking!"

Empoleon was clearly ready to tear into what was probably his favored opponent again.

James, meanwhile, let out a tsking noise, wiggling his finger. "Ah-ah-ah. Nidoking, use Double Kick! We'll remind 'em who's boss!"

Needless to say, when Empoleon got close, he was greeted with an ear-ringing kick to the face. Reeling back, the water type would have only seconds to right himself and try to defend against the next kick.

Dawn, realizing their opportunity, smirked. "Hydro Pump."

Stunned, the Empoleon was still half bent over from the blow. Looking up at the two feet of his opponent he tried to aim. Thankfully, the range was minimal and the hit was direct.

The powerful jet sent the burly Pokémon flying back under the super-effective pressure. Empoleon was still knocked silly from the Double Kick, but they'd made their mark as well.

Meanwhile, Primeape was caught up with his own opponent. Relentless as ever, he pummeled the opposing Pokémon with furious punches and kicks, quickly cornering her.

"Don't take that from that furball. Superpower!" Jessie called at once, prompting Nidoqueen to brace herself. A bright blue light surrounded her form, muscles powering up to their peak as she threw herself forward. Primeape was rattled by a brutal clothesline, falling back from his footing with Nidoqueen keeping an iron grip.

"Hang in there! Grab Nidoqueen and use Seismic Toss!"

Digging one foot into the ground, Primeape regained his footing, wrapping its arms around Nidoqueen's much larger limb. Using his spectacular strength, he hoisted the ground type off the ground, swinging it around in circles before throwing it towards Nidoking.

"Empoleon, back up!" Dawn ordered.

Obeying, Empoleon barely missed being sent flying with the duo of poison types. Disoriented, Dawn saw a set up for a finale… if they played their cards right. Looking towards Ash, she grinned. "We'll knock 'em down if you'll clean 'em up!

"Sounds like a plan to me!"

"Empoleon, use Ice Beam to speed up! Then, double Metal Claw!"

Slicking a path for himself on the ground, it'd be a matter of seconds before Empoleon's two-flippered Metal Claw would knock into both Nidos, disorienting them with the back to back collisions.

"Nidoking, Double Kick!"

"Nidoqueen, Superpower!"

While the two poison types did their best to repel Empoleon, the speed gained by slipping along the ice proved to be just too much. The two were clotheslined by several strikes of Empoleon's wings, leaving each dizzy and unaware.

"Now! Let's finish it! Primeape, use Mega Kick!"

More than eager to put this grudge match to an end, the Pig Monkey stampeded towards the two Pokémon, vaulting forward with a leg extended. A dramatic spin rounded off the attack, allowing it to pulverize the duo in one fell swoop.

In quick succession, the Nidoking and then Nidoqueen fell, completely and utterly dominated by the excellent display of team work.

"Are you kidding me?!" Jessie growled out. She snarled, looking through their available Pokémon. Surely something else would be suitable for the job!

James, however, flicked his eyes towards Ash's team, keenly aware that they were all at the ready to fight. That wasn't even covering the twerpette's team. "Uh, Jessie…"

"Shut it, James!"

Meowth spoke up for him. "Jessie! We gots bigger fish t'fry! Let's get back t'work!"

James looked clearly grateful while Jessie looked perturbed. "Just you wait, you little runts! You'll get yours shortly!"

And, as suddenly as they'd arrived, they made their retreat in cloud of thick smoke.

"Should we let them go?" Dawn double checked. They had what they needed—going after Team Rocket right now might not end well.

"Yeah, you better run!" Ash shouted, waving a fist at the trio before they faded into the foliage. Turning to Dawn, he shrugged. "They're not gonna let us blast 'em off this time." In other words, it wasn't really worth the trouble. "They said they're up to something, so I guess we better just keep our eyes open for anything weird."

"But hey, forget that! Thanks a lot for the help, guys! You were great!" He cheered to Empoleon and Primeape, who'd each outdone themselves. Of course, the team's presence definitely helped!

Primeape snorted, bouncing about in triumph.

Empoleon bowed and Dawn giggled at his exaggerated gesture. "Ham it up… no, really. You did great," she praised, reaching up to give her starter a scratch near his crown. He let out a happy caw.

It was just about then that Ash recalled that the elder man was even still present. Turning to Az, he rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry about our match. Those guys kinda get in our hair a lot."

"It's quite alright," Az muttered, stepping forward. He dusted himself off, his Persian trailing after him. He looked hard at the boy before sighing. "… It's your hat, it seems. You put up quite the effort to retain it, so I suppose it'll do well in your hands." The old man let out a bark of a laugh. "If you ever get tired of it, we'll be happy to give it a forever home, though!"

"I've had it a pretty long time." He couldn't help but smile, turning it back around to its proper position atop his head. "Thanks for understanding!" He let out a chuckle. "Got it." Though, of course, it was doubtful that would ever happen.

"Guess it's time to get going now, huh?" Ash turned to Dawn, and then his team. "You ready, guys?"

Each of Ash's Pokémon answered in a cheer. Fortunately, they'd already had time to eat before the chase began!

"Alright! Fuschia City, here we come!"

As the group set off, Az waved.

It was only after a few minutes that a terrible realization came to Dawn. "My strawberries!" Well, she might have been robbed of a treat, but somewhere, probably where she'd abandoned them, some Spearows were very happy. "Aw… forget it. Let's just get to Fuschia City…"

"Hey, don't worry! I'm sure we'll find something else to eat, once we get there!" Ash said, trying to comfort his companion. There was no more time to cry over spilled milk today; they had their next goal in their sights, after all!


	40. Hounding Out Answers

The clear skies above Fuschia City welcomed our heroes as they wearily navigated the dimly lit streets of Fuschia City. Though it was a thriving city, they had a certain respect from nature. This was made especially evident by a magnificent evergreen tree heavily laden with Illumise and Volbeat.

However, the real curiosity was the older man checking under the tree on his hands and knees, disturbing the otherwise peaceful pokemon.

"I wonder what he's doing," Dawn mumbled, cocking her head in unison with Empoleon.

Pikachu's tail drooped as he and Ash looked over before the trainer walked on. "I don't _want_ to know," Ash clarified, thoroughly put out with old men for the day. They were hassles. "Let him do whatever the heck he's doing."

Deciding that Ash was right, Dawn and Empoleon quickly caught up with him and Pikachu, strolling into the Pokemon Center.

"Good evening," the nurse greeted from behind the counter. A small collection of trainers were settled in various parts of the lounge, nibbling over trays of food. The lounge was mostly devoid of pokemon, oddly enough. "Want to have your pokemon healed?"

Both of the humans nodded, quickly putting all of their party pokeballs on the trays readily waiting on the counter.

"We're serving pokechow in the back. May I take your Pikachu and Empoleon, as well?" she double checked.

Dawn and Ash exchanged curious looks before coming to a quick agreement. "Sure."

Pikachu hopped onto the counter while Empoleon moved to follow the nurse.

"I'll tend to them! You two make yourselves at home. There's a buffet around the corner, near the video phones. You actually came just in time! We were about to make last call for seconds and clean up." With that, Nurse Joy walked away with the pokemon.

Ash didn't waste any time walking towards the buffet. "That could have been bad," he said, only half-joking. He quickly grabbed a plate as he and Dawn, trailing after him, reached the buffet table. He filled his plate high, almost daring to topple over.

Dawn ate as well, but nearly so ravenously as Ash. Though her calorie requirements were high these days with all of the traveling they did and how active she was now, the amount Ash ate was almost inhuman. "I guess you were hungry, huh?" she teased.

The duo sat down at a little two top table, chowing down.

"Oh, man," Ash muttered in between bites. "I just realized, I gotta re-plan my team. I was planning to challenge Koga with. Koga's was the gym leader that I battled," he clarified, for Dawn's sake. "But, when me and Bertha were talking - I think you zoned out? - she reminded me that he's been promoted to Elite Four status. I dunno who the gym leader is," he confessed.

"You have no idea?" Dawn asked, a bit surprised. Ash was usually pretty good at looking into who he was challenging! "I know you said something about poison types. It's still a poison gym, right?"

"Oh yeah," he agreed. "The place is on a ninja compound. It's kept within the family, I think." Ash shook his head. "I remember reading while I was hanging out at Mom's about it a little. He's got a daughter a little younger than us, Janine. Except, the li'l news special was saying Koga hasn't approved her taking over the gym quite yet, so there's someone leading in her stead until she's ready."

"Do you have any idea who it could be?" she prompted.

Ash chewed for a moment, thinking it over. "Well… He and Aya were really close. She's probably the most likely to be acting as stand in," he reasoned.

Giggling in pride at his quick solution to the dilemma, the coordinator put her fork down as Ash cleared the top half of his abundant meal. "Well, the only real way to find out is to go challenge her! But, you oughta train plenty before then," she said with a wink.

"You know it," he agreed, biting into a carrot with zeal. "Ninjas are tricky… I'm gonna do some heavy practice with everyone's aim."

"Oh, speaking of practice, can I borrow Rosa tomorrow? She's gonna have that contest debut sooner or later, but I don't want her going in blind."

The trainer nodded. "I won't be using her tomorrow. That's fine."

By then, Ash had eaten all of his food. He and Dawn stood up, gathering their dishes to put in the disposal area before headed to the desk. They'd pick up their pokemon and then go to bed.

* * *

The next day, the duo headed out to see about Ash's training. The boy thought he remembered a particular empty lot in the town not too far from the train station there. As they walked, Rosa clung to Dawn's shoulder, trying to bond with her more. Empoleon walked between Ash as Pikachu sat on the boy's shoulder.

 _~Dawn's a little shorter~_ Rosa noted, looking over at the boys.

"Well, Ash finally hit his growth spurt I think, so that's why. Girls usually grow first, but not as much," Dawn explained.

Still pleased with his growth after all this time, Ash stuck his chest out. "I'm gonna be taller than even Empoleon, soon enough!"

"Empo," the water type indignantly tutted, throwing a look of shock at Ash. As if! He'd just acquired this height. It'd be a mighty fine day when Ash was taller than him again. What would be the point if he was neither the tallest nor small enough to carry?

In the midst of Ash and Empoleon posturing as the most impressive specimen, Dawn noted that the same man from the night before was out and about, looking around the bushes.

"... I've gotta check on him," Dawn finally muttered.

Ash looked over to where she was looking and frowned. "He just looks lost, Dawn. He's probably trying to find a shop."

"Well… What about this: you go train and I'll see about it."

"Alright. Contact me through Rosa if anything gets hairy," Ash dismissed.

"No need to worry," Dawn tutted.

Rolling his eyes, Ash walked away, leaving Empoleon, Rosa, and Dawn behind. "You know that's when I worry the most."

Touched that he'd answered her little catch phrase, Dawn watched him walk off for a moment. Then, she walked over to the old man.

"What's wrong?" she asked once, giving him a bit of a berth. "Sir?" she asked again, this time getting closer. "Hey, excuse me?"

The man whirled around. "Have you seen a pair of gold dentures?!"

Shocked to have the man so suddenly in her face, Dawn backed up. "No?! Why are you even looking for… Golden dentures…?"

Empoleon looked off in the direction Ash had gone. Maybe they should just leave, too.

The man teared up, finally dropping down to his knees and howling in distress. "No! They were my father's! His precious teeth! They were so crisp, so pure! He said he never tasted food so purely as he had when he wore them! The precious golden teeth of the first owner and warden of the Safari Zone, lost! Oh, nooo," the man moaned, absolutely sobbing.

"Why… Did you hang on to your father's teeth?" Dawn asked, still very confused over it all. Did this guy plan on using them?!

Sniffling still, he answered. "They made people smile. Furthermore, they were the first thing my father bought with the money he earned rehabilitating and reintroducing endangered species of pokemon back to Kanto. I would ask our old family friends in the ninja clan to help, but I've only got dear Koga's number and he's only in town for the holidays. Besides, it's such a trifling thing… I'm sure it'd be a bother to ask for help."

"It's not that small of a problem if it's bothering you this much," Dawn asserted, somehow pitying the man. "How'd you even lose them?"

"I left them for safekeeping in a secret house within the Safari Zone. My younger brother, Kaiser the warden, was supposed to keep it safe along with the Safari Zone itself. But, apparently, he became obsessed with this Dragonair," the man lamented.

He calmed and stood. "Oh, pardon my rudeness! My name is Baoba. I am the owner of the Kanto Safari Zone, future owner of the in-progtess Johto Safari Zone, and the genius behind the ambition that is the Pal Park."

While Baoba seemed very confident in himself just then, Dawn felt very confused. "What's a Safari Zone?"

"Hm… Well, it's a difficult thing to explain… For starters, the pokemon are not to be freely captured. You must use safari-balls, a special pokeball that only works here." Baoba stalled. He was better at the business side of it all.

Dawn tilted her head. "Oh, like the Great Marsh in Pastoria City!"

"Yes, just like that!" he agreed, recalling some of the discussions he'd had there.

"Well, if the teeth were in the Safari Zone, wouldn't they still be there?" Dawn inquired.

Baoba paused. "I hadn't thought of that. I supposed some human had stolen them. I guess a pokemon could have run off with them."

"My Houndour knows Odor Sleuth. We can go looking for it if you'll let us into the Safari Zone," Dawn offered.

"Very well! I'll get you the clearance!" Baoba chimed, already walking towards the place.

Dawn followed after him, Empoleon toddling after her. "Sorry, big buddy. You're gonna have to go in your ball for a bit." With the ban on battling inside zone, after all, Empoleon getting rowdy was always a risk.

After putting away the pouting penguin, Dawn whispered up to Rosa. "Hey, will you translate what the pokemon here are saying so we can work quicker? Houndour's nose is good, but talking will help."

 _~Sure!~_ Rosa agreed.

With that, Dawn released Houndour, smiling in anticipation. It'd been a while since he'd worked his magic.

* * *

The entrance to the Safari Zone was rather meager. A counter and a small lounge area which sat before the door leading to the Safari Zone itself were really all there was to it. All of that, and a man polishing an ancient relic of a weapon were all that stood between them and the Safari Zone.

At the moment, the gun toting elder was arguing with his more peaceful brother.

"I ain't lettin her in," Kaiser snapped. "No one is gonna go disturbin' the pokemon in the Safari Zone."

Baoba frowned, weary with the conversation. "Kaiser, both as your older brother and the actual owner of the Safari Zone, I demand that you fulfill your duties as warden and let this innocent girl in, especially since she's doing me a favor."

"... Fine. But, if she hurts any of the pokemon…" Kaiser cocked his gun, earning a frightened flinch from Dawn and Rosa as well as a growl from Houndour.

"Oh, stuff it, brother." Baoba snatched the rifle, quickly emptying the chambers and unloading it. "You know you're not supposed walk around with that loaded." The owner turned to Dawn, speaking kindly. "Now, are you ready to embark on your journey?"

Still nervous, Dawn thought about it briefly. "Well, if Houndour could get a scent lead, that'd be nice."

Wasting no time, Baoba hurried around the counter and returned, producing a box which looked as if it had been beaten in and pecked thoroughly. "Here. This is what we kept the teeth in, before."

Houndour sniffed at the box, memorizing the scent. Feathers, a certain masculine trail, and two similar beak odors… He knew what he was looking for.

Dawn opened the exit door, Rosa clinging to her shoulder. "Alright, Houndour! Odor Sleuth!"

"Hou!" he bayed, rushing off into the Safari Zone with Rosa and Dawn on his trail. With that, the hound, the jackal, and the coordinator disappeared into the wild, beyond Baoba or Kaiser's view.

* * *

Houndour soon led them through thick underbrush and the occasional thicket of tree. Eventually, they reached a magnificently huge nest. Within it, two Doduo sat. One had a pair of necks as dark as the night and the other had a neck that was a delicate shade of sandy pink.

Houndour reared his head back upon reaching them, barking loudly to let Dawn know he'd found his aim.

"Good boy," Dawn praised, patting his back. "Rosa, can you ask them if they've seen the gold dentures?"

 _~Sure!~_ the pup agreed, standing up on Dawn's shoulder. _~Hey! Doduo!~_

"Do?" the male Doduo asked, quickly mimicked by the female.

 _~Have you seen a pair of golden teeth?~_ Rosa inquired.

The two looked amongst themselves before looking down at something around the female's necks.

The male then spoke up. "Do do do! Duo…"

 _~Oh… Okay.~_ Sitting back down on Dawn's shoulders, Rosa translated for the coordinator. _~He said he had it yesterday, but he traded it last night to a Seaking in exchange for a mystic water necklace so he could give it to his lady friend as a gift.~_

Dawn sighed. She couldn't really blame the Doduo. He didn't know how important it was. "How are we gonna find the Seaking, though?" Frowning, she put a hand to her chin. Oh! We can follow the Doduo's trail! But… Let's make sure. Doduo, did you get the necklace from an abandoned house?"

"Duo," the male answered.

 _~He says he did,~_ Rosa supplied.

"Alright. Houndour, get a fresh whiff of Doduo's scent so we can find that Seaking!" Dawn ordered.

Houndour walked up, sniffing the nest of the two flying types before barking loudly and tearing off into the underbrush again. Dawn ran after him.

* * *

As the trio was making their way through the underbrush, a loud crying reached their ears. Before them appeared a sobbing old Kangaskhan, her pouch empty.

"Oh no… Rosa, can you see if she's okay?" Dawn asked, all three of them slowing to a walk. The Safari Zone had emptied into a grassy meadow centered around a pond. It would be the perfect place for a Kangaskhan to frolick, so why was she so sad?

Rosa hopped off Dawn's shoulders, walking over to the poor sobbing normal type.

 _~K-kangaskhan? Are you okay?~_

The Kangaskhan looked up from her sniffling, seeing Rosa. "Kanga…" she lamented. "Kangaskhaaan!"

 _~... We'll definitely keep an eye out for him! We're out and about today, so don't you worry!~_

Encouraged by Rosa's gently encouraging words, Kangaskhan smiled and dried her cheeks. "Kanga." With that, she mosied on, looking to and fro as she went.

"What just happened?" Dawn asked.

 _~Her son is missing. I told her we'd keep an eye out,~_ Rosa explained before climbing back onto Dawn's shoulder.

Just then, a head popped up out of the lake. Or, rather, the head of a Seaking, still attached to the body of course. A dust-yellow crown sat on his head. "Seaki?" he inquired. "Seaking king sea."

Houndour walked over, talking with the Seaking. "Hou hou! Houndour!"

Dawn looked over her shoulder to Rosa. "Can you tell me what they're saying?"

 _~Seaking was moved by us listening to Kangaskhan's story. He asked what we're looking for. Houndour and Seaking are talking about the golden teeth, now.~_ Rosa cocked her head. _~Seaking said he got his king's rock from a Slowpoke. Houndour's got the scent!~_

On cue, Houndour gave Seaking a thankful lick before walking back over.

 _~Houndour can't track water,~_ Rosa explained, _~But, Seaking told him where Slowpoke lives.~_

"Well, let's go!" Dawn encouraged. Soon, their chase would be over.

* * *

The path soon grew dense, thick mangroves lingering over a shallow slew of warm water. The small swamp centered around a single large, gray stone. Upon the stole basked a Slowpoke, mouth wide in a yawn that had lasted minutes.

Dawn leaned over the shore as much as she could manage, mindful not to dirty her teal boots in the slime. "That must be the one Seaking was talking about!" She beamed. "Hey, Slowpoke! We've got a favor to ask you."

Dawn's query was only answered by silence. The open maw no longer projected sound, unmoving.

A bead of sweat dripped down Dawn's forehead. "...Is it even awake?"

Much to the girl's dismay, the following silence confirmed her suspicions.

Dawn sighed. "Guess we'll have to wake it up first… Heyyy! Slowpoke! C'mon, we really need your help right now!" She cupped her hands around her mouth, doing her best to be loud enough to wake the slothish pokemon.

 _~C'mon, c'mon! Wake up!~_ The Riolu accompanying Dawn shouted through telepathy, doing her best to imprint her thoughts on the pokemon's mind… However incapable it might be.

Houndour barked along, doing his best to chip in.

Whether it was Dawn's shouting, Houndour's barking, or Rosa's influence, the Slowpoke began to stir… At a painfully slow pace. Its mouth fell shut one inch at a time, open eyes slowly coasting between the three sights before the lazy pokemon. "Slowww…" It trailed off, quite unsure why it seemed to be getting so much attention. Not like it cared to question the matter.

"Oh, great! He's awake!" Dawn beamed. "Slowpoke… You wouldn't happen to have a set of gold teeth, would you? We talked to your friend Seaking, and well, we _really_ need them.

The girl's face fell at the extended time it was taking the pokemon to process her request.

"Slow…. Poke…" He drawled on, not bothering to stand upon his little stony throne.

At this, the Riolu's ears perked up. _~H-he has them! He got them from Seaking!~_

"Alright~!" Dawn cheered, pumping her fist in the air. "Now we can get them back to Baoba!"

"Rio! Rio!" "Houn!" The two pokemon accompanying her jumped for joy, as well.

...Perhaps a moment too soon.

"Poke…" Slowpoke added in.

 _~Aw, no…~_ Rosa's shoulders slumped, her face and nerve bundles falling with them.

"Huh? What's the problem now?" Dawn turned to the Riolu, a bad feeling building in her gut.

 _~Slowpoke says they were stolen! A-an eggsy… Esecu…~_

"Exeggcute," Dawn corrected.

 _~Exeggcute! He said one o' those stole the gold teeth.~_

"This would be our luck…" Dawn's shoulders were the next to slump. "...Alright! I guess we've gotta find that Exeggcute, then!" Dawn pointed… In no direction in particular. "...Oh, right. Houndour, do you think you could find its scent and track it now, too?"

"Hou!" The canine affirmed, lowering its nose to the slimy ground… Much to his displeasure. Amidst unpleasant, possibly even toxic odors, he searched for the scent of a foreign pokemon among the swampy surroundings.

"Dour! Houndour!" He finally yipped, taking off away from the swamp once more.

"Alright! He's hot on the trail." Dawn started, pausing only to turn back to their messenger. "...Oh, right! Thanks, Slowpoke! I'm really sorry it was taken, but you were a big help!"

Guilty as she may have felt though, hardly anything was amiss in the pokemon's head. Its only concern was curling into its round, plushy body, basking in the warm sun. "Slow…"

* * *

They left the swampy grotto that served as Slowpoke's home and happened upon a small valley, dry and dusty as a desert. Dead, sun-bleached trees had fallen around the edge of where the earth had cracked for want of water. Dawn and company halted at the edge of the expanse, peering around a tree which desperately clung to the still fertile edge-grounds. From there they saw a peculiar scene: a baby Kangaskhan whose skin was still so young and supple that it remained purple was talking to an Exeggcute. The Kangaskhan clutched something green in his hands. Dawn squinted her eyes and realized it was a leaf stone. The Exeggcute, on the other hand…

"The golden dentures!" she exclaimed in a strained whisper. Finally, their search was over. "Rosa, what're they up to?"

The Riolu's ears and aura sensors tipped forward, desperately trying to catch wind of the conversation in the distance. After a brief interlude where the only sound was Houndour scratching behind his ear, she spoke up. _~T-the Exeggcute won't hand over the gold teeth unless Kangaskhan gives it his Leaf Stone! He's afraid the Exeggcute won't make good on its promise. He says his mother needs the teeth.~_

"Why would his…? Oh." This was the old Kangaskhan's son. Was she toothless?! She'd have a word with the warden when this was all over with. For now, Dawn had to get back those dentures no matter what! Furthermore, she wouldn't allow the Exeggcute to exploit that poor Kangaskhan!

Dawn dropped down to one knee. "Houndour, do you still remember Smog? Good… Rosa, I'll need you to use Force Palm, too," she trailed off, explaining her plan. Houndour and Rosa listened intently.

Meanwhile, the Exeggcute eggs were growing impatient. They needed that leaf stone to evolve into an Exeggutor! However, if they could keep the teeth, that wouldn't be a bad deal. If they were going to rule over the Safari Zone as the strongest pokemon, it wouldn't be so bad to have a bit of treasure, would it?

"Spotlight, Houndour, Rosa!"

Just then, a burst of Smog followed by a flash of aura-light caught both the numerous eggs' and Kangaskhan's attention. A bright flash revealed a Riolu standing in front of a girl, and a houndour menacingly posing behind her.

The girl pointed at the Exeggcute eggs, her other hand on her hip. "In defense of the pure love between a mother and a child, I'll show you that revenge is best served cold, Sinnoh style!" Truly, this was the entrance worthy of a superb superhero…! Or, perhaps, just a very vain but very stylish coordinator and the pokemon willing to indulge her.

"Exeggcute…" "Exegg?" "Cute."

 _~They think our entrance is weird,~_ Rosa supplied.

Dawn and Houndour both pouted.

"Kangas…!" the little boy enthused, sticking his leaf stone in his pouch to clap for the arriving heroes.

Rosa perked up. _~He thinks it's cool!~_

Dawn smirked, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Naturally! And, his opinion is the one who matters, since we're here to defend him!"

Houndour barked in agreement.

Growing serious once more, Dawn raised a fist. "Exeggcute, you should know better than to take advantage of the innocent family bond between these Kangaskhan!" Then, she turned to the boy. "Kangaskhan… you should have asked the warden for help."

"Kanga!" he whined back.

 _~He says the warden only cares about the Dragonair in the spring and her baby.~_

Dawn crossed her arms. "Don't worry about that. I'll have lots of words with the warden." An eyebrow ticked with annoyance. "For now, I must retrieve the golden teeth!"

The baby grew desperate. "Khan?!"

Tired of translating, Rosa finally grew bold enough to act without instruction. _~Don't worry! We're on your side! Your mother will get help even without those teeth!~_

Seeing the honesty in Rosa's eyes, the Kangaskhan kid's eyes welled up, nearly on the verge of grateful tears. "Gaskhan…"

Growing weary of the theatrics, the numerous eggs spoke up. "Ex ex ex ex?" one taunted, a smirk on his face. However was Dawn expecting to make good on those promises when she and her friends were going to be knocked out?! "Exeggcute!" they shouted in unison, sending out a cloud of Sleeping Powder.

Quickly recalling what Ash had done in the Celadon Gym, Dawn tried to grab ahold of Rosa to backpedal. "Houndour, use Fire Fang!"

"Houn-dour!" he snarled, rolling waves of heat neutralizing whatever effect the powder might have had.

However, the cloud was massive. Dawn was unable to snatch Rosa back in time. When the coordinator scooped the little Riolu up in her arms, she was already asleep. Wasting no time, Dawn circled around to stand before the clearly frightened Kangaskhan baby, gently cradling the sleeping Riolu in her arms.

"Houndour…!" the little dark/fire type threatened. He was normally quite placid and content to let things go as they were, but threatening his alpha, his precious trainer, was another thing entirely! He'd make breakfast bites out of these Exeggcute if they kept it up!

"Exegg?" one of the eggs teased. Could the puppy put his money where his mouth was? In unison, all of the eyes of the Exeggcute eggs lit up a brilliant blue. They used Extrasensory on Houndour, waiting eagerly to see the massive damage that caused him to…

Sneeze. Houndour shook his head before returning to his defensive stance.

"Kanto doesn't have that many dark types, I guess," Dawn cockily surmised. "Otherwise, they'd know psychic type moves won't work on Houndour! Now, Houndour, use Bite!"

Lunging forward, Houndour wrapped his jaw around one of the eggs, making it squeal in pain.

The rest quickly backed away, circling around their opponent. They boiled in rage. They'd been tricked, but they were the true tricksters around here! They'd show these interlopers! With that, they each used Bullet Seed.

Houndour backed off, yelping in pain.

"We don't need to waste time… Houndour, use Odor Sleuth!" Even if they could roll away and stir up dust, Houndour would be right on their trail! "Fire Fang!"

Clever as Dawn's strategy was, Houndour's biting moves could only hit one egg at a time. Though two were down, four remained!

The Exeggcute seemed aware that they could not win this battle through brute force. So, each cast for a Leech Seed onto Houndour. They'd outlast him! Strength in numbers and strategy through exploitation; surely they would win!

"Houndour, use Smog to give yourself some cover!" Dawn advised.

Houndour obeyed, obscuring himself momentarily from the Exeggcute. While it helped some of the Bullet Seeds they now fired at him not hit their mark, he still yelped in pain again. He kept spewing smog, closing his eyes tightly as a warm wonderful light overtook him.

Dawn, meanwhile, held Rosa close to her chest as the Kangaskhan baby watched in silence. The Exeggcute eggs were not giving up! They rained down more and more Bullet Seeds upon her poor Houndour.

Just as she was about to return him, a burst of light cleared the smog. Where her Houndour had once been now stood a mighty Houndoom. He clacked his teeth angrily, looking down at the shocked audience of little psychic/grass types who had been antagonizing him.

Dawn reached into her backpack, still taking in the noble visage of her freshly evolved hound. Her PokeDex rattled off new information once she retrieved it: "Houndoom has learned Flamethrower."

"... That's it! Let me make sure his ability is the same… It is!" she cheered. Her mind drifted back even further to when Ash had Crawdaunt use Alakazam's Charge Beam against himself by powering up Aqua Jet with it. Seeing that the Exeggcute were getting ready to fire up another Bullet Seed barrage, she wasted no time. "Houndoom, use Flamethrower on those seeds!"

"Doom!" he snarled, coating the oncoming attacks in fire. Though some burned up, most uselessly beat against his pelt. However, a certain surging fire in his eye told Dawn that his Flash Fire ability had been activated due to being touched by the flames.

She nodded. "Let's end it. Houndoom, use Flamethrower on the Exeggcute!"

Throwing his head back before circling to bathe them all in fire, Houndoom cried out victoriously. "Houndoooom!

When the move ended, the last four eggs were knocked out.

Dawn rushed forward, relieved. Kangaskhan followed her, admiring his hero. Dawn, likewise, praised Houndoom, scratching him behind the ears.

"Who's a good boy, huh? You are! Very good job, Houndoom!"

The fire type wagged his new, longer, more devilish tail, leaning into Dawn's touch and soaking in her praise.

Just then, however, a crunching sound got all of their attentions. There was the mother Kangaskhan! She must have heard all the noise and come to investigate.

"Kanga…" she tearfully muttered.

"Khan," the boy returned before running over to his mother.

They hugged, crying briefly before she picked her child back up and put him in her pouch. She walked the rest of the way over to Dawn, muttering down to the boy, likely chiding him for running off.

As Kangaskhan arrived, Dawn got out an awakening to use on Rosa. "Gonna need you to translate for me again, girly… Sorry to ruin your nap."

Awaking with a jolt and jumping out of Dawn's arms in a frenzy, it took a moment for Rosa to realize the fight was over. _~... Did we win?~_

"Doom," the fire type supplied, looking proud of himself.

The mother spoke up then. "Kanga… Kangaskhan."

 _~It wasn't any trouble!~_ Rosa answered, knowing Dawn and Houndoom's feelings.

"You know, he only ran off to get you some teeth. I guess he was worried you weren't eating well." Dawn did note she was rather slender for a Kangaskhan. Considering how old she was, perhaps she had no mother teeth of her own? "He was trying to trade the leaf stone for your sake."

The mother Kangaskhan started crying all over again, picking up her boy out of her pouch to hug him again. "Kangas…! Khan khan khan!"

Letting them hug it out, Dawn couldn't help but smile. "Listen… The true owner of the Safari Zone has returned. If you'll come with us, we'll make sure you're taken care of, okay?"

Mother and son nodded.

With that settled, Dawn picked up Rosa while Houndoom walked at her side. The family trailed behind the trio. Not without the golden teeth, though, of course!

* * *

A trek later and they arrived just outside the office of the Safari Zone. Their greeting party kicked open the door, giving them a resounding "hello" with the business end of a rifle.

"I told you no battling!" Kaiser snarled. "Your Houndour evolved! You battled!"

Patience weary and fear driving her to hysterics, Dawn shouted back. "If you'd take care of your darn preserve, I wouldn't have had to! Get that gun out of my face!" She still wasn't comfortable around them after the Viridian Forest incident with Team Rocket and that'd been a month or two ago at the most. It was fresh on her mind.

Pushing the barrel of his brother's gun down towards the ground, Baoba made his presence known after casting a dirty look at his brother. He came out five seconds late and Kaiser was trying to shoot people. Tsk. Back to the matter at hand, though. "Whatever do you mean?"

"This Kangaskhan here can't eat anymore. But, Kaiser never helped her. I had to keep her baby from getting exploited while he was trying to look out for his mom. That's why I had to battle." The coordinator edged away from Kaiser, arms crossed.

Baoba was taken back at Dawn's words. "I see I'll have to stay longer. You must be the Kangaskhan in question… Stay around here for a while. I'll get you taken care of," he offered.

The mother nodded graciously, happy to finally know there was going to be order in the Safari Zone once more.

"Anyway," Dawn trailed off, "here's the teeth." Reaching into her bag once more, this time Dawn presented Baoba with a dusty and slightly mud covered pair of golden teeth, wrapped neatly in a sleeping shirt that Dawn was going to wash as soon as she got back to a Pokemon Center. This whole ordeal had been rather gross.

"Father's teeth…! Thank you, Miss… My. I never got your name!"

"Dawn," she supplied, grinning.

"Well, yes. Thank you, Miss Dawn. If there's ever a good favor I could turn you or a friend, just say the word."

"Well, for now, I just need to get going. I've got a contest soon, and I think I've got an appeal in mind I want to practice!" she said with a laugh. Houndoom had certainly shown her a dazzling display with his fire today.

Waving goodbye, the trio made their way out of the Safari Zone and back onto the streets of Fuschia City.

"Say, Rosa, how good are you with your Detect?"

 _~Good enough to beat Buneary,~_ came her surprisingly sassy reply.

There was a pause before Dawn rolled her eyes. "Man, you can tell Ash raised you." Regardless of Rosa's newfound cheekiness, Dawn had some ideas she wanted to try out that she'd need the Riolu and her Houndoom to work together for.

* * *

It was many hours later - almost dinner time, actually - before Ash returned to the Pokemon Center suite that the traveling party was staying in. The surprisingly frigid room boasted a very bored looking Empoleon making frost art on the windows despite it no longer being cold enough to do such. He must have used a very weak Ice Beam to achieve the effect.

Yet, despite the chilliness of Empoleon's activities, Ash and Pikachu both noted the scent of burnt hair and smoke in the air. Following their noses, they saw Dawn and Rosa in a soot covered heap on Dawn's bed.

"Looks like Dawn gave up on that guy and did some contest training," Ash assumed.

"Pikaka pi," the electric type agreed. It smelled like Houndour's fire… But, stronger. "Chu?"

"Hm? Smells funny, buddy? Hm… Maybe one of Dawn's fire types evolved! I bet it was Houndour! Those evolve pretty quickly. So, if he's a Houndour, maybe…"

His eyes drifted from the slumbering bluenette to the pup in her arms.

"…Maybe with Dawn's help, Rosa's close to being a Lucario!"

The last of Ash's words were haggard, hampered by the teen choking back what he would certainly deny being tears. Face and stubborn and sour-looking as could be, he reached to wipe his eyes. There was a certain paternal instinct tugging at Ash's chest at the thought of his little hatchling growing up into a big, bad Lucario. It felt like he'd just welcomed her into the world yesterday!

"Pikapi…" Pikachu teased, wiping away the tears of his trainer with his tail all the same. Everyone grew up eventually; pokemon and their trainers alike. If Piplup had accepted that and become Prinplup and now Empoleon, then Ash could deal with his daughter of sorts growing into her final form too, couldn't he?

"Empo?" the big water type inquired, checking on Ash. He put a flipper on his other favorite human's shoulder.

"Thanks, guys. I'm fine." He swallowed, flashing a grin, and a thumbs-up with it in his typical bravado. "Let's wake the girls up and get some dinner, huh?

"Pika!"

"Leon!"

There was always time later to get emotional over how everyone was growing up. For now, Ash had a need to feed and he wouldn't be denied! Besides… If he was going to grow up strong enough to pursue his dreams, he had to eat, too. While a lot of things were changing, his endless appetite wasn't.


	41. Shaking Up a Tough Crowd

Unlike most contests, the Fuchsia City Contest wasn't scheduled to start until three in the afternoon rather than mid-morning like the others. As the approached the three-story building, they noticed that it was much more industrial and modern looking than any previous contest halls. While they had been shades of pink, yellow, or - most uniquely - green like Celadon's, this one was concrete gray. A neon sign flashing white and purple notified the building for what it was. Tinted windows lined the building. A concrete canopy stretched out to greet the travelers while two massive spotlights waited for nightfall to beam brightly beside the entrance. Aside from that, there were no decorations on the outside. It was very minimal.

"It's kinda edgy," Ash noted, stepping over the pale gray threshold.

Dawn nodded in agreement. "Maybe it'll have a different kind of crowd than the others. I've heard some contests favor different types of appeals!"

"You made a good choice by preparing to use Houndoom, then," he pointed out, following her to the sleek black metal counters.

The lights were harsh fluorescents. The entire place felt open and cold. Most of the people seeking admission were dressed in drab hues and wearing numerous layers. It all felt vaguely dystopian. The leather wearing deviants crawling all over the place didn't help matters any.

Ash couldn't help but look around for his biker friends. None could be found, unfortunately.

"I wonder how Rosa'll do in the battle rounds…"

"She's pretty tough," Ash assured.

Dawn couldn't help but look over at the sweet, smiling pup who occupied the shoulder that Pikachu didn't on Ash. "... She's pretty cute."

Rosa's ears tilted back, embarrassed but flattered.

All the same, it was now registration time. As Dawn stood at the front counter, handing over her pale pink Pokédex, Rosa hopped onto Dawn's shoulder while Empoleon went to stand by Ash. After all, since he wouldn't be competing in this contest, he wanted to at least watch!

"Well, that's it!" Dawn said cheerily after getting her name in the system. She held her hand up. "Wish me luck?"

"No need to worry," he assured, clapping his hand against hers. With that, they each walked away from the other.

* * *

Once Dawn got to the backstage waiting area, she found it much in the same theme as the rest of the building. Metal lockers lined the room while a surprisingly drab looking Nurse Joy in the reddest pink dress Dawn had ever seen waited almost impatiently in a corner healing station. Jet black flat screen televisions had yet to flicker on, waiting for the main event to start. Grate metal benches lined the room.

Well, this was going to be an uncomfortable wait. The concrete floor, ceiling, and walls gave off the same industrial feel as the rest of the building. She couldn't help but wonder what, exactly, had inspired the place's whole atmosphere.

A low whimper was enough of a sign that Dawn wasn't the only one unsettled. Perched on the girl's shoulder, the Riolu shuddered, all too aware of the uncomfortable vibes the unusual contest hall bathed in. All the unfamiliar faces that tended to leave Rosa dizzy weren't offset by the cheer and colorful surroundings that usually accompanied these contests. "Rio…" She muttered, already feeling quite uncomfortable. Between one scowling face and the next, it was quite hard to find solace.

"I guess this place gives you the creeps too, huh?" Dawn offered the pup a sympathetic smile, reaching to scratch under her chin, much the way Ash often would. "Ash said that some crowds might bother you, after all…" Seeing her get psyched out before the contest was the last thing Dawn wanted, for her sake and Rosa's alike. "Hm… Why don't you just go in your pokeball, for now? We wouldn't want you psyched out from the start, huh?"

"Rio, Rio…" Rosa agreed, letting out a huff. Maybe the actual contest would be better…

With that, a flash of red light absorbed the Emanation pokemon, calling her into the small sphere in Dawn's hand. "No need to worry," she insisted under her breath. She'd handle things from here.

In the sea of stone gray features and unfamiliar faces, Dawn spotted a particularly memorable face. It was Glenda, the woman with the Persian she had battled back in her first Kanto contest!

"Glenda!" Dawn called out, walking over to the woman.

The old woman looked up, looking at the other coordinator. "Oh, my. Dawn, wasn't it? How are you?"

"Very well," the youth answered.

"Did you mind my advice?" the woman pressed.

"Oh yeah, I did!"

Glenda nodded. "Well, I hope you're staying as strong as you are tricky."

Dawn lifted her chin, a well of pride springing in her chest. "You know it! I keep up with my traveling partner Ash most of the time, even if I'm not as strong as him!"

The old woman laughed. "Well, you've certainly still got that delightfully prideful spirit of yours. Refreshing to see a girl so sure of herself."

The two hushed as the monitors in the waiting room flickered on. Lilian Meridian tapped onto the stage, her typically blue and black outfit a bit more somber than usual.

"Curiouser and curiouser," Glenda trailed off just as Lilian began speaking.

"Welcome to today's Fuschia City Contest! We're going to bring you the act, the energy, the full-frontal ferocity! Starting off our appeal rounds is none other than Paige and her Pikachu!"

Dawn supposed the girl had already gone to wait for her entrance as the youth stepped onto the

stage. Oh! She remembered this girl. She hoped her Pikachu was less clumsy now.

* * *

The young girl smiled widely at the crowd, releasing her Pikachu with flourish. The little mouse landed, tail twirling behind her.

"Quick Attack!" she called. "Then, Double Team!"

The Pikachu obeyed, dashing across the stage in a zigzag pattern. At every jerking turn, a Double Team illusion was left behind, soon creating an adorable crowd of dashing Pikachu.

"Now, Play Nice!" the little girl ordered.

The bundle of yellow rodents began to prance and dance around one another, creating an adorable cluster of black and yellow in the center of the stage.

"Finish up with Nuzzle!"

All of the copies swarmed together, forming a chirping, crackling orb of electricity. Soon enough, it disappeared in a flash, leaving only the original Pikachu in its wake.

"Tada!" Paige cheered.

The judges panel, meanwhile, had mixed reactions.

Raoul Contesta, whose watchful eyes and endless history with contests gave him ample comparison for Paige's appeal, gave a neutral response. Her abilities had improved, and the appeal had been extremely tasteful. However, she seemed slightly unaware of her audience. It was a part of a coordinator's job to woo their audience, after all. All the same, he scribbled down a few pleasant notes by her name. "A charming show. Paige, you've definitely improved!"

Mr. Sukizo, on the other hand, was completely oblivious to the neutrality of their audience or even the technical precision of young Paige. He only enthusiastically clapped, seeing her bond with her Pikachu and praising it. That was enough for him. "A cute performance; I'd say it was remarkable!"

Finally, the Nurse Joy… Well, she was different from the other two judges in opinion and from her sisters and cousins in demeanor and appearance. Whereas most Nurse Joys kept a bright smile, she had, until the end of Paige's performance, her face was remarkably blank, eyes half lidded. Though her hair was the same pleasant pink as the others, her dress was so dark a shade of blush to border on rose. That didn't even cover the black cross on her hat! "It was definitely sweet," she quipped, voice devoid of any real approval.

Paige sensed this disapproval and nodded her head, confidence wavering a bit. The judges had given their review and now all she could do was go back to wait. 

In the waiting room, watching it all on the big screen, Dawn frowned. "She looked like she worked hard on that, too... I kind of feel bad for her," she remarked.

* * *

"Now, onto the next round! Give a warm welcome to Oceanica and her Dratini!"

Running onto the stage, Oceanica clearly gave off a more prepared look. Dawn could tell that from backstage. "Dratini, let's get it with Thunder Wave!" she called.

Still yet to evolve, the girl's Dratini nonetheless left its pokeball with energy and vigor, a circle of electricity rotating off of it.

"Twister, then Aqua Tail!"

Swishing its tail back and forth, Dratini was quick to conjure two spinning funnels, following it up with a watery cyclone from the tip of its tail. Leftover static from Thunder Wave coiled into the contained natural disaster, creating something of a small storm on stage.

"Dragon Rage!"

Using up the last move on his roster, the little Dratini sent out a devastating beam of draconic energy. Clashing with the chaotic succession of moves, Dragon Pulse burst into a thunderous finale.

This time, there was a tiny bit more enthusiasm from the crowd; The appeal had definitely been on the cool side, but Dratini just looked too cute to truly be taken seriously. Likewise, the judges gave mixed feedback, too.

* * *

"Now, we'll count on our next contestant to liven things up! Coming all the way from the Sinnoh region, Dawn's ready to show us her stuff!"

The crowd murmured and gossiped, a good portion of them growing antsy. If things didn't start getting more interesting soon, there was a good chance the whole contest would be a letdown.

Meanwhile, a very particular face was ready to take the spotlight.

Dawn strutted her way onto the stage, teal boots clacking against the floor. Eyeing the crowd, she allowed a smile to pick up on the corners of her lips. "Now, we know the kind of show this audience wants… And we'll sure as heck give it to them! Let's make a real impression, Houndoom! Spotlight!" With that, she winded up before so gracefully tossing the ball forward.

"Houuu!" The hellhound yowled upon materializing, fangs bared and ready.

A few whoops could be heard from the crowd, then. Finally, a cool-looking pokemon!

"We're just getting started," Dawn boasted. "Let's heat things up, right out of the gate!" With that, the coordinator threw an arm outward, brows furrowed. "Houndoom, Flamethrower!"

Meanwhile, in the audience, Ash found himself quite proud when he overheard the pun.

Aiming towards the ground, a curtain of flames circled up around Houndoom, washing himself in fire. After the curtain of fire died down, his fur remained lightly rolling in fire. His Flash Fire ability had been activated, strengthening his fire attacks and giving him a superficial suit of "armor."

Now, time for the move they'd trained hard to learn yesterday! "Feint Attack!" It was a bit of a gamble. She had seen how it'd worked outdoors, but she wasn't quite sure how it would work here.

Speeding up to the point where he was a black and bone armor blur with a trail of fire, Houndoom dazzled the crowd. Dawn couldn't help but smile at this. He looked positively radical! It was very dark and almost menacing, but not in the same unapproachable way Absol had looked. He was scary, but fun!

Judging by the way he stopped after the Feint Attack to wag his tail at the crowd, he seemed to be enjoying the attention.

"Great, now use Smog, right up!" Dawn ordered, arms anxiously waiting to strike out.

"Doom!" he barked, belching up a cloud of heavy toxic fumes over his head. The sickly green clouds culminated near the ceiling of the stadium.

Then, Dawn's plan came to fruition. Embers from Houndoom's hide ignited the toxins from the bottom up, quickly consuming the large cloud in a blanket of flames. Instigating the worst of the cloud, the flames erupted in a booming explosion, giving the impression that Houndoom was spitting a hellish, deafening fireball from his maw. Indeed, Houndoom lived up to his name.

Dawn's arms had been thrown outward upon the ignition, her composure steady in the face of the startling boom. The whole appeal had been somewhere between cool and terrifying.

For the first time that day, the crowd burst into genuine cheers. Similarly, the judges looked favorably on the excellent display.

* * *

After the crowd had begun to quiet, the next appeal began. A navy-haired girl, looking to be the age of a beginning trainer tossed out a pokeball, calling on her personal choice. "Phanpy, I choose you!"

A pokeball was tossed upward, releasing a Phanpy that let out a jovial cry.

"Alright, use Charm!"

"Phan, Phan~!" The small ground type chimed, releasing several large, pink hearts from his trunk.

"Now, Defense Curl, and Rollout!"

Tucking into itself on the trainer's command, Phanpy then circled around the stage merrily, even bouncing around a little along the way.

"Chow time! Give us a Natural Gift!" the navy-haired girl chimed.

Popping out of its circular form to reveal a Pinap berry in its grasp, the Panphy cutely chomped down on it before twirling, using a grass-type Natural Gift.

The crowd seemed underwhelmed, clapping only politely. The judges, meanwhile, were once again split in their response. Mr. Contesta found the appeal tasteful but not quite as energetic as it could be. Mr. Sukizo looked a little underwhelmed himself, but he responded kindly to the girl. Nurse Joy's response just barely bordered on critical.

When the girl and her Phanpy left the stage, they did so less than enthusiastically.

* * *

Next, Glenda stepped onto the stage with her usual elegance, once again calling on a Persian.

"That's weird," Dawn quipped, eyes glued to one of the grey-rimmed screens backstage. "That Persian looks a little different from the one she used last time… Did she raise two of them?"

"Screech," Glenda solemnly instructed.

Without hassle or fuss, the Persian tossed its head to and fro, yowling angrily.

"Swift, Power Gem," the old woman said passively, a neat little grin on her lips, but her hands folded before her politely.

Turning rapidly in a circle and swishing its tail, the Persian created a circle of stars around itself. As the small galaxy clustered around the feline, it proceeded to lift its head, firing Power Gem out of its mouth. The gleaming shards collided with the stars, exploding in a shower of gold, ruby, emerald, and sapphire colored sparks.

It was time to top off the decadence. "Pay Day," the old woman ordered.

While the pseudo-fireworks came to an end, Persian closed its eyes. Its forehead gem glowed before illusionary coins were released, bouncing onto the stage.

The crowd was thoroughly impressed. It was all the big rock star grandeur they loved. Or, rather, that most of them loved. As the judges were marking down positive reviews, an audience member stood up.

"What's with the fat cat appeal?! Are we tryna mimic the man now?!" he yelled.

That was all it took. One anti-establishment punk sparked fifteen others to get rowdy and from there the entire audience was thrown into a mild chaos.

Lilian rushed onto the stage as Glenda was ushered off.

"Haha, folks, we're going to take a short intermission! Please return in about ten minutes! Have a fresh water or a refreshing lemonade while you wait!" she encouraged, trying to de-escalate the situation.

"Man, what a crowd," Ash scoffed, his arms folded across his chest. Sitting amongst a bustling, and in his opinion, childish crowd, he frowned at the onslaught of criticism. "I thought her appeal was pretty good, too… At least Dawn's in the clear though, right, Pikachu?"

The mouse, who'd been busy frowning in disapproval at the crowd, turned to his trainer with perked ears and a smile. "Pika, Pikachu!" Through this picky audience, their friend had come out unscathed, for now!

* * *

Backstage, Dawn noticed the turmoil even behind the scenes. Several of the coordinators were sneering at Glenda's performance, while others found themselves lost as to what the problem was.

"They've got very particular tastes," Dawn remarked aloud, a hand resting on her hip.

Just then, Glenda burst in from the stage, looking thoroughly agitated. "T-Those ruffians!" she snarled, marching over to where Dawn was, returning her Persian in a huff.

Just then, a rather large, tall man dressed in black leather elbowed Dawn. While the girl frowned up at his gesture, he only grinned down at her. "Rocking the duds!" he barked. Then, he looked to Glenda, pointing a black polished finger at her. "Old geezers either gotta get with the times or move on! We don't want your old money crap here!"

"You aren't anyone's boss!" Dawn yelled, putting a little bit of space between her and the muscular punk.

The punk grinned, green eyes zeroing in on her. "Right on, sister!" He cackled before giving her a thumbs up. "Good luck; you should get all you can!"

Dawn grew angrier. Was this black and neon green metalhead telling her that she needed good luck?! "I'll show you…"

"I look forward to it," he responded with a wave, walking back off from where he'd just jostled Dawn and antagonized Glenda.

"... Kids these days," the old woman finally hissed.

* * *

After the crowd returned, noticeably settled from the commotion, a rather awkward looking middle-aged man walked onto stage. He released a Gardevoir.

"My lovely!" he cried. "Enrapture them with your gorgeous visage! Start us off with Double Team, then Captivate!"

The Gardevoir twirled, illusionary copies of her spinning off her form. Then, each turned to the audience, winking and sending off pale pink hearts into the air.

"Charm!" he wheezed.

The Gardevoir and its copies posed, hands under their chins and eyelashes fluttering at the audience. Even more hearts were projected out into the air from the move.

"Now… Psychic!" the man giddily ordered.

Closing her eyes, it and the clones all raised their arms, gathering the artificial hearts into a blue sphere before crushing them all, sending out a pink mist to obscure the crowd of Gardevoir. When the mist cleared, only one Gardevoir was left smiling at the crowd.

There was a deafening silence. Even the cute appeals had gotten some kind of grumbling response. Everyone felt uncomfortable. The judges seemed particularly harsh when writing down the reviews of this. Even Nurse Joy was fazed.

* * *

Dressed grungy, a young boy ran out onto the stage next. He snickered as he released his chosen pokemon: a Glameow.

"Show 'em we mean business! Growl!"

Trying to look serious, the Glameow growled. It was almost intimidating. _Almost._

The boy didn't seem to mind, though. He was completely impressed with his pokemon's display. "Okey, dokey, Glameow, let's hit 'em with your Hone Claws!"

Enjoying the limelight just as much as his trainer, Glameow quickly agreed to do as asked, dragging his claws along the stage to sharpen them.

"Cool! Now, Fury Swipes!"

Leaping into the air to scratch at it in a display of promised destruction and pain, Glameow continued to build up its cool and tough edge. The crowd seemed to be responding well. This was very cool for such a young duo!

"Finish us up with Slash!" the boy asked, dropping onto one knee.

Running at the boy, the Glameow did a forward flip, cutting at the air, careful not to slice at his own trainer. He landed on the boy's back. The two stood, grinning at the crowd.

The crowd whooped, eating the appeal up. The judges seemed to approve, happy to see a young challenger put such vigor and optimism into his performance.

* * *

Next onto the stage was that same black-and-neon-green punk from before. Backstage, Dawn huffed, not looking forward to whatever a mess of an appeal he could possibly have.

"Bet you'll need all the luck you can get," she scorned, cheek puffed out.

It was only then that she noted a disapproving glance from Glenda. A motherly one, at that.

A sheepish chuckle followed, the bluenette scratching her cheek.

"Let's give a warm round of applause to our final coordinator: Maddox!" Lilian cheered.

Raising a fist towards the spotlights above, Maddox used his spare hand to toss out his pokeball in a wild, unrestrained swing. "Steelix, let's rumble."

Bursting out of the pokeball was a huge metallic snake. Its silver hide was marked with a few nicks and even burn marks. Gritty and worn, it'd clearly seen plenty of action.

"Rock Tomb!"

The Steelix shook, summoning massive stones seemingly from thin air. Crashing down upon the stony grey stage, the rugged stones crumbled to form a craggy landscape right in the middle of the arena.

Maddox grinned, running over to the nearest rock and jumping on top of it. "Autotomize!"

Twirling its various joints, Steelix snaked across the rocky terrain quickly, avoiding the rocks to wind in between all of them.

"Now, go nuts! Use Sand Tomb!" Maddox encouraged, raising another first as he watched his steel type snake around.

Emboldened, Steelix used Sand Tomb on a rock just before he reached it, weakening the stone enough for him to burst through it and shatter the solid rock. "Steeeeelix!" it roared, turning around to do the same to another storm. It left the largest stone that Maddox stood upon alone.

"Alright, clean up your mess and then use Sandstorm!"

Bursting through the last few rocks with plenty of debris on stage, it was all too easy to whip up an intimidating gale. The base of the stage was soon obscured. Even Maddox and the Steelix were hidden from sight.

After a second, though, Steelix reared up. Standing on its back and clinging to one of the metallic spikes poking out of its side was Maddox, cheekily grinning and looking thoroughly proud of his big pokemon.

"Attaboy!" the coordinator enthused, heavily patting the side of his Steelix. With that, the Sandstorm dissipated, revealing that Steelix was standing on the remaining rock to be tall enough to be seen.

The crowd absolutely loved it. The raw, industrial nature of it combined with the full force power of the moves was absolutely up their alley. Maddox's nonchalant charm with Steelix's adoring obedience won over the judges, as well.

The contest now had a favored lead.

* * *

After a short intermission, the battle rounds were poised to begin.

"Thank you all for sticking with us this long!" Lilian chanted over the intercom, for backstage contestants and antsy spectators alike. "After that interesting round of appeals, the judges have decided on their four favored contestants! If you'll keep your eyes on the screen, you'll see the coordinators that we'll follow to the final rounds!"

A collection of the contestants' faces appeared on each display, shuffling amongst one another, most disappearing in mere seconds. The herd was thinned until only four visages remained, each revealing themselves in succession.

Maddox appeared first, prompting a rowdy cheer from the punk.

Dawn was next. "Alright!" The coordinator chirped under her breath.

Up next was Glenda. The older woman only bore a modest smile.

And, finally, the child with the Glameow. "Yes!" The boy practically jumped for joy.

"Now that we have our contestants, let's mix them up and see who faces who in the next round!" Lilian's voice echoed as the faces on screen did just that. They mingled before splitting into two pairs. Dawn was matched off against the boy, and Maddox against Glenda.

The burly punk grinned. Time to show this stiff what he was made of! "Get ready to rock 'n roll!"

Glenda huffed. As reluctant as she was to admit it, the punk did have some talent to back up his brutish bravado. Much like Dawn, even. The girl, though, had a better attitude… Most of the time, anyway.

"H-hey!" A young voice rang, catching the attention of said blue-haired coordinator. She was approached by the boy who had advanced with the others, who had his fists balled in front of him.

He couldn't quite help shaking a little; she was older than him, and her appeal had been so cool! He'd have a hard time beating that! "Let's have an awesome match! I'm not gonna hold back with you, y'know!"

Dawn had grown silent, all too wary of the tension between the first two contestants. Hearing the last of them, though, her blue orbs glistened. "That sounds great!" She beamed, a fist raised to the younger trainer. He couldn't have been more than ten years old, but he had guts. "I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun!"

Coincidentally enough, the two coordinators were called upon just then over the intercom. "Now, it's time for the first match of the battle rounds to begin! Dawn, the seasoned coordinator from Sinnoh, will face off against Nelly, a young, ambitious trainer from Hoenn!"

"That's our cue," Dawn chimed, winking at her opponent. "See you on stage!"

"You got it!" Nelly barked back, chasing after the bluenette.

With the two coordinators in place, Lilian was quick to begin the match in earnest. "Now, both Dawn and Nelly are on the stage, so… Let the first match begin!" With that, the clock started ticking.

"Alright, Rosa! Time for your debut! Spotlight!" Dawn chanted, gripping the borrowed pokeball before releasing the little Riolu.

Landing in perfect balance, Rosa stepped forward into the ring as Nelly threw forward a pokeball, revealing a mighty energetic looking Poochyena.

From where she was commentating, Lilian grew excited. "It's gonna be a dog fight of a battle, folks! All eyes are on these two exotic pokemon: a Poochyena all the way from Hoenn and a Sinnoh native species, Riolu! This is definitely a battle worth the draw of our huge crowd! Let's hope they make it worth the ticket sell out!"

Dawn's chin lifted a little bit in pride. That's right, she was competing in a completely sold out contest! However, as she looked over at Rosa, the bluenette noticed that the pup was shaking. The confidence she'd built up disappeared. "R-Rosa!" she half-whispered, knowing they had limited time until the timer started, and Lilian finished with her opening banter. "What's wrong?!"

 _~Too many people…!~_ the pup squeaked mentally, eyes wide and breathing shallow as she tried to keep her eyes on her opponent and not on the crowd. Her teeth were on the verge of clattering. She could see the confused, almost concerned look on the Poochyena as she stared at him.

The coordinator's mood fell further. She hadn't accounted for that. Rosa had done so well at the Grand Prix, though! But… The Grand Prix was half empty. Clenching her fist tight enough to have her nails dig into her hand a little, she tried to think of a solution. "Alright, Rosa, don't look out, okay? You just have to battle. It's like before."

Rosa didn't seem moved as she only let out a passive whimper, shoulders sinking at the prospect of having to perform in front of all these people. Quite frankly, she wanted to run off… But, she would brave this for Dawn! Or, at least try to do as much as she could with shaking legs.

At that moment, Lilian finished her opening spiel. "- So," she chimed, "let's get ready to be bow _wowed_ , haha!" The crowd let out mixed reactions to her joke, ranging from boos to unnecessarily loud laughter. "Start the timer and let the match begin!"

"Hehe, Poochyena, use Poison Fang!" the youth called, bouncing on the balls of his heels.

"Rosa, Force Palm!" Dawn decided, brows furrowed as she could only hope that Rosa would be able to pull through with it.

Poochyena rushed forward while Rosa remained frozen, heart hammering in her chest at knowing if she moved she might mess up, but if she stayed here she would disappoint Dawn. The endless loop of negative thinking paralyzed her, leaving her wide open to Poochyena's attack.

She only really woke up to the situation with her own reflexive yelp as Poochyena's purple glowing fangs sank into her arm. Rosa looked down, eyes still wide as venom coursed through her. _~Get away!~_ she yelped, swatting at the retreating pokemon all too late with the Force Palm Dawn had already ordered her to do.

She continued clutching at her arm after, a sickly feeling coming over her. She'd been poisoned.

Noticing the way Rosa was swaying, Dawn gritted her teeth. This wasn't good.

"Oh, and Dawn's Riolu couldn't keep her composure, which left her open to a Poison Fang!" Lilian narrated. Reflecting on said loss of coordination, Dawn's points began to drop.

"Poochyena, give 'em the best Taunt you've got!"

Dawn frowned. Taunt, taunt, taunt… She couldn't quite remember what that move did, but she couldn't leave her partner a sitting Farfetch'd out there. "Rosa, use Detect!" Hopefully, the pup would respond in time this go around.

Meanwhile, the Poochyena raised a paw, doing as best as he could with no proper fingers, and began squishing his face together, blowing raspberries at Rosa before turning around and swinging his butt at his opponent. "Poochy Poochyena!" he teased.

Rosa's fur bristled, the pup unable to even think about using Detect. She felt nauseous and embarrassed, and now so very pissed by the Poochyena's Taunt.

"And, there's a successful Taunt! Unfortunately for Dawn, defensive moves won't help out here."

With their second slip-up, Dawn's points dropped another inch.

* * *

"Crap… That's no good," Ash grimaced. It was bad enough that Rosa's surroundings had put her in a bad state of mind, but now she was just thrown off altogether. "C'mon, Rosa!" Ash shouted, hands cupping around his mouth. "You can do this! No need to worry!"

Amongst the hustle and the bustle of the crowd, though, trying to call out to the pup he cared so much for seemed to be in vain. "Man… I shoulda known she'd get psyched out here…"

"Pikapi!" Pikachu interrupted his trainer's thoughts, nudging his cheek to get his attention. Placing both of his paws to his forehead with drooping ears to imitate Rosa to boot, he hummed in yet another game of Pika-charades. "Chuuu…~"

Ash blinked several times, initially puzzled. Soon enough, though, he had it! "Got it! "You think I should use aura to get to 'er, right, Pikachu?"

The mouse crossed his arms and nodded, satisfied he'd understood. "Pika, Pika!"

"Huh… That's a pretty good idea," Ash admitted. His eyes drifted towards the stage, though, landing on Dawn. Looking equally frustrated, she was shouting out something or another.

"...I can't. This is Dawn's challenge to handle, not mine." The trainer resigned, forcing a smile. Closed fists betrayed him, though, gripping tightly at the arms of his seat. "Besides, that might be cheating, right?" He turned his gaze from Pikachu back to the action. "Besides, I know she can do it. Dawn's plenty good enough to get this under wraps."

"Pikachu," the mouse replied. He hoped that his trainer was right.

* * *

Dawn leaned forward, eyes narrowing. So, that was what the move did. It pissed Rosa off so all she wanted to do was actually fight. Was that a good thing, though? Did her rage now overwhelm her shyness?

"No need to worry," Dawn huffed. This kid was tricky, too. "He can only handle so many Force Palms! Try to keep your head on straight and show 'im what we've got!"

"Show these jokers our Swagger, Poochyena!" Nelly enthused.

Hesitating for a moment, Rosa finally found her inner strength upon seeing the Poochyena's smug little smirk. She was gonna pop him right in his little needle-toothed jaw, she decided, overcome with strength from the Swagger. The sudden haziness in her head pushed any anxiety that had flooded her to the back of her head.

Rushing forward, she came closer and closer to her patiently waiting opponent, ready to bring the pain when -

"Rio!" she whimpered, having tripped on her own feet in her haste to brutalize her opponent.

"Sand Attack! We're gonna get 'em good, boy!" Nelly cheered.

"Rosa, use Aura Sphere!" Dawn encouraged, brief relief returning quickly to worry. Rosa was strong, Dawn knew, but most of her battles were very different from this. Maybe she should have spent more time training with the puppy for contests.

Swishing his tail, Poochyena summoned a burst of sand to half-blind Rosa. The pup shot blindly, Aura Sphere missing its target.

"Nelly and his Poochyena are tripping Dawn and little up - literally!" The MC announced. With that, Dawn's points had gone down to under half.

"Finish it up with Poison Fang!"

Dawn gritted her teeth. They couldn't just sit here. "Dodge it, with Detect!"

Thankfully, the Taunt had worn off. Rosa closed her eyes, doing as told and barely spinning out of the path of the oncoming Poochyena's poison covered fangs.

Dawn sighed in relief. "Now, Reversal!"

Rosa, eyes watering still from the sand, ran forward to the still close form of the Poochyena and grappled with him, returning every ounce of injury she'd received just far to her opponent by slamming him into the ground. Her head was clear, focusing on the task at hand and not the audience, and she kept the adrenaline boost afforded by Swagger, to boot.

Thrilled to see the brutal counterattack, a portion of the crowd whooped in approval.

"Crap," Nelly whined. "Poison Fang, one more time!"

"Aura Sphere!" Dawn called.

The Riolu raised a paw, her concentration momentarily stunted by purple sparks running along her form, her poisoned status sapping more of her vitality. The orb wavered, growing once more.

It was a beautiful set up. Poochyena's gaping maw turned right towards Rosa… Just in time to get a mouthful of Aura Sphere.

Blasted back, the pup landed in an unconscious heap at the other end of the stage.

Dawn had won the match. Having been too occupied to keep up with the points, she looked over at the scoreboard. Her heart sank. She'd won, but just barely. This was too close for comfort.

Meanwhile, with the match over, Swagger wore off. The last of Rosa's artificial courage disappeared and she looked to the audience. She whimpered before running over to Dawn, jumping into her arms and shivering.

"Sorry," Dawn apologized as Lilian began praising the duo over the loudspeakers. "You did so good." The bluenette headed backstage, still cradling the distraught fighting type.

* * *

With the roaring crowd and commotion behind them, the coordinator carried the Riolu into the greyish area, which was notably empty compared to the earlier rounds. Taking a seat on a metallic bench, Dawn cradled Rosa in one arm, using the other to set her bag beside her.

"You feeling any better?" She questioned, digging through one of the yellow pouches.

 _~I… I dunno,~_ the cub answered, her nose a darker shade of blue than the rest of her fur. The nagging pain of poison still coursed through her occasionally, making what had been feverish stress less than manageable. _~I'm not hurting that bad, though…!~_

"Well, you are pretty tough, after all!" Dawn couldn't help but smile. The pokemon's bravado was endearing. It was very much a mirror of how her trainer tended to act, at that. With that thought, a spray bottle was fetched. "Here," she warned, holding the container up. "This is an Antidote. With this, you'll be feeling better in no time!"

The Riolu was sprayed with the medicine, letting out a yelp, fur bristled. Soon enough, though, the worst of the toxins had dissipated completely, giving the pokemon some relief.

"Great! Now, I'll heal you up for real…" Dawn fished out a Super Potion, holding it up to the Emanation pokemon's arm. "This one'll sting a little, but you won't need any more after that!"

Rosa braced herself, canines bearing at the harsh spray of chemicals. Just as her trainer's companion had said, a stinging sensation soon faded away, along with any remaining soreness.

The two smiled at each other in silence then, Rosa's wounds tended and now sitting comfortably in Dawn's lap. The coordinator soothingly rubbed the pup's back, content to know her breathing was no longer labored.

Then, she had to asked. "Are you gonna be okay to go back out? I think I can switch to -"

 _~I can do it!~_ Rosa interrupted, looking up suddenly. She'd wanted this for so long. Just as quickly as she'd looked up, though, she looked at her own paws. _~I wanna do this, Dawn,~_ she whimpered, her internal sorrow resonating poignantly in Dawn's mind. _~I'm sorry I got scared. B-But, we still made it.~_

"Oh, no," Dawn whispered, picking up the distraught Riolu, cuddling her close again. "Shshsh, this isn't your fault. I assumed too much. We'll know better next time. You have done so, so well." She held the pup out, noticing the disbelief in her eyes. "Hey, you sure beat that Poochyena's butt, and you were still scared then, huh? How many times did you make him yelp?"

Rosa giggled at the praise, mood lightened by what she couldn't deny. She was a little proud of her strength. It was a family trait of sorts. _~Hehe, a whole lot!~_ She settled down. _~... I did okay?~_

"You did great," Dawn assured.

Smiling and wagging her tail, Rosa wiggled out of Dawn's grip to bound forward and give her a quick hug before plopping down in the girl's lap, so they could watch the big screen. Dawn giggled at the sudden action before deciding to leave it be.

However, on the screen was what could only be described as a beat down.

Glenda looked to be cornered, her points hanging low and a curt frown stitched onto her lips.

"Delcatty, Assist!" She commanded, calling on the normal type before her.

"Del~!" Delcatty hissed, already battered but not yet out. A purple glow manifested before her fangs, ready to fire at its brutish opponent.

"Let's show 'em who's really out to win this!" Maddox interjected, punching a fist in the air with a grin. "Use Headbutt, Granbull!"

The snarling bulldog launched himself at Delcatty with nothing but brute force.

Dark Pulse fired from Delcatty's Assist, colliding with Granbull.

Boasting its fairy typing, as well as a stronger exterior, the fairy powered through, slamming his skull into the leaner pokemon's hide. Delcatty was sent reeling, skidding across the field.

A buzzer sounded, then. Their five minutes were up.

Dawn watch silently, trying to process the situation. If it didn't end in a knockout, that meant the two were even in terms of strength. Considering that this wasn't the beginning of the season anymore, Glenda had probably taken her kiddy gloves off. Dawn knew how strong the elder had been back in Mulberry. The fact that she had Maddox had ended not in a decisive knockout but by running out of time said so much.

Evermore, it was concerning that Maddox had beaten her with points. Was he _that_ good?

"No need to worry," Dawn muttered, brushing aside her concern. She watched as Glenda walked off stage, giving Maddox a brief chance to cheese it up on stage with his surprisingly affectionate Granbull.

As Glenda walked backstage, Dawn got up, once again carrying Rosa.

"That was a good match!" Dawn assured, trying to figure out a way to ease the sting of defeat. "I mean, I didn't even know you had a Delcatty! You really used the element of -"

"Dawn."

The girl stopped talking, looking at the surprisingly calm old woman.

"It's fine. I've already got two ribbons. I still have plenty of time. I'm not bothered by this." Glenda frowned, eyes cutting back to the stage as Maddox walked into the room and over to his bag, tending to his Granbull. "Well, I'm not bothered by the loss. The attendees to this whole affair are… Hm." Trailing off, Glenda looked to Dawn. "I'm going to go, but I'm going to wish you luck. I'm grown tired of… these people. Do your best though, dearie. By Articuno's winters, this place could use your calm head."

With that, Dawn watched Glenda go, waving weakly.

"Bye? Thanks…"

 _~S-she seemed kinda sad,~_ Rosa noted, aura feelers dropping at the somber mood left behind.

"... She's… Well. You're not wrong," Dawn decided, letting the topic go as the screen caught her attention once more. Lilian was on stage again.

"We're going to have a brief break while our battlers get ready, but up next is our final match: the crowd favorite, Maddox, up against the interregional sensation, Dawn!"

The crowd let out a rancorous whoop of happy anticipation. They were ready to see it. That same man who had devastated his opponents and brought the raw power they so craved to see would go up against the clever girl. With the performance of her Riolu earlier in mind, they became only even more enthralled, like sharks in the water. Surely their favored competitor would win!

* * *

After a short intermission, Dawn was walking towards the stage with Maddox. Though there was an arm's length worth of space between them, they kept even in pacing. Even before they reached the stage and the bright lights that shined down on them, they could hear Lilian's crowd rousing narration.

"-giving us what we've all been waiting for! This finale will be nothing short of the pulse pounding, heart throbbing, seat scooting show that the final round's bound to offer!"

Maddox looked over at Dawn as she headed towards her part of the stage. He lifted his chin, smiling widely and flaring his nostrils a bit. Or, was it a smirk? Dawn couldn't tell, but she knew she was going to wipe it off his face.

Then again, she reconsidered, gripping Rosa's pokeball tighter, could she even do that? No! She couldn't doubt Rosa or herself at this vital moment.

"Now, let's see our competitors get ready," Lilian egged on.

"Rosa, spotlight," Dawn called, trying to keep her voice chipper. She had to believe in Rosa or Rosa wouldn't believe in herself!

Maddox tossed forward his pokeball as Dawn did. "Granbull, let's rumble!" He slipped a hand into his pocket, resting his weight upon one foot on the stage. He looked so at ease, contrasting sharply with the tense illusion of excitement Dawn put forth.

In much the same way, Granbull put Rosa on alert, his intimidate ability making her think twice already.

"Let the match begin!" With Lilian's announcement, the final round for the Fuchsia City contest had begun.

"Let's knock 'em down a notch, Granbull! Play Rough!"

"Gran!" The bulldog snarled, stomping off towards the Riolu. His speed was remarkable, and his ferocity showed no signs of slowing down.

"Rosa, look out!" Dawn warned, to no avail.

Granbull's full weight collided into the intimidated Riolu, sending the yipping pokemon reeling. To top it off, a comical pink cloud of smoke arose from the collision, giving the attack quite a cartoonish effect.

Flipping to land on all fours, Rosa skidded across the field before holding her ground, wincing in pain. It was a move she'd never heard of, but the pain gave her the idea that the move was super-effective.

"And, for the first move of the match, Granbull intimidated Riolu before following up with Play Rough! It looks like its brutish appeal ended up working in Maddox's favor!"

With that, Dawn's points creeped down a bit.

"They are pretty strong…" Dawn trailed off. As if Glenda's match hadn't been enough of a hint. "But, we are, too! Use Reversal and show them what you're made of!"

Still crouching, the Emanation pokemon vaulted forward, using her own agility to slam a foot into Granbull's stomach. Nimble as ever, she followed up by pushing the fairy type back further.

"Bull…!" The larger pokemon coughed and sputtered, the wind knocked out of him.

A few cheers were thrown in Dawn and Rosa's corner, and Maddox's points dropped a touch.

"Your Riolu's got some guts!" Maddox commented before throwing both arms outward. "Granbull, Outrage!"

Granbull let out a feral cry, its eyes glowing a bloody red. It launched at Rosa with flailing arms.

"Oh, and there's a fierce Outrage! How will Dawn handle this!?"

Dawn frowned as she watched her points chipped away. "No need to worry! Use Detect!"

Instilled with confidence by Dawn's words, the Riolu calmed herself, her own eyes glowing a brilliant cyan. Granbull's furor-fueled, unrestrained attacks were easy to follow, allowing her to smoothly duck under the first flail of Granbull's arm. Flipping over a sweep of its foot, Rosa stayed clear again, stepping and hopping out of one blow's range after another.

Finally, she leapt backwards, free from Granbull's assault.

"Check that out! Some smooth moves by Rosa kept her one step ahead of Granbull all the way through!" Lilian called out, followed by cheers in the pup's favor. Maddox's points had slipped a bit with each missed attack, leaving Dawn with a bit of lead.

"Way to fight the power!" The punk grinned. "But, it's not time to chill out, yet!"

The coordinator needn't say another word. Huffing, fangs bared, Granbull took off again in a blind rage, ready to lash out at the smaller canine in earnest. Outrage hadn't ended yet.

"Detect doesn't work if you use it too much, right?" Dawn questioned aloud, blue brows furrowing. "Then we'll just have to stop it with another move… Rosa, Aura Sphere!"

The Emanation pokemon drew a paw away behind her back, pushing a mass of aura into existence. She watched as the Granbull grew closer, shivers running down her spine. It looked downright terrifying… But, she wasn't about to let Dawn down!

Rosa swung the aforementioned arm forward, launching the Aura Sphere at point-blank range.

The attack, just like her last, crashed into Granbull's stomach, sending the fairy type dragging back across the battlefield, despite roars of protest. An explosion followed, shrouding the fierce pokemon in a veil of bright light and smoke.

"Woo-hoo!" "Get 'em, Riolu!" "Rough 'em up!" Rowdy cries could be heard as the underdog fought the good fight, putting on what the crowd seemed to think was an impressive show.

Heavy steps pounded into the stony stage, freeing themselves of the veil. "Gran!" The pokemon snarled, launching itself at the Riolu one last time. This time, it'd rip that cub to shreds!

"It really doesn't give up," Dawn remarked, sweat dripping down her forehead. "Dodge it, with Detect!"

This time, though, Granbull had put the debris to good use, taking the Riolu by surprise far before she could put her fighting senses in gear. Various swings of the brute's arms pummeled a hurting Riolu, showing no mercy from one attack to the next.

"Rosa…!" Dawn called out in worry. This was getting bad. She was too close…

"That's it!" Dawn announced, to no one in particular. "Force Palm, now!"

Amongst the painful barrage of strikes, Dawn's call reached Rosa's ears. The Emanation pokemon did her best to find an opening while getting pummeled, soon enough slipping under a sweep of Granbull's arm. A paw was placed to its chest, unleashing a potent burst of aura.

The explosion propelled her backward, allowing her to land on all fours. "Rio…" She whined, in quite a bit of pain after Granbull's relentless assault. As tough as she was getting, that hadn't been fun.

Between Granbull's brutal attacks and Rosa's slick escapes and counters, Dawn's score and Maddox's alike were both slipping fast.

Both pokemon were huffing at this point, tired and battered.

"You're doing great out there!" Dawn encouraged, hoping the Riolu would persist. 

"Radical stuff!" Maddox shouted. "But, you're just about do… Uh, Granbull?"

The fairy type stumbled about clumsily, thoroughly dizzy after the furious slew of attacks. All of the painful hits of Rosa's it'd endured weren't helping matters, either.

"It looks like Maddox is finally paying their toll for Outrage! Granbull's totally out of it!"

With that absence of grace, Maddox's score rested at about a third of what he'd started with.

"Now's our chance to dazzle them!" Dawn's lips picked up into a smile, one of her arms thrown out to the side. "While Granbull's dizzy, get ready to hit him with a double Aura Sphere!"

Pushing herself onto her hind legs, Rosa held her paws outward, a low growl building as twin points of light began to grow into blue spheres. It was a struggle to maintain the two, but she persevered, raising both above her head next. The two orbs were pushed into each other, beginning to merge.

"That's some bad news!" Maddox couldn't help but sweat, punching forward. "Knock 'em dead, with Headbutt!"

The punk's words didn't go unnoticed. Shaking his head, Granbull decided to put it to use as he lunged forward, aiming to pulverize the smaller pokemon with his skull.

"Riooo…!" The pokemon howled, having forced both Aura Spheres to merge high over her head. She was mere moments away from launching it, when... 

"Oh! That's got to hurt! Granbull's Headbutt struck Riolu head-on!"

Indeed, the Riolu had been struck right under the chin, thrown completely off-balance. The huge mass of energy was thrown into the air in the moment of devastation, swirling above the battlefield before bursting. Nearly blinding light shone down upon the stage, coating the entire room in a light shade of blue.

The dramatic, powerful scene of one pokemon recoiling from the next was highlighted by the blast, creating a scene that looked like something out of an action movie. A large portion of the crowd whooped and hollered, absolutely ecstatic over the show before them.

"Rosa!" Dawn shouted in worry, leaning forward with wide sclera. "Hang in there!"

The Emanation pokemon had fallen on her behind, rattled and disoriented. Much like her papa, though, she was stubborn as could be. Pushing on her paws, she stood, wavering in exhaustion.

"Great... " Dawn started, soon noticing that it was a bit early to celebrate. With that last display, her points had dropped down to where they were barely visible. "We're really on the ropes now… Let's show them what we're made of, Rosa! Use Reversal!"

With that, the fleet-footed pup dashed forward, leaning towards her opponent, ready for revenge.

"We've gotta stop it now!" The punk ordered. "Don't let it hit ya!"

Granbull lunged forward, ready to put the gutsy Riolu in its place.

"Now!" Dawn called out. Repetition wasn't suiting in contests… So, they'd have to try something different!

This didn't go unnoticed with Rosa. Doing just as she'd been instructed, the Riolu flipped high over Granbull's head, dodging it by a good margin.

Of course, all things that go up must come down.

She tumbled downward by the force of gravity alone, one foot outstretched that slammed into Granbull's skull.

"Oooh! That's got to hurt!" Lilian jeered. "What a brutal maneuver by Dawn and Rosa!"

With Granbull hurting, and both coordinators' bars hovering on empty, Maddox shouted. "Blast it, with Payback!"

Teeth and terrible canines grit, Granbull fumed, wailing loudly in a move that unleashed several terrible rings upon its opponent.

Wailing loudly, Rosa was thrown into the air by the vengeful waves, her body strained and overwhelmed. By time she began her descent, consciousness had slipped from the pokemon completely.

Dawn could only watch as the pokemon fell limp.

"And that settles that! Riolu's out of the match, and Dawn's out of points, too! Maddox just barely held in there by a hair, so that means he's won the Fuschia Contest's final round!"

* * *

For a brief moment, Dawn froze. The roar of the audience applauding Maddox as well as Lilian stepping onto the stage woke her up. Resisting her urge to grab Rosa and bolt in an embarrassed rush, she walked over and picked up the pup with all the grace she could manage. As she looked up to where Maddox was patting his Granbull's head, she caught his expression.

He was smiling at her without a care in the world.

Her pride was shattered, and she gave up the illusion of sportsmanship briefly. Was he cocky or what?! Furrowing her brows, she forced herself to focus on Rosa instead, picking her up and heading backstage.

Somehow, stepping away from the stage, and by extension, Maddox, she felt better. She realized it wasn't really the loss she was all that upset about. It happened. She felt bad that it happened during Rosa's first try and wondered if it might discourage the pup from trying again… Then again, she couldn't forget who had raised Rosa. If he'd truly made his mark, it was more than likely she'd be eager to prove herself all too soon.

With this assurance in heart, the bitterness Dawn had felt on stage completely melted away. She kindly thanked Oceanica when the youth offered her a revive. Even if some of the people here were weird and aggressive, there were familiar faces; _kind_ familiar faces.

As Maddox accepted the ribbon and let out a barking laugh on the television, Dawn crushed the revive and placed it on Rosa's lips. With a jolt, the pup sat up.

 _~... We lost,~_ Rosa noted sadly, aura feelers drooping significantly.

"Yeah," Dawn said nonchalantly, trying to take the Riolu's mind off of it as she gathered up her things. "Hey, don't get bummed on me, though! You came runner-up in your first contest! Do you know how I ranked in my first contest?"

Rosa kicked her feet as Dawn shrugged her bag onto her shoulder. _~How'd you rank?~_

"Top four."

The Riolu furrowed her brows and scrunched her nose. _~That's not bad! Papa said he made Top Four last time he entered a Tournament!~_

"A Tournament is more like a Grand Festival. Me getting fourth in a contest is like… Hm. Well, let's just say I didn't get the 'gym badge,' huh?"

 _~... That's not so bad. I dunno what a Grand Festival is, though… Hey, at least you never lost bad!~_ Rosa enthused.

"Oh, no, I lost bad sometimes. I didn't even make it past the appeal round a few times!"

Rosa looked absolutely devastated. _~And, you were okay with that?!~_

"No," Dawn said flatly. "At the time, I was really upset. But, you lose sometimes. Even if you're the best coordinator in the world, sometimes you don't prepare right for the situation, sometimes someone suits the crowd better, and sometimes you just have a bad day. This time, someone suited the crowd better." She crinkled her nose. "So… I guess I'm not really upset about the loss… Maybe who I lost to," she mumbled, "But, I'll beat him later. You're gonna watch that, right?"

 _~You bet I'm gonna watch!~_ Rosa agreed mentally, excitement mirrored vocally with a happy yip. _~... Will you tell me what a Grand Festival is, though?~_

Happy to see that Rosa had her mind off the loss, Dawn picked her up and placed the pup on her shoulders. "It might be easier to show you. It's for only the coordinators who get five ribbons each contest season. I… Hm. I don't know if you can re-enter a region's Grand Festival with old ribbons. I wouldn't risk it."

Just as the two girls were about to leave, Ash appeared with Empoleon and Pikachu at his side, both panting.

"Empo!" the great big penguin shouted, throwing himself around Dawn and throwing the coordinator off balance. Rosa held on tight to avoid being tossed off.

"Pikaka," Pikachu quietly greeted, smiling softly at his defeated friend.

"You alright?" Ash said, parroting Pikachu but in plainer words.

With Empoleon just holding her hand as best he could, Dawn shook her head. "We're okay. Aren't we, Rosa?"

 _~Yup!~_ she agreed. _~Sometimes, it's okay to lose even if it isn't your friend winning!~_ she explained, thinking back on how everyone had been okay with Primeape winning in the Grand Prix. She was connecting the social dynamics, learning more about how the world worked.

Relieved to see that everything was okay, Ash put his hands on his hips. "Well… Do you want anything? Is there anything I can do?" She'd certainly helped him lick his wounds after his own loss. He was happy to return the favor.

Without hesitation, Dawn smiled so wide her eyes shut. "Battle with me more for practice."

"Hey, that's a win-win situation!" Ash noted with a chuckle. "I'm happy to train with you more directly." He headed out of the doorway, towards the exit of the contest hall.

Pulling Empoleon along with her, Dawn only nodded contently. "Well, that's the point." Yeah… Losing was fine, but she wasn't gonna just accept it without trying to improve herself! A win told her what she needed to keep doing and a loss told her what she needed to do new. With a powerful traveling partner at her side, she had no excuse not to get even stronger!


	42. Perfected Poison

Once again, it was an early morning for our heroes. Bags fully packed and supplies restocked, Ash and Dawn exited the modern city of Fuschia and headed into the lush forest that laid between them and the Fuschia Gym.

The forest itself was alive with the calls of bug type Pokémon, the babbling of brooks, and the occasional bird-song of a flying type. The further they traveled from the city, the wetter the forest became. At first, it had been deciduous trees putting out blossom-buds and other seasonal flora preparing for spring. The further into the forest they got, though, the further south they went and the distinct border between northern Kanto and southern Kanto made itself known with the humidity level. Even the rocks were now lined thickly with moss in the shade of trees and numerous, shallow streams flowed over rocky paths in the sparse sunlight.

Furthermore, Dawn's hair was curling a bit in response to all the moisture in the air. "Why is the gym so far out?" she whined, splashing through an ankle deep brook. The soggy grass squelched beneath her boots.

Behind her, Empoleon seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere. He even cawed back on occasion to the wild Pidgey who were curious enough to sing directly at him.

"They're tricky," Ash ominously stated, not exactly answering Dawn's question. He paused as Pikachu used Iron Tail lift a bramble branch up out of their way. "The element of surprise is everything to them, so it's no wonder they're so out of the way. I think me and Brock and Misty found this place by accident the first time…"

Mimicking what Pikachu had done, Empoleon cleared a path for Dawn so that she wouldn't get scratched up. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

Soon, however, her question was answered. With its towering heights no taller than the canopy of the forest and traditional, dull coloration making it drab enough to be an unlikely find from a distance, this misplaced castle felt like a relic from an era long gone. All the same, Dawn knew what she was looking at: a ninja stronghold. On two sides of it were cliffs overlooking a huge river, likely fed by all the streams and brooks Ash and Dawn had seen earlier, while the other two were flanked by the dense rainforest.

"Oh," she dumbly said, her answer looming before her. However, she noted the wall around it. Clearly, they didn't want visitors just waltzing in. "How do we get in? It's not like you had an appointment."

"Well, I sent out that email," Ash explained. "Plus, Professor Oak was supposed to help. So, they should know we're coming. Let's just knock."

Empoleon and Dawn shared a look before they shrugged. What was the worst that could happen? Following Ash as usual, they watched in curious silence as he knocked on the gate. Two heads poked over the wall before quickly retreating. The gate's doors opened.

"Welcome back, Ash Ketchum," one of the guards greeted. "Who is your companion? We are unfamiliar with her."

"I'm Dawn," she chipperly greeted. "Ash and I are traveling together."

The two guards hesitated. "... Is she trustworthy, Ash?"

Realizing security had probably beefed up with their clan leader's absence, Ash nodded. "Yeah. I trust her lots. Besides, we're here on business! I'm here to challenge the gym again!"

The two guards grinned and nodded. "Then, please, make your way on about your business."

* * *

With proper clearance, the duo, along with their Pokémon, made their way inside the stronghold without much trouble… So far, that was. It started off looking innocent enough, a rather plain-looking hallway with polished, wooden floors.

"Are you sure this is the right way, Ash?" Dawn frowned, forced to stop in her tracks. Unfortunately, this path didn't go any further. "It's a dead end!" Huffing, she looked about, hoping for some sort of clue. "How does this place get any challengers, anyway?"

"People gotta get their badges somehow," Ash reasoned, adjusting the brim of his cap. There was the occasional doorway, each decorated in a rather traditional style. Last time he'd been here, though, they certainly hadn't been the way around. "Huh… I guess they renovated this place. It looks a lil different. But I swear I remember one of the walls leading to a secret passage last time."

"A secret passage? How'd you find it last time?" Dawn raised a brow, turning to her companion.

"Well, Misty leaned on one of 'em and fell right through. We weren't really expecting it."

"That sounds pretty easy," Dawn quipped, walking over to the walls. She slowly checked each section, either putting her weight on it by pressing both hands against it or hip bumping it. It was a little funny, actually. While the true parts of the wall wouldn't give way to her hands, they would rattle a bit at her hip bumps.

Ash, Pikachu, and Empoleon watched in silence, almost respectful of the process. She certainly had a method to the madness.

Soon enough, she pressed against the right wall… And, fell through!

"Augh!" she yelled, falling flat on her face with the wall. "I was… Expecting it to swing open…"

"I told you Misty fell," Ash pointed out. "What were you expecting?"

Dawn sat up, brushing herself off. "You didn't say the door fell with her," she whined back. "Besides, there's no need to worry! I hurried up the checking time!"

Chuckling, Ash offered her a hand and pulled the girl up. "That's one way to do it," he agreed.

The group's amusement was cut short by the sound of metallic voices and electric crackles. Looking over, everyone paled a little bit. A small herd of Electrodes and Voltorbs was waiting on them!

"Voooool-!" half of the group cried in unison.

"-Trode!" the other half snarled.

Together, they fired a collective attack. It was massive, snaking like a yellow-white dragon towards the heroic party.

Ash, thankfully, was quick to divert the attack. "Pikachu, redirect that, quick!"

Thankfully, the electric mouse was just as quick, jumping forward. Rather than holding the jolts in, he quickly shot them towards the floor and the ceiling, sparing himself all but some intensely uncomfortable tingling in his joints and a bit of pain in his electrical cheek pouches.

Pikachu landed between his friends and the herd of other electric types, little yellow brows furrowed. "Pika," he warned, tail raised in a threat display. If they wanted a battle, he could certainly give it to them!

Thankfully, that was unnecessary. Perhaps triggered by the abundant electricity fired at it, a part of the ceiling fell down… Revealing a staircase.

"There's our escape!" Dawn pointed out.

Not needing any cue, Empoleon raced up the steps as well as he could first while Pikachu continued his standoff with the Electrodes and Voltorbs. Both testing the weight load of the stairs and acting as a first line of defense in case another threat awaited them upstairs, Empoleon happily noted it was devoid of assailants.

"Empo Empo!" he called down.

Snatching Pikachu, Ash quickly followed Dawn up the stairs. As soon as he set foot on the case, Empoleon began pulling it up with the same pulley system that had dropped it down. No sooner than had the entire party made it upstairs than a second jolt of electricity bound off the stair case. Thankfully, it was shut and everyone was safe.

Dawn breathed out a sigh of relief while Ash secured the pulley rope.

"Good job, Empoleon!" she praised, patting him on the back.

"Well, that was dangerous enough for me to think we're going the right way," Ash commented, dusting his hands off. "Thanks for that back there, Pikachu." Looking around, the trainer acknowledged their surroundings before letting out a triumphant huff. He put his hands on his hips. "I know exactly where we are! Dawn, stay away from the walls."

"You don't have to tell me twice," she muttered in response, following after Ash as he walked down the hallway. "So, what're we looking for now?"

"The false river wall," he said proudly.

"The what?"

Instead of answering her, Ash knocked along the walls as the foursome walked. After about a dozen yards, one of the walls fell over… Revealing the same cliffs overlooking the river Dawn had spotted on their way into the ninja compound.

"... Who said that was a good idea?!" the girl blurted out, both her and Empoleon looking out to the sights with disbelief. "What the heck is wrong with the Kanto gym leaders?!"

"That's the million dollar question," Ash grumbled, remembering his near death experience with this same wall. "Well, if this is the false river wall… There's the gym!" Turning to the opposite wall, Ash kicked it down with a mighty roar of triumph. He ran into the room with Pikachu clinging to his shoulder.

"Ash, wait up!" Dawn belatedly shouted.

Within the room, the bluenette heard something, or _somethings_ , whirling through the air followed by a series of thunks in the wall. Well, that was troubling. Rushing in after her reckless crush, Dawn spotted Ash in a decidedly cocky pose. It looked almost as if he'd been dodging something.

But, what?

"Hah! You may've got me last time with those things, but I'm too smooth for that, now." Ash boasted, looking smug as ever. Pikachu clung desperately to the back of his jacket, looking none too happy about… Whatever had just happened.

To Dawn's horror, she spotted just what Ash had made a scene of; stuck in the wall behind him were… "Throwing stars!?"

Black, razor-sharp projectiles had buried their points in the wall behind her companion, thankfully free of any horrors they could have dealt out, had they been a bit more accurate.

"Just what in the world is that about!?" The girl fumed, somewhere between a heart attack and blind fury. "What is this; a Pokémon gym, or a death trap!?"

"The weak needn't apply here and for the strong it's merely a test." Stepping forward, a woman with a haughtily raised chin stepped forward from the shadows. "And, Ash passed… with only one error."

"Uh, nuh-uh," Ash taunted back, cockily leaning forward with his hands on his hips. "There's not a scratch on… me… anywhere." Suddenly realizing that his head felt suddenly lighter, the teen looked behind him. Frowning, he marched over to the wall where all the throwing stars were stuck into the wall. Among them was the sole successful shot. It prize was his hat. "Can't catch a freakin' break," he grumbled, carefully taking out the throwing star and taking back his hat.

Meanwhile, Dawn couldn't help but look over this mysterious woman. This must be the Aya that Ash had briefly spoke of. She wore long, prestigious looking garment of a dark, dusty shade of rose. Her hair was done up practically, though both her hair and her outfit were lightly decorated with small ornaments, marking her as the temporary clan leader. She looked mature enough.

"I'm unaware if you know, Ash, but I am the gym leader, now. My brother is a member of the Elite Four. His heir and my niece, Janine, is not yet ready to take up her responsibility. So, what is it that you seek from me?"

Cocking his head, the trainer looked at her for a moment, wondering if she was being serious. "... I sent out an email."

The temporary leader paused. "I… have not checked my email in some time. The compound does not have modern amenities such as internet access and I do not have a chance to go into town to use the public terminals in the Pokémon Center." That said, she raised an arm, her new, longer sleeves covering her embarrassment. "I did, however, receive a letter from Professor Oak when one of my underlings checked our mail in town. So, whatever your official affair is, we shall receive you well," she assured.

"It's not such a big request," he said with a chuckle. "I wanna take on the Indigo League again, and battling you would be good practice!"

"If that is all, then this shall be a very mutually beneficial exchange. I wish to see how I have grown both compared to how you fared against my brother and myself previously. So, let us make our way into the garden. It's airier and better suited to the proper battle I do not doubt we will have!"

Trailing behind Aya and Ash, Dawn couldn't help but shake her head. "Geez, I thought I was theatric… She talks like she's from a movie."

* * *

Naturally, when she said garden, Aya truly meant a garden. The borders of the battling area were rich with carefully places rock formations, stone benches, and aesthetically pleasing trees and brushes. Blossoming flowers added to the sunny disposition of the private garden as well.

"You, girl," Aya barked. "Are you honest and trustworthy?"

Dawn paused. Did Aya just call her 'girl'...? Well, that was rude. All the same, she answered. "Yeah, I am. Why?"

"I do not wish to waste time fetching one of the others here with this affair. Furthermore, it is unofficial and therefore not their affair. You only need to help us discern matters that are not immediately obvious to the two of us. Can I rely on you as the referee or not?" the older woman pressed.

"... Yeah," Dawn finally answered, walking over to the median point of the field. Aya was working her nerves. Between endangering Ash, that bossy disposition of hers was really edging on Dawn wanting to butt heads with her.

Ash noted the tension building between the two strong willed women. He supposed it had gone pretty well thus far with her and all his previous friends and acquaintances; this was bound to happen sooner or later. Or, maybe Fuschia just wasn't Dawn's neck of the woods?

Either way, the girl raised her hands. Empoleon sat down on the ground behind her, eagerly awaiting the show that would no doubt follow. At some point, Pikachu had ditched as to join the penguin.

The coordinator coughed into her hand, taking the brief pause to recall the rules that gym battles typically followed. "This will be a three on three battle! Only the challenger's allowed to substitute Pokémon, and the match ends when all three of one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. Let the match begin!" Dawn shouted, lowering her hands to signal the starting point.

Aya was quick to throw her starting Pokéball, aim sure and true as it was with her throwing stars. "I call upon Crobat!"

Ash grinned, pulling out his own Pokéball. "Gliscor, I choose you!" Whereas Aya chucked her Pokéball, Ash lobbed his like a baseball.

The big purple bat and the flying scorpion both materialized at the same time. Gliscor focused on the air currents for a moment, finding the light breezes flowing down into the garden. It was cool down here, but hot above, so there was, unfortunately, no draft for him to work with. He fluttered down to the ground as Crobat remained aloft, fluttering its wings furiously.

Noting Gliscor's disadvantage with the confined airspace, Aya was already planning to take advantage of that. "Crobat, use Acrobatics!"

"Gliscor, hit 'em with a Stone Edge!" Ash ordered in retaliation.

Gliscor laboriously took flight once more. However, Crobat was already upon it by the time it made it into the air, battering the other flying type with its wings before the scorpion could retaliate. Just as quickly as Crobat had attacked, it flew away in a hasty retreat.

That said, it was quite fast, but not fast enough. Gliscor used its calculated aim with an almost minimalistic Stone Edge, aiming directly for Crobat. It was a direct hit once it landed, earning a high pitched cry of pain from the other Pokémon. That made up for the battering Gliscor had just received, the scorpion decided.

"Your aim is good… But, a ninja is nothing without a shroud! Crobat, make an ally with our one true friend: camouflage! Use Haze!" Aya held her hand out as she gave this set of instructions, looking appropriately commanding for second-in-command for a troop of ninjas.

Flapping its wings furiously, Crobat summoned up a purple fog to obscure its movements. Even the sunlight was filtered through it. Lilac beams of light marked what had previously been strong strains of sunlight peeking through the light cloud coverage above.

"Now, attack with Acrobatics once more!" Aya called.

"Take 'em in!" Ash ordered.

There was no dodging Crobat, but that was just fine. Using his hind claws, Gliscor caught Crobat's lower wings as the bat flew up to meet the scorpion. Ash and Gliscor would only fall for the ninja's trick once.

"Alright," Ash praised happily.

Aya frowned. "Cross Poison."

As Crobat's upper wings were free, this was an easy enough task. Rearing back only to cross its wings powerfully, a short burst of venomous energy was splayed out with the attack. At this short range, it soaked into Gliscor's skin, both battering and poisoning the bat.

Injured, Gliscor released Crobat in an attempt to tend to the sudden, uncomfortable chills running through his body.

"Acrobatics once more!" Aya commanding, proving that she was not at all a one trick Ponyta, but that she would not turn down an easy strategy for the sake of avoiding a move spam. "Give it no rest!"

Gliscor was soon barraged by multiple, back to back Acrobatic attacks from Crobat. Though Gliscor tried to pull away, the speed Crobat was moving at was enough to leave being dizzying afterimages. Gliscor simply didn't know which Crobat to dodge.

However, the speedy attacks soon came to a well-orchestrated end.

"Now, Venoshock!"

Aya's instructions were swiftly heeded. Spitting forth a new spray of venom, Crobat watched triumphantly as Gliscor shuddered. Already poisoned, the Venoshock did extra damage on top of what it was normally capable of.

"Gliscor!" Ash shouted, alerted by the Pokémon's cry of pain. For a hardy Pokémon like Gliscor to be taking any serious damage… Either Crobat was something supernatural, or there was something special about that move.

Drawing his Pokédex, he quickly scanned said attack.

" **Venoshock:** **The user drenches the target in a special poisonous liquid. Its power is doubled if the target is poisoned."**

"That's bad news… Hang in there!" He shouted, teeth grit.

"Very good, Crobat. Now, let us watch. Haze, once more!" Aya ordered, looking pleased.

Crobat obeyed, the thin cloud of purple Haze thickening as the flying type renewed it. The bat was all and well prepared to slink off into the shadows…

But, Ash wasn't the type to take anything sitting down. "Gliscor, don't let 'em get away! Use Tailwind!"

Just as suddenly as it had appeared, Crobat's beloved shroud of darkness was ripped away as Gliscor summoned a gale wind to back him up and increase his own speed.

"Glis… Cor!" he snarled, warning that he'd get payback for what damage had been done to him.

"Now, it's exposed! Use X-Scissor!"

"Not so fast! Crobat, use Acrobatics!" Aya called, tension rising in her posture at the prospect of her plan falling apart.

The two purple Pokémon met in a terrific collision. It would have had more impact if Gliscor had not been so hurt by being poisoned; it caused him to hold back a bit in self-defense. Crobat, however, could barely fend off its assailant.

The two broke off, circling around each other, waiting for an opening or sign of weakness in their opponent.

As, however, could see Gliscor waning. They didn't have time to wait. "Gliscor! Take 'em down all the way with Giga Impact!"

Taking advantage of the Tailwind previously used, Gliscor quickly flew above Crobat before diving down. Slamming into the purple bat, the two flying types quickly descended towards the battle floor. Though gravity was already pulling at them, Gliscor hurried the process.

The impact was enough to spray up some dirt.

Dawn watch intently as the dirt settled down. Then, she saw it. Crobat must have broken his fall, because Gliscor stood successfully over his opponent, looking at Ash with a smile.

"Gliscor has defeated Crobat! The current score is 0 to 1!" the bluenette called out, trying her best to remain genuinely neutral. It was very hard when she wanted to cheer for Ash.

"Return, Crobat!" Aya commanded, a Pokéball outstretched. "You fought bravely…" Her orbs flickered, turning up towards Ash, then. "And you… I'm impressed, Ash. For your Gliscor

to defeat Crobat in just three attacks, even under all that duress, speaks volumes."

"Thanks, Aya, but we're just getting warmed up!" In typical fashion, Ash flashed a grin. Bravado aside, though, he couldn't help but worry. Gliscor had already taken a lot of damage.

"Very well. Your next test will be… Ariados!" The second Pokéball was chucked with the same, disciplined precision, bursting in mid-air to reveal the colorful, patterned arachnid. It clicked its feelers together, eager to stalk its prey. Or, what it viewed as prey, at least.

' _Gliscor's running low, now… And if I know Aya and Ariados, they're definitely gonna try to lure us into a trap.'_ The trainer's eyes narrowed, his mouth surprisingly zipped shut. This was no time to give away his concerns. _'We've gotta play it safe and end this quick.'_

Making matters clear as could be, Ash threw a hand to the sky with a passionate roar. "Get up high, Gliscor! And use Stone Edge!" His index finger pointed above, guiding the Fang Scorp.

"Gli!" The Pokémon bounced off his tail, wings spreading to climb the withering Tailwind that still remained. Stopping himself above with a sudden motion, he growled, conjuring two belts of stones around his body. "Scor!" With a cry, they were launched down in a mighty rain of debris.

"Spider Web," Aya commanded, saying no more.

Ariados hissed, parting its fangs to spew out a slew of silk that quickly took a patterned form, one layer of the web quickly circling the next. Soon enough, it proved sufficient to catch the incoming stones, stretching the quickly-strewn web to its limits.

Ariados didn't falter, only spinning more web. Patience proved to be a virtue, as the web finally worked its magic. The barrage of stones were launched back at Gliscor, much like a slingshot.

"Look out!" Ash shouted, worry etched onto his features.

It was justified.

Weary as he was, Gliscor failed to swerve out of Stone Edge's path, taking on the full wrath of the redirected move. Crying in pain, he fell from the skies, collapsing in a heap. Wisps of dust trailed from his wings, giving the felled Pokémon quite the pathetic image. He was unconscious.

Holding a fist to her chest, Dawn barely suppressed a gasp of worry. Being impartial was difficult. All the same, she did her job. "Gliscor is unable to battle! The winner of this round is Aya!"

"So much for that," Ash huffed, extending a hand with a Pokéball in its grip. "You were awesome, Gliscor… Sorry ya had to take so much damage." He stared at the sphere, which once more held the Fang Scorp Pokémon. "You earned a good, long rest. Now it's time for someone else to take over!"

Eyeing Ariados, he briefly pondered his options. _'If it's gonna keep putting down traps like that, we can't leave it hanging around for long.'_ A brief adjustment of the brim of the teen's cap was enough to jog his thoughts, a smile picking up on the corners of his lips. A second Pokéball was brought into his grasp, a click of the center button bringing it to full size before it was tossed.

"Torkoal! I choose you!"

"Koalll!" The tortoise huffed, expelling ashen puffs of smoke from his nostrils.

"Let's get our momentum back! Flamethrower!"

"Shadow Sneak," Aya replied, showing no signs of worry.

Ariados' body took on a disturbingly dark purple hue, seemingly melting into the ground below.  
A shadow moved in its stead, creeping along the grassy terrain towards the fire type.

A limb shrouded in darkness struck at Torkoal, striking him across the face.

"Tor!" The Pokémon cried out in surprise, a burning stream of flames shooting into the sky above. Spewed in a completely different direction than the Pokémon intended, it rained tiny embers down upon the flowery arena.

Though, a missed attack was the least of their problems. Startled by the underhanded attack, Torkoal huffed before beginning to sob uncontrollably, a fountain of tears gushing from each of his perpetually closed lids.

"Oh, jeez... "Ash rubbed the back of his head, face falling as if gravity had decided to act upon his very features. That was something he should've seen coming. "Hey… Just take it easy, Torkoal! I _know_ you're way too tough to get worn down by a move like that. Just keep a clear head and you'll be fine." He flashed a smile at the distressed fire type, hiding any sign of concern.

He recalled something Brock told him and Dawn once. If a trainer shows uncertainty, it can spread to their Pokémon, causing them to feel worse. He had to keep a cool head.

A sniffle followed, the Pokémon's sobs coming under control.

"There ya go. Now! You ready to win this gym battle?" Ash coaxed, fists raised and his smile wide.

"Koal!" Torkoal cried, his composure regained. Miraculously, Ash had psyched him back up.

"Interesting…" Aya trailed off. It was rare such an emotional Pokémon found its way into a gym as disciplined as this one. And yet, Ash's kind heart once again got the job done. It was a relief to see that he hadn't changed much over the years.

"Alright, Flamethrower, again!" Ash ordered. "This time, we're ready!"

"Shadow Sneak, once more!"

As Torkoal conjured scalding heat in his mouth, Ariados slipped into obscurity a second time. Slinking across the garden shrouded in darkness, it delivered another sucker punch to the fuming Torkoal. Flames were once again misfired, shooting clean over Aya's head.

The ninja didn't move an inch. A smile did creep up on her scarlet lips, however. "I thought you'd know better than to repeat the same mistake twice, Ash… Or, have you never faced this sort of move before?"

"Uh… Not really," Ash trailed off, brows raising. Before he could fetch his Pokédex, Aya continued.

"Shadow Sneak is a ghost type attack that allows a Pokémon to creep through shadows to ambush an opponent. It takes priority over other attacks, thanks to its stealth. It's the perfect sort of move for a ninja, don't you think?"

"No kidding," Ash agreed. His brows furrowed, his eyes following Ariados's shadow as it retreated. It was clear that if he wanted to win, he'd have to be more careful.

"Cross Poison!" Aya ordered. She knew Ash better than to think he'd fall for the same thing three times.

"Dodge it, Torkoal!"

As heavy as the Coal Pokémon was, his heavy shell had endowed him with quite a powerful set of legs. Leaping high above the battlefield, Torkoal stayed clean out of the way of the glowing cross of toxins.

"Caught you." The ninja's eyes narrowed. "Now, Spider Web!"

The insect cocked its head upward, spewing another net of web from his mouth.

The soaring Torkoal, much to his horror, soon found himself snagged and enraptured in silk, robbed of his freedom of movement as gravity yanked him back down.

A loud crash followed, a small crater forming under the recoiling Torkoal. A pitiable cry of pain followed the upheaval of dust and stone, which momentarily concealed the tangled mess of a Torkoal lying in the wake of the impact.

"Torkoal!" Ash gasped, sweat trickling down his forehead. That'd looked incredibly painful, and had caught the both of them off-guard, to boot. What more could they expect from a ninja, though? "Man, are you alright?"

"Koalll…" The Pokémon groaned, attempting to push himself to his feet. In the midst of the irritating adhesive, though, he was having no luck regaining his composure.

"You should've seen it coming," Aya taunted. "As a ninja, laying traps and confounding opponents is my specialty. Luring you into defeat is just part of my job." Flicking a free emerald bang from her face, her smile faded in favor of a glare. "If you can't see through that, you can't win this match."

"You don't need to worry about me," Ash countered, adjusting the brim of his cap. "Break free, Torkoal! Flamethrower, now!"

The tortoise's mouth parted for a few times, his wide maw spewing forward a red wave of flames. Much to Torkoal's dismay, though, embers and sprays of heat deflected every which way but forward, failing to penetrate the stubborn web surrounding his form.

Try as he may, he couldn't scorch the web.

"What!? What kinda web's gonna hold up against a fire type move like that?" Ash gawked.  
"You didn't think we'd let you break out so easily, did you?" Aya cracked a grin, once again brushing a bang aside. "Ariados has trained to make its webs sturdy as can be. Even the strongest of opponents will have a hard time getting out; after all, if our traps were easily deterred, we wouldn't much be qualified to run a gym, would we?"

"I can't argue with that." Ash grinned. "Well, we'll just have to try harder!"

"If you get the chance," was the ominous response he received. "Cross Poison!"

Indiscernible chatter from Ariados followed, the tips of its feelers taking on a vivid violet glow. A cross of the very same color was conjured, launching towards Torkoal with a cry.

"Koal!" Torkoal wailed, pummeled by the poisonous projectile.

"That's bad… If I don't do something, we'll just be sitting Psyducks. There's gotta be a way to get out of there." Ash frowned, balling his hands into fists. _'Think, Ash… What moves would get 'im out of there?'_

Soon enough, the lightbulb went off. The trainer's sclera grew wide, an arm thrown to the side with a mighty yell. "Got it! Torkoal, use Rapid Spin to bust your way outta there!"

"Tor!" The fire type quickly retreated to his shell, quickly revving into little more than a sturdy spinning top. Only seen as a blur of red, grey, and orange, he picked up speed, shredding his way through the cage of webs, much to Aya's dismay.

"Alright! Ya did it!" Ash cheered. " Now, go on and hit Ariados with that Rapid Spin!"

Torkoal wasn't the most limber Pokémon, thanks to his weight. In this case, though, his heavy shell worked to his advantage. Remarkable momentum flung him towards the arachnid, making for quite the devastating collision.

Ariados wasn't nearly agile enough to avoid the fiery wrecking ball, letting out a pained cry as it was thrown back, barely managing to land on all eight of its nimble legs.

"Good job! Now, keep that Rapid Spin going!" They couldn't spare a moment that would allow Aya to continue her sneaky games. Ash knew this well. Momentum was going to be key.

"Dodge it, Ariados!" Aya ordered. "He won't hit you with that a second time!"

This time, the bug type was prepared. Watching Torkoal's pursuit closely, Ariados sprang above just in the nick of time. Cleanly avoiding the tortoise's assault, the Pokémon hovered briefly above.

"Now, Night Shade!"

The horn on Ariados head flickered with red light, soon projected into a sickly purple beam that seemingly sucked any sort of light out of the air around it. Raining down upon Torkoal, it assaulted the Coal Pokémon with a terrible, ghostly power.

"Tor!" The Pokémon cried, holding his ground. His legs hadn't buckled just yet.

"Attack all ya want, but you're not gonna break Torkoal's defenses! He's pretty good at tanking attacks, y'know." Months of training, and everything prior, had not gone to waste. Already a defensive powerhouse, the tortoise had built up remarkable bulk over his Mt. Silver stay, testing himself against the offenses of Ash's impressive roster.

Of course, that didn't mean Ash would hope for him to take any more hits, either.

"That's quite a lot of confidence in your Pokémon," Aya quipped. "Those words might just end up costing you. Ariados, Cross Poison!"

Ariados hissed, firing off yet another poisonous projectile.

"Nice try," Ash countered, a smirk picking up on his lips. "Torkoal, Iron Defense!"

The Coal Pokémon quickly tucked into his shell, his carapace taking on a vibrant, silver glow. Reinforcing with steely reinforcements, the shell was plenty prepared when the glowing cross crashed into it.

The dust soon cleared, revealing an unhurt, vibrant Torkoal.

"What'd I tell ya? None of your poison type moves are gonna hurt him with that up our sleeves!" Ash gloated, each of his hands resting on one of his hips. "Now, Flamethrower!"

Torkoal cried, unleashing a scathing stream of fire towards Ariados.

"Ariados?" Aya started, not needing to add another word.

Then again, self-preservation was simply an instinct. Ariados struggled not to panic, springing high above the deadly wave of heat, evading Torkoal yet another time.

A growl left Ash through bared canines, his frustration beginning to show. "Torkoal's plenty tough enough to take their attacks, but that's not gonna help if we keep missing 'em."

"Guess we got no other choice… Smokescreen!" Ash shouted, throwing his arms outward.

"Koal!" With that, the tortoise did what he does best. Expelling a great deal of smoke from his nostrils and shell, Torkoal obscured his body in a great volume of murky, blinding charcoal smoke.

"Trying to obscure yourselves in a ninja gym? You're out of your league." Aya couldn't help but crack a smile, shaking her head. He always was pretty head strong, after all. "Cross Poison!"

Crossing its forelegs across its face, the arachnid began a rapid descent, two violet streaks quickly dive-bombing into the thick smoke below. A crash could be heard, further debris kicked up from the collision point.

The gym leader scoffed, a hand rested on her hip. "Like I said. A poor strategy for this gym."

A coy smile from her challenger, though, caught Aya's eye.

"You sure about that, Aya?" Ash's canines were bore in a grin, eyes turned on the dwindling smoke. Indeed, where Ariados could be seen, there was no sign of Torkoal to speak of. He'd only struck out at thin air.

"... You've turned my own ally against me," Aya dryly remarked, shifting her weight from one leg to another. "Be on your guard, Ariados!" she warned.

"You should have cleared the rest of the smoke," Ash suddenly taunted, a wide grin cracking onto his face. Bertha's lessons were coming in handy now! "Torkoal, Flamethrower!"

Unable to know what direction its fiery doom would come from, Ariados span in circles before a sudden pillar of fire jetted from one side of the yet-to-be-settled smoke, engulfing Ariados and even propelling the spider back a little bit. The heat from the attack caused the smoke to waft up on air currents, revealing where Torkoal had hidden. The fiery tortoise shared his trainer's cocky smile.

Ariados, meanwhile, quivered, dainty legs trembling with exhaustion. However, the spider was by no means down for the count.

At least, not yet. Though, Ash would try to speed that up.

"Flamethrower, again!" the trainer cried, hoping he could wrap this up.

Aya frowned. "We've danced this dance before," she chided. "Ariados, defend yourself with Spider Web! Do not cease until they do!"

With that, a collision occurred on the field. Torkoal belched forth a river of flames while Ariados spat out a stream of silk. Though the silk was blackened and charred, it acted as a suitable defense against Torkoal's attack. The disagreeable odor of it was by now stinking up the whole garden. Dawn longed for her scarf, barely filtering the smell out with her hand before her face.

Eventually, though, Torkoal lost steam and Ariados was allowed to relent when the river of fire stopped.

The challenger huffed, puzzling out the situation in his mind. Ariados was just too fast! If they could get in more blows without the cushion of Ariados's Spider Web, they'd beat it, he knew. But, what was faster than an Ariados? Well, plenty of Pokémon, actually, like most flying types, most fire types…

An epiphany struck him: most flying and fire types were out during the day. Ariados, however, was a nocturnal Pokémon! It was funny what connections he could make when he thought about it for a bit.

With this known now, Ash knew what needed to happen next. "Torkoal, use Sunny Day!"

Unquestioning, the fire tortoise huffed, forcing out a ball of flames that drifted up above the garden, acting as a second sun and shining down light and warmth on them all.

"He's getting a power boost," Aya assumed, muttering to herself. "Arados! Be on your guard."

Noting his opponent's carefully observant expression, Ash hoped she didn't know what he was actually up to. "Rapid Spin!"

He'd just put out Sunny Day… And that was his next call? What was he getting at? Aya, though puzzled, merely spoke more commands to her poison spider. "Dodge it."

Eyes zeroing in on the challenger's Pokémon, Ariados waited with patience for the chance to dodge to draw closer. Its legs were coiled, full of tension and ready for the chance to launch it above the potential threat.

And, Ash saw it staring. "Iron Defense!" the trainer called then. If staring at the sun hurt him, Ash figured, how much more would it blind a nocturnal creature like Ariados?

The spinning tortoise quickly took on a silver shine, reflecting the full wrath of the artificial sun off of his protective shell.

While his aim was the Pokémon, Aya had also been watching the affair too closely. She raised an arm to shield her offended eyes.

"Now, they're distracted! Flamethrower!"

Torkoal skidded to a halt, just barely digging his feet into the ground before belching out a particularly potent stream of fire.

Still struggling to see after being struck by the bright shine of Torkoal's shell, Ariados was a sitting Psyduck for the last attack. The move struck true, leaving Ariados in flames. When they settled, the spider was knocked out.

Dawn shifted feet, obviously barely holding in a cheerful dance. "The winner of this round is the challenger, Ash Ketchum!"

Aya gracefully accepted Ariados's defeat, bowing her head before returning the bug type. In its place, another Pokémon was released. "Now, Venomoth, let us give them a battle suiting to our training!"

"Whoa," Ash uttered, impressed by the excellent condition of the Venomoth. Though it looked as if it had seen its fair share of battles, it was obvious that Aya cared for it deeply. "Is this the same Venonat from those times before…?"

"It is indeed the one and same. After losing to your Bulbasaur, we decided to throw ourselves entirely into our training. Thanks to our efforts, Venomoth is suitably speedy and stealthy, truly a ninja's Pokémon." Smiling proudly, she raised a hand, waving it towards Torkoal. "Won't you show them your Double Team?"

Obediently, Venomoth shuddered before illusions of itself darted out to the side.

It took Ash a second, but he realized Venomoth was not shuddering: it was moving side to side so quickly that it looked as if it weren't moving at all at first! He almost wanted to use his aura to double check, but that felt like cheating. Besides, he had the proof right before his eyes. Though they were a bit translucent, the doubles were much more convincing than any other he'd ever seen! It'd take focus to distinguish them from the genuine article.

With that in mind, Ash decided he should attack while he still remembered which was the real Venomoth without studying their form! "Torkoal, use Flamethrower!" With Sunny Day still in use, hopefully their luck would turn up.

"Dodge," Aya called out, seeming more nonchalant than ever. The fear that had made itself known during the battle with Ariados had all but disappeared.

With grace that seemed to exude no effort at all, Venomoth as well as all of its doubles dodged the Flamethrower. Aya hadn't been making an empty boast; the bug was fast!

"Put the Torkoal down with a Psychic!" The ninja clan head called, throwing an arm out dramatically.

Each of the Venomoth's eyes glowed, first a dark sapphire shade and then a bright turquoise blue. Torkoal's bulky form was lifted, slowly at first, then suddenly yanked across the battlefield, A loud 'thud' was heard when fire type's shell bashed back against the garden's compacted-earth battle grounds. Facing the sky, Torkoal flailed his stubby legs in futility. He was stuck on his back now.

"Oh, shoot..." Ash dropped to his knees, twisting his head so he could keep eye contact with his poor tortoise. "You alright, buddy?"

"Tor…" the fire type responded, seeing the hope Ash had in his eyes. Torkoal wanted to cry, but it wanted to do good for Ash, too! "Koal!" He asserted, eternally shut eyes squinting in a way that seemed to show stubborn perseverance.

Seeing Torkoal's burning passion, Ash stood back up, both fists raised. "Right! We'll get you off your back. See if you can start up a Rapid Spin! Bouncing off Venomoth should straighten you back out!"

"Tor…!" Twisting its legs, Torkoal quickly started up a Rapid Spin attack. At first, it was just sliding around, but a bit more spinning about built enough momentum to bounce itself off the rocks lining the garden battle field, flying through the air… to pass through one of the illusionary Venomoths.

"How long can your Torkoal tolerate being on its back like that?" Aya wondered, a hand resting on her hip in a seemingly condescending gesture.

Ash furrowed his brows. "Long enough to hit your Venomoth, I bet…"

And, sure enough, the rest of the doubles were, one by one, dispersed by a Rapid Spin strike. Soon, Torkoal was hurdling towards the true Venomoth! At last, he would be righted, back on his feet and -

"Psychic."

Dangling in mid-air.

Venomoth blankly stared at the caught tortoise. The two Pokémon exchanged a look before Venomoth suddenly plummeted its heavy opponent down towards the Earth. Debris was kicked up from the attack, obscuring what had happened to Torkoal at first. But, Ash had his suspicions confirmed shortly.

Still on his back, Torkoal's eyes were all the evidence the trainer needed to know the outcome. Ash got out a Pokéball to return the fire type. "Aw, man, I guess you really put your back into it, huh?" he joked. "We won't back down now. … Sorry about the jokes, Torkoal. Get some rest. Thanks."

Dawn, meanwhile, finished dragging her hands down her face. Only Ash would try to lighten the mood like that at a time like this. Actually, that wasn't really true, she realized, recalling what she'd done back at the Celadon gym. Regardless, she had a call to make. "Aya wins this round! Both the challenger and the challenged only have one Pokémon remaining! The last one standing from this round determines the winner!"

"Alright, this is all riding on you now, buddy." Ash tossed a Pokéball forward. "Muk, I choose you!"

Forming as a puddle of violet goop on the field, Muk's gelatinous form bubbled and gurgled for a moment before his face formed, giving a friendly wave to Ash and then his companions. Though Muk wanted to go hug his trainer, he recognized the battle at hand. He'd just get one later!

On the sidelines, Empoleon and Pikachu realized it was do or die time. Hopping onto the water type's head, Pikachu began cheering. Mirroring his smaller companion, Empoleon clanged his flippers together.

"Pikapi Pikachu! Pika Pika Pikachu!"

"Empo po! Empole! Empoleon Empole!"

Aya's eyes narrowed. "You challenge me with the type I use?" she questioned, voice somewhere between a hiss and a purr. "I shan't be shamed once more like this! The bitter taste of defeat at the vines of your Bulbasaur was enough! I've had my medicine and it has done me well! I will defeat you, Ash Ketchum!" Aya shouted.

"She's really determined," Dawn noted, a bead of sweat forming on her brow. Where had that overly serious lady from before gone? Was it just an act?

"Venomoth, Silverwind!" Aya called, a fiery spark in her eyes.

Venomoth fluttered its wings mightily, whipping up a pale breeze which cut down towards Muk. The purple ooze was split as the zephyr cut a path right through it! When the move ended…

Muk smiled up at Venomoth, not all that worse for the wear. "Muk," he gurgled.

Aya flinched, frowning. "Of course… The creature is formless. An attack on its body is almost useless."

Ash chuckled, rubbing his finger under his nose. "Yeah, he doesn't crack under pressure! No bones, haha!" Getting serious, Ash balled that hand up and held it at his side. "Muk, give 'em your Sludge Bomb!"

"Dodge it with Double Team!" Aya countered.

The sludge monster's wide, putrid maw parted wide, spewing solid orbs of toxins toward the insect and its copies. However, the new horde of summoned copies and the genuine opponent swiftly dodged.

"Excellent, Venomoth! Use Psychic!" Aya excitedly called.

Venomoth concentrated once more, attempting to grab a hold of Muk… But, it was like grasping sand. Though it was obviously comfortable for the poison type, the only damage done was from the immediate pain of a poison type being attacked with psychic powers. Venomoth could not grip on Muk; the purple, gloopy monster's mass slid through Venomoth's Psychic grip.

"Trying to get closer?" Ash taunted. "Muk, let's get friendly! Body Slam!"

Aya frowned. "Not at all… Though we are ninja, we are also noble leaders. It would be inappropriate for us to dirty ourselves. Venomoth, dodge it," the stand-in matriarch commanded.

Ready to steer clear, Venomoth was moments away from zipping off. One hardly expected Muk to be anywhere near fast enough to pose a threat… However, its expectations were soon to be stomped out. Catapulting from the ground with all the vigor of the Infernape, Muk crashed into the insect, bringing it plummeting to the ground with all of his weight.

"...!" Aya gasped, her awe betraying her. "Well, then... I've never seen a Muk move with that much speed."

"That was part of our training," Ash boasted, toying with the brim of his cap. "Muk's not the most agile Pokémon around, but he can tackle like it's no one's business! Once he learned how to throw his weight, he could hit like a cannonball! Pretty amazing, huh?"

"Amazing, indeed…" Aya huffed. "A creative way to battle with a Pokémon meant for bulk, Ash… But it won't be enough to win this match. Venomoth, Psychic!"

Upon Aya's command, Venomoth forced a bubble of psychic energy, pushing away Muk's gelatinous form from itself. Fluttering up into the air, it hovered for a minute, shaking off the last bits of Muk-splashes.

Dawn kept staring at where Muk was collecting himself. "I'm… not sure whether to be impressed or disgusted." She thought back on the Grimer she'd befriended in summer school once upon a time. "Grimer was definitely cuter. He didn't throw himself everywhere and make a mess."

Overhearing his companion, Ash grimaced. "Hey! Muk is cute, too! He likes to hug and stuff!"

"He's making a mess!" she yelled back.

"He's doing his best!"

"Will you two give it a rest?!" Aya quickly interjected, reminding them of the match at hand.

Dawn crossed her arms, her belief that Grimer were cuter than Muk unchanged.

Ash did the same, offended on behalf of his loyal partner.

"In any case, bringing out the best in your Pokémon is no easy feat. I've done the same with Venomoth... See for yourself! Venomoth, use Quiver Dance!" Aya ordered, throwing both arms out.

The battlefield grew quiet as Venomoth shuddered before fluttering around rapidly, turning and turning. The dance concluded with the moth flexing its tiny legs, landing daintily and lightly on a branch overhanging the field.

"That's… different," Ash deadpanned. Quiver Dance… Maybe it was like Dragon Dance? If that was the case, then they had to act fast! "Body Slam!"

This time, when the tidal wave of Muk came raining down towards Venomoth, the bug made a speedy escape There was no way for Muk to catch up… or to know that he was about to be funneled.

"With the composed, fleet-footed focus that Quiver Dance allows, Venomoth's psychic powers should be at their peak. Use Psychic to put that Muk in its place!"

No sooner had Aya said it than had Venomoth formed a wall of telekinetic energy, slamming it against Muk. Though he spread out against the false-wall, he could only go so far before Venomoth stretched the Psychic grip further. The grip eventually flicked, not unlike a hand throwing a ball, flinging Muk against the furthermost wall bordering the garden.

As malleable as the poison type was, Ash knew that this would hurt even Muk. "Use Brick Break!" Hopefully, that would soften the blow.

Muk obeyed, pulling himself together and forming a false hand. Breaking his fall quite literally, the wall crumbled and was quickly covered with Muk's purple-goo body.

Ash let out a sigh of relief.

Across the garden, Aya let out a small growl. "I asked us to battle in the garden to prevent damage to the gym," she chided.

Ash scratched the back of his head. "Sorry…"

Sighing, the gym leader waved her hand. "I suppose it is an unfortunate reality. This is why we take business commissions. Thankfully, we have customers coming in next week…"

Dawn furrowed her brows. Customers… for ninjas?! That didn't sound like it would end well…

"Scoop up the sludge," Aya commanded.

And, thus, began a very vicious cycle. Venomoth lifted Muk up, up, up, as far as its telekinetic grip could carry the beast up, before dropping it. While Muk was too gelatinous for Venomoth to properly grip, it could carry Muk for a bit before dropping him. The impact would do damage, except for when Ash called out-

"Brick Break!"

-which would lead to Muk pummeling the earth just before he reached it, softening his blow. This went on for about a minute, maybe a minute and a half. Needless to say, it was beginning to tax both the moth and the slime.

"We can't keep doing this," Ash muttered. "Muk, use Sludge Bomb!"

Gathering up a thick bile of toxic gunk, Muk spat it at Venomoth… Only for it to miss. Thankfully, though, Venomoth's reflexive dodge broke its concentration. There was no Psychic grip, this time.

The reprieve was short lived, though. Just as quickly as it had been broken, the cycle was renewed. Juggling the oozing form of Muk, Venomoth began lifting its opponent once more.

Venomoth's concentration had been broken… Maybe that was the key to getting the upper hand. Grinning, Ash threw a hand outward. "Muk, you've gotta use Screech!"

Collected as ever, Muk did as told. Opening his maw wide, Muk let out a shrill, horrible sound that came in waves, barraging Venomoth with the unpleasant sensory overload.

Venomoth writhed and froze, scornful of the screech, soon losing its Psychic grip. Freed, Muk began falling freely through the air, Screeching all the while.

"Now, get in close and use Brick Break!"

Swirling through the air upon Ash's command, Muk headed towards Venomoth. The crash was spectacular. Essentially slamming a formed fist into Venomoth, Muk let out a victorious battle cry. The bug was sent spiraling down first, and Muk soon followed.

Once Venomoth landed, it was pinned underneath its putrid opponent.

"Venomoth!" Aya called out, concerned. "Get out of there with Silver Wind!"

A swirling up, a bubble of silver air burst through Muk's form, making the poison type writhe back in pain.

Freed, Venomoth quickly fluttered away from its opponent in disgust. It was tired of getting splattered with sludge.

"Your Venomoth's got a lotta guts!" Ash praised, a smile spreading across his lips. A bead of sweat running down his cheek betrayed him, though. _'We may have the advantage, but Muk's taking a lot of hits… Even he's bound to run outta steam, sooner or later. I've gotta finish this, fast.'_

With that in mind, Ash continued. "But not enough to win this! Muk, give 'em another Sludge Bomb!"

Muk complied, spewing another series of sludge-packed orbs.

"We're too fast for that, now. Dodge, and use Silver Wind!"

Venomoth quickly buzzed into action, zipping left and right to avoid the corrosive volley. With one dip and swerve after another, the bug danced its way around Muk's stubborn attacks. Not missing a beat, Venomoth began furiously beating its wings, spraying a furious, sparkling wind with silver crescents abound.

Muk let out a cry, irritated with the incoming aerial assault. His slimy body jiggled and gave at the wind, earning another irritated gurgle. Indeed, like Ash had thought, even Muk was beginning to suffer.

"Damn it… Come on. There's gotta be a way out of this," Ash growled under his breath. "We've gotta catch 'em in a trap…" Dark hues traced across the battlefield, hoping to happen upon some sort of hint. A broken wall, plants and grass rustled by Venomoth's onslaught, puddles of sludge that'd been eluded by their target…

A small smile picked up in the corner of Ash's lips. With that, Ash threw both of his hands outward. "Alright, Muk! Time to give it all you've got! Sludge Bomb, like there's no tomorrow!"

"Muuuuk~!" The Sludge Pokémon roared, firing off a toxic flurry of grime, intent on overwhelming Venomoth. Purple sludge closed in on the bug in a flurry, putting it to the test.

"A last ditch move? Powerful, but that won't work. Venomoth, dodge them all!"

Venomoth was back into action without pause, veering between the barrage of toxins from below with one swerve and turn after the next, some of the Sludge Bombs missing by barely more than an inch.

Finally, Muk huffed, growing weary through the repeated fire. He was nearing his limits.

"Crap…" Ash hissed, fists balling together. His eyes followed Venomoth back and forth. The mobility it had… The way it could flutter between attacks. It was enough to make him sweat.

"Is that your way of giving up?" Aya's head tilted, a hand once again resting on her hip. "If you find yourself outmatched, it's not dishonorable to just admit it. Knowing your limits is-"

"You know me better than that." Ash interjected. His frown had vanished, a coy smile taking its place on the teen's lips.

With wide eyes, Aya peered upward at Venomoth, letting out a gasp of horror when the boy's confidence bore fruit. Up above, clumps of sludge hailed down upon the garden. More notably, upon Venomoth.

What goes up must come down.

Caught completely off-guard, the insect was helpless to stop the poisonous volley from splattering its body. Surely enough, gravity claimed its second victim, the heavy sludge quickly pinning a helpless Venomoth to the flowery battleground.

"Venomoth!" Aya called, a hand held out in futility. Soon enough, she couldn't help but chuckle. "Ash… You're right. I _do_ know you better."

A chuckle left the trainer's sneering lips, almost sounding sneaky in nature. "You bet. Not gonna take down a ninja without beating 'em at their own game, right?" With that, he punched forward. "Now, finish it, with Brick Break!"

"Muuuk!" The sludge pile cried, vaulting forward with a raised, glowing mass of goo, slamming it into the sludge-grounded Venomoth.

A shrill,distorted cry followed, and the bug type's body fell limp.

Shielding her eyes from the sun with a hand, Dawn squinted, soon enough discovering that Venomoth's eyes had turned to swirls. The battle was over. "...Venomoth is unable to battle! The Gym Leader Aya has lost all three of her Pokémon, which means the winner is Ash, from Pallet Town!" She exclaimed with a little too much enthusiasm for a judge, a wide smile adorning her lips.

With the battle over, Aya's previously tough facade quickly faded. Rushing out onto the field with as much speed as her ornate dress would allow, she kneeled beside her precious Pokémon. "Oh, Venomoth, you did so well! Forgive me. I focused so heavily upon preparing you for challengers and Pokémon of other types that I hadn't trained you enough against our own strengths." After petting the big moth, she returned it.

"... She's gentle!" Dawn exclaimed, flabbergasted. Where was the ice queen from earlier?!

"Well, she's a ninja," Ash explained, walking over with Muk in tow. He squatted down himself, letting Muk get what he wanted: cuddles.

"Muk~!" The Sludge Pokémon quickly tackled his trainer, pinning the youth to the ground in an affectionate, putrid hug.

Carefully turning his head away so he wouldn't accidentally ingest any of Muk as he spoke, the trainer continued. "I was a little surprised myself at first. I mean… She's a little stiff and formal, but she's usually alright. I guess being in charge will do that kinda thing to you."

Walking over, Aya nodded. "It is true. In addition, it was a test." Aya put her hands on her hips. "I used to have peers here, but the majority have come to be overly respectful towards me. I appreciate the genuine belief in my ability to lead, but I long for a peer." The gym leader smiled at Dawn, stretching out her hand. "It is always nice to meet another strong woman."

Realizing that Aya was complimenting her and trying to make friends, Dawn's eyes almost sparkled as she reached out to shake hands with Aya. "Ooooh, that's what that was about! Haha, you could have just asked!"

"But, I had to know you would be my equal," Aya reminded.

The tender moment between the two girls was broken by two sets of stomach growls: Ash's and Empoleon's. Both boys at once clutched their rumbling bellies before looking up sheepishly. It was evident that, while Dawn had definitely imprinted as Empoleon's number one when he was a Piplup, Ash had also heavily influenced the water type's growth.

"So, uh… Is there anywhere to eat near here?" Ash asked.

"Certainly! Come! I shall summon our healers! They shall attend to our Pokémon while we have lunch! What say you?" Aya enthused.

"Yeah!" the trainer answered.

"I'm down with that," Dawn agreed.

Leading the way, Aya began walking towards the exit of the garden: the hole Muk had made earlier.

* * *

Soon enough, the group was seated on an elegantly simple patio. Ash was stuffing his face with the contents of his boxed lunch while Dawn was marveling over the fine, lacquered wood of the box.

"I'm guessing you guys make these traditionally?" Dawn inquired.

"Why, yes, they're made right in this village! They are made of the densest wood. Sometimes, we use them to block," Aya bragged.

Dawn cooed in admiration. "Artistry and functionality all in one… I can definitely respect that!"

"I can definitely respect the cook," Ash said happily, burping a bit. "Hey, can I get seconds?!"

"Certainly." Turning to one of the young girls mosey around, Aya gestured to Ash. His empty meal box taken away and replaced with a fresh box, brimming with sticky rice and pickled vegetables.

"Yes," he happily purred, at once digging into his dish again.

Meanwhile, in the lawn before the patio, Ash and Aya's Pokémon from the battle before were being treated for their injuries while scarfing down Pokéchow. Likewise, Dawn had also released her Pokémon to get a good meal. Even some of the local poison types that lived among the ninja had come to play.

Overall, it was a very serene atmosphere. It was so peaceful that, at first, no one noticed at first that the little Zubat who had been fawning over Togekiss suddenly flew off, tracing some invisible trail in the sky. However, when Aya's Crobat followed suit, that got everyone's attention.

"Crobat…? Where are you going?" There was no response. "Crobat!"

Soon, the other poison types were moving along, headed in the same direction that the first Zubat had disappeared into. That included Ash's sludge-covered friend, too, who slithered off with the rest.

"Muk, where are you going?!" Ash echoed.

Panic was beginning to spread throughout the ninja compound. Ash looked to Dawn, both of them standing up.

"What is happening?!" Aya demanded, looking at her underlings.

Just then, a young girl decked in purple slid into view. "Aunt Aya!" she cried. "Something is wrong outside of the walls! The Pokémon are all headed towards the northeastern corner!"

"I can see that, dear niece," Aya muttered. "No matter… Ash, Dawn! Most of my strongest warriors are abroad at the moment. Can I rely upon you to aid me in this pressing matter?"

Both the trainer and the coordinator nodded.

"Thank you. Janine, you shall remain here."

"But… Aunt Aya!"

"Do not argue! Your father has entrusted your safety to me. Furthermore, we cannot both be in danger. Remain here and instruct the other youths in the defensive measures." Turning away, Aya began shrugging off her lovely, ornate dress, revealing an outfit much more efficient and reminiscent of her original working wardrobe. "If these fools seek to raid the land of shadows and deception, they will taste the bitterness of defeat!"

"Alright, Aya!" Ash whooped. "C'mon, Pikachu, everyone! We're gonna get Muk back!"

"Pika-Pika!"


	43. Toxic Ambitions

Dashing away from the swiftly opened gates of the ninja fortress, Ash, Dawn, Aya, and two reliable warriors who had taken it upon themselves to act as Aya's bodyguards followed the dust kicked up by the mysteriously drawn poison types. There was an air of desperation in Aya's movements. There was little wonder why, though; her and her people's Pokémon were primarily poison types! With them gone, her two would-be bodyguards could only rely upon their own strength.

"We must hurry!" Aya urged as they darted under branches, noting the trail blazed by the crowd of creatures. The soft, moist earth here was filled with puddle-pooling paw prints and long blades of grasses were bent in the direction their previous trespassers had traveled. It was lucky for them that there was such a fresh trail.

And, their luck would continue.

Ash paused as they came to a mighty river. This was the same one that roared loudly under the cliffs of Koga's lordly estate.

"How are we gonna cross that?!" he lamented, head swiveling to and fro.

Dawn, with her sharp eyes, quickly spotted some gnarled vines which might serve them well. Pointing towards them, she tried to alert the rest of the group. "Hey, if we get some momentum going, then maybe…!"

"No need," one of the guards said.

The other gestured to the river. "There's no way some of them could have crossed this. Furthermore, look at the other bank: there's no marks from anything climbing up. The mud is undisturbed."

Aya nodded. "The grass is thick here… But, look! It's slick this way! That's where they went." She trailed off, furrowing her brows. "They went downstream… That heads back to the village, under a cliff but not to our cliffs," she explained. "Near the swamp."

"It's a nightmare traversing that," a bodyguard lamented.

"Then, let's go!" Ash urged, leading the trail by dashing off in the way he now knew his precious Muk had fled to.

The others, inspired by Ash and still worried about the Pokémon, hastily followed Ash. It was a short travel until they left the shelter of the drizzly woods bordering Fuschia Town and hiding the ninja stronghold, but it ended in rolling hills just above a thick, tree choked swamp. As they approached, Aya ordered them all to stop.

She'd spotted something. Kneeling down so that the high, flood-fostered grasses would conceal her, she scanned the unnaturally dark breaks in the treeline. Thankfully, her bodyguards knew to also drop to their knees. It only took Ash and Dawn a moment to follow suit.

After a moment, all of their eyes noticed a vague purple fog in the air. Following it down into the treeline, they spotted it: a hideous, silent machine. It was a matte black so dark that not a trace of sunlight reflected from it. Truly, its shadows were lighter than its dastardly form. Ever exhaling, the terrible metal invention released that curious cloud of purple which quickly dissipated on the wind.

However, if that foreboding machine were not enough, the terrible sight beneath it, standing guard like Beedrill before a hive was a platoon of Team Rocket grunts, all decked in black and sullied with mud.

Between these grunts and the rescue party was a field which might, come summer, boast the most beautiful flowers north of Cinnabar Island. However, now it was the picking grounds of Team Rocket. Sprawling across it were all of the Pokémon lulled by something… Most likely, our heroes realized, that harrowing purple fog.

Ash's blood boiled at the sight of it. Of course it would be Team Rocket! His arms tensed and he lifted himself into a crouching position only for Aya to put her arm out.

"Not yet," she warned. She wanted to see what these grunts had in mind for all of these Pokémon. It was the ninja way to wait in the shadows and strike once the opportunity was right.

And, so, Ash waited. But, he did not like it.

* * *

Shaded beneath the shadow cast by their clever contraption, Jessie watched in eager anticipation. James was beside her, taking tally of the Pokémon species present. He wondered if they had prepared enough. They might have underestimated how abundant Fuschia's forests were in poison types.

"Dose scientists sure are a bunch'a wizzes," Meowth muttered. "I knew Sinnoh's habit o' lurin' Pokémon with honey was gonna pay off, but dey took it up to a whole new level!" He boasted, more than proud of their own reports bearing fruit. "Now, we got a concoction dat'll bring in enough poison types to have us rollin' in dough!"

After all, even with the failures at the Celadon Game Corner, as their no-pay client was closed, Team Rocket was free to claim the gambling market, even if it was underground this time. Poison types were perfect for weakening really valuable Pokémon, so they'd need tons of them as fodder for their objectives!

"But, of course!" Jessie purred. "Team Rocket only employees the best."

Both boys were silent, neither willing to argue with Jessie nor depreciate themselves today.

Instead, James noted the distance of their targets from the grunts. "Alright, begin!" he ordered, voice booming with a surprising amount of confidence from a man usually so meek and gentle.

In almost perfect synchronization, a wave of black-painted Pokéballs were launched forward. They hit the front most Pokémon who were all wild and mostly small and lithe. Because of this, they did not resist capture, contented by the scent of the poison.

"Great!" James cheered, pleased by their success. "Next round, go!"

Again, the specialized "Rocket Balls" were thrown forward. This time, their success was more questionable. Larger Pokémon began to pop out of Pokéballs, shrugging off their imprisonment with little effort.

While the majority were still caught, this was enough to cause some of the grunts' confidence to waver.

"Hey, what gives! We were told this was gonna be a piece of cake!"

"Beats the hell outta me. Looks like we've gotta work for it if we wanna snag 'em!" One of the more rugged, rebellious grunts gripped a Pokéball. "Time to rough 'em up!"

Soon enough, a couple of the others were also reaching for their belts.

"Them grunts sure is eager," Meowth noted. "James, take a note, would ya? The Boss likes them proactive types, don't he?"

Jessie, however, seemed to see the grunts' zealousness as a flaw rather than a perk. "Put those away!" she yelled, voice more authoritative than Meowth's or James's could ever be. "Do you want them to run away?! Just let them stay relaxed. What we can't catch after a few Pokéballs, we'll cage in the trucks. We didn't bring those big mud riders for nothing, you know!"

Obedient, the grunts who had gotten out Pokéballs quickly put them away.

James turned to part of the platoon. "Row Three, ready the trucks for loading. Rows Two and One, continue catching as you can!"

Maybe this would go right, for once.

* * *

Flashes of red consumed one Pokémon whole after another, practically taunting the group that hid amongst the flora. Ash in particular, was seething. "Aw, come on… We can't just sit here while they take in those innocent Pokémon!" Failing to suppress a growl, he reached for his belt.

"Ash-" Aya started, only to be cut off.

"You can play it safe if you want, but my Muk's out there, and hell if I'm gonna let him get captured!" Canines bared, he grabbed a Pokéball, chucking it into the air. "Go, Gliscor!"

The sphere popped open, setting the Fang Scorp Pokémon free.

"Gli~!" He cried, taking to a nearby wind current to soar. His enthusiasm didn't last long, though, eyes weary and his flight losing its gusto. "Scor…" He panted, swerving down to land before the mucky swamp.

Needless to say, he hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Hey, was that a Pokéball?"

"That's not even a poison type, is it?"

"Looks like someone's snoopin' on us.'

"Crap," Ash exhaled, regret overcoming him. "Gliscor must not be fully healed yet… Which means the others aren't fresh either. I guess we're kinda outnumbered here…" So much for his heroism.

"Intruders already?" Jessie's brows furrowed. " _Someone_ needs to learn to mind their own business." No chance in hell were they letting this operation flop. For once, things were actually running in their favor.

"Yea, but who do ya think'd barge in on us all the way out here? It's not exactly a carnival out here." Meowth pondered, attempting to peer into the maze of bushes and trees.

"Who do you think?" James deadpanned, nearly sulking at the thought of _them_ screwing up another one of their perfectly good operations. "If it's the twerps, better to deal with them now than later."

"You! Come with us," Jessie commanded, pointing to a group of four grunts nearby before leaping towards the intruders in quite an acrobatic feat. Dashing over, she, along with James and Meowth, was soon to spot the small crowd hiding behind the scenes. "Why am I not surprised? You just can't help but barge in on our plans, can you, twerps?"

"And you…!" James started, pointing towards the emerald-haired woman. "...I feel like I've seen you before, somewhere."

"I know I haven't forgotten you three," Aya spat. "You invaded the Fuschia Gym the last time Ash came here for a gym battle." She looked to the trainer, then. "You certainly have a knack for attracting troublemakers."

"You have _no_ idea." Ash deadpanned.

"In any case, we'll never forgive you for disturbing our village!" Aya barked, pointing a finger towards the trio and their cohorts. "You'll pay for meddling where you don't belong."

"We could say the same for you couple o' pests," Meowth shrugged, nonchalant as ever.

"Look who's talking," Ash growled. "I guess I'll have to rely on Pikachu and Primeape, here…" Ash muttered, reaching for the latter's Pokéball. _'I'll keep Rosa out of it, if I can get away with it.'_

"I hope you don't think you're fighting this alone," Aya interjected. "Go, Sneasel!" She chanted, seemingly pulling a Pokéball from nowhere, tossing it forward. The dark/ice type quickly emerged, its feline-like eyes narrowing upon the intruders.

"Hey, the more the merrier!" Ash remarked, tossing his own sphere. "Go, Primeape!"

The Pig Monkey appeared in a flash, the vein on his forehead becoming more prominent at the sight of the three thieves. "Pri! Pri!" He snorted. If he had his way, he'd beat the tar out of them again. Partly for old time's sake, but mostly for giving his trainer even more of a hassle. It was enough for have him hopping about in fury.

"In that case… Nidoking, Magneton! Take care of this twerp!" James called out.

The poison/ground type and electric/steel type both made their appearance, snarling and buzzing at Ash and his team respectively.

"And we haven't forgot you," Jessie barked at Aya, tossing two Pokéballs of her own. "Nidoqueen, Yanmega, show no mercy!"

"Man… It'd be nice to have Gliscor right now," Ash muttered. Overall, the type matchups weren't exactly in his favor. "If we can't have the advantage the easy way, then we'll just power through!" Ash commanded, throwing a hand outward towards. "Pikachu, use Quick Attack on Magneton! Primeape, attack Nidoking with Mega Kick!"

"Chu!" Pikachu chanted, launching off his hind legs in a silver stream, aiming for Magneton.

"Pri, Pri!" The Pig Monkey vaulted forward as well, aiming to devastate Nidoking with a well-placed kick.

"Magneton, Magnet Bomb!" James ordered. "And Nidoking, fight back with Double Kick!"

Before the Magnet Pokémon could so much as make a move, it was smashed head-on by a full body tackle from Pikachu. Rattled and disoriented by the speedy rodent, Magneton struggled to regain composure, all three of its ever-observing eyes narrowing in irritation. A silver orb began to charge between the three segments, fueled by electromagnetic sparks seeping from the magnets attached to its body.

Nidoking, meanwhile, delivered a reckless swing of his knee, smashing the armored extremity into the incoming ape's foot. Cringing from the pain Primeape delivered to his leg, the Drill Pokémon only became more furious, howling out as his other foot swung around to slam into Primeape.

The fighting type was sent reeling.

Meanwhile, Ash tuned in to the other half of the battle. "Quick Attack, again!"

The command sounded before Pikachu even hit the ground, allowing the mouse to quickly put a halt to his landing, swinging his hips around to ground himself before launching off again. "Pika!" He cried, moving with such speed that a faint gust was left in his wake.

"Ton…" Magneton hissed, ready to launch its attack at the incoming enemy. Alas, before it could properly attack its target, another brutal attack smashed into the cluster's underside, sending it recoiling and the attack sky-high. Frankly, he was lucky that his typing resisted Pikachu's merciless attacks.

"Good job," Ash praised. "Now, Primeape, Close Combat!" With that call, he punched forward.

He needn't be told twice.

Primeape launched back into the fray with a punch ready, striking Nidoking with a fierce right hook. His assault didn't end there, following with a slew of expertly thrown kicks and jabs.

Nidoking could hardly defend himself, snorting in fury after each painful, irritating blow struck. As much as he wanted to pound that Primeape into the dirt, he found himself helpless.

Not if James could help it, though. "Nidoking, Flamethrower! Magneton, Thunderbolt!"

"Magnetonnn…!" The Magnet Pokémon fumed, whether one watching could tell or not. Growing impatient of the mouse, he unleashed a brutal flash of electricity.

"Dodge it!"

"Chu!" Pikachu made a second landing, leaping well out of Thunderbolt's range.

By now, James's teeth were grinding. "That's it! Magneton, Lock-on!"

"Uh-oh…" A bead of sweat dropped from Ash's forehead. He knew what was next.

Not to mention, Primeape had finally emerged from the flames. Charred, but not deterred, he huffed.

"Toxic, Nidoking!"

Still rather close, Nidoking spat out toxic goo.

"Dodge it!" Ash ordered.

Quick to obey, Primeape made a leap backwards.

A gleam appeared in James' eye. "Now, Megahorn! And Magneton, Zap Cannon!"

The latter took action, charging a crackling green orb of compacted electricity, launching it towards the mouse. Guided by the red target laid upon Pikachu, it homed in, no matter where he tried to run.

Nidoking made his move next, launching toward a retreating Primeape with his head lowered and sharp horny ready. The attack connected, painfully launching the fighting type into the air.

"Primeape…!" Ash grit his teeth. "Pikachu, knock that back with Iron Tail!"

Pikachu was face to face with the snarling, powerful orb, only moments away from taking significant damage. Happy to follow his trainer's orders, though, he clad his tail in metal, swinging it around to smash the Zap Cannon, much like the batter would a ball.

It was launched back towards Magneton, assaulting it with a potent blast of electricity.

Surprisingly, a gleam appeared in James' eye. "Now, Nidoking, Toxic!"

With Primeape still reeling, the Drill Pokémon grinned, spitting out another round of purple goo.

Ash's eyes grew wide. "Quick, Pikachu! Knock that off with Electro Ball!"

Free of Magneton's pestering, Pikachu twisted his body, sparking a golden orb of electricity that quickly grew on the tip of his tail. "Pika Pika Pika… Chu-pi!"

The condensed orb of electricity shot across the battlefield, swinging by just in time to incinerate the toxic goo heading to poison Primeape. Soaring on still, it crashed into a nearby tree, leaving the nearby inhabitants with a booming explosion. Smoke drifted over the battlefield, forcing Ash to cover his mouth.

James scoffed. "You're just as much of a pest as ever, twerp!"

"Trust me, I'm just getting started!" Ash grimaced, adjusting the brim of his cap.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jessie and Aya were likewise locked in combat. Just as Ash and James had been battling, so had the girls. And, to Jessie's chagrin, Aya's Sneasel was able to successfully hold off both her Nidoqueen and her Yanmega.

"Stop running away, you coward!" Jessie yelled as Aya's Sneasel finished its Quick Attack to dodge under Nidoqueen's Superpower and use said poison type to block Yanmega's Steel Wing.

Aya snarled in response. "If your lack of coordination is your undoing, all the better for me to witness it! Sneasel, scoop up Nidoqueen's Toxic Spikes with Metal Claw and use Aerial Ace to deliver them unto Yanmega."

"Sneee!" the little ninja-weasel cheered, long claws coated in silver. Quickly grabbing up a cluster of Nidoqueen's scattered Toxic Spikes.

"Not so fast! Earth Power!" Jessie cried.

Aya bent her knees as she rode out the earth trembling attack, watching her Sneasel avoid it by flying through the air and latching onto Yanmega. The little black Pokémon used Aerial Ace to kick off Yanmega while the bug dealt with Nidoqueen's attempted entry hazard.

The ninja matriarch lifted her chin. "You shall taste defeat this day," she swore.

* * *

Of course, with Aya and Ash busy and Aya's bodyguard's Pokémon-less, that left dear ole Dawn to deal with the grunts.

"I guess it's a good thing we never battled. Everyone, come out!"

Quickly assembled, Empoleon, Buneary, Pachirisu, Mamoswine, Quilava and Clefairy formed an arc before Dawn and the two bodyguards, clearly ready to get into a fray with the Rocket grunts. And, lucky for Dawn, between the four of them, there were only six Pokémon. Considering Jessie and James were only carrying two themselves, it seemed, these underlings probably weren't all privileged enough to have a full team.

However, she could already see the coordination issues.

"Doduo, start us off with a Quick Attack!" one grunt commanded.

Another nodded. "Yeah, Skarmory, you get in on that, too, with Swift!"

Two flying types? One was steel, too? Dawn threw up her arms, coordinating the assault through directions. "Pachirisu, give that Doduo a shock with Spark! Quilava, keep Skarmory away! Flamethrower!"

There was no time for her to rest on her laurels, though. Just as Pachirisu's racing pace met Doduo with a Spark strong enough to freeze it up temporarily and Quilava's flames were racing towards Skarmory's wave of stars, she had more grunts to deal with.

"Rhydon, use Megahorn!" he called.

Dawn's eyes widened. "Empoleon!" she cried. "Metal Claw! Keep him off us!"

Never one to leave his trainer wanting in her time of need, Empoleon lunged forward to meet with the titanic rock type. Catching Rhydon's twirling drill-horn, Empoleon was at first pushed back a bit, but very quickly he found his footing and found himself locked into a test of strength with the bigger Pokémon.

Naturally, things only continued to get worse.

"Eh… Can't get close with that fire type. That's fine! Skarmory, bomb 'em with some Spikes!"

Dawn's eyes widened. Were they serious!? The only Pokémon who could safely scoop those up was Empoleon with his Metal Claw move, but he was busy right now. "Uh… Watch your feet, everyone! Buneary, use Jump Kick on that Graveler!"

No sooner had she said it than had Buneary carefully leaped across the small clearing between the heroes and the grunts, forcefully rocking the Graveler onto its back.

"Buneary!" the rabbit victoriously yelled.

"Tough girl, huh? Let's see how well you do with a Disable. Drowzee, go!"

"Darn it!" Dawn hissed in frustration. Buneary faced her new opponent, careful to keep an eye on the Graveler as it struggle to its feet.

Unfortunately, she was so caught up in the current affairs that she didn't notice that Doduo had unfrozen and was trying to use Double Hit on Pachirisu. She only realized it when the little electric type was sent back to their side of the field, landing uncomfortable amongst the Spikes. "Pachirisu!" Dawn cried out in worry.

Balling her fists, the girl tried to figure out the most proactive way to take the battle, now. "Graveler's getting up… Clefairy, use Magical Leaf!"

"Clefa!" she answered before doing so. A medley of rainbow hued leaves assaulted Graveler, thankfully distracting the creature from getting involved in Buneary and Drowzee's fight.

"Now, Buneary, use Dizzy Punch on that long nosed jerk!" Dawn ordered. Her hair whipped around her as she forcefully commanded the match, working up a bit of a sweat from looking to and fro. She was getting very into it; after all, this wasn't just a battle for fun.

Once again, Buneary delivered a mighty blow onto her opponent. The Drowzee fell onto its back from the force of it. "Neary…" she seethed.

"Hey! That little fuzz bucket is strong! We gotta take it out! Drowzee, use Poison Gas!"

"Bun…" Buneary whined, coughing and hacking from the noxious gas before springing out of its range. Much to her dismay, though, the poison had taken effect, leaving a blue streak across her features.

"Buneary…!" Dawn frowned, her concern for her companion showing. "Hang in there!"

However, some of her luck was turning up. She looked back to where Empoleon was still locked into combat with Rhydon. She smiled. "He's winning…! Okay, Empoleon, use Bubble Beam!"

"Empo!" he agreed before spitting out the attack at his opponent, sending the Rhydon stumbling.

"Ugh, this is getting on my nerves… Tauros, take out the trainer with Horn Attack!"

However, Dawn didn't hear this. She had her eyes on the Skarmory circling above. "Quilava, I need you to use Flame Wheel powered up with Flamethrower like before. That Skarmory has got to- Ah!"

Thankfully, she was not hit. Dawn and the bodyguards, who had thus far been tensely waiting under the protection of Dawn's Pokémon, both looked at Mamoswine, who had taken it upon himself to use Ice Fang to hold off the Tauros.

"Mamoswine…"

"Mamo," he grunted.

"Right! I'll make this quick so we can rest easy!" She looked back up, pointing at Skarmory. "Quilava, you know what to do!"

As the little fire type began circling to build up energy and momentum, Dawn turned to the rest of the battle. Thankfully, Doduo was too scared of Pachirisu to come closer. However, that Graveler was starting to look rather bold.

"Clefairy, use Disarming Voice!"

"Cleeeeee!" she sang.

Thankfully, this was a direct blow. Between the moves used by Buneary and Clefairy, it sent the rocky giant tumbling down.

The coordinator finally let out a sigh of relief. "That's how strong they are. We can do this, then." Confidence renewed, she looked up happily as Quilava shot up and scored a direct hit on Skarmory, bringing the steel type down to their level. The fewer surprises, the better.

"Ugh, crap, all of 'em are strong. Tauros, come back here!" one of the grunts called.

"Oh no, you don't! Mamoswine, use Hidden Power! Buneary's still over there! We have to give her time to get out of there!" Dawn ordered.

Mamoswine did as told, forcing Tauros to divert his attention and dodge. As this occurred, Buneary raced back over to its companions.

Dawn balled her fists up as her team stayed by her side, watching their enemies with coiled muscles. This would be tough, but she had plenty of training! Furthermore, the fact that the match was now 5 to 6 was testament of her likelihood to win.

She looked back at Aya's bodyguards. "Help me look after my Pokémon, okay?"

Much reminded of Aya's fierce protectiveness of the ninja clan members by this whole ordeal, they nodded. "Yes, Dawn!"

* * *

Back on Ash's end, things were going a bit better.

James was growing increasingly frustrated, with Nidoking losing steam after an expertly-dealt beating by Primeape, while Magneton found itself unable to do any significant damage to the older, stronger, and more agile Pikachu. "I see you weren't just goofing off up on that mountain, twerp! I've got to give you credit. You're even more stubborn than before… If that's even possible."

"Just give it up already!" Ash bit back. "You're not gonna win. Just leave these Pokémon and… Oh no!" The reality of the situation hit him like a Hyper Beam, his eyes turning to the swamp. At least some fraction of the Pokémon crowding to the Rockets had been captured, and many more were oblivious to their coming fate. Some of the stronger ones proved stubborn, but it was probably only a matter of time.

"All those Pokémon are getting caught…" Ash clutched a fist painfully tight, his eyes obscured by the brim of his cap. Shame kept his eyes toward the ground, brows tightly furrowed. "I've gotta stop it! Pikachu, I need you to do me a favor."

"Pika?" He looked to Ash, tilting his head. Whatever it was, he'd be happy to help.

"I need you to get into that crowd of poison types!" Block as many Pokéballs as you can!"

"Pika-Pikachu!" Pikachu cried with newfound determination, zipping off the battlefield with haste towards the swamp.

"Oh no, you don't! Magneton, Zap Cannon!"

"Magneton…!" The Magnet Pokémon forced out yet another blast, aiming for the fleeing mouse.

"Rosa! Aura Sphere, now!" Ash ordered, tossing another Pokéball forward.

"Rio!" The Emanation Pokémon cried, an arm winded back right as she appeared from the flash of light. Charging a brilliant teal Aura Sphere, lobbed the attack towards Zap Cannon.

The latter was intercepted by the blast of energy, stopped in a brilliant explosion.

Pikachu was free to move onward.

* * *

Hopping from the leaf of a Victreebel, Pikachu looked for his next perch. The Haunter was definitely not a good idea, but that Gloom would do well! As he hopped across, he noticed Pokéballs being sent his way. Or, more properly, towards the poison types. Snorting, he used an Iron Tail to knock them away.

In the distance, he could hear the loud mouth Scratch Cat Pokémon.

"Why are yous guys always doin' this?! This ain't got nothin' t'do with ya!" Meowth screeched. "Row one, right section, get that no good, meddling-!"

"... Um, Meowth… He's gone," One of the grunts pointed out. True enough, while Meowth was talking, Pikachu had disappeared into the sea of purple.

"... Give me a breaaaaak!" the cat cried.

Meanwhile, Pikachu remained among the crowd of poison types, using Agility to swiftly move from cluster to cluster. He popped up whenever he heard or saw Pokéballs approaching to bat them away with an Iron Tail, but what he was really seeking out was Ash's Muk.

Thankfully, though, he finally found the big blob.

"Pikachu!" the electric type cried, running over to the poison type and walking alongside him. "Pika! Pi pikapi pika! … Pi? Pikachu?"

Muk, however, remained unresponsive, marching on towards the treeline.

Pikachu's tail dropped anxiously. "Pikapi!" he yelled, looking around for the nearest solid Pokémon. A Crobat, perhaps Aya's, was nearby. Pikachu jumped onto its back. "Pikapi!" he yelled again, throwing off some sparks to catch Ash's attention.

* * *

Dawn held her ground, fists balled at her side. Only two of her opponents' Pokémon remained whereas she had only lost Buneary. The Skarmory and Drowzee lingered opposite her remaining team of five. Carefully watching for signs of movement, Dawn saw her opportunity. "Quilava, use Swift. Clefairy, you need a rest… Moonlight!" Dawn ordered.

Quilava released the starry move while Clefairy closed her eyes and lifted her arms, healing herself and forming an artificial moon above.

"Heh, there's our opening!" a grunt snapped. "Skarmory, use Metal Sound to distract that Quilava before swooping in with Steel Wing on the Clefairy!"

While the Swift hit the Drowzee and finally took it down, Skarmory dodged it. With Quilava distracted and no other Pokémon moving quick enough to deliver a defensive move, Dawn could only watch with delayed reaction as Skarmory flew towards Clefairy.

However, it never actually landed. Suddenly, the artificial moon that Clefairy had been restoring herself with… Dropped down on Skarmory.

"What just… No time, Quilava, use Flamethrower!"

And, with that, Skarmory was promptly roasted. The match was over.

"Ah, crap… Retreat! We gotta go tell the heads what happened!" one of the grunts ordered, returning his Skarmory before fleeing.

Dawn, exhausted mentally and emotionally by the battle, dropped to her knees. The whole time, she'd been holding the fainted Buneary in her arms. "Alright, good job everyone…! Now, time to get Buneary healed. … Clefairy, what was that move you used?" Dawn asked as she dug through her bag in search of some potions and antidotes.

"Cle… Clefairy," the fairy type gently said.

After the Buneary was doused in medicine, she jumped back up, looking none the worse for the wear.

Dawn pursed her lips, getting her PokéDex out. "Let's see… Oh! It's called Moonblast! You forgot Disarming Voice for it… Eh. That'll be fine, right?"

Judging by the way Clefairy's eyes twinkled, it definitely was fine.

"Hehe, you really like the night sky, huh?" Dawn teased.

"Miss Dawn, what should we do now?" one of the bodyguards asked.

Dawn looked over to where Aya and Ash were… Or, to where they had been. "There still some Pokémon over that way, plus I know Ash and Aya are over there. What do you say we-"

She paused. As she was about to stand back up, she spotted something in the swamp below. She hadn't been able to see it before since the trees blocked it at her standing angle, but now she could see below the canopy's cover. There were large black shapes. She squinted, trying to make them out.

"There's trucks down there."

The bodyguards exchanged look before getting down on their knees as well, looking with her. They had keener eyesight, being ninja, and frowned.

"They're trucks," one said, "for hauling big loads."

"The already captured Pokémon, most likely," the other deduced.

"We've got to stop them!" she cried, standing up.

"But, we must also stop the other grunts, or they'll overwhelm Ash and Aya!" one bodyguard pointed out.

"You leave the grunts to me. Empoleon, use Ice Beam to get a beginning trail going," Dawn ordered. She looked to Mamoswine. "Its Freight Train time again," she explained. "Help these guys get down to the trucks, and listen to what they tell you. Pachirisu, you go with him. If worse comes to worst, use Ice Chandelier to distract them before running off, okay? Don't get captured, no matter what!"

All four nodded at Dawn's orders. The two bodyguards quickly clambered on top of Mamoswine along with Pachirisu. Soon, the big mammoth was sliding down the slope, into the actual swamp on the ice trail Empoleon had laid out for them.

Smiling down at Buneary, Clefairy, and Quilava, Dawn spoke once more. "Alright, guys. Empoleon's going to defend against the big Pokémon. Clefairy is going to provide fire cover. So, Quilava, Buneary, I need you two to actually take out any of the grunts' Pokémon we're about to approach. Got it?"

"Bun!" "Empo." "Cle…!" "Quila!"

* * *

Things were getting a little hairy. While Primeape was doing his best, little Rosa just wasn't quite bulky enough to tango with Nidoking nor could she quite tolerate Magneton's electric output like her bigger teammate could. While Ash knew Primeape would be able to defend himself against one of them if Ash ran to go see about Muk, leaving both behind was unthinkable with Rosa's current way of faring.

Thankfully, just then, a bellowing trumpet of a roar caught everyone's attention. Ash, James, Rosa, Primeape, Magneton, and Nidoking both scrambled to get out of the way of the sliding behemoth headed towards them.

However, Magneton was the fortunate sacrificial lamb for this escapade.

Ash looked up, having barely dodged Dawn's Mamoswine as it slid down the hill with companions on board.

"Mamo!" the ice type called, bidding farewell. His passengers waved goodbye as well.

"... Was that Pachirisu and Aya's guys on top?" Ash question. Why had Dawn sent them off to the swamp?

Regardless, Ash now had his chance. "Hey! Primeape! You handle Nidoking! Me and Rosa are gonna see about Muk!"

"Prime!" the fighting type agreed.

"How insulting!" James barked. "You're acting as if this… this monkey could handle me without a trainer!"

"He handled you fine before!" Ash snapped before running off.

With that, Primeape squared up, glaring at Nidoking once more. "Prime…"

Meanwhile, Ash scooped up Rosa, using his longer legs to quickly carry them towards where Pikachu still cried out from the horde of poison types. Carefully picking his way through prickly pins, harsh fumes, and noxious sights, the trainer reached his starter… And, the still lulled Muk.

Ash's heart broke a little. "Buddy… Buddy, come on. I'm here. You've gotta wake up."

Just as Ash was about to touch his beloved companion, a voice cried out in warning: "Ash, behind you!"

Luckily, the trainer did look up. Unfortunately, Muk was too drunk on the poison-luring odor to dodge. For that, the poison type took the Steel Wing that Yanmega had originally meant to strike Ash with.

"Hey!" Ash snapped. "That could have…!"

"I know," Jessie snarled. "I would have finally knocked enough sense into that thick skull of yours for you to butt out of our business!"

However, the blow seemed to have done the trick. As Jessie approached, Muk stopped following the crowd, much to Ash's relief.

Though still on his machine perch, Meowth's voice carried all the way over to where Ash stared Jessie down. "Don't tell me ya helped him snap his dang Muk outta that stupor, Jessie!" Hearing no response from the decidedly guilty woman, the cat continued. "Foine! I guess we're gettin' desperate. All rows: don't hold back no more! Get what ya can!"

Around him, the field descended into a bevy of chaos. Numerous battles began with grunts against wild Pokémon while a symphony of Pokéballs went off, some failing and some succeeding in captures. Already captured Pokémon were battled and herded towards the trucks.

"Pikachu!" Ash called out. "Take care of the Pokémon! Don't let anyone get- Ah!"

Cut off mid-sentence, Ash was forced to dodge a Superpower attack from Jessie's Nidoqueen. He and Rosa looked up, their aura senses going wild. Jessie wasn't messing around anymore.

"I told you to leave," she growled.

However, no sooner was that said then was Nidoqueen pelted with a bunch of Ice Shards. Shortly after, Sneasel flew over it, using Quick Attack to knock the big ground type over. Aya ran in after the dark type.

"How dare you run away from me!" the ninja exclaimed. "How dare you attack my friend!" Aya turned to Ash. "Quickly, let us overwhelm her before she can do further harm!"

"I'm with ya," Ash muttered, standing back up. "Hey… I've got an idea. Rosa knows Aura Sphere. Let's try combining it with your Ice Shard."

"I do not know if that will-"

"Sonicboom!" Jessie ordered.

"Dodge!" Ash and Aya ordered in unison.

Sneasel swiftly rolled to the side while Rosa jumped back. Their alternate schools of training were making themselves very clear.

"Fine, let us try," Aya relented. "Sneasel, join with the Riolu!"

Rushing to each other's side, the two female Pokémon put their paws together. A chunk of frozen energy began to appear at the tips of Sneasel's claws, ripe for powering up further by the other.

Or, so they thought.

Rosa tensed, trying her best to flood the shard with aura energy, much the same way she made a sphere. Sadly, acting on a physical object was much more difficult.

Sneasel faltered, eyes shutting tight in the face of the overwhelmingly bright combination. With no real experience in handling fighting type energy, she lost focus, losing control of the Ice Shard.

The attack shone and bubbled until exploding, catching both Pokémon in a small cloud of smoke.

"Rosa!"

"Sneasel!"

"My bad…" Ash apologized, rubbing the back of his head. "I thought that would work for sure." It wasn't the first time he'd attempted to stack an Aura Sphere on top of another move, after all.

"It was worth a shot," the ninja dismissed. "But, we don't have time to worry about that right now… You need to stop them. I'll handle these two and fend her off, and you can destroy that abomination!"

"Right," Ash affirmed, looking to his Pokémon that emerged from the smoke. "Rosa, are you alright? I'm gonna leave you under Aya's orders. Trust me, she'll handle you guys just fine!"

"Rio!" The pup barked, singed and a little dazed, but far from out of commission.

"Alright. Pikachu? Let's go!" With that, he dashed off towards the heart of the problem.

* * *

After meeting back up with Pikachu, Ash made a beeline for the machine that Meowth was running… Only for Primeape to be hurdled at it.

Ever loyal, Ash ran faster just to catch his freshly tossed Pokémon. They collapsed in a thud.

James walked over, trailed by his Nidoking. "I figured you'd head here," he explained. "It's the most important part of our operation, so of course you're going to try to ruin it," he continued, emphasizing the word try.

There was a moment of tension, Ash staring at James from where he lay under Primeape's weight and James staring down at Ash. Ash whispered something to Primeape…

Then the monkey bolted up, headed straight for the purple haired man.

"Bleaugh!" James screamed, not expecting a direct attack. That was dirty, like something Jessie would do!

While James was distracted and Nidoking was trying to help his trainer, Ash ran up the steps of the machine with Pikachu trailing him.

"No, get the twerps!" James ordered, having fallen to his knees. Primeape continued to beat him up and James continued to squeal about it.

Not particularly attached to James, Nidoking did as told, charging at the stairs and running up them. With one swift toss of his head, Nidoking rammed Ash and Pikachu, throwing them to the railing. Ash coughed, feeling a nasty bruise forming along his ribs.

"Pika…" the electric type sniffed, likewise shaken.

The sight left Primeape frozen for a second. The next, though, all consuming fury overwhelmed him. "Primeeeee!" he yelled, stomping over to where Nidoking was. While it was often said that the pig-monkey was fuming, this time he really was. Stomping his feet in a furious succession, Primeape hissed, his body temperature soaring. Shrieking, he unleashed his wrath in a scalding flame from his nostrils.

Hating the heat expelled by the fighting type, Nidoking lurched back, his weight rocking the very device they stood upon.

James ducked for cover, shrieking at the sudden burst of fire.

Standing on shaky legs, Ash could hear his PokéDex going off in his coat pocket. "Overheat has been learned," Dexter said.

"I guess Primeape was **really** fired up, this time," Ash joked, though that was his only explanation. Could a fighting type really get so furious that it brought a fire type move on?

Putting the thought aside, he smiled regardless. "Thanks, buddy."

On the machine, Meowth was freaking out. "Wha?! It's too dry! Where'd all the humidity go?! Why's it so hot all da sudden?! The machine ain't workin'..." he lamented. "The fumes is all boint up, it looks like…"

"Time to crisp it then," Ash spoke, catching the cat's attention. At his feet, Pikachu's cheeks sparked.

"Ya better not, Twoip!" Meowth's voice cracked, his threat about as empty as one could get.

"Pikachu," Ash began.

"Don't! I mean it!"

"Use Thunder!"

Jumping into the air, the electric type flexed his body. "Pika-CHU!" A bolt of thunder was called down, leading to a terrific crashing noise as it collided with the machine. Parts of it burst from the whole while short-lived fires raged in others. In the end, the machine let of a putrid smoke; harmless, though.

Meowth looked as if he'd burst a blood vessel. "This was our only version o'this tech!" he yowled.

* * *

Back on Aya's front, the battle had been going for quite a while. Sneasel, Rosa, and Nidoqueen all huffed alike, each growing weary in a painstaking, small versus large, two-on-one battle.

The three had clashed in a triad of Force Palm, Night Slash, and Superpower, forcing both sides back in a rattling collision that left a good deal of space between both sides.

"Both of you, dodge!" Aya called, spotting a concussive orb of wind coming their way.

Sneasel and Rosa hopped up once more, the latter landing on one leg. This amount of conflict was way more than what she was used to. Wincing, the Riolu tried to stay strong. Even in the face of Nidoqueen's power and Yanmega's aerial attacks.

"This is getting too close for comfort… We better finish this," the ninja noted aloud. "Riolu, Sneasel! Let's try Ash's idea one more time. This time, stay focused, and don't lose your composure!"

The two cried in unison, coming together with both hands and claws ready. Solid ice and life energy began to merge between them, each forcing themselves to keep a steady hand.

The Ice Shard became brilliant, this time staying steady.

"Now, fire!"

Both Pokémon shrieked, throwing their limbs forward. The 'Aura Shard' shot across the battlefield with all the swiftness of the Ice Shard, striking Yanmega with all the explosive force of an Aura Sphere.

Falling from the smoke and frost, the bug type had been knocked unconscious.

"Yanmega…!" Jessie sputtered, her face falling, before her teeth grit together. Fury on the woman's features. "Time to cut our losses," she concluded. "Come on, Nidoqueen!"

With that, the Rocket began to flee, and her poison type with her.

"Come back here!" The ninja barked. "It's almost over, you two," she assured to the two tiring Pokémon. "Now, let's chase them out of here."

"Sneasel!"

"Rio!"

* * *

Further up the hill, even Dawn was getting involved. Rushing through the chaotic flurry, she did her best to click open any Pokéballs she saw and permanently release the Pokémon within, but her efforts were mostly in vain. Furthermore, one Rocket grunt had a rather burly Growlithe and it was gaining on her fast.

Of course, neither Quilava nor Empoleon would allow that to happen. Sliding down the hill with enough force to keep himself and the Growlithe sliding, the big water type's silent defense made it clear: touching the girl was a bad idea. Remaining at Dawn's side, Quilava was on the defensive.

In the distance, Buneary took down another grunt's Pokémon, clearly amping up with all of her excitement and success.

Above, Clefairy tried to Moonblast the largest of their opponents.

Dawn breathed heavily. "Quilava, I'm not sure how much longer we can keep this up. Buneary's doing alright, but Empoleon's wearing himself out. Clefairy looks scared."

"Quil," the fire type chirped, nuzzling against Dawn during the brief interlude from violence.

"Yeah. We've gotta keep going. Now, use Flamethrower on that Raticate!"

* * *

After the initial boom of Pikachu's Thunder, there was an echoing crashing noise in the distance. Ash looked down to the swamp, squinting his eyes. Barely discernable among the trees, he could see Mamoswine standing before a flipped truck, still crackling with electricity. Aya's body guards look at it proudly while two Pokémon - most likely their own, judging from the fond way the two men petted the Pokémon - stood beside them, freshly freed.

"... That's where they're herding the Pokémon. Pikachu, go see what you can do to help."

"Pika…?" the electric type asked. Things were risky right now. He didn't want Ash to be alone.

The trainer jerked this thumb towards Primeape, who was now punching at Nidoking while the poison type tried to jab at him with his horn. "I've got company. Now, go for it."

Nodding, Pikachu, used Agility again to give himself a speed boost before running off.

And, seeing his opportunity, Meowth pounced on Ash. "I told ya! I told ya, I told ya, I told ya!" He used scratch, raking his claws down Ash's arm.

The trainer grabbed Meowth's tail, yanking the cat off himself. "Damnit! That hurt!"

"It's gonna hoit a lot more!" Meowth warned, fangs bared.

Standing up, Ash balled his fists. "Are you seriously gonna fight me?"

The normal type raised a paw, claws still out and slightly stained red with Ash's blood. "I ain't gonna let ya get away with this no more."

* * *

Jessie, meanwhile, was ready to collapse, hands resting on her knees while she tried to catch her breath. "Those rotten twerps are going to…" In midst of her threat, she'd caught quite a horrifying sight out of the corner of her eye. One that prompted a shrill shout.

Two nobodies, as far as she was concerned, had left one of the trucks in shambles, allowing a myriad of clueless poison types to wander out into sunlight. Free of their captors at last.

"Argh… Call off the mission!" She barked at the grunts who remained. "Let's cut our losses and get out!"

"But, Jessie…!" One of them started.

"I said move it! Take the wild Pokémon you've caught and we'll leave with what we have."

"...Yes, ma'am." The protesting Rocket, along with the remainder who'd overheard began to round up the others and spread the word.

"Now, to put this embarrassment to an end," she growled, dashing towards the vehicle at the front of their bee-line. With all the wild Pokémon, there was really no need to divulge exactly what had happened… Then again, all the damaged equipment, they'd have to come up with some sort of excuse.

It was hard to believe things could get much worse.

* * *

"You've been a real pain in the rear for way too long, twoip! My Fury Swipes are gonna teach ya a lesson you'll nevah foiget!" Meowth hissed, lunging at the offending trainer with bared claws.

"Takes one to know one!" Ash blurted, putting his sense of precognition to work. Leaping out of Meowth's intended path once, then twice, he narrowly avoided the Scratch Cat's attacks. "...And, I'm gonna keep getting in your way as long as you're trying to get at innocent Pokémon!"

His words were topped off with a successful grab at Meowth's foreleg, dangling the feline well above ground. "Besides, you're a Pokémon, yourself! Doesn't hoarding your own like that bother you just a little?" He spat, eyeing his arch-pain-in-the-rear.

"Lemme go, ya brute!" He hissed, beginning to swing in Ash's grip. "I may be a Meowth, but my loyalty goes right to Team Rocket! Somethin' youse pea-brain twerps'll nevah understand!"

With that, he used his momentum to swing in a loop, sinking his fangs into Ash's arm.

"Aagh!" Ash shouted in pain, shaking the cat off. "I _really_ don't like fighting Pokémon myself… But, if that's how ya feel, then you're in for it!" Gritting his teeth, he cupped both of his hands at his side. A blue glow emanated from between his gloves, gradually growing until it was released as a sphere towards Meowth.

"Aaagh!" The cat shrieked, leaping up just quick enough to let the orb strike the ground, sending him tumbling before landing on his all fours. "If you keep dat up, you might as well start calling yaself a Pokémon!" With that, he leapt at his adversary, stopping just short of a ready-to-flee Ash. With a devious cheshire grin, he clapped both of his paws together, setting off a small shockwave that startled Ash out of his wits.

"Was that Fake-Out!?" The trainer blurted, stumbling back. By time the words left his mouth, he was displeased to find a pair of paws gripping his shoulder blades. "Since when could you use any other attacks!?"

"When we said we went through an upgrade, we meant it! You're still lookin' at the new 'n improved Team Rocket!" Meowth boasted, holding a secure grip on an increasingly irritated Ash.

* * *

Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed leader of the trio stumbled towards her destination, only to be marked with a look of horror.

Looking up, Jessie spotted to very bright, very small creatures on top of the center truck. The two were talking amongst each other, a quick chatter of "Pachipachipachi" interupted occasionally by "Pika." After a moment, the two nodded and took tense positions Jessie knew all to well.

The two of them? Together? About to use an electric attack? She wanted no part of it.

"I'm having no part in that Pika-Pachi-palooza!" Jessie shouted, looking around desperately for a place to hide. She realized Aya was still hot on her trail, though the woman slowed when she saw Jessie looking so desperate. Both women then grew frantic.

Aya grabbed Rosa, diving behind a series of bushes. Jessie, similarly panicked, jumped into a small, muddy ditch. In the distance, Mamoswine stood confidently before Aya's bodyguards, certain he wouldn't be shocked accidentally with his ground type immunity.

Meanwhile, the two electric types stood cheek to cheek. Pachirisu's pale blue sparks danced amongst Pikachu's bright yellow static. However, those sparks turned into a full on Thunder attack as he called down a massive amount of energy, many times more than Pachirisu could create on her own. The Sinnoh squirrel, however, was not hurt by this. She dispersed it with Discharge, sending out a wave of electronic disrupting pulses among the trucks. This triggered an override on the cages in the back of them, releasing all of the Pokémon held within.

"Pachi!" the white Pokémon cheered. "Risu!"

"Pikachu!" he likewise shouted.

Looking up from her muddy sanctuary, Jessie look up at the chaos. All of those powerful, pre-trained Pokémon: free! "Get in your trucks!" she once again ordered, running to her own.

Meanwhile, Aya stood in awe of what Pachirisu and Pikachu had done. "That must be the cleverest set of electric types I've ever seen…"

* * *

Hearing Jessie's call, James hastily returned his Nidoking as Primeape pulled back for more space after their latest exchange of blows. Without a word, the man ran off, not leaving Ash or Primeape a chance to stop him.

Likewise, Meowth, who had previously been working over Ash's back while the teen tried bashing the two of them back into the metal tower, scrambled free of Ash's hold - leaving a few last claw marks for good measure.

With his arms stinging from the scratches and his clothing pretty well worn from Meowth's attacks, Ash didn't find it in himself to go running after them just yet. Instead, he ran over to where Primeape was, ignoring the pain from moving his sliced skin.

"Primeape! Are you alright?!"

"Ape…," the Pokémon answered, finally bowing down onto one knee in exhaustion.

"You were great," Ash beamed, placing a hand on the fuzzy Pokémon's shoulder.

* * *

By now, Dawn's team was down to three. Clefairy had been knocked out by the well timed attack of a grunt's Golbat. Dawn, meanwhile, found herself actually going toe to toe with a grunt far larger than she was… And, losing. All he had to do was put both arms around her, and lift her off the ground. Though she kept kicking at him, the brute wouldn't let her go. Quilava was desperately trying to help Dawn, but with two Raticates between the fire type and her beloved trainer, the poor Johto starter was having a hard time of it.

That didn't even begin to cover the situations Buneary and Empoleon faced, also out numbered.

However, just as Dawn was beginning to feel as if the grunt were going to squeeze her so hard she'd break a rib, he dropped her. Air rushed back into her lungs while his Raticates followed after him. Soon, all the grunts were gone. Quilava rushed to Dawn's side first. Buneary and Empoleon followed shortly after. Dawn looked around and felt tears welling up in her eyes.

There were no wild Pokémon left in the field. Team Rocket had taken them all.

"Empo…" the steel type mumbled, offering his flipper to help his trainer up.

Taking it gratefully, Dawn looked over to where Clefairy had fallen. She walked over to her, followed by the rest of the party. Dawn scooped her up, smiling sadly. "She's alright… Just, needs some rest." She returned the fairy type. "Thank you." She turned to the rest of her party. "Thank you all. But we've gotta check out those trucks!"

Empoleon laid down, looking to Quilava, Buneary, and Dawn. "Leon!" He'd be the quickest way down, after all.

"Empoleon… Thank you." Gratefully, the three girls got onto Empoleon's back and slid down the hill. While going, Empoleon steered himself towards where he spotted Mamoswine's mammoth form. Out of the corner of her eye, Dawn saw Ash and Primeape making their way down the hill and into the swamp as well.

The water type's slide ended where the mud began.

There, Aya stood with a small menagerie of poison types. Her own were among them. She and her bodyguards watched as the trucks disappeared into the swamps.

"Your Pokémon did well," she finally said, speaking up as she heard Ash approach, his heaving breaths giving him away. The gym leader turned around. She looked overly composed, much like how she had back at the gym when Dawn first met her. On the inside, she was hurting. But, right now, she knew she had to act as a leader. "We recovered all of the Pokémon stolen from our clan. I think some of the locals' Pokémon from Fuschia are among them. I shall watch after them until I can arrange for a Nurse Joy to come and identify them and return them to their trainers."

After that, it was deathly quiet for a moment. Ash and Dawn couldn't help but notice those were the only Pokémon Aya said they recovered.

The silence was disturbed by the distance splish-splash of feet in the swamp. Without hesitation, all eyes turned to the noise. There, two Rocket grunts could be seen, looking rather sheepish. Wordlessly, Aya's bodyguards made their ninja skills known.

It was by far the quickest take down Ash had ever seen. In short order, the two ninja men were upon the grunts, first holding them down and then producing wire out of nowhere. It was only when the ninja dragged them closer that Ash realized they had made do with wild vines.

With that, Aya finally snapped, slapping one of the grunts. "Ariados, wrap them!" No sooner had she ordered it than did her freshly recovered spider do as she bid. "Do you fools know what you have done?! The ecosystem of this place, it is ruined! These lands needed those poison types! They are a part of this place! Now," she yelled, voice wavering, "It is all wrong!" Her shoulders trembled.

Just before angry, bitter tears could slip down her cheeks, the familiar purple body of Venomoth landed on her shoulder. Aya straightened, but put her hand on one of Venomoth's comforting legs.

Looking away from the scene, Ash covered his eyes with his hat, the gravity of the situation weighing heavily on him. Likewise, Dawn swallowed thickly, lacing her hands together, looking around and hoping beyond hope that some fortunate escape would appear, whether it just be a wayward Oddish or a clueless Zubat.

But, none did. And, Dawn found that she, for one, could not hold back her tears. She had been here so briefly, but she recalled how nice the forest had been when she and Ash were walking here from Fuschia. She had come quickly to love the scenery.

"Until an officer arrives, these are our prisoners," Aya said crisply. The grunts look frightened, to which the leader showed no sympathy. "Let us move out. Sunset shall arrive within the hour and I am too weary to travel in the dark."

So, they did set out, quietly, meekly, almost filled with shame at their near-failure.

* * *

There was no talking on the way back. The recovered Pokémon quietly huddled around their rescue party, willingly being led back to the village. Likewise, the grunts nervously shuffled before Aya's bodyguards, terrified of upsetting their already furious captors. Save for the sparse flutter of wings and stomps of feet within the party, the forest was almost silent. The occasional Pidgey called out, but that was all.

The dreary walk was, thankfully, at its end, though. It was marked by a clamor that might have been celebratory to a less miserable returning party.

"It's Aya!" one resident called out.

"Aya has returned!"

"Our Pokémon!"

"Aunta Aya!" Janine praised, opening the gate. "You have returned our Pokémon!" Running out, Janine greeted a Zubat with vigor.

Soon, the whole compound was pouring out, greeting their Pokémon. Ash and Dawn watch as they stepped to the side. Some of the older ninja helped lead the Fuschia City Pokémon to a safe holding area, while others glared at the grunts as Aya's bodyguards led them to their holding cells.

Aya looked sadly out at the forest again as things quieted down once more.

Suddenly, Ash lit up, having come up with at least a partial remedy. "Hey, Aya! Why don't you give my friend Brock a call?"

As if she wasn't fatigued enough. The ninja's face fell, a shiver of disdain running down her spine. "If you're trying to give me a pick-me-up, that's not the best way to go about it, but thanks."

"No, not that…" Ash trailed off, and he would've laughed any other time. He remembered well how his elder friend acted the last time they'd met, and Dawn barely had to guess. "He used to want to be a Pokémon breeder before he decided to be a doctor. If you talked to him, I'm sure he could give you some tips on how to bring back more Pokémon in the area! He really knows his stuff."

Relieved, if only just a little, Aya nodded along. The faintest of smiles forming. "Thanks, Ash. I guess I'll have to. We'll need all the help that we can get."

Ash lit up in return, only for the gloom to dominate his mood again, once she'd moved on to check on the others. Between Dawn and himself, that uncomfortable silence dominated. They had no lost Pokémon except Muk to return to. Little good news to give. In all but returning Pokémon that already had companions, and causing Team Rocket a load of grief… One might argue that they'd failed.

Fighting a hitch in her breath, Dawn managed to break the silence. "Hey… Do you think we did well enough today?" Her glassy blue orbs dared to make eye contact with Ash's own.

Ash exhaled. He was pretty sure he wasn't the only one feeling insecure, but that put it in stone. Reaching over, he allowed his hand to give Dawn a gentle, comforting grip on her shoulder. "It has to be enough… We did our best. Everyone did." Their poor Pokémon were exhausted, all of them now being tended to by the grateful residents of the gym.

"...Besides, every Pokémon that had a trainer is back with them. Maybe the wild ones won't know the difference with getting caught." Maybe some grunts weren't all that horrible.

His own words deserved a smack in the face, he thought. But, wishful thinking was all they had, right then. "...We won't let it happen again." Dark brows dipped, his copper hues turning from Dawn to the sunset. "I swear we won't."

The two were filled with a protective energy. From now on, their training would get a lot tougher on each other, no doubt. Today had served as a lesson. They were strong, but there was only two of them. They'd have to be stronger than just making it one on one.

But, their lonely resolution was broken by Aya's approach.

"Ash, Dawn," she spoke, voice still tender with today's turmoil. "Stay with us for the night. Our warriors are all returning home due to this… unfortunate situation. You may rest safely here. Our medics will see to you and your Pokémon."

On cue, Ash touched his arms where Meowth had scratched him and recalled the scabs already formed on his back. Dawn, likewise, brought a hand to her ribs where she'd been squeezed so roughly.

"That sounds good," Dawn answered. "Thank you."

Ash finally relented into trying to lighten the mood by hamming up his injuries. "I guess the medics are gonna see what the cat dragged in, huh?"

It worked well enough. Aya smiled and cocked her head. "Let's hurry along then."

* * *

After a visit to the medical station for both trainers and Pokémon and a quick stop by the bathhouse for all, Ash and Dawn's Pokémon were turned out into a garden overlooked by the ornate master dining room in Koga and, by extension, Aya and Janine's house.

The group had settled in around the large dinner table, wrought with emotions of some shade or another, as well as exhaustion. A nice, filling meal was going to be more than welcome.

Before anyone could dig into the dishes laid before them, though, a single voice spoke up.

The voice of Janine, the young ninja-in-training. "Everyone? I have an announcement to make… In a few days, my father will return for a short while. We've reached him, and he can afford to leave his league post long enough to check in and help us get things in order."

A few mutters of approval could be heard, however restrained they might have been. It was proof enough that the gym would be happy to have him back among their ranks.

Aya spoke up next. "I'm sure that's for the best. This gym is what it is because of Koga, after all. I'm sure he'll restore confidence and bring us closer to the path we seek to follow." Her confidence bolstered just a bit, she looked to their guests, next. "Speaking of that path… I'd like to give you something, Dawn." Fortunately, she was seated next to the bluenette, reaching to hand her a small object.

Speechless, Dawn took the offering, now getting a closer look. "A hairpin?"

"I'll call it a sign of our friendship. You really proved your mettle today; I see Ash has a good hand in picking companions." With that praise, she went on. "It also doubles as a lock pick. It's sturdy as could be, and should be foolproof, should you ever fall into a situation where it's needed."

"Wow… Thanks, Aya. I'll definitely hold onto it!" Dawn beamed, forming her first genuine smile of the night.

"And, Ash," Aya continued, holding out to him what looked to be a blue, segmented ankle weight. "This is for you."

Taking the heavy object into his hands, he peered down at it, brows raised. "Wow, thanks!"

After a momentary pause, he let the obvious question slip. "...What is it?"

"It's a power anklet. A Pokémon can wear it to increase their gains in strength and agility while training or battling. I figured it'd make a fitting gift for your Riolu. She made for quite the fighter earlier today, even when her fear was evident." To fight despite fear was the mark of a warrior, wasn't it?

Now, it was Ash's turn to light up. "She's a real hard worker," he agreed. "Thanks! We'll definitely make good use of it."

Smiling in approval of his promise, Aya turned to her high warriors. "Well, let us begin our meal."

And, dig in they did. There was a slight tension in the air. Ash supposed it wasn't so heavy. The returning warriors seem friendly enough. They spoke in hushed tones with Aya's bodyguards while a few looked knowingly upon Ash. Only Janine spoke up, doing a decent job of trying to liven the mood. Though Aya remained as reserved and commanding looking as a leader should, by the mid-point of the meal, the warriors and their guests had relaxed into talking about old battles as well as praising those who had fought that day on their efforts.

"You should really invest in ranged weaponry at your size," one of the elder ninja sagely advised. "This lad here can take on an opponent by himself at his size, but you're built a little like Janine. Keep your Pokémon on you more, hm?" The elder turned to look at Aya's bodyguards. "They used you, you know. They could have fought on their own."

One of the bodyguards tried to cover for their revealed trickery. "A ninja does not put themselves needlessly in danger."

"A ninja who betrays their ally, however minutely, is not fit to be in this clan," the elder quipped back.

As the discussion turned to the ethical duty of ninja, Ash looked to Dawn, leaning an elbow on the table.

"You know, you have gotten a lot stronger. You and your Pokémon." Trying to keep the mood light, he grinned cheesily. "Must be from keeping up with me all the time!"

Rolling her eyes, Dawn poked Ash's cheek. "Yeah, you're outpacing me with your stupid long legs now. I've gotta hustle. No, but seriously, training with you has been good for me. And, we'll keep pushing each other towards our goals, like we promised back at your house!"

"And, next time, we'll really whoop Team Rocket's -"

"I can tolerate your elbows on my table, Ash, but foul language is not to enter this room," Aya suddenly cut in, looking over at Ash from above Dawn's head. The gym leader took a swig of her drink after giving that curt instruction. "You have the right idea, though."

Taking his elbow off the table and rubbing the back of his head, Ash did as asked.

From there, the mood only got lighter. The group had come to terms with the reality of the day. They, much like their enemies, had to cut their losses and grow stronger from it. Just as tomorrow as a new day for Ash and Dawn, the swamps and forests around the ninja clan would also one day blossom with new opportunities.


	44. A Perfect Catch

**Good to see everyone again! Today's a very special installment for Another Road, so rather than make you guys wait another two weeks for chapter 45, we felt it'd be best to upload both of them together. We hope you enjoy these revelations! As usual, feedback and commentary on the story is highly encouraged and appreciated. Enjoy these two chapters!**

* * *

A long day of battles, hardship, and losses had finally come to an end, giving way to the comforting sunrise over the Kanto region the next morning. The outskirts of Fuschia were humid, basked in golden sunlight, and uncomfortably empty. After departing from the ninja compound, the two who could speak did their best to avoid talking about the lack of fauna. Shallow but chipper small talk filled the silence of their walk back to Fuschia's Pokémon Center.

A loud, boisterous yawn came from the mouth of Ash, which currently put a Mawile's to shame as he stretched his arms over his head. "Ahhh… I really wasn't lookin' to get up so early. How do they even make it through the day, anyway?" The trainer leaned back with crossed legs, his belly full from the generous breakfast offered inside the hospitable center.

"Chu…" Pikachu lay on his back on the seat beside his trainer, his lids heavy and hunger sated. Normally, he woke pretty quickly, but unsurprisingly, all the drama from the day prior had made him a bit slower to rise.

"Well, _they_ don't keep up at night thinking about battles when they should be having a good night's sleep," Dawn raised a finger, speaking matter-of-factly with a wink. "...Or, stuff themselves when they wake up." Even as fit as Ash had gotten, she swore she could see a bit of a belly on him that would likely fade by the middle of the day.

"Hey, they have their way and we have ours!" Ash shot back with crossed arms, indignant.

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu raised a paw in agreement… Even if he was still laying on his back.

"When I find a way to burn as much energy as you two do, maybe I'll join you." Dawn flashed a cheeky smile, finishing off the last of her pancakes… Only to notice a similarly bloated Empoleon sitting beside her. "...You too, Empoleon."

Their harmless squabbling was cut short when the quiet, low-energy morning news cut away to a far more notable announcement on the Center's television on the wall. "...And this'll all be at this year's Wallace Cup, in just over a week!" The peppy, distinguishable voice of Lilian rang through the room, turning all eyes toward her presence on the screen.

"Did she say Wallace Cup!?" Dawn blurted, hands slamming down on the table hard enough to make the silverware jump and clatter. In just a moment, her lax demeanor had vanished in favor of teetering on the edge of her seat.

"What was that about not having energy?" Ash ribbed, though he wouldn't be fooling anyone. Both fists clasped tight, he similarly kept his eyes on the screen.

"But, before we wrap things up, let's hear from the man behind the name himself: Hoenn's Champion Master and famed Contest Master, Wallace!" Lilian lauded, holding her microphone up to the elaborately dressed, teal-haired man.

"Thank you, thank you." The man started, lips curving upward just an inch, keeping to his usual, cool demeanor. "It's been quite a while since I've seen Kanto's Coordinators show off the beauty of their pokemon, and the love they both share. I'm looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible next week on Cinnabar Island. Now, remember to train hard, but keep in touch with your pokemon. That's the true key to unlocking a pokemon's appeal."

Leaning forward, Ash nudged Dawn's rib with his elbow, a cheeky smile forming. "Pretty cool that we got that advice face to face before everyone else did, huh?"

"Yeah," Dawn mouthed, though her complete fixation on the screen was enough to tell that she wasn't truly paying attention.

"You heard it straight from the Contest Master himself! Now, coordinators, get out there and make the best of your time with your pokemon so you can give us a great performance at the big event!" Lilian took over, winking at the camera. An emblem in the shape of the Wallace Cup Ribbon flashed on the screen, concluding the announcement.

"I can't believe it… Another Wallace Cup, and I'll get the chance to enter!"

"Isn't that awesome!? I bet you'll win this one, too." Ash chimed in, giving Dawn a pat on the shoulder.

"I'll definitely give it my all! Oh, man, it's so exciting… And… Ah! It's so soon! I haven't had any time to prepare!" Dawn blurted out, nearly falling backwards out of her seat.

"We'll hardly have any time there, even if we rush… How am I going to get a routine ready in time? We've barely had time to train lately with everything that's going on... " Somewhere between guilty and hysteric, the coordinator slumped down with a glazed expression.

"Hey, take it easy." Ash blinked, retracting his hand from her shrinking form. "Your pokemon have been only getting stronger and more skilled, with all of our battling, anyway!"

"I'm going to have to second that," another voice chimed in, more motherly than the last. Nurse Joy had left her perch behind the counter, approaching the duo and their pokemon. "It's not going to help you to get so nervous all of the sudden. Besides, getting there might not take quite as long as you think. There'll be a ferry leaving from the Seafoam Islands tomorrow that'll be heading towards Cinnabar! As long as you hurry and make it on time, you'll on a steady course to arrive with time to spare." Nurse Joy informed, a finger raised. She may have been running a Pokemon Center, but she couldn't very well leave a fretting trainer be, either.

"Hey, that's great! The Seafoam Islands aren't all that far from here, either!" Ash grinned. "Besides, Cinnabar Island is where I'm gonna have my next Gym Battle!" If anything, this just meant getting there faster, which was fine with him!

"Really? Oh, thank you, Nurse Joy. That's great news!" Dawn bowed her head to the authority, partly out of respect, but also to hide the growing streak of scarlet across her face. Freaking out like that had been a little embarrassing…

"The ferry should be leaving at noon tomorrow. I suggest you get a head start so you won't be rushing when it comes in! A little time at Seafoam Islands should do you some good."

"Really? What's so special about them?" Dawn perked up, her blush beginning to fade.

"They're like a vacation spot! There's a couple of really chilly caves off on the edge, but most of it feels like summer, almost year round! My mom used to take me there when I was a kid to see the beaches." Whether Ash knew it or not, a smile was spreading from cheek to cheek. "They have some pretty good food, too! I did some training there while I was waiting for my first shot at the Indigo League."

"Pika…" Pikachu shot his trainer an incredulous look. What they did there could hardly be described as training.

"Quiet, buddy," Ash whispered, angling a hand to hide his conversations from the others. Their older habits weren't something everyone else to know.

"Hey, that sounds great! We could get some fresh air and sunshine while we wait for the ferry. I guess there really was no need to worry after all, was there?" Bashful, Dawn folded her arms behind her back.

"You bet. Besides, remember what Wallace said? We could use this time to just kick back and have fun with our pokemon! You're not gonna win the cup if you guys are too high-strung."  
Satisfied with her salvation of the conversation, Nurse Joy let out a giggle, returning to the counter. "If you have any problems, feel free to let me know, but the path to the islands is pretty straight forward! A bridge connects it to Fuschia for travelers that don't have water pokemon to take them there."

"You've got a point, Ash… And, in that case, we should probably get moving! I want to be ready for the big event!" Dawn sprung from her seat, confidence renewed. "You ready to dazzle them, Empoleon?"

"Pol! Poleon!" The Emperor pokemon bounced from where he sat, clanging his two large wings together. He was ready to wow that huge crowd a second time, and bring home the gold!

"Hm… If we want to chill out and enjoy our day off, maybe we should find the fastest way over?" Dawn reasoned. Even if there was a bridge, walking would likely take a while.

"Why don't we fly over on some of our pokemon? You have Togekiss…" Ash sprung from his feet, eyes growing wide. "...And, I don't have any pokemon for that kind of thing right now! I guess I better go talk to Professor Oak quick."

* * *

After a quick chat and exchange and speedy flight on Charizard and Togekiss, the trainers arrived at the end of the bridge to the Seafoam Islands.

"What a view," Dawn cooed, absently scratching under Togekiss's chin as she looked down from the grassy knoll to the gorgeous beach city. "Thanks for flying me over here, Togekiss. It's beautiful."

"Toge," the pokemon politely replied, happy to be of service.

"It's good to see it again, huh, Charizard?" Ash pitched in. He turned to his big fire type, flashing a grin. "Thanks for your help, buddy."

"Pi! Pika!" the mouse chirped gratefully.

Charizard merely closed his eyes, huffing out a cloud of smoke. He accepted their thanks.

"Well, let's get you put up while we head into town. See you in a bit!" Ash said, bidding farewell before he returned his pokemon.

Dawn followed suit. "I'm gonna let Empoleon out, but I'll see you later, Togekiss!" Dawn promised. As quick as she'd returned her fairy type, she released her starter.

Empoleon took one look at the beach and already had his heart set on going there. "Empo…"

"We're gonna go!" Dawn assured.

"After we get some lunch!" Ash interrupted.

Dawn looked at him, expression shocked somehow. "Are you seriously hungry already?!"

"It's been, like, three hours since we last ate!" Ash argued.

"Pikaka," Pikachu joined in, begging. He dramatically draped himself across Ash's shoulder, clutching his stomach.

Joining the rest of the boys, Empoleon leaned against Dawn.

"Empoleon, get off, you're heavy!" Dawn whined.

"Poleon… Empo!" he lamented, raising a flipper. He was so weak and weary, so very hungry.

"Alright, alright!" Dawn squeaked, almost about to collapse under Empoleon's weight. "Let's go get some lunch!"

"Yeah!" "Pika!" "Empo!"

A bit miffed that all three of them had worked together against her, she looked off to the side. "We can't have a good time if everyone's hungry, anyway."

"Right on!"

Grabbing Dawn's hand, Ash ran down the hill. The girl struggled to keep up with him while Pikachu happily chirped at Ash's speed. Empoleon reverted to his Ice Beam-sliding combo to keep up. He didn't need to do it for long, since at the bottom of the hill, numerous shops and shacks were waiting at the beach front.

"Geez, you move fast," Dawn lamented once they'd stop, taking her hand back from Ash. She worked her shoulder over.

"Whoops," Ash apologized, "sorry." Turning his attention back to the business at hand, Ash walked slowly down the wooden platform. He scanned each vendor's sign and offered menu, evaluating whether he wanted to eat there or not.

Lagging behind him, Dawn decided to window shop at the non-food vendors. Some had cute swimsuits while others boasted lovely sun dresses. If she had more room in her bag, she might have stopped to pick some up. As it was, she was rather tight on space.

"This is it!" Ash shouted, pointing at the vendor before him and, by extension, the very startled teenage boy manning the register of which.

Dawn walked over, reading the name of the eatery outloud. "Exploud Ernie's Earnest Eats: A Harmless, Wholesome Hunter-Relief." She quirked a brow before turning to the sole visible staff member. "What's that mean?"

"Uh… the boss, he's got a real strict no violence policy. He don't even show battles when it's league season if he knows one of the battlers does unethical stuff… All the food here? Good. Real good. Good source, good methods, good service." The kid shrugged. "A li'l different in what we service, though."

Ash, however, seemed to be gleaming. "A man who truly cares about pokemon… And, a menu I can chow down on! It's a trainer's dream restaurant!"

"What other trainer has a dream restaurant…?" Dawn wondered.

Empoleon began to raise his flipper.

"You aren't a trainer," Dawn interjected.

"So, uh, what can I get for you?" the server inquired.

"I'll take… a sweet potato-avocado burger, fried mushrooms, onion rings, seaweed chips and fries, and the sea cakes! With the team pleaser platter!" Ash rattled all of this off with vigor, getting out his wallet happily.

The boy blinked. "... O-Okay, guy." He quickly rang Ash up and got the money before hanging the order on the line for the kitchen staff. "And, you, miss?"

"I'll take the team pleaser platter with a slice of the barbeque cauliflower pizza and some chili peanuts." She hoped that would taste good. She only picked it because the picture of it looked nice.

The boy did just as he had before with Dawn. He handed the trainers two cups. "The drink machine is over on the side in the eating area. There's a water fountain for the pokemon around back. We'll bring your order to you, so don't wander off, okay?"

"Okay!" the two answered in unison.

Walking over to the back, Dawn couldn't help but smile at the area behind the shack. With a good view of the beach from the seating area, but thick grass around the fountain for the comfort of their pokemon, she couldn't help but feel comfortable already!

"Hey," Ash offered, "I'll get our drinks if you let out our pokemon." He shrugged off his backpack, offering it to her.

Taking it, she nodded. "It's a deal! I want something peach flavored!"

While Ash went to fill their cups up, Dawn sat down his bag on the nearest wooden table before putting her bag down by it. Slowly but surely, she released all of their teams. Pikachu and Togekiss tried to keep the group calm while they waited. Buneary sat as near to Pikachu as she could without him reacting too much. Empoleon was happily chattering with Rosa and Primeape. Mamoswine impatiently waited for his lunch alongside Charizard, though it was clear that Charizard was quickly losing patience for Mamoswine's food aggression. Quilava expressed fascination with Torkoal's shell while Gliscor lapped thirstily from the large water fountain.

Dawn watched it all fondly. It made her rather happy that her and Ash's teams got along well together.

"Well, they look happy," Ash said aloud, snapping Dawn out of her momentary calm. He jerked a thumb over to the table when he got her attention. "They had this peach-mango juice? I dunno if it's any good. I got root beer."

"Oh! Okay, thanks," Dawn accepted, walking back to the table.

Ash followed, sitting by her. Together, they just watched their pokemon.

"Oh, Charizard's getting mad… Look at the way his tail's twitching. He keeps flexing his hands," Ash pointed out, resting his chin in one hand.

Dawn nodded. "And… Mamoswine's still oblivious to it."

Charizard finally stomped away from Mamoswine, laying down by himself.

"Guess he got tired of it."

She giggled. "He did good, though."

He snorted. "Yeah. No one got attacked, so, he's doing better."

Suddenly, a rather burly looking man with a magnificently coiffed mustache walked out, carrying one heavily laden platter in one hand. Behind him was the front counter boy, carrying two watermelons. Two girls followed out after, carrying two buckets of pokechow with them.

"You!" the man howled. "Did you order all of this?!"

Dawn's eyes went wide. Did he mean them?

Ash gulped before nodding. "Uh… yeah?"

The man walked over, heavy footfalls sending tremors through the wooden platform. His staff hurriedly provided the pokemon with their food. Out of the corner of his eye, Ash could see that Togekiss had to make Mamoswine not stampede one of the poor chefs while she was putting down the bucket.

"You…!" the chef dragged on, putting down the large tray of food that had both Ash and Dawn's food on it. "... Are a very bold young man. No one else except my staff orders my sea cakes. Everyone always wants Krabby cakes, but I will not serve them. How can I serve Krabby cakes? Pokemon are our friends."

Just as quickly as he'd dramatically made himself known, the man turned into a babbling brook, crossing his arms indignantly. In the background, his staff returned to the pokemon's eating area with the last half of the team pleaser platters.

"A man with a good heart such as myself cannot make them, and you must be a man with a good heart if you canot eat them!" he continued.

"This must be the boss," Dawn whispered.

Ash nodded in acknowledgement before answering the man. "Yeah! I love pokemon, but I love food, too! You can do good by both, right?"

"Right!" the man agreed. "Well, I must get back to work. Please enjoy your meal."

After the calm settled, the two trainers looked to each other.

"Well, they seem nice," Dawn lamely said.

Ash jerked a thumb to their teams. "Their food does, too. Just look at 'em, chowing down! There isn't a squabble among 'em!"

It was true. Though Pikachu was trying to puzzle through the exact angle to slice the watermelons they'd been given so that everyone could get a slice, it was still incredibly peaceful. The food must have been very good to get such a calm out of even Charizard and Mamoswine.

"Well, I'm gonna dig in, then!" the Pallet native enthused before dragging the paper wrapped item that read "swpt hb." Quickly unwrapping it, Ash was treated to a mouth watering sight. It smelled sweet but a little spicy. Biting into it, he found that the bread was carefully toasted and that the sweet potato patty was thoroughly laden with just the right mixture of cinnamon and cayenne. The avocado slices on top as well as the rest of the garnishments helped knock the heat down enough to where it wasn't a bother to eat.

"I'm in heaven," Ash mumbled between bites. Maybe he should call his mom and give her the idea to try cooking something like this…

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "You definitely look like it." Deciding that she should get in on the action, she delicately picked up her fragrant slice of pizza. The blue cheese crumbles on top of the mild, melted pepper-jack already had her mouth watering before she even opened it. Biting into the tasty treat, she suddenly realized what Ash meant. The smoky chunks of cauliflower blended it perfectly with the herb rich tomato paste and slightly salty pizza crust.

Normally not one to talk with food in her mouth, even Dawn couldn't hold back. "Oh my gosh… This is so good."

Already half way done with his burger, Ash shoveled in a few of the fried mushrooms. Light, a little moist, and slightly tangy, they helped clean his palette a little bit. "I know, right?!"

"We've gotta come back here some day."

The crisp symphony of fresh onion ring skin begin crunched between Ash's teeth rang out through the area. "I'm for it! I loved this place as a kid, but I never knew this place was here! If it's gotten this much better over time, I can only wonder what the rest of the place is like."

Nibbling on a shockingly spicy chili peanut, Dawn coughed for a moment before agreeing. "I bet it's great!" She sipped from her juice blend. Not as good as the food, admittedly, but she guessed she could just go to a regular soda when she finished it off. "This'll be great for our pokemon."

Ash popped a fried slice of seaweed into his mouth. It had the consistency and nearly the flavor of fish. "And, us. I don't know about you, but I'm still kinda…"

"From yesterday?" she finished, pausing in her meal.

"Yeah," he answered. He picked up one of the sea cakes and ate it. It was wonderfully flaky.

The solemn moment was interrupted by Torkoal's approach. Totting a pokechow kibble bit in his beak, the pokemon put it on the table, looking fondly up at Ash.

"... Oh, buddy, did you bring that for me?!"

Already processing what was about to happen, Dawn's eyes went wide. "Ash, don't you dare-!"

But, it was too late. Popping the morsel into his mouth, Ash chewed the kibble, seemingly enjoying it. "Oh, it's cheese flavored! Thanks. Here, have one of my sea cakes!"

Wagging his barely visible tail, Torkoal took the offered food happily before scampering back to the other pokemon.

Dawn stared wide eyed at Ash. "I can't believe you ate that."

"Is Torkoal back with the others?"

"Yeah."

Ash quickly picked up his drink and alternated between swishing that around his mouth and eating the onion rings. "Disgusting…! That's… the worst cheese I've ever had ever!" he snarled, trying to keep quiet so he didn't upset his generous but sensitive party member.

"Why'd you eat it, then?!" she asked.

"Torkoal gave it to me… He obviously liked it. Wouldn't it be mean to refuse it?"

"I guess… Here, have a peanut. They're strongly flavored, so that'll take the taste away."

Ash did as she suggested before blinking. "Whoa, nice. Trade you for my seaweed chips and fries."

"Haha, just eat as much as you want. I think I'll grab some of what you had if you don't mind, though, yeah."

Picking through the ends of each other's meals, the two quickly found themselves getting full.

"Hm… You know, back on what we were talking about earlier. We did promise to train harder. So, what better way to work off some of this meal than with a battle? Plus, it's kind of relaxing to have an intense one. I feel better after. I think it's cathartic or something."

"I don't know about carts, but I'm always down for a battle, especially if it means no repeats for last time." Ash turned to the pokemon. "Hey, guys, you wanna battle?!"

Most of the pokemon cheered. Charizard, however, took one look at the pokemon involved before snorting. It had taken three of Dawn's pokemon to take him down when he wasn't trying last time. No matter how highly Ash valued Dawn's friendship, he wasn't about to hold back again for a battle with her.

Spreading his wings, the dragon quickly found himself a nearby tree and stubbornly sat there.

Walking away from their table, Ash and Dawn headed to the large, empty field between the beach walk and the city itself.

"Aw, Charizard, don't be like that!" Ash adjusted his cap, looking up at his temperamental fire type.

"Char!"

Ash crossed his arms. "I'm not sure exactly what you said, but I bet it was rude…"

Dawn shook her head. Somehow, she felt suspicious of Charizard's reasons. But, she supposed she didn't have nearly enough evidence to say anything right now. "It's fine. We can just use three each instead of six, huh?"

"That's fine," Ash agreed. He looked to his pokemon, trying to decide who to use. "Rosa… You're still a little sore after yesterday, huh? You're still really young. Say, why don't you watch me and Dawn battle this time?"

The puppy nodded, though she was a little disappointed. She had her new training anklet on! She wanted to see if she did better with it. But, she supposed she could wait.

"Buneary, you got beat up really badly, too. Why don't you help Rosa spot some of our techniques, hm?"

Buneary tilted her head before nodding in agreement. She could do that. If Pikachu was battling, she could cheer him on. If he wasn't, maybe they could sit together!

"Torkoal… Haha, I think he's asleep."

"Quilava's knocked out, too," Dawn noted.

The two fire types were indeed snoozing right by each other.

"Clefairy and Togekiss… Who wants to go, girls?" Dawn asked. Ash had already narrowed down his party into a suitable team.

Togekiss looked to Clefairy. The two reached a consensus very quickly.

"Toge."

"Cool!" Dawn enthused. "I've got Empoleon, Togekiss, and Mamoswine."

"I'll use Pikachu, Gliscor, and Primeape," Ash clarified.

"I know we'll both be honest, so we don't need a referee." Dawn took several steps away from Ash, making a clearing between the two of them as they stood in the empty field.

* * *

"Whaddya say we start out strong? Pikachu, you're up first, buddy!" Ash grinned, pointing forward with the arm that his companion stood upon for support.

"Pika!" The mouse chimed, eager to battle. Dashing down his trainer's arm, he launched into the air before landing on all fours. "Pika, Pikachu!" He allowed sparks to dance from his cheeks, a smirk fitted on his lips. It'd been quite a while since he'd had a real battle. This was long overdue!

"Sounds good to me! In that case…. Empoleon, show us your stuff!" Dawn shouted, winding up her starter's pokeball before tossing it forward, calling upon him.

"Empol!" The water type jeered, clanging his two wings together in a show of rowdiness. Spotting his opponent, Empoleon grinned. "Poleon!" It'd been a while since he sparred with his best friends. It was time to show Pikachu how strong he'd gotten!

"Looks like you guys are as hyped as we are!" Ash observed, adjusting his cap atop his head. "So, we're not gonna let you down! Pikachu, let's start this with Quick Attack!".

The yellow bolted tail rose, ears tucking behind Pikachu's head. His hind legs crouched before springing out, launching him at speeds that made the ground below him crumble.

A blinding gold and silver stream of light darted in, smashing Empoleon right in his midsection. the penguin squawked in pain, taking a few angry, disoriented steps backwards. Coughing, he gawked at the mouse that stood before him on all fours, looking smug as could be.

Dawn could only blink, eyes wide at a scene that had unfolded in the blink of an eye. "I could hardly even see him… Is that how fast Pikachu is!?" She hadn't seen that sort of agility since the match with Surge… Maybe that creep and his much more likeable Raichu were at a higher level than she'd judged. "Hey, hold on. Were you guys holding back last time!?"

Ash flinched. Tugging at the collar of his jacket, he averted his eyes.

Pikachu mirrored his trainer, rubbing the back of his head.

"We just, uh…"

"I get it… That's just how strong you are." What had been a flicker of indignation quelled in Dawn, a smile knitting its way across her face. _'With the way his pokemon have been battling, I shouldn't be surprised… You really outdid yourself, didn't you, Ash?'_ Feeling an oddly placed sense of pride, Dawn felt her brows lower. "You guys may be stronger, but don't count us out yet! If I'm going to be Top Coordinator, we've got to be at the top of our game!"

Ash's shoulders dipped, a sense of relief washing over. At least she wasn't mad. "But first, the Wallace Cup, right?" Offering a cheeky grin, he threw a hand forward. "Quick Attack, again!"

"Quick! Block it with both fins using Metal Claw!" Dawn hastily ordered.

Watching his best friend crouch once more, Empoleon took haste to guard himself, the tips of his wings taking on a silver glow.

His defense was soon greeted with a swift, full-body attack, forcing his stance to waver. Talons dug through the ground that he was pushed back across, crossed extremities struggling to hold off the unusually strong skull that Pikachu used as a weapon.

But Empoleon got tired of defending. "Pol!" He cried, throwing his wings forward. Pikachu could be seen recoiling off the parry, only to be brutally smacked into the ground by Metal Claw.

"Good one, Empoleon!" Dawn praised. Time to gain momentum. "Now, Whirlpool!"

"Polll~!" Empoleon cried, both wings raised above his head. With a shout, he conjured a large, roaring whirlpool, siccing it on Pikachu with the motion of an overhead throw.

Still coming to his senses, Pikachu let out a cry that was quickly deafened by the roaring waters, caught up in a moving, twisting cyclone. Irritated as he was tossed and knocked about, the mouse's cheeks began to crackle.

Ash didn't need to think twice, throwing his arms outward. "Break out with Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu shrieked, unleashing a golden fury from his body. The Whirlpool was quickly blown away, powerless under the might of the mouse that landed on his hind legs.

"Hey, not bad! You've really powered up, Empoleon!" Ash grinned.

"Pol!" The Emperor pokemon boasted, puffing his chest out.

A bead of sweat rolled down Dawn's cheek. "Modesty isn't his strong point, that's for sure."

"Let's just see how he holds up against us. Pikachu, Iron Tail! Back to back!"

"Chuaaa…!" Pikachu beamed as well, leaping towards his opponent.

"Fight it with Metal Claw!" Dawn threw a finger forward.

"Pol!" Empoleon squawked, throwing both of his wings outward. Both of them were coated in metal, their reinforcement quickly put to work. Clashing with the aggressive attack by Pikachu, he dug his talons into the ground before swinging his opposite wing at the mouse.

As quickly as he'd been parried, Pikachu turned to clash his tail with the next attack. Teeth grit, he pressed his weight down on Empoleon, forcing the penguin back before twisting around with another Iron Tail.

If Empoleon could, he'd likely be sweating bullets. Just as he forced off the weight of one Iron Tail, he was left dealing with another. Growing indignant, he allowed one flipper to take the full pressure of Iron Tail. Beginning to lose his center of gravity, the Emperor pokemon took the opportunity to smash Pikachu with his opposite extremity.

Pikachu was startled, his ears ringing as he spun back from the counterattack.

"Hey, not bad… Pikachu, let's kick it into high gear! Give 'em an Iron Tail they won't forget!"

"Pika!" Landing on his hind legs and an outstretched paw, Pikachu quickly returned to the fray, launching off a twisted hip to pummel Empoleon with his tail. He turned into a whirling fury of metal-clad strikes, barraging the water type's guarding limbs with one blow after the next.

Empoleon's wings, even with their new coating, were beginning to grow numb. Letting down his guard just for a moment, the proud pokemon was greeted with the sight of an overhead Iron tail slamming into his skull.

"Pol…!" He whined, sent flying back under Pikachu's strength. Digging his claws into the ground as he went, Empoleon finally came to a stop, and he was beginning to see red. Sure, Pikachu had always been a few steps ahead of him since they'd met… But even after evolving twice, it felt like the gap between them had only grown larger.  
His pride was hurt, but he couldn't help but smile from one edge of his beak to the other.

Dawn didn't have a hard time judging her partner's thoughts. "They're really testing us, aren't they?" Brushing a long, blue bang away from her forehead, Dawn narrowed her eyes upon their friends. "...Then we'll just have to try harder! Empoleon, Hydro Pump!"

"Empoleon!" He squawked, firing a terribly powerful jet of water from his beak.

"That's the way to go," Ash goaded. "Pikachu, fire back with Thunderbolt!"

"Chu!" Pikachu shrieked, firing off a golden maelstrom of electricity.

Water clashed with electricity center stage, the two powerful moves testing their mettle.

Thunderbolt cleanly cut through Hydro Pump, splitting the jet clean in two, not unlike the precision of a Scyther's Slash attack. It made its way across with just as much speed, too.

Both Dawn and Empoleon gawked, their hearts nearly jumping out of their chests.

The latter acted quickly, raising a steel-lathered ling to block the bolt's impact.

A numbing current was sent down the Emperor's spine, though it wasn't nearly as agonizing as he'd feared. Instead, golden currents flickered about his wing like Venomoth to a flame, contained by what basically doubled as a lightning rod.

"...! Good thinking, Empoleon!" Dawn exhaled. She could've sworn she was ready to have a heart attack, right there. "If you can catch it, maybe… Quick! Throw it right back at Pikachu!" She improvised, throwing a hand outward.

Mimicking his trainer's gesture, Empoleon lurched outward, swinging his limb at the mouse.

A golden flash enveloped Pikachu instead, forcing the bracing electric type to ride out his own potent current. Eyes shut tight and limbs curled in, Pikachu bore the pressure before throwing his limbs outward.

"Pika!" He roared, dispersing what was left of the attack with sheer will. "Chu…" His lips curved upward, stout body hedged by a few errant flickers of static.

"That Thunderbolt… I-it would've been over for us if we didn't avoid it!" Dawn stammered, hindered by a slack jaw. "I guess it slipped by me not only how fast Pikachu is… But how powerful he is, too!" Truly, Dawn and Empoleon were outgunned.

 _'_ _There's no chance of us overpowering them now, so it's not gonna help to worry about it. I guess if we want to win, we're going to have to change gears!'_ Dawn concluded, blue brows furrowing.

"...Alright, Empoleon! Ice Beam!"

"Empol!" Empoleon fired a bitter-cold beam of energy, his sight set on Pikachu.

"Dodge it!" Ash threw a hand out.

Pikachu zipped to the side, avoiding a chasing stream of freezing energy that couldn't quite catch him.

"Give us another one, Empoleon!"

"Pol!" A second beam was fired, aimed at where Pikachu now stood.

"You know what to do, Pikachu!"

Pikachu's agility was put to work, a rather high jump keeping him well out of Ice Beam's range.

The penguin-and-mouse chase continued with one shot of cold after another, with a stubborn Empoleon falling short each time.

"That attack's pretty good," Ash praised. "But you're not gonna catch Pikachu at this rate."

Dawn's lids fell shut, a smug smile and a wagging finger answering Ash. "I wasn't trying to!"

That was enough to tip Ash off. finally, he realized the problem. Pikachu was barely staying on his feet on what the field had now become; a wide-reaching, thick sheet of ice. Small frozen spires and chunks broke up the smooth battlefield, leaving Ash fighting a battle much like Pryce's Gym, or Candice's. "Oh, boy… Smooth." He cracked a smile. That was clever.

Pikachu was preoccupied with the field on which he stood, trying his best not to slip and fall. Fortunately, had made him very acquainted with frozen tundra, lending him the experience to at least hold his ground.

But, it was rather obvious who held the advantage in this fray.

"Now, the field is ours, Empoleon! Slide on in there and show 'em what you're made of!"

Gleeful, Empoleon dove onto the ice, sliding across the surface on his belly. Veering from one direction to the next with simple tilts of his wings, he moved about the makeshift rink with ease.

"Good, now use Steel Wing!"

"Dodge it, Pikachu!"

Pikachu made a quick attempt to steady himself, leaping backwards.

Unfortunately, Empoleon was far too quick on the ice. Sweeping by, he held out his silver-gilded wings, smashing Pikachu with his right limb as he passed on by. Knocking Pikachu into the air.

"Pika…!" Pikachu shrieked, skidding about as he landed. The momentum had packed quite a punch.

"Good, now come back around!" Dawn ordered.

Pushing off one of the spires with his wing,Empoleon turned, zipping back towards Pikachu.

"If you can't dodge, then get him with Thunderbolt!"

"Pika…!" Pikachu cried, electricity building around his form.

Before the electric type could retaliate, a second strike of Empoleon's wings sent him reeling.

Watching Pikachu land on the ice once more, Ash bared his canines. "He's too fast like that… Pikachu, dodge the next one with Quick Attack!"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu sprung off his paws, carried quickly away from Empoleon.

"They're still pretty fast… But this is our field! Empoleon, Hydro Pump!"

"Pol!" The Emperor pokemon fired.

By now, Pikachu had begun to skid to a halt, attempting to gain control of the speed he'd built.

Out of the corner of his eye, he was only barely able to spot the attack coming his way, the wind knocked out of him as the jet swept him into its ruthless current. Before Pikachu know it, he'd been knocked up against a rather large chunk of ice.

"Pikachu's getting knocked around like a Boccer ball!" Ash remarked, gawking at the scene.

"We told you this wasn't going to be easy," Dawn interjected. "Empoleon, Whirlpool!"

Empoleon threw his wings over his head, a shrill cry preceding the giant whirlpool that was fired at Pikachu.

"Who said I doubted ya?" Ash countered, a smile picking up on his lips. "We aren't either. Electro Ball!"

Pushing himself up, Pikachu raised his tail, quickly conjuring a golden ball of lightning.

"Chu… Pi!" Pikachu shrieked, lurching his tail forward. The launch knocked him back, slamming his small body against the ice behind him.

Noting the recoil, Ash blinked.

Electro Ball was caught up in the typhoon, unleashing its electric charge into the rushing water. It spun and spun, soon exploding in a huge, blinding flash.

"Well, that didn't work…" Dawn trailed off, discouraged. "Empoleon, slide on through!"

Empoleon wasn't deterred. Launching onto his belly into the smoke, he made for Pikachu like a sliding torpedo on ice.

"We've gotta get out of there, and quick…" Ash clenched his fist, mind racing for options. The collision just moments ago tipped him off. "Alright, Pikachu! Use Electro Ball, right below you!"

Pikachu didn't question his trainer's scheming. Another electric charge built up on his tail, lifted above before Pikachu slammed it into the icy ground with a vertical strike with his tail.

Empoleon shrieked, skidding to a halt as he was assaulted by residual static.

Pikachu emerged from the debris, launched high above the smoky battlefield.

"He got away…!" Dawn gawked, then throwing an open hand towards Pikachu. "Ice Beam!"

Shaking his head to regain composure, Empoleon turned his attention on his fleeing friend.

Another freezing beam was fired into the air.

Airborne, there was little Pikachu could do to avoid the incoming attack. His eyes grew wide.

"Use another Electro Ball," Ash ordered. "To the right!"

A second attack was shot away from Pikachu, launching his light body out of Ice Beam's way.

"Ash isn't messing around," Dawn frowned. "Catch him this time, with Steel Wing!"

"Empoleon!" The penguin crouched, leaping into the air above with reinforced limbs.

"One more time! Electro Ball!" Ash ordered, punching the air.

"Chu…. Pi!" Pikachu cried, for a third time attacking with a condensed orb of electricity.

Empoleon had just been too slow. pulverized by the electric attack.

Falling out of the smoke with trailing wisps of grey, the Emperor pokemon collapsed.

"Aw, man… Empoleon!" Dawn fretted, rushing over to her partner. Cradling him, she was left with a resigned smile. His eyes had turned to swirls. "You really gave it your all there, huh…? Thanks."

Pikachu, meanwhile, landed upon the battlefield, which had already begun to melt under the spring-time sun. Huffing and puffing, he wiped some sweat from his brow. To say that he'd been busy moving was quite an understatement.

His injuries, however, were limited to a few scratches.

"Awesome job, Pikachu!" Ash beamed, lavishing his companion with praise. "Man… That battle was really intense, Dawn. You guys really outdid yourselves!"

Dawn, who had now returned her starter to her pokeball, courtesy of Buneary, stood. "Looks like Pikachu came out the clear winner… Thanks, though! We really gave it our all. Pikachu's amazing!"

Even if she'd lost, Dawn couldn't help but swell a little in pride. She'd actually put a little pressure on Pallet's unstoppable duo. Even when Pikachu was putting in more effort.

"We did our best!" Ash chimed, resting his hands upon his hips. "You ready for the next round?"

"You bet! Togekiss, spotlight!"

As she was called upon, Togekiss fluttered over. Her pure white wings flapped ever so slightly, carrying her above the field that the battle was taking place on.

Similarly, Ash called upon Gliscor with an adjustment of his brim. "Gliscor, I choose you!"

Leaping off the ground, Gliscor snaked into the air, taking wing much quicker than Togekiss. The flying scorpion's eyes zeroed in on his opponent, tongue poking out curiously to sample the air.

"The air's kinda stale here… Gliscor, let's start off with Tailwind!" Ash already knew that Togekiss could handle a few blows, so they'd just overwhelm her. Besides, a speedy offense was Ash's specialty.

"If it's prep time we're getting, might as well use it," Dawn decided. She knew enough about Gliscor's moveset to be cautious. "Togekiss, use Safeguard!"

Closing her eyes, Togekiss crossed her wings briefly before quickly flapping them open. A light armor-aura of green surrounded her with small sparkles twinkling off her body. Meanwhile, Gliscor whipped up a spirited gale wind. The grasses of the field bent under the force and both trainers' clothing flapped a bit. The two flying types locked eyes after their moves were completed.

If Dawn wanted to play defensively, Ash would be sure to keep her on the ropes. "Stone Edge! She's slow, Gliscor! Keep her moving!"

"Break 'em with Aura Sphere!" Dawn countered.

The two pokemon obeyed. Gliscor lifted his claws, orchestrating a volley of large stones to fly up to Togekiss. The fairy type, for her part, mostly remained in place, blasting the occasional stone with Aura Sphere when she knew she would not be able to dodge.

Seeing that Togekiss was busy with the rocks, Ash saw ample opportunity for another strike. "Poison Jab!"

Dawn wasn't exactly shocked that Ash did that. Rather, she was frustrated. Right now, Togekiss was busy trying to dodge the remainder of Gliscor's Stone Edge move. "Togekiss, look out!" Would she be able to dodge it, though?

She was trying, at least.

Heeding Dawn's order, Togekiss barely dodged Gliscor's first swipe with Poison Jab. For her efforts, though, a wing was clipped by one of the last rocks jutting up from Stone Edge. Her reflexive recoiling from the collision sent her straight into Gliscor's waiting pincers. He wrapped his arms around the struggling white flying type, digging his tail into her side. However, the hit was partially in vain.

Her Safeguard thankfully kept Gliscor's poison from sinking into her skin, but the sheer force of impact with which Gliscor had tried to dig his stinger into her side still hurt.

"Toge!" she cried out. Struggling more, she finally freed herself.

"Glisc…" the ground type mumbled in confusion. Well, that was a little disappointing..

"It's fine, Gliscor!" Ash yelled with a wave of his hand. "You got in some good blows! That' all that matters!"

"Gliscor!" the pokemon replied, thoroughly encouraged.

Dawn stepped forward a bit, a balled fist raised in concern. "You got hit pretty hard, huh?" she asked.

"Kiss…" the flying type trailed off.

"Don't worry! We'll hit 'em back just as hard! Use Sky Attack!"

"Ge!" Flying up higher, Togekiss's previous green aura expanded, growing paler until it was a light mint green. Sky Attack's larger aura left a glittering trail behind, the two move's glamorous natures combining into a truly stunning look.

"Whoa… I didn't know it was gonna do that," Dawn uttered in awe.

"You mean you never tried mixing them before?" Ash asked from across the way.

Dawn frowned. "Well, normally, I use Safeguard for one turn. It's really supposed to block out moves like Toxic or stuff that causes burns, but most trainers force their pokemon to really concentrate it so that it works like a Protect ripoff." She crossed her arms. "So, excuse me for not knowing!"

"Hey, no need to get defensive… Togekiss is doing that enough for you," Ash said, trying to lighten the mood back up.

"Togekiss is doing enough of what?"

But, it was too late.

"Gliscor, Fire Fang!"

As Togekiss began to execute her Sky Attack, Gliscor's mouth began billowing flames from his sharp teeth. Flying down like a mint green bullet, the fairy type collided with Gliscor with enough force to piledrive them towards the ground. Thankfully for both, Togekiss disengaged just in time.

Unfortunately for Togekiss, Gliscor followed her, chomping down on a wing with his Fire Fang.

"Gliscor!"

"Toge!"

Despite the incredible force of her Sky Attack, it wasn't enough to even make Gliscor hesitate in retaliating.

"No need to worry! Just give him a taste of your Aura Sphere if they like using their mouths so much!" Dawn instructed, raising a fist.

No sooner said than done; Togekiss clapped her wings together as soon as Gliscor backed off of her. The energy ball slammed into the ground type with satisfying results: he was sent tumbling back, knocked down to earth. Togekiss promptly took off into the skies, avoiding her opponent.

Ash tilted his head, eyes on the white form in the air. "There's no hiding up there. Gliscor, use Stone Edge again! Then," he said, more quietly, "when she's getting tired, go use Poison Jab again."

"I can hear what you're saying, you know," Dawn stated.

"I know. Togekiss is the one who isn't supposed to know. Unless you warn her," Ash pointed out with a sly grin.

Ash shifted the decision onto her. She looked up, time ticking down as Gliscor's Stone Edges began to launch. She couldn't tell if Togekiss's Safeguard was still in effect or not with how high up she was against the blue sky. If it was still in effect, it would be better for her to tango with Gliscor's Poison Jab. If not, then she should risk getting hit by a rock or two to put some distance between herself and Gliscor.

What a decision to make… "Togekiss! Dodge those rocks!" She had to hope Safeguard was still working.

High in the sky, Togekiss obeyed, beginning to weave in and out of the rocks. It was hard work, but she was doing her best. She couldn't let Dawn down. Meanwhile, she was aware of a speck of purple rapidly approaching her. Before she could do anything, though, it was upon her.

Gliscor stopped his ascent when he was above Togekiss, surveying her struggle to move among his stones. He followed her flight pattern, discovering a delightful bit of information: she had no outline of green anymore. Readying his stinger once more, the ground type tackled her mid-flight, once again grappling her. He executed Poison Jab without hesitation.

"Kiss!" the flying type cried out.

Gliscor released her, retreating.

A sickly warmth rushed to Togekiss's cheeks and she fluttered her eyes weakly. She had been poisoned.

It was a direct hit. Ash couldn't help but be excited. "Alright, Gliscor! Finish her off with Fire Fang!"

Dawn's eyes widened. "Togekiss, retreat! Use Air Slash to cover your trail!"

She tried to obey. However, flying away from a faster pokemon on top of trying to attack back proved almost impossible. Togekiss fired off one Air Slash that Gliscor easily dodged before he was upon her, chomping down with another Fire Fang.

With that, the last of Togekiss's strength was sapped.

"... Her pokeball!" Dawn shouted, looking over to her bag on the table while Togekiss began tumbling towards the ground.

"Crap," Ash muttered. He admittedly hadn't considered that they didn't have their pokeballs on them right now. "Gliscor, catch her!"

Gliscor dived, claws extended to reach for Togekiss's wings. Reaching out, he followed her in her quick descent down. The earth was approaching as he barely grabbed onto her huge white wings. Struggling, the ground type barely slowed their fall, acting as a parachute for the two.

All the same, they landed roughly.

"Gli… Scor," the ground type complained, tongue poking out with exhaustion.

Dawn ran over to the middle of the field. "Thank you, Gliscor!" She praised. She then pet Togekiss's head. "You did good. We're going to have to work on your moves next, huh?"

Ash walked over, too. Looking the scene over, he decided to just scratch Gliscor behind the ears. "You did good, buddy. Thanks."

When she looked up, Dawn saw Buneary standing by her. In the bunny's hands was a pokeball. "Thanks, Buneary. We'll let Togekiss get a nice, long rest."

"Bun!" the normal type agreed, clapping her paws together as Togekiss was returned.

Dawn looked over to Mamoswine before gesturing for him to come over with a wave of her arms. "Mamoswine, your turn! Come on!"

"Good job, Gliscor. You can go rest with the others. Primeape, I'm choosing you, now!" Ash instructed, giving the fighting type a thumbs up.

Both pokemon mosied over, looking refreshed and ready to do battle.

Without hesitance, the coordinator claimed the opening move. With how this match was going, she had to quickly try to take down Primeape, or she'd lose three to zero! That'd be a little embarrassing. At least before, it hadn't been quite so bad… But, then again, Ash and his team had been holding back some. At full power, they were taking her down with no losses on his side.

So, she couldn't hold any punches, either. "Mamoswine, use Hidden Power on the ground!"

Stomping a foot, a sparkling orb of energy was sent out, splashing against the field to send out a shallow flood across it.

"Now, use Blizzard!"

As the quick freeze passed over them, Ash lowered his hat. "I guess she thinks she can use the same trick twice… Primeape, hang in there!"

Though his fur billowed against the chilling winds, Blizzard was rather ineffective against Primeape. It went without saying that he certainly didn't freeze.

Once the move ended, Ash looked around the field. His suspicions were confirmed. Nearly solid ice covered their battle area. "Primeape, use Overheat!" She should have already known by now: nobody beat Ash when it came to speed. Besides, controlling the battlefield was his specialty!

Primeape raised his fists before lowering them, squealing loudly. "PrimeeeeAPE!" A cannon of white-hot flames expelled from his nostrils, residual gusts of heat following the blast. The ice quickly melted and dispersed under the temperature, and Mamoswine was also singed.

"Mamo!" he cried out, pained.

Dawn balled a fist. Ash had quickly seen through her ruse, so she had to figure out another method.

However, to drive his unspoken point home, Ash didn't allow her any thinking time. She wanted to get better, so he was going to give her a run for her money. "Primeape, Mega Kick!"

Dawn's eyes widened as Primeape took a running start before kicking into Mamoswine. The less-than-gentle giant was sent stumbling back while Primeape returned to a defensive position.

"Take Down, Freight Train style!" Dawn called, reacting before she really thought it through. She had to at least get some blows back in.

Ash crossed his arms, a little proud. He rubbed his finger under his nose. "Aw, shucks, I think she's picking up my moves again."

Meanwhile, Mamoswine returned the favor from earlier with a full-on tackle. Thanks to his superior-size, he sent the Pig Monkey reeling.

Primape's fighting experience was put to work, allowing him to fall back with grace. The monkey even taunted Mamoswine upon landing safely, gesturing for the giant to come closer.

"Take the battle to him, Primeape! Use Seismic Toss!"

Running over, Primeape darted under Mamoswine's stomach. While the ground type was trying to get his bearings, Primeape tried to lift the mammoth. He tried very hard… But, Mamoswine was just incredibly heavy. Between the slippery mud and his trembling limbs, Primeape managed to keep his opponent lifted for all of five seconds. Ash and Dawn watched with equal amounts of shock.

"Wow, I guess he's kind of heavy," Ash mused.

Dawn just looked Ash's way before shaking her head. "Not everyone's freakishly strong for their kind like you are, Ash," she mumbled.

Had he heard her, Ash might've inflated his ego even further. As it was, though, he was focused on the battle. "Okay, so throwing it's not gonna work… Primeape, pull back!"

Letting out an irritated snort, the fighting type shoved Mamoswine before springing back to Ash.

"Let's put use that weight to our advantage, Mamoswine! Use Dig!"

"Mamooo!" It cried, swiftly tearing through the ground below to create his burrow.

"Watch out, Primeape. Keep your eye on any cracks in the ground!"

The Pig Monkey hopped from one foot to the next, guard raised in the typical stance of a boxer. Charcoal orbs darted from one side of the field to the next, darting for their target in an impatient frenzy.

Finally, the ground before him began to crumble. "Pri!" He screeched.

"There we go! Now, hit it with Low Sweep!" Ash commanded.

Primeape hopped back, meaning to get out of Mamoswine's range.

Unfortunately for him, Mamoswine was just too huge. Snorting, Mamoswine emerged in a terrible fury that struck Primeape head-on.

"Pri…!" The fighting type grumbled, managing to land on an unsteady leg. His eyes narrowed, his giant fuzzy form lurching forward to deliver a particularly nasty kick to Mamoswine's right foreleg.

Mamoswine squealed, relenting putting weight on the injured leg. Standing in a less-than-optimal posture, he glared daggers at Primeape. That was a dirty move.

"Ah… Mamoswine! Are you alright!?" Dawn fretted, holding a closed fist to her chest.

"That's Low Sweep… It lands the kind of hit that'll make it harder for Mamoswine to move. Now he can't use all that weight against us!" Ash explained, leaning forward at this point. Whether that kind of move was necessary was unclear, but he couldn't help but get absorbed in the match.

"What a move… Well, if we're not moving, you're not either! Mamoswine, Blizzard!"

Sufficiently provoked, Mamoswine was all too happy to summon a howling storm of ice, assaulting his hot-blooded opponent with a chilling barrage.

"Huddle up, Primeape! Keep your temperature up," Ash advised.

This time, the Pig Monkey wasn't so lucky. The mud coating his feet and splashed onto his fur was all too conductive to the cold. Solid ice began to encase his body, suspending him in an immobile, frozen state.

"Aw, no… This is bad." Ash grimaced. As it was, his teammate couldn't move a muscle.

"Now, it's our turn to land a big hit!" Dawn beamed, throwing a hand forward. "Take Down!"

Mamoswine began his thunderous stampede, drawing frighteningly close even on a bad leg.

"If we don't stop that, Primeape's finished… But, he's all chilled out… Good thing we have the perfect move for that," Ash boasted, a devious smile picking up on his lips. "Break out of there, with Overheat!"

The ice encasing the furious furball began to cascade and crack, shattering under the explosive heat expelled by the hotheaded fighter. Dulled by one prior use, though, Overheat did little to stop Mamoswine in its tracks.

For Ash, though, that wasn't a problem. "Good job. Now, finish it, with Mega Kick!"

Nearing the point of no return, Mamoswine could only brace himself for the inevitable impact. As Primeape swung around, adding momentum to his kick, Mamoswine made contact. The two forces trying to force each other back was enough to send an aftershock of energy out, kicking up mud around the field.

Both trainers watch intently, but it took a moment for them to realize what had happened. Mamoswine, anticipating Primeape's blow, had locked his knees. Much like how Rapidash could sleep while standing, Mamoswine had passed out while still standing!

"W-What?!" Dawn cried out. "He's never done that before!"

"He's… probably never run straight into anyone's foot before, either," Ash supposed, walking over through the muck to ruffle Primeape's head. "Good job, buddy. You did it."

"Primeape!" the fighting type cooed, basking in Ash's praise.

Dawn picked her way carefully through the mud, checking on Mamoswine. "He's really out of it… Thanks anyway, big guy. Here, take a rest." During the match, Buneary had gone to fetch what Dawn would inevitably need. The coordinator returned her final battling member.

* * *

"So, this is how strong you really are, huh?" Dawn asked, turning to face Ash as the mud squelched under her boots.

The trainer nodded, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah. This is a truer side… I mean, I…" Well, truth be told, he hadn't exactly gotten desperate against her when they were all going at full strength.

To spare him trying to juggle her feelings and the truth, Dawn raised her hand. "I get it. I'm still a novice compared to you, and I've been slacking off. Don't apologize for what you did to battle me."

Appreciating her words, Ash let out a laugh. "You shouldn't sell yourself short, though. It was still a good battle! You're still as creative as ever. Plus, the work you've put in even over the journey is showing itself."

The coordinator smiled at his compliment. "Thank you."

"Alright! Well, let's head to the Pokemon Center!" Ash enthused.

Dawn nodded before thinking about it. "Um… Well, would you mind if it was just me, you, Pikachu, and Empoleon for the rest of the afternoon?"

Ash shrugged. "That's fine with me, yeah! You must wanna go sightseeing."

The coordinator merely smiled, nodding her head and humming in agreement. Yeah, something like that was what she wanted.

* * *

After a winding walk to find the Pokemon Center and a brief rest in the lobby while their pokemon healed, the trainers once again found themselves with their starters. Pikachu and Empoleon were getting particularly chummy with each other as Dawn and Ash led the way down to the beach.

"I think Pikachu likes Empoleon's height as much as the big guy does," Dawn mused, unable to hold back her amusement with the way Pikachu looked around from where he sat on Empoleon's head. Similarly, the water type looked rather proud to be the one toting his old friend.

"That's good! Because, Pikachu might wanna ride Empoleon. There's a wind surfing shack near here, if I remember right. You wanna try that, Dawn? There's still lots of daylight left, and there's a rock I wanna see out in the ocean!" Ash adjusted his cap, shrugging his bag higher up on his back. He was struggling to remember if there were lockers. If there weren't, maybe they could talk Pikachu and Empoleon into playing on the beach and watching their stuff…?

Dawn perked up. "Wind surfing?! I've never done that before! Sure, let's go for it!"

"Empo!" the water type agreed.

"Pika," Pikachu mumbled, remembering the way treading water near here usually went for the adventurous. He might just stick to the shallow waters.

At any rate, Ash eventually spotted the shack and pointed it out to Dawn. "There we go! Hope you've got a swimsuit."

Dawn smirked. "It's actually supposed to be coming out for this summer, but it's Paris's Eneco de Allure in white," the coordinator purred, clearly proud of the swimsuit.

Ash, however, only cocked his head. "What the heck does that mean? Do you have a swimsuit or not? There's some stores in town, so we can get you one if you need one."

There was a moment of silence.

"I… I was saying I have a couture swimsuit."

"Oh."

With that out of the way, the foursome quickly made their way to the rental area. After a short bit of discussion and agreeing to exchange their items for their windsurfing boards, Ash and Dawn went to get dressed while Pikachu and Empoleon entertained themselves by making sand castles.

In short order, both trainers stepped out, appropriately dressed. Ash sported a rather sensible pair of navy blue trunks with gold detailing on the bottom hems and sides while Dawn's custom swimsuit looked every bit as darling as high fashion would have it. With plenty of ruffles, a few golden detail points dangling here and there, and soft, muted pinks and whites making up the main color scheme, somehow, she looked less ready for the water than her companion.

While an eye for fashion certainly one of Ash's stronger qualities, it was hard not to pick up on the elaborate-looking swimsuit she'd picked out. He was poised to remark that this was the beach and not a fashion show, but… It did make her look pretty good. It was form-fitting, especially now that she'd grown. From bottom to top… Oh, Arceus, she was staring.

"I, uh…." He stammered, his stomach tied in knots. Had she noticed he was looking at her!?

"Oh my gosh, Ash, what happened?" Dawn blurted, walking over. She walked around her companion, expression growing worried. She hadn't really even noticed him gawking. Well, she had but her attention on it had been so brief that she merely assumed he was processing something along the lines of "Dawn, swimsuit, pink, check." She didn't even really register how much he'd also grown, looking more man than boy now with a physique befitting someone as active as him. All she could see were the scars.

"...Oh! That. Well, happened," he deadpanned, turning his eyes back on his own body. A trio of ribbons of darkened flesh on either forearm, a long slash from his side to his abdomen, and most notably, a pinkened patch of skin that spanned from his left shoulder down to his upper back. Surely a sight worthy of a double-take, if not a shiver down one's spine. "Some of the pokemon up there are super tough, _and_ super-vicious. Sometimes, protection from my pokemon didn't always cut it… So, yeah. No need to worry, though! Everything's fine, now!" He scratched the back of his neck, borrowing Dawn's catch phrase.

At least he'd gotten out of that one scot-free.

"That's when I worry the most," she retorted, smoothly taking the phrase so often used on her and tossing it back. Letting out a sigh, she reached up, running her finger over Ash's skin… Only for her brows to quirk and an expression almost like confusion to quickly take over her face. She'd touched his shoulder recently, yeah, but it was with his clothes on. They were way softer than he was himself!

With that thought in her mind, Dawn quickly turned away. "Alright, I'll let it go," she managed, making sure not to face Ash. She was really started to get irritated at having a crush on her traveling partner and close friend. Furthermore, what business did he have being that muscular?! She knew the scar tissue would be tough, but the rest of his skin wasn't exactly soft, either!

"Uh… Yeah. Great! So, whaddya say we hit the waves!?" Ash grinned, brushing their minor troubles aside to sprint off towards the ebbing waters.

"Yeah! Let's go for it!" Dawn cheered, running towards the waves as well.

"Empo…?" Empoleon asked.

Pikachu lifted his tail. The weather seemed alright today. "Chu," he replied, hopping on Empoleon's back.

The water type waded into the sea. There, both pokemon followed after their trainers.

"So," Dawn started, "tell me about this rock."

Ash looked around his sail to speak to her. "He was this really old guy. Had a blue eyed Pikachu! Knew the first dude to put a flag on… that rock!"

Though it was still far in the distance, Dawn spotted what he was pointing out. A monstrous, craggy spire stood out above any wave that dared to crash into its foundation. towards the very top was a small flag stabbed into its side, still billowing just as it had years ago.

"Holy crap, it's tall!"

"Tell me about it. Guy spent most of his life trying to put his flag up there."

"We don't have to do that, do we?!"

Ash laughed. "Nah. But, I wanna go out to it, for old time's sake."

Dawn shrugged. "Sure, why not."

With that, the two tried moving their boards closer to the rock. Ash, slowly recalling how he'd done it before, moved a bit quicker than his companion. Dawn, however, was no slouch. Once she got the hang of it, she was keeping up with Ash.

"Hey, this is pretty nice! Not exactly, like, a super efficient way to travel, but it's fun!"

"It is, right? Count yourself lucky that you don't have to ride humunga-dunga!"

"A who-ga what-ga?" she asked, whipping her head around. However, the motion was poorly timed. A churning wave tossed her board, putting her off balance. Going white knuckled, the girl's eyes went wide as she tried to balance herself.

"Careful out there, Dawn!" Ash warned, though the grin that his words were forced through wasn't fooling anyone. "Keep goofin' off like that and you'll be all washed up!" Laughing at his own joke, the teen held a tight grip on the pole that held up his own sail.

He'd done it before, so surely he'd do just fine, right? That was what Ash assumed, at least, when he began to swerve and move with the waves, laughing all the while.

Failing to respect the sea bit him in the rear end. Letting out a yelp, Ash tipped and wavered under the duress of tossing currents, mere inches from toppling over. "Wo-o-oah-!"

Still bobbing to and fro too far for comfort herself, Dawn still tried her best to reach a hand out to Ash, the other on her sail's handles. "Wha!" she cried, only realizing what she'd done after it was too late. The duo were mere inches above the salty water, both of their crafts dangerously tipping.

Behind them, Empoleon swamp up, prepared to help them up out of the drink if either fell in.

Reaching desperately for some sort of balance, Ash grasped at Dawn's noticeably paler hand, managing to clasp her fingers in his. Letting out a huff, he pulled on her hand, pulling both of their boards into balance.

"Ah…" Ash sighed, exasperated. "Man, that was a close one… I was worried we'd end up Gyarados chow." Finally free of the sting of what he assumed to be salt water, Ash's lids opened to the outside world.

Much to his surprise, he found Dawn's face mere inches from his, looking equally stunned.

Locked in eye contact with his blue-haired companion, Ash could only so much as blink, their digits still interlocked. His own breath had grown shallow, and either they'd been splashed, or his palm was getting _really_ sweaty.

Though her breath was caught in her throat, Dawn's mind scrambled for excuses. Though, the question was: should they disengage or should she savor the moment. She dwelled on it for a second more before speaking up. "Um, we're more well balanced when we're holding hands! Let's try to drag our boards closer and then get up right!" she suggested.

Ash's face lit up, distracted by her suggestion. That meant grabbing further up her arm the closer they got, though… Or, holding hands more tightly to pull each other closer. For some reason, that put Butterfree in his stomach. "Okay!" he agreed, all the same.

Quickly, the two tugged on each other's hands, lifting them until they were elbow to elbow. Their boards dragged along with their bodies, pulled closer. This continued until their boards were almost touching, Ash bobbing with the waves as did Dawn, standing a little bit taller than she unless a wave favored her particularly.

"That worked out nicely," she noted, still holding his hand.

Ash cocked his head. "Uh, duh. We're the dream team, remember?"

"When did we start calling ourselves that?" she questioned, not at all minding the title.

"Uh…" he trailed off. "Just… now I guess? But it's totally true, so whatever!"

Still not letting go of his hand, Dawn only giggled. "Sure, sure, whatever you say, Pokemon Master in training!"

"Thank you for your polite cooperation, Miss Top Coordinator," Ash praised, equally playful.

All good things must come to an end and the hand holding was no exception. Letting go casually, Ash put both hands back on his own handle.

"Alright, let's head out to the flag rock!" he cheered.

Dawn looked down at her hand before blushing. Flexing it, she tried to focus on the task of keeping up with him. "Yahoo!" she cheered.

* * *

After reaching the rock, it was time for a new activity. Naturally, the day was sunny, so there was nothing better to kick back on the beach for a while. Smelling of the clear, salty sea, our heroic duo was relaxed on a pair of sunning chairs, soaking in sunshine. Those of their pokemon who could tolerate the heat were playing on the shore, dancing in and out of the surf.

"Man, it feels like summer here!" Dawn cooed, arms folded under her head as she tanned.

Ash hummed in agreement, chugging the fruity ice cream soda he'd picked up. "I wonder what it'd be like to have a battle on the beach…"

"A mess," Dawn quipped. She sat up, gesturing to the sand. "It's, like, impossible to move quickly on without almost falling down. So, you'd either be going too slow but steady or so fast you're, like, falling on your face half the time."

Ash crinkled his nose. "Nah. I say this could be a great spot if you get creative. I mean, flying types could really give each other a go with all the water and sand. I bet Dig would be a lot easier to hide while using here!"

"Eh, I guess that's true." Picking up the kiwi juice, Dawn took a sip. "Have you ever battled on a beach?"

"I've battled everywhere," Ash bragged, leaning over and smugly looking at his traveling partner.

Rolling her eyes but somehow finding his look rather charming, she continued. "Okay, so, like, was it at a gym or what?"

"Nah. Most gym leaders have their stuff inside." He cocked his head. "I guess the League tournaments might have a beach field, maybe. They didn't, last time. Sand must be hard to clean up after."

"Sand is second only to glitter," Dawn assured, referencing to the way there was still some stuck to her thighs.

Ash's eyes lingered for a second before going on with the conversation. "They _did_ have it during my big match at the Orange League." That'd been so long ago, but really, it was his most significant battle in that kind of arena. "I remember using the sand to my advantage to soften a blow from the Champion's Dragonite! My Tauros held 'im off long enough to do some damage so Charizard, Squirtle, and Pikachu could wrap it up." Ash had folded his one free arm behind his head, adopting a smug air over his successful strategy.

"Clever!" she praised. "So, like, was the Orange League like the others? I've never been, but, like, some people I grew up with had cousins or whatever who did. They said their league is weird. Is it?"

"Oh yeah. It's a lot different from the other leagues! A lot smaller, too." Come to think of it, it was kind of a bummer that winning it didn't get him the kind of recognition the others would've… But then again, he had the Indigo League ahead of him, anyway. "There are only four gyms in the Orange Archipeligo, but you don't win them like normal gyms. Each of 'em has a special task you have to complete with your pokemon, better than the Gym Leader! One of 'em had a surfing and water gun target test. In the next, you had to climb a mountain and race back down after you make a toboggan out of ice… The third one had another target test, and you had to win a pokemon battle using the same type as the Gym Leader. The last was just a double battle!" He paused. "...Man, come to think of it, it'd be cool if there were more gyms like that… Anyway! Once you got all four badges, you could go to Pummelo Island, and challenge the Orange League Champion! He gave me a really hard time, but I beat him and got a place in the Orange League Hall of Fame! The Championship trophy's still back home."

"Whoa!" Leaning over on the table between them, Dawn's eyes were wide with curiosity. "So, it's like a battle with extra stuff!" She tilted her head. "I guess that means that you're actually really good. You know, considering the odds of winning a League, if they were all set up where you only had to battle four people before battling the champion, you would probably win them all. I think luck is all that's been biting you in the butt," she mused, almost leaning on the fourth wall.

Sitting back down, she rested her chin on her now draw up knees. "If it's all the same, I like battles the way they are here and in Sinnoh. Puzzles are fun, but I'm a coordinator, not a… puzzle-r? Yeah." She cocked her head. "You know, sand turns to glass at a certain heat. If you wanted, you could probably make a shield with really hot moves. Maybe Overheat? Have you tried anything like that?"

Ash sat up as well. "Hm, I don't think so, but I'll keep it in mind." Ash gestured to the ocean. "When was the last time you brought in lots of water type moves to your stuff? You know the Wallace cup will have that again."

"Yeah, that's true. I suppose something that's bright would look good. Maybe Flamethrower? Really take advantage of having, like, a mirror under me."

"What about Moonblast?" Ash suggested. "Didn't Clefairy learn that."

Dawn looked towards the pink pokemon. "I don't know if she's ready to perform by herself."

He shrugged. "That's fair. … Oh, hey, look at what they found! It looks like a big shell!"

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu chimed, approaching the duo, with Empoleon in tow. Held up high with his stubby paws was a large, pink shell that had was still dripping with salt water, giving off the gentle scent of the ocean.

"Empol!" The larger pokemon trilled, looking rather proud of their discovery.

"It's so pretty!" Dawn cooed, leaning over to get a better look at the treasure. "...Hey, Ash. If you're done with that, you wanna go find some seashells, ourselves? It could be fun!"

"Sure, why not!" Ash leaned to slurp up the last of his soda, a sour pout forming when all he was slurping on now was ice. "I bet I'll find the coolest one out there!" With that, he rushed past Dawn, eager to turn this into a competition.

"Please. You're dealing with someone with an eye for fashion here!" The coordinator boasted, leaving her empty drink behind to catch up with her companion.

After a bit of digging, Ash flashed a triumphant grin. "Check this out!" A coral blue shell with spiked ends was held in his grip. In his opinion, it was pretty cool-looking! "Kinda reminds you of a Cloyster, huh?"

"It does, but check this one out!" Dawn was burrowing through sand that had buried quite a few shells, unearthing a large, white shell. "See? The sand even makes this one look like it's sparkling!"

Pikachu and Empoleon boasted a few more, soon resorting to building small sand castles out of them. Much to their dismay, though, a stray Wingull made the now-pile-of-sand its perch.

"A Wingull…? Must be a swarming season," Ash mused.

"No, it's just a sign."

Ash backed up as a huge, off-white shell was put in front of his face. On the other side of it was Dawn, a hand on her hip and a proud smile on her face.

"Tada!" she proclaimed, turning the shell around.

Even Ash had to let out a low murmur of awe. Dazzlingly smooth and pearlescent, the inside of this shell was covered in pale pink nacre!

"It's like… a bad mirror!" Ash proclaimed, able to vaguely see the silhouette of his reflection within it.

Dawn blinked before bursting out laughing. "You sure have a weird way of describing stuff!" Holding it with both hands, she looked at it more closely. "... I wanna keep it."

Ash nodded. "It kind of looks like your swim suit, so go for it! I won't hurt anyone to keep a few." The trainer looked out to the horizon. "It's been a while… Wanna head back to the Pokemon Center to get cleaned up?"

"Sure!" Dawn agreed. Her cheeks were tinted a light pink. She would take good care of the shell. Today wasn't exactly just the two of them, but it would be a fun reminder of the day she and Ash spent on the beach.

* * *

Back in their regular clothes, the duo walked up hill from the beach. Only their starters were out and the orange light from the setting sun shined down on them all.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ash spotted something happening beneath the ledge-bound trail they climbed. He stopped. "Hey. Dawn, come look at this." He leaned over the railing, watching it quietly.

"Hm?" The coordinator and her starter came over, watching just as quietly as the trainer and his Pikachu.

Beneath them, a single fat, pink Slowpoke lazed on the shore, his tail dipped into the water beside him.

"He must be fishing for Shellder," Ash softly said. The evening breeze picked up the ends of his jacket, lifting and tugging at them just the same as they tugged at Dawn's hair. The ripples on the water below played a lonely story for the Slowpoke.

"We had a play about this when I was a kid," Dawn added. "He's ready to evolve. But, he needs someone else to get stronger." Something about saying that made her words get caught in her throat. She gripped the railing tighter.

"Let's watch, then," Ash announced. "He can't stay alone, right? No one ends up alone when they're doing their best."

Dawn didn't answer, merely looking over at him. His bronze skin shined like gold in the amber light of sunset. Her heart ached. If the Slowpoke could be so honest in his needs for companionship and succeed, then so could she. The coordinator looked down, silently willing that the Slowpoke would be able to evolve.

Suddenly, there was a tug at the Slowpoke's tail. Just as quickly, the water type jerked his tail up.

Ash and Dawn both gasped happily. Empoleon squawked in joy. Pikachu hopped off Ash's shoulder, cheering aloud.

On the Slowpoke's tail was a Shellder!

A dazzling, multi hued light overtook the two pokemon. The group watched in awe. When it disappeared, a Slowbro was where the Slowpoke had been.

"He did it!" Ash cheered, recklessly loud now. He laughed, still looking down on the recipient of their support. "Now, together, they're gonna be stronger than ever!" He looked to Dawn. "They'll make a great team, won't they?"

"Yeah," Dawn agreed, the sudden weight of what she was about to do pressing onto her. "And… I think we do, too." Before he could interrupt her with his usual "Of course, we make a great team!", Dawn spoke up, almost shouting. "I like you! I've got a crush on you, and I want to be with you!"

Ash froze, looking down upon Dawn. "... Woah, that's intense," he replied, dumbstruck.


	45. The Real Deal

**Here's the second half of today's special! Enjoy, and please review if you feel the urge! Hope you like it.**

Pikachu threw Empoleon a look before the two scrambled off, headed further up the trail so their trainers could speak.

There was absolute silence. Dawn looked at Ash's face, searching for some hint that he was messing with her. But, he was absolutely serious. He was just surprised. That was all. She turned to fully face him, fists balled up and the blush she was already sporting turning scarlet in anger. "Y-You dumbass!" She felt so embarrassed. She wanted to run off and cry, but darn if if Johanna hadn't raised her to be anything _but_ a coward.

Ash balked in shock, not expecting that outburst. His brows furrowed, aware he'd messed up. "Sorry," he said, really processing the situation. "I just need a second."

Dawn swallowed thickly. "Alright." She turned back to watch the sunset.

He followed suit, watching the horizon blankly as he tried to figure out how to answer. She liked him, but did he like her? Thinking about it, he was a little surprised at his own answers to that question. He hadn't ever pondered it before, but between the way he'd felt about her recently and his desire to have her at his side… That added up to a crush, didn't it? But, last time he'd felt like this, it hadn't ended. Heck, it hadn't even started.

So, instead, he tried not to think about comparing the bluenette to what had almost happened years ago. That was then and this was now. And, right now, Ash liked having Dawn's company. He liked her enthusiasm and her interest in the same things he liked. He liked having her cheer for him. It made him feel good. Their battles were always a treat, even with the power advantage he had. Their slowly entwining dreams were always good to look forward to. He'd been reluctant to even think about it until now, but he knew something else to be true: Dawn looked _very_ nice.

And, so, finding no reason that he didn't like her and plenty of reasons why he probably did, he felt a little more at ease in admitting his crush to himself.

"I like you, too," he finally said, not daring to look her way. "Sorry about before. This isn't my thing." Bashful, he frowned, fiddling with the brim of his cap.

"I guess there really was no need to worry," Dawn spoke up, voice still wavering a bit at her previously assumed rejection. "I forgive you." She looked up at him and he looked down at her. Dawn thought it was all perfectly good.

"So… What does this mean? For us?" he asked, realizing once again that he was lost.

Dawn giggled. "Well, I think it makes us boyfriend and girlfriend."

Ash quickly bore a toothy grin. "That works for me!" It'd take a little getting used to for him to start calling her that. Wait. "Uh… What do boyfriends and girlfriends _do_?"

All the while, they'd been steadily leaning in closer and closer.

Dawn thought this was all still perfectly fine. "I've got got one idea."

Her eyes had a peculiar look that Ash was certain he ought to know the meaning of, but didn't find himself at all worried that he couldn't name it. However, he did realize what she was doing. Moving in closer to her, he connecting the movement pattern to one he'd seen before. She was trying to kiss him! Unlike the times with Melody and… Well, another girl, he wouldn't have her go at it alone!

As Dawn closed her eyes, Ash puckered his lips, tightly shutting his eyes, waiting stockstill as she approached…

Only for a light bumping sound accompanied by a jarring bit of force along his forehead to rouse him.

"Ow," Dawn said quietly, backing off and rubbing her forehead.

Ash removed his cap, rubbing at his own face. "Good thing we're both hardheaded, I guess."

The coordinator couldn't help but laugh at that.

He chuckled, too, pleased to see the smile back on Dawn's face that he'd grown so used to.

"Let's try again," she encouraged. "I didn't come this far just to tie things off with a headache."

Ash was quick to place the cap back on his head, turning the brim towards the back in his typical showy flare, a smirk picking up in the corner of his lips. "You're on."

The whole display earned an amused eye roll from his new girlfriend.

This time, they were able to lean in without bumping into the brim of Ash's cap. Between the height difference and their inexperience, finding each other's lips was an awkward shuffle at best. After a few failed attempts, the two succeeded. The gentle touch was enough to send an unfamiliar jolt through Ash's spine, and a wonderful warmth built in Dawn's chest.

All the same, the kiss was very brief, parting when the two had gotten their fill.

That said, it was more than enough to set the mood. Ash got to look down upon Dawn's glowing features under the sun, be it her growing smile, flushed cheeks, her bright blue orbs, or the remarkably beautiful locks that cascaded past the frame of her face.

And, Dawn was greeted with Ash's own goofy grin, his kind, but unwavering dark hues, and the rustling of his dark messy hair in the ocean breeze. For once, she could swear she saw a tint of red in his face, too.

While the two were looking at each other with contentment, Pikachu dared to look over his shoulder. Seeing that whatever drama had occurred was over and their trainers were smiling, he tapped Empoleon with his tail.

"Pikapi! Pikaka!"

"Empoleo! Empo!"

The two starters scrambled over, eager to congratulate the two. Empoleon hugged Ash while Pikachu hopped onto Dawn's shoulder.

"I guess you're happy I was able to get through to Ash, huh, Pikachu?" Dawn teased, scratching under the electric type's chin.

Picking up on the playful mood, Ash wrapped his arms around Empoleon as well. "Yeah, if you were betting on Dawn confessing to me, you definitely won Empoleon. She's crazy about me, you see."

Empoleon and Pikachu just laughed. Five minutes ago, Ash hadn't known a thing.

"Yeah, that's it," She agreed. She did like him, so there was no point in denying anything.

Seeing no reason not to turn the embrace into a group hug, Empoleon reached over, hugging Dawn, too. Pikachu was nestled between the two trainer's cheeks, chirping happily.

"This is great!" Ash enthused. "Pikachu, Empoleon, now you two don't have to worry about being too far apart! Since me and Dawn are dating, you can visit more often even when we aren't traveling together!" Couples probably visited each other, right?

Dawn blinked before turning to Ash. "Oh, we've never been on a date!" she noted. "We should probably go on one, if we're dating!"

Ash nodded, serious once again. "Yeah! Gotta do this right!"

* * *

"...How the hell'm I gonna do this right?" Hands that were likely already sweating fumbled with buttons, dealing with a stubborn set that weren't quite cooperating with him.

The young man struggled with a white and blue striped button-down shirt draped over his shoulders. This was really the last thing he ever wanted to wear out… Even marginally formal clothes were stuffy and uncomfortable. But, Delia had insisted he pack at least one piece of formal wear. _What if you meet someone famous,_ she implored. Ash denied this'd have any importance, but was smarter than to fight a stubborn request from Delia.

Truthfully, this scenario was far more daunting. After a bit of back-and-forth with Dawn on where the date would take place, they'd settled on a moderately fancy restaurant towards the end of the boardwalk near the edge of the island. It wasn't anything out of their price range, but she'd made the admittedly good point that they should try to make their first date special, and start things on a high note.

That sounded well and good, but it had Ash sweating bullets. "This is supposed to be a big deal… What's a boyfriend even supposed to do… Yes!" He finally thumbed one of the plastic buttons into the other half of his shirt, securing it at last.

Only to look down in horror to find that his shirt was uneven. "Crap… I got this thing totally wrong again." With a pout, Ash scrambled to undo and redo the buttoning. "Man, what a pain… You think I can make a good impression, Pikachu? This is supposed to be something special, right?"

"Pika! Pikachu!" Standing atop the wooden table inside their room, courtesy of the center, Pikachu flailed his arms in emphasis. Of course Ash could! He and Dawn had always gotten along… As for how to act, Pikachu's ears drooped, his stubby arms crossing over his torso. His understanding of the whole 'dating' concept was only marginally greater than Ash's. Beyond having a good time, he had little advice to offer.

"That's alright," Ash assured. He turned to the other, smaller pokemon that were out. Ash had done his best to share the news with their current parties. Everyone would have to learn slowly but surely. "You guys have any advice?"

Clefairy hopped up onto the bed, eyes shimmering. "Clefairy Clefairy Clefairy! Clefaaaaa~!" she sang.

Rosa quirked her brows before looking to Ash. _~She said to finish the night by naming a constellation after her. Every girl wants to be one of the stars…?~_

Ash's eyes bulged. "W-What the heck?! That's so weird!"

Primeape gentle pushed Clefairy out of the center of the bed, ready to give his advice to Ash instead. "Prime…! Primeape!" The fighting type crossed his arms. "Primeape-ape, ape-ape."

 _~He says forwardness is the only way. To keep your girl, you have to prove you're a real alpha male! Don't take anyone's crap! Take charge!~_

"I can take charge…! But… That's a little weird for Primeape to say… Buddy, where'd you learn about this?" Ash raised a brow.

"Prime."

 _~He said Anthony told him.~_

"Isn't Anthony… single?" Ash groaned, growing frustrated. "I don't know what to do…!"

Suddenly, Buneary hopped up onto the dresser that Ash was standing in front of. "Bun!" she ordered, yanking on his shirt. When Ash turned around, the rabbit began plucking at his buttons. "Bun Bun Buneary! Neary Buneary!" she yelled, absolutely passionate. "Buuuun, neary!"

She moved back, looking proud.

Ash looked at his shirt. She'd buttoned it! Not a single hole or button was out of place. "Buneary, how'd you learn to do this?!"

Empoleon rolled his eyes from where he lounged on one of the beds. "Empo."

 _~He says Hoenn fashion,~_ Rosa clarified.

"Well, what'd Buneary say?"

Rosa shrugged. _~She talks fast… But, something about making it a magical evening and fairytales? Be Dawn's prince or something… It's a girl's ideal type?~_

Else where in the room, Pikachu quietly tiptoed out of sight. If that was what Buneary wanted out of him, he was going to play dumb a bit longer!

Ash looked up at the ceiling. "A prince, huh? I know a little bit about those. I guess I can act like that." He sighed. He wanted things to go well, but that felt a little out of character for him. But, if it was what couples did, then he would become Dawn's prince for sure! "Thanks for your advice, everyone. Now we just have to wait on Dawn."

"No you don't~" She sing-songed, opening the bathroom door as if on cue. "I'm ready!" She winked, smiling at Ash. Though her sun dress wasn't particularly fancy, she accessorized it well with what little she had to work with and her hairstyle was delicately ornate enough to pull it all together.

The coordinator winked, holding out a hand to Ash. "Ready to head out?"

Taken with her looks, he momentarily forgot his nervousness. "Yeah…"

Dawn waved to the pokemon. "You guys be good! Pikachu, Empoleon, if anything happens, you know you can tell Nurse Joy to call the restaurant we told you about!"

The two starters nodded.

As Ash followed Dawn out, both members of the teams present flashed Ash encouraging smiles.

* * *

Walking up to the restaurant, Ash was absolutely taken with the wafting scent of seafood. He licked his lips. In fact, he was paying so little attention that they were walking up the steps before he realized what was happening. So, in a rush, he darted up the steps before Dawn, ripping the door open.

Dawn's eyes widened. What the heck was that?! All the same, he'd opened the door for her, so she stepped through quickly. "Thanks," she murmured.

"No problem," he quietly said back.

The hostess smiled at the couple. "Welcome to Germaine's! Will the two of you be dining with us tonight?"

The two quickly exchanged a look.

Ash tried to speak quickly. He was supposed to be leading, after all! "Yeah, just the two of us!"

The hostess quirked her head. "Very well. Please follow your server to your table. Thank you!"

Ash and Dawn quietly walked behind an older man. His air of importance and officiality only increased their tense posture. By the time they were seated in the plush booth, neither found themselves able to relax into their seats.

The privacy the booth offered thus turned to a sense of isolation.

"What will the madam and sir have to drink this evening?" the waiter inquired, sliding the menus down before the couple.

Dawn quickly flipped through the small selection while Ash quirked his eyebrows in confusion.

"Just water, please."

Deciding to follow her lead, Ash repeated the same. "Water, please."

"Very well." The man wrote it down and then walked away.

Now, they were alone for real.

Dawn turned to Ash, the singular candle on their table lighting up her face in the dimly lit restaurant. "This is nice," she said, trying to start a conversation.

Ash nodded, trying to think of an appropriate response. Faking a bravado he didn't feel, he sat his shaking elbow down on the table, smiling at Dawn. "Anything for you!"

Clearly, she wasn't expecting that reason. "Oh! Thanks…" Hadn't she found this place, though? What was he talking about?

Thankfully, they had a brief interlude to the silence. The waiter returned with their waters.

"Would it be time to select one of our hors d'oeuvres, mister and madam?"

Ash's heart dropped. What the heck was an _or-durr-ve_?!

Thankfully, Dawn spoke up. "Oh! We haven't even looked at the menu. I guess we need another minute to decide on appetizers. Unless you know what you want, Ash?"

Appetizers! He knew what those were! But, as he quickly scanned the menu, he didn't see any he knew! Where were the mozzarella sticks!? The fried pickles?! They didn't even have rice balls, for crying out loud! Still, he couldn't let Dawn down! He had to take control of the situation!

"The fig-almond bry?" he weakly said, trying to come off confident. He didn't know how to pronounce that last word. Maybe like try?

The waiter raised a brow. "The gentleman would like the fig and toasted almond brie?"

"Yeah," Ash quickly squeaked.

"Very well."

The trainer almost relaxed into the booth in relief.

"What bread would you like?"

Ash almost broke into a sweat. "Uh… I mean, w-whatever you would recommend!"

An almost knowing smile crossed the waiter's face. "Very well, sir, I'll ask the chef what he recommends. Thank you for trusting us in this." With that, the man walked away.

Dawn looked to Ash, in awe. "I didn't know you liked cheese like that!"

There was cheese in that?! Ash wondered. He did like cheese, though. "I mean, yeah? I'll eat it on anything. Fruit'll be good on the side, right?"

Dawn shrugged. "I don't know! I've never had brie! It smells ba-..." She stopped. Wait, if Ash knew about Bri and he seemed okay with it, shouldn't she?! She didn't want to come off uncultured! "It smells b-basically filling!" she lied. "Like, I smell it, and I think, whoa, I can't eat that, I won't have room for anything else, haha. B-But, I bet you'll totally like it, Ash!"

Encouraged by Dawn's lies, Ash nodded. "I just hope we still have room for our meals!" he said, comfortable talking about food.

"Oh, I guess we should figure out what we want to eat," Dawn mused. With that, she opened her menu.

Ash followed suit. Most of the items looked bad from their description and many he just didn't know what they were. One rather shocked him, though. What were crab legs?! That stayed on his mind even as he looked through the menu.

The silence that lapped over them during their menu reading was anything but comfortable.

Both were elated when the minutes passed by and the server returned.

"The chef recommended sourdough. Please enjoy." The waiter placed a delicate dish of soft, pale cheese down before the couple. On top of the cheese was the fruit and nuts as well as several carefully carved slices of bread. "What might I get the couple for their entree?"

"I would like the fruit medley salad sandwich with the curry rice, spicy, please," Dawn politely said. She hoped that'd taste good together. Did fruit really go on sandwiches? She didn't even know what kind of curry they served here!

Ash, however, finally barked a question he'd been wondering. "Do you guys serve Krabby?"

The waiter looked taken back. "... Sir, we serve crab here."

"Krabby?!"

The waiter cocked his head. "Sir, it is crab. Crab is not a pokemon."

After causing that fuss but still being confused, Ash felt a little embarrassed. "J-Just checking." He recalled what the owner of that little shack had said earlier in the day. "Some places are a little sketchy, you know. But, I want the crab legs with the mushroom soup."

"We would never harm our dearest pokemon, my good sir," the waiter patiently explained. "I'll get these turned in."

As the man walked away, Ash could have sworn he heard snickering.

"Ash," Dawn said.

The trainer tried to pull himself together. "Yes… darling?" Did people actually call each other that?

"What's crab?"

"It's, uh, very rare," he said, no exactly lying. "It's not common, like… like those fish in Misty's gym!" Nailed it.

Dawn nodded, suddenly imaging a spiky fish. That might taste good if it was salty. Maybe she should have gotten what Ash got. Oh well. At least she had the appetizer to try! "Time to try the brie!" she enthused before remembering her bravado from earlier. "I'll only eat a little… So, have as much as you like!" She hoped it didn't take too long for their food to get here.

Picking up a piece of bread and his form, Ash smiled. Hey, this didn't look too bad! It looked like some seeds on cheese. Was it like a reverse cheeseburger or something? Sesame seeds but on the cheese instead!

Spreading the cheese on his bread slice, Ash quickly popped the whole thing into his mouth… Only to sorely regret it. Still, he couldn't spit it out with Dawn watching him, having just bit off a piece of her own bread. She was chewing it so carefully, so thoughtfully! She must actually like it!

So, Ash forced himself to swallow the bread piece. "Wow! That is filling!" he lied. "I'm gonna wait for our food. Don't wanna fill up, haha."

It was that filling to him, really?! Dawn looked down sadly at the three fourths of a bread piece she still had left. If she kept going, would Ash think less of her? All the girls on television shows she rarely watched always ate so little around their boyfriends. Holding in a mournful sigh, she looked down at the brie. She actually really liked it.

Faking a chipper attitude, Dawn smiled at Ash. "I told you! I can barely finish what I've started…"

Ash picked up his drink, trying to wash down some of the cheese's taste. "W-with your figure, it's no surprise!" Weren't princesses always described as slender? Dawn was, so it wasn't like he was lying.

Dawn nodded. Right… The girls with boyfriends kept thin. "I'm so glad you noticed~" she teased, figuring she should try to flirt.

The trainer smiled sincerely that time. She was cute when she acted like that. "I mean it. You're pretty."

Not really used to flirting for more than a second or two, and certainly not with someone she liked as much as Ash, Dawn looked to the side, bangs forming a slight curtain around her face. "Thank you… You look nice this evening, too."

"Thanks. My mo-" Should he really admit his mom picked out this shirt for him? "My most important secret is that I keep this shirt in my bag. It gets dirty easy, so no one else can know or they might intentionally get my stuff dirty."

Dawn was quite certain she remembered Ash and his bag getting dirty, but decided not to say anything. Maybe he kept it in a special bag. "Well, it's worth it! I hope my sundress isn't too casual."

He actually had no idea what was "too" casual. She looked pretty in her shorts, too, though, so what did he know? "If it's good enough for the sun, it's good enough for me." Did that make sense?

The atmosphere was almost calming down. Though Ash's disgust with the food was still too strong for him to calm down on top of the pressure he felt to act like a prince for Dawn, and Dawn's hunger, as well as disillusionment with TV-style romance was weighing them both down, if they were together, it was fine, right?

When their entrees were placed before them it was truly tested.

"There we are," the waiter politely said. "Please enjoy your meals."

The two looked down.

Ash's disgust was only multiplied. These looked like very small Krabby legs!

Dawn, however, was confused by the blended goop in her sandwich.

"Better dig in!" she enthused, not really wanting to eat the sandwich.

"Right," Ash agreed, desperately trying to figure out how to even eat these. Was he supposed to eat it, shell and all?! Thankfully, he spotted a man across the way eating the same thing. He was supposed to crack the legs with this weird silver thing on the plate!

Picking it up, Ash tried to crack the shell, but found that nearly impossible. It was too slippery and too thin! Still, he couldn't give up.

Dawn, meanwhile, took advantage of Ash's distraction to try a big mouthful of her sandwich, hiding what she'd eaten behind the other slice of it. It was actually really good! Yet, that haunted her. She would probably be only able to eat one half of it…! But, it was so good…!

The trainer let out a frustrated snort, finally just picking up the crab leg and cracking it with his hands, the same way he might break a branch for firewood. His eyes lit up in delight, seeing the white and red meat within.

Dawn, however, yelped. The juices from the crab had landed all over her and it stank!

"Oh, crap, Dawn, sorry!" Ash apologized, getting up out of his seat to walk to her side of the table.

"It's fine!" she said, not sure if she was lying or not. She blindly reached to the side as she spoke to Ash, accidentally knocking over her drink in pursuit of a cloth. "Ah!" Water rushed all over the table, spilling into her lap.

"Dawn!" Ash shouted, reaching for the cloth and handing it to her.

"No, no, move!" she said, trying to get out of the booth, but only succeeding in tripping over Ash's foot and landing face first on the carpeted aisle.

When she looked up, everyone in the restaurant was looking at her and Ash.

He looked down at her, only able to see the back of her from his position. "Dawn…?" He crouched down, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

She turned around, looking up at him with her mascara running a bit. "I wanna go…" she whimpered. "Can we please leave?"

He hated that it took all of this to get him out of it, but he was all too happy to oblige. "Yeah. Hey, how much was your stuff? I'll leave the money on the table."

Dawn stood up, face heated red from shame. "H-here's my half."

Certain somehow that he should have paid but not in the mood to argue, Ash only took what she gave him before putting his half on the table too, using the cup that hadn't been spilled to hold it down.

With that, Ash took Dawn's hand and led her out of the restaurant, the latter hiding her scarlet-ridden face with her free hand.

* * *

Above them, the vacuum of space heralded no melody between the stars. Similarly, no words were exchanged between Dawn and Ash as they walked up the same hill-winding path where they had confessed to each other just hours ago. The lights of the restaurant were barely visible in the distance. Ash's hands smelled awful from the crab he didn't get to eat and they were balled in fists at his side. Dawn walked beside him, her dress clinging to her body where it was wet, but otherwise fluttering in the night breeze.

"What happened back there?" she finally asked, finding her voice again now that the cool air had helped her chill out.

Ash looked at her from the corner of his eyes before audibly sighing. "I dunno, Dawn. It's _never_ been like that with us, not even when we first met."

She frowned, thinking of the girls on the television again. Is that why those couples always fought? "Do all couples feel like this…?"

"I dunno," Ash said, repeating himself. "This is my first relationship."

The coordinator looked up to the sky. She supposed any star would do. "I wish we knew what to do."

As they crested the hill and spotted the orange roof of the Pokemon Center in the distance, Ash let out a low laugh. "We could always do like when we traveled: wing it when we don't know what's up and learn from our mistakes."

Closing in on that welcoming building, Dawn looked over at her boyfriend. "You're right," she said, epiphany voiced. "It's our relationship!" Gosh, calling it a relationship like that felt so serious… "U-Um, if we're boyfriend and girlfriend, we can only handle it the way _we_ can handle it!"

Walking into the automatic doors with her, Ash cocked his head. "Uh… Are you just saying we need to be ourselves?"

With a nod and a laugh, she answered, "Yeah, that's what I mean."

Ash pumped his fist in the air. "Great! 'Cause, like, doing all that crap was driving me nuts!"

"Me, too… I can't act weird like that, it's too much!" she confessed.

"Yeah, and we're not ordinary people, anyway! So, we should just act like our magnificent selves!" Ash boasted, smiling down at his girlfriend.

"Well, my magnificent self needs a change of clothes," Dawn continued.

A roaring stomach interrupted them.

Ash looked down at Dawn, wide-eyed. "Holy crap, was that your stomach?!"

Dawn crossed her arms, huffing. "Okay, look, I'm gonna cut the crap. That junk I said about brie? I was lying. I know it's a cheese, but it wasn't filling. I'm _starved_ , Ash."

Barking out a laugh, Ash couldn't help but find it funny. Dawn was never as vocal as he was about being hungry! "Well, what do you say we go get changed and head on down to Exploud Ernie's Earnest Eats?"

Dawn clapped her hands together. "Yes! I want one of his spicy veggie burgers with extra mushrooms and some of those onion rings! Oh, I want a double veggie patty!" she enthused, practically drooling at the idea.

Winking, Ash raised his hand. "It's a deal. We'll even bring the team again. Except… no battle this time. We can just take a walk in the moonlight, huh? You and me." As stupid as some of the advice he got was, maybe Clefairy was right. The stars were pretty tonight.

Dawn raised her hand, touching palm to palm with him. "It's a deal," she echoed.

And, for the rest of the evening at least, it was a happy ever after. Tomorrow's problems did them a favor and waited until tomorrow.


	46. It Takes Two

**Hey, everyone! We're very sorry about the delay, but a faulty laptop kept us from posting the new chapter on Tuesday. Anyway, now that Ash and Dawn have resolved their issues, their journey's set to continue! We hope you enjoy the chapter, and feedback is always appreciated!**

The morning sun glistened on the churning seas on either side of the ferry. Dawn brushed Quilava's fur while Ash played monkey in the middle to Pachirisu and Primeape while the two tossed a peach Ash had originally intended on eating. Pikachu, meanwhile, watched all of this while sitting between Dawn and Gliscor. The big purple pokemon had already been groomed and was admiring how shiny his claws were presently.

That left Buneary, hesitantly watching Pikachu. Last night, after the fiasco of the first half of Dawn and Ash's dinner date, Buneary had spoken with Dawn alone while the girl was changing out of her wet dress and back into her regular clothes. Her trainer's epiphany was startlingly simple, but it felt daunting to Buneary all the same.

 _"_ _Sometimes you need to step back and remember that the person you like is just a person,"_ she'd been told. _"Ash tried to put on an act to impress me, and so did I. It was a disaster… What matters most is having fun with that person for who they are!"_

Could she really just seem Pikachu plainly? He was so magnificent, though! With his strength, cool air, and ability to handle just about any situation thrown at him… If he wasn't the prince type, then Buneary didn't know what was!

All the same, she did recall Empoleon telling her that Dawn had gotten a kiss for her troubles while Buneary had to try her hardest to even get dances or the occasional sympathy hand holding.

So, she approached the bench where Pikachu sat with the others, intent on having a normal conversation with him.

"Bun!" she greeted, waving at her crush. It took all her strength not to curl up into a woolly, blushing ball.

Pikachu looked down, hesitant. "Pika," he greeted her in return, still kind as ever.

"Bun… Buneary neary!" Buneary continued, asking about Cinnabar Island.

Pikachu nodded. "Pikapi Pikachu Pi!" he explained. The place was rather lively. He looked up. "Pi…" But… Last time he'd been there, well, things had gotten rather chaotic. The memories of nearly being toasted made the mouse shudder.

Buneary shook her head. "Buneary!" It didn't matter what troubles had happened last time, if he was facing them now, he was sure to defeat any of his enemies!

The two were finally interrupted by Gliscor, the Fang Scor pokemon unable to resist chiming in on the conversation. "Glis Gliscor~?" he teased, sticking his tongue out teasingly with a wink.

That was it. The implication that something might happen again and that Pikachu might protect Buneary was too much for the normal type. She covered her face with her wool and bounced away…!

And, directly into Primeape, knocking the startled pokemon over.

"Thank you!" Ash cheered, snatching the peach back from the fighting type while he and Buneary were in a heap on the floor. The trainer held the peach up proudly, ignoring Pachirisu's sulking as she stood by him. "Ha! You two sure have a lot of talents, but keeping food from me isn't one of them!" The boy closely inspected the fruit. "... Aw! It's bruised!"

Dawn looked over. "Can't you just go back to the refreshment bar and get another?"

Just as she said that, a voice came over the ferry's intercoms: "Passengers, we will be docking in Dark City harbor shortly. All services will now cease to prepare for restocking before heading to Cinnabar Island. Please gather your belongings as we cannot assure their safety. Thank you for riding with us."

Dramatically, Ash dropped to his knees on the wooden deck. "Nooooo!"

The coordinator rolled her eyes. "Hey, it's a city we're stopping at. They've got to have a grocery store or something."

Just as quickly as he'd fallen, Ash was standing back up, excited. "You're right! Besides, while the ferry's docked, it's not like we can do anything here! So, let's explore Dark City! I'll be good to see the place again… I hope."

"Again? You hope?" Dawn put Quilava down as she stood up, narrowing her eyes a bit. "What did you do?" she asked in an accusatory tone.

Ash scoffed. "When do I ever cause problems?!"

"Gary, Paul, Angie, Zo -"

"Hey, they're mean, too, sometimes!" He crossed his arms. "Not like you don't try to fight anyone, either."

The coordinator flicked her hair. "I don't know what you mean."

Ash tilted his head. "Remember when we met Paul in the Oreburgh Gym?"

Point proven, Dawn let the subject drop with all the grace and dignity that someone with the personality she had could. "Fine."

Satisfied with his little victory, Ash smirked before returning his pokemon just as Dawn did.

It was at that point that Empoleon came waddling over, looking a little guilty and even more sick.

Dawn only looked at him. "Did you take all the poffins off the refreshment table?"

He nodded.

"You need to get off the ship?"

He nodded again.

She sighed. "Alright… Let's get you going, buddy." She put one hand to the big penguin before she, Ash, and Pikachu all began making their way off the ferry.

* * *

"...Hey, hold on. Since when has Dark City been a big deal, anyway? Wasn't it pretty much a ghost town last time we were there?" Ash scratched his cheek as he swerved between other ferry-goers, making his way down the ramp.

"Pikachu…" The mouse nodded. It'd been so dusty and dingy… Maybe they finally got their bearings after those two gangs topped terrorizing the place?

"You haven't been there in a long time, right? Something must've changed while you were gone if ships dock around there… I wonder what could've changed." Then again, Dawn hadn't the faintest idea what the city was like aside from Ash's commentary. 

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Hopefully things have calmed down since then…" He wasn't loving the idea of having to run around with a fake alias again.

Speaking of running around, the crowd was already beginning to scatter at some commotion nearby.

Errant Water Guns sprayed past the scattering sea of faces, fortunately spraying well out of the range of bystanders… At least for now. The occasional explosion followed, creating quite the scene near the docks.

"How'm I supposed to get a hit if you just keep attacking like that!" A young trainer snarled, sporting a black hoodie, matching shorts, and pale purple hair that spiked up every which way. He was fuming, fists clenched tight. "Haunter, Shadow Punch!"

"Hau-hau!" The floating ghoul shouted in return, zipping in towards its opponent: a Poliwhirl, who spit out another powerful jet towards the ghost.

An eerie, glowing fist was halted by the Water Gun attack, its owner forced to duck out of harm's way. "Haunter…!" The pokemon grimaced. This was getting really annoying!

"If you wanna hit me, you should learn to use your pokemon's abilities better!" Another voice bit back, the latter far less bitter. The latter came from a familiar face, a green-haired boy who adjusted the rim of his glasses. "You're using a _ghost_ type, you know. Don't tell me you're just gonna waste what they can do by just attacking." Demonstrating his point, the boy threw a finger forward. "Keep them away, Poliwhirl! Bubblebeam!"

"Poli-whirl!" The pokemon complied, firing a myriad of bubbles towards Haunter.

The latter swirled and evaded the attack… Leaving it to claim another victim.

Shuffling through the last of the bystanders, Ash was late to witness the scene. "What the heck's going on over here… It sounds like someone's having a… Hey, Dawn! Look out!"

Ash's warning had come too little too late. The coordinator shrieked, failing to defend herself from an onslaught of explosive bubbles that caught her off-guard, knocking her on her bottom.

"Ahhh… My hair's soaked." The coordinator lamented, still in something of a daze. "...Hey, you should really watch where you're having your battles!"

"Oh, sorry…!" The boy in glasses stammered, raising his hands in apology. "I didn't know there was anyone else… Huh? Ash? Dawn?" He gawked, his focus on the match lost.

"Uh, Max? Is that you?" Ash offered Dawn a hand, pulling her up before approaching the boy.

"In the flesh!" He boasted, putting on a smug smile. "...Sorry about the Bubblebeam, Dawn. I didn't see you guys coming."

"You really shouldn't battle around crowds like that," Dawn scolded, wringing out her pink jacket. "But, it's nice to see you again! I guess you've been keeping busy with your training."

"Well, of course! I've got to pick up lots of experience before-"

"Hey! What'm I, chopped liver!?" The paler boy blurted, making his way across the pavement that had just been their battlefield. "Who are these guys, anyway?"

"Don't ya remember? I told you about that guy I traveled with. The one who got top eight in his last conference?"

"Top _four_ ," Ash corrected.

"Still not first place." Max toyed with his glasses, earning an irritated growl from Ash.

"Oh, yeah! yer name's Ash, right? Pretty impressive! But, who're you?" He pointed to Dawn.

"I'm Dawn! I'm training to be Top Coordinator, _and_ I'm Ash's… Girlfriend," she trailed off. As true as it was, it was an odd saying to roll off the tongue.

"Gross," the child stuck his tongue out, feigning nausea. "Cool, though! I'm Koda! And this is my Haunter! I'm a pokemon trainer from Sinnoh." Following its introduction, Haunter hovered beside Koda.

Biting her tongue, Dawn furrowed her brows before moving on. He was just a kid, after all. "Well, nice to meet you, Koda! I'm actually from Sinnoh, too!" It was nice to meet another trainer from the same region here. It made her a bit less homesick, in a way. "I'm guessing you and Max know each other, then?"

"Unfortunately," the boy spat. "We're travelin' together right now… Which'd be fine if he'd stop being such a jerk!"

"I wouldn't have to be one if you'd learn to be a better battle partner!" Max crossed his arms.

"Alright, that does it!" Koda seethed, grabbing Max by the collar with a fist ready.

Max flinched… Only to find himself untouched.

Ash had caught the other boy's fist, keeping it well away from hurting anyone. "Alright, break it up, you two." Managing to split the two apart, the older trainer took a step back. "It's good to see you and all, Max, but we can't really catch up if you guys are at each other's throats."

"Yeah… Sorry." Max shrank, poking his fingers together. "Oh, Dawn! May said she wishes you luck in the Wallace Cup this year! It is taking place here in Kanto, you know."

Pardoning a twitching brow from Max's attitude, Dawn nodded along. "I know. That's where we're headed now! Once the ferry leaves tonight, Ash and I are heading to Cinnabar Island." She tilted her head, then. "Wait, if she knows, then shouldn't she be competing again, too?"

"Not this time! Sis already has five ribbons over in the Sinnoh Circuit!" Max proudly proclaimed.

"Wow… that fast? Talk about being prepared." Ash scratched his cheek.

"Well, in the Johto Circuit, she only barely made it with enough ribbons in time, so I guess she learned her lesson. This time, she collected her ribbons real quick! I bet she's working hard to be ready for the Grand Festival."

"...Oh, yeah! She got runner-up, didn't she?" Ash chimed in. "I talked to 'er a while ago… That's the same as Dawn during her own run in Sinnoh!"

"That's right! Pretty impressive… But, still not a full victory." Max dismissed.

Ash was quick to back up, knowing just what was coming.

Much like Koda, only far more terrifying, Dawn was the next to be in Max's face, eyes ablaze. "Getting that far is a lot harder than you think, you know! Why don't you see how easy it is?"

"Man… I thought you were happy with second place." Wiping sweat from his brow, Ash blinked. He could only imagine how terrified Max felt.

"I _am,_ but I'm not a fan of people running their mouths about it."

"Okay, okay… Jeez, don't have a Miltank." Max frowned, adjusting his glasses that'd been knocked out of place. "Besides, I will! Because I'm winning this year's Indigo Conference! That is, if we ever get that far," he corrected himself, sending a look Koda's way.

"Oh, right," Ash chimed in, before things could get ugly, he hoped. "What even happened with you guys? Somethin' had you pretty ticked off, right?"

"Well, we were _trying_ to beat the Dark City Gym… But we just can't win there!" Koda complained.

"Maybe if we could work together. And, if you knew a little more about battling."

"Woah, woah! Hold on!" Ash waved his hands, trying to simmer things down for the third time. "What do you mean 'work together?' That's great and all, but how does that win you a gym battle?"

"The Yas-Kaz Gym is weird. You have to battle two different gym leaders there, and two trainers can even take them on at once!" Koda explained. "If they win, both get a badge."

"Is that even legal?" Dawn blinked. "I've never heard of a gym like that."

"I'm more surprised they even have a gym…I guess they finally fixed things up, huh, buddy?"

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu agreed.

"What're you talking about, Ash? Do you know those guys?" Dawn raised a brow.

"Uh… Nevermind that! Ahaha… That's not really important, right!?" Ash guffawed, rubbing the back of his head. "So, what's the problem, anyway? I know tag battles can be tough, but do you have a strategy?"

"I _wish_ ," Max scoffed. "Those guys are too good to beat without help, but Koda just goes in with brute force."

"What other way is there!?" The child snapped back.

"Well, for starters, learn to work with your teammate, and actually make openings for them once in awhile!"

"Hey, hold on, Koda. Max actually has a point. Teamwork's a big deal."

"Well, he doesn't have to be such a jerk about it," Koda pouted.

Ash, Dawn, and Pikachu averted their eyes, declining to comment.

"Besides, battles are straight-forward, right? Just wear your opponent down and knock 'em out!"

"Well, sometimes. But, there are types of battles that are more complex than that," Dawn interjected. "When you're in a tag battle, you have to make sure you're in sync with your partner, and you can cover each other's weaknesses. Ash and I have a knack for that. Right?"

A playful nudge from the bluenette earned a chuckle from Ash. "That's right! We're like two peas in a Metapod!" He draped an arm over the girl's shoulder, baring a grin.

"Ash _is_ pretty good at that sort of thing," Max admitted. "Maybe you could learn a thing or two from him, Koda."

"You think so, huh!?"

"Sure, why not!" Ash chimed in, earning the confused gaze of both younger trainers. "You won't get anywhere just standing here talking about it. Why don't we show you guys what real teamwork's all about? Me and Dawn against you two. Whaddya say?"

"Hey, that's a pretty good idea!" Max agreed. Besides, I have to keep up with you for when we have a _real_ battle!"

"That sounds kinda fun. Okay, I'm down!" Koda held a fist up.

"Then it's a deal! We'll show you how we did things back in Sinnoh," Dawn boasted, flicking one of her bangs with all the smugness of a seasoned battler. "Empoleon, Spotlight!"

"Well, if she's picking Empoleon, let's go classic, too! Pikachu, I choose you!"

Pikachu leapt off Ash's shoulder as Empoleon stepped forward. The two starters smirked at Koda and Max's still waiting Haunter and Poliwhirl.

Max adjusted his glasses before shaking his head. "Poliwhirl's tired… Let's try Scyther!" he enthused. The trainer then turned to look at Koda. "You should pick a different pokemon, too."

Koda bristled. "I was gonna… Haunter, take a break. Fearow, let's go!"

Scyther appeared in a defensive position, blades held high. Likewise, Fearow fluttered into the air, neck craned to show its dangerously hooked beak.

Ash took the opportunity to lean towards Dawn, holding a hand up to whisper. "Hey, maybe we should take it easy on 'em, so they can have a chance to learn from the match."

The coordinator nodded. "Good call. You got that, guys?" She addressed Pikachu and Empoleon.

Both pokemon nodded in agreement.

"If you guys won't start this battle, then I will." Max adjusted his glasses, pointing forward. "Scyther, use Quick Attack on Pikachu!" Without a doubt, he'd be the biggest threat.

The Mantis pokemon zipped in towards the mouse, his terribly sharp blades at the ready.

"Block it with Iron Tail, Pikachu!" Ash ordered.

Pikachu hopped off his hind legs, swinging a steel-coated tail to block the oncoming assault.

Watching as Scyther was quickly parried, Max continued. "Use Fury Cutter!"

"Agility, Pikachu!" Ash countered.

Landing on all fours, Pikachu quickly became a blur, cleanly avoiding a swipe of Scyther's blade.

"He's so fast…! Keep it up, Scyther!"

The bug type continued to strike at Pikachu, furor building with every consecutive miss. Every time he came close, the mouse just seemed to be one step ahead of him. Being outsped was new to Scyther.

"This'll go on forever if that keeps up… Hey, Pikachu! Try blocking with another Iron Tail!"

Finally putting an end to his dashing around, Pikachu turned to confront his less experienced opponent. "Chua…!" He started, leaping at the approaching Mantis.

Unfortunately for Pikachu, he was just a bit too late. A quick assault of Fury Cutters barraged his body, leaving the electric type unable to respond. Just as he readied an Iron Tail, another attack came. While it didn't hurt all that much, this was incredibly annoying!

"Oh, I see… No matter how strong Pikachu is, he doesn't have the kind of reach that Scyther has. He'll never be able to keep up at this angle!" Ash noted. "Hang in there, buddy. Hey, Dawn! You're not just gonna leave us hanging, are you?" He turned to the coordinator, goading her on.

"Oh, right!" Dawn snapped back into reality, eyes having been glued to the battle. Oddly enough, their other opponent hadn't attacked yet, either. "Alright, Empoleon! Get in there and help Pikachu, with Steel Wing!"

"Pol!" Eager to lend a hand, and take the spotlight, Empoleon complied. Launching himself towards Scyther with a glowing wing brandished, he was ready to take the bug type on.

"Hey, Scyther! Look out!" Max warned.

Out of the corner of its hawk-like eye, Scyther spotted the incoming water type, swiftly diverting his attention from Pikachu. Swinging a powered up Fury Cutter at Empoleon, he blocked Steel Wing just in the nick of time.

Baring his fangs, Scyther cried out as he struck again. "Scyther!" A furious succession bombarded Empoleon, who was just as quick to strike back with focused Steel Wings. Likely the closest a pokemon battle could get to a sword fight, the close quarter combat raged on.

This gave Pikachu the chance to dart away, allowing him a chance to recover from the assault. "Pika… Pikachu!" He thanked Empoleon, licking his wounds. That'd definitely stung… But, he was far from out! Now, to wait for another opening.

"Lucky for us, Fury Cutter gets stronger each time you use it!" Max boasted.

"Scyther's doing great," Dawn agreed. "It's a good thing for us that Empoleon's a steel type!"

"She's right…" As swift as he was, Scyther was failing to do any damage to Empoleon. Brow twitching, the Hoenn native barked at Koda. "Hey, Koda! It might help if you actually chipped in!"

"Oh, right! yeah… Alright, Fearow! Take down Empoleon with Drill Run!"

"Fear!" The bird shrieked, swooping on down from the sky to assault the sparring Penguin. Her beak took on a frightening shine, seemingly spinning in an assault that had Empoleon in its crosshairs.

"That could be trouble…" Ash adjusted his cap, throwing a hand out. "Pikachu, cover Empoleon with Quick Attack!"

"Pika!" Pikachu cried, springing off the ground with enough to speed to make the ground below him quiver. Crossing the field in the form of a silver streak, he crashed into Fearow's side.

The poor bird was sent reeling, flailing and sputtering for breath before managing to get a hold on her composure. By all accounts, that was the most fierce Quick Attack she'd had to endure.

"Fearow!" Koda called out in worry. "Hey, hold on! If you're using a Pikachu, why didn't you use an electric attack!?"

The query made Ash avert his eyes, his fingers lightly tugging at his collar. "Well… If you want me to be honest with you guys… You won't really learn anything if we end the match _that_ fast."

"Trust me, he's got a point," Max agreed. "That Pikachu's not something you wanna mess with."

"And, now, he's stronger than ever, even!" Dawn added on. "So, let's keep this battle going, huh?"

"Pikachu…" Quickly becoming embarrassed, Pikachu scratched behind his head. Was all the praise really necessary? 

Koda only growled. They were taking it easy on them, huh? Well, he'd show them! "Fearow, show that Pikachu how scary we can be, too! Use Growl!"

Swooping in close, Fearow stopped only to open her big beak, letting out an ear-ringing cry.

Bombarded by the unpleasant sound, Pikachu reached up to cover his ears.

"Awesome! Now, use Leer!"

Taking advantage of Pikachu's distraction, the flying type stalked closer still, staring down Pikachu from mere feet away with a gaze that would strike fear into the hearts of any mouse.

And, Pikachu was, really, no fan of Fearow to begin with.

Koda grinned. He had this in the bag, now! "Now, Drill Run!"

Pointing a beak that seemed more like a lancet at Pikachu, Fearow charged forward.

"This could get messy… Pikachu, Agility, now!"

Pikachu was quick to back off, sprinting his way out of Fearow's range.

Fearow's attentive eyes darted left and right, looking for any sign of her opponent. Soon enough, he was spotted, prompting another predator-like pursuit.

Keeping her eyes on the battle, as well as her own, Dawn spoke out next. "Hey, Empoleon! Help Pikachu out with a Hydro Pump!"

A Steel Wing was promptly raised to block both of Scyther's blades, allowing the penguin the time he needed to get a clear shot of the other duo. A torrent of water was fired from his beak.

"Heads up, Fearow!"

The warning came at the very last second, forcing a terrified Fearow to pull back, just barely dodging a jet that would've, without a doubt, put her out of commission.

Ash grinned. "Thanks a lot! Now, Pikachu, Iron Tail!"

Pikachu made a clean leap over the Hydro Pump, surprising Fearow with a surprise assault.

"Chua… Pika!"

With those syllables, Fearow was sent tumbling across the battlefield, knocked silly by Iron Tail.

With that, Ash shared a devious look with Dawn. Failing to hold back a smile, He threw a hand up. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt! Just like when you battled Empoleon!"

With that, Max fretted. "Scyther, dodge that!"  
On the contrary, though, Pikachu's attack wasn't directed at Scyther. The furious flash of yellow shot down towards none other than Empoleon!

"You know what to do, Empoleon! Steel Wing!" Dawn ordered, mimicking the coming action with a swipe of her arm. 

The Emperor pokemon raised one of his silver, metal-clad wings, taking on the full purpose of a lightning rod. Struck down with the might of Thunderbolt, Empoleon held the unwieldly charge before crying out, swinging his limb forward. "Empol!"

"Say, what!?" Max gawked. He definitely hadn't seen this coming…

The redirected bolt was launched right towards Scyther, quickly consuming the Mantis.

By time the flash of light had faded, Scyther was unconscious.

"Ah… Scyther!" Max's shoulders slumped. "Hey, you did your best. Return." He reluctantly called his pokemon back. "Thanks a lot for the help. Why didn't you try to stop it!?"

"Hey, it's fine! I'll handle it on my own!" Koda barked back.

"Whatever. It's your funeral."

"I'll show you. And, you guys, too!" Koda pointed at Ash and Dawn. "Fearow, Aerial Ace!"

Having taken back to the air by now, Fearow quickly turned into a loop, diving down towards Empoleon.

"Empoleon, fight back with Headbutt!" Dawn called.

Still a little rattled from the electricity, Empoleon ducked, launching his crowned head at Fearow.

Experience triumphed over command of the air, the water type's head crashing into the Drill pokemon's stomach.

"Let's wrap this up! Pikachu, Iron Tail!" With that call, Ash punched forward.

Before the flying type knew it, she was greeted with an iron-coated limb, promptly knocking her out cold.

"And, that's a wrap!" Ash grinned, turning to his partner. A hand was raised high above his head.

Dawn was quick to slap her hand against his, winking at the trainer. "And, that's how you win a double battle!"

Returning his own pokemon, Koda fell to his knees, flabbergasted. "Man… Two losses in a row. We got creamed."

"I told ya he was good… But, I didn't know Dawn was so tough, too. Then again, she did beat my sister." As much as he jabbed at his older sibling, Max knew she was strong. Anyone who could beat her at her peak had to be the real deal. "Well, you guys got us. Your teamwork's as good as the Gym Leaders!"

"Well, we have been at it for a while," Ash boasted, brushing a finger over his nose. With that, he was greeted by Pikachu, who sprung onto his shoulder to receive a routine chin-scratch. "You were great, buddy! Thanks for helping us out with that battle."

"But, hey, you guys weren't bad, either! You just need to practice some more!" Dawn chimed in.  
In her case, Empoleon waddled over, intent on receiving the same praise. Forming a knowing smile, she pet Empoleon on the head behind his crown. "No need to worry, Empoleon. I didn't forget you, either!"

"I wonder how they'd do against Yas and Kaz," Koda wondered.

"It'd be a great match to study, that's for sure!" Max agreed. "Why don't you guys give it a try?"

"The gym? That sounds like a lot of fun, but we do have a ferry to catch tonight…" Ash frowned.

"...Unless you're chicken of course," Max continued, a devious smile forming.

Just as he'd planned, that struck a nerve. "Are you kidding? We'll beat them fair and square, and have more than enough time to get back!" Dawn blabbed, falling for the bait. "C'mon, Ash. it can't be that far, right? We still have a few hours."

"Well, when ya put it like that… How can we refuse?" Ash grinned, toying with the brim of his cap. "Alright, it's a deal. Let's get to that gym!"

"Pika, Pikachu!"

"Empoleon!" 

* * *

Much like the city, the combined Yas-Kaz Gym stood proudly in what had once been the outskirts of Dark City. However, much had changed. The building even boasted a subheader sign, clarifying that it was the official Dark City Gym.

"They kept the wooden look," Ash noted as he, Dawn, Koda, and Max walked in. "Guess some things don't change. Good on 'em for keeping this place together, though."

"You like our handiwork?" came one voice, standing tall and proud in a pair of overalls.

"Us and our crew built this together!" the other explained, decked in jumpsuit.

Ash's face lit up in recognition while Koda and Max quietly looked away in shame.

"Yas! Kaz!" Ash greeted, waving at the two.

The two men looked between each other and then back at Ash. Speaking in unison, they put together who they were looking at. "Tom Ato?"

With that, Dawn, Max, and Koda all looked to Ash, faces blank with suspicion. Tom Ato? What was that about?

However, unlike Max and Koda, Dawn recalled what happened at the Celadon Gym. Ash seemed to accept this name, not flinching from it. She supposed she could cover for him right now. She'd ask about it later.

"Oh, Tom!" she giddily chirped, putting a hand on Ash's shoulder. "You didn't tell me you were popular here!"

Gratefully, Ash looked back at her, further selling his old alias. "Sorry! I didn't think to say anything about it until now!"

Both the gym leaders laughed at Ash's absent mindedness before looking down at Pikachu.

"Hey there, little guy," Kaz greeted.

Yas shrugged. "We're out of ketchup here at the gym. We only have the spicy stuff, or we'd offer you some while you're here."

"Pika~" the mouse chimed from Ash's shoulder, remaining polite despite his disappointment.

"Well, we already know the pipsqueaks," Kaz started, ignoring the way Max and Koda both bristled at being dubbed such, "but who's your lady friend?"

Ash gestured to the bluenette. "This is Dawn! She's a coordinator from Sinnoh! We're actually here because we wanted to challenge you guys to a gym battle."

When the two youngsters made faces at the fact that Ash used Dawn's real name, she shot them both a look that put Fearow's to shame, warning them to stay quiet. Max blanched at her aggression, sweat dripping down his forehead. _'She must've picked that up from May… Scary.'_ Koda, on the other hand, figured that the scary look on her was rather cool. He liked it better than when she went on about romance, anyway.

"Well, you never did get a badge the last time you were here" Yas muttered. "What do you say, Kaz? I think we could take on Tom and Dawn."

"Tom'll be pretty strong… And, if Dawn's his running buddy, so will she! I think only Scizor and Electivire are a good match for 'em," Kaz commented.

"Right." Yas looked to Dawn and Ash. "If you two are ready to take us on in a double battle with one pokemon each, you can certainly challenge us!"

Ash nodded. "Sounds good!"

Dawn clapped her hands together. "This'll be my first gym battle in a while…! I'm excited!" she enthused. After all, she hadn't been trying to get a badge from Maylene. "Max! Koda! Watch us closely!"

With that, the four battlers got into position while Max and Koda slumped against the gym walls. A referee came out, quickly explaining how the match was to go.

"Gym Leaders Yas and Kaz will take on the challenging team Tom Ato and Dawn in a one and one against one and one double battle! Neither team may use healing items and the team with at least one pokemon remaining when both of the opposite team's pokemon have been knocked out will be declared the winner!"

"Gliscor, I choose you!" Ash announced, tossing out the appropriate pokeball. Pikachu hopped off his shoulder, watching from the sidelines.

Dawn considered who she could use to give Gliscor good coverage. "Quilava, spotlight!" She figured that would do. Their range, moves, and typing should be go well together.

Both of their pokemon appeared in a flash of light, quickly greeting one another. Empoleon walked to where Pikachu was, quietly watching the match thus far.

Yas nodded to Kaz. Together, they released their pokemon.

"Electivire, it's you I desire!"

"Scizor, make me a victor!"

Upon exiting their pokeballs, both of the gym's pokemon struck a pose, showing off how powerful they were.

"Hey!" Ash praised, "they really did evolve!" Not that he'd thought the two were liars anymore. They certainly had changed for the better.

"Yep!" Kaz agreed before growing serious. "Alright, Electivire, let's come out swinging! Hit 'em with an even and fair Dual Chop!"

"Eeeeelectivire!" the pokemon called, tensing his body before his two long, wiry tails whipped around, smacking into Quilava and Gliscor alike. Quilava was sent tumbling across the floor while Gliscor was momentarily struck down to it.

"I've got it!" Dawn assured before ordering her own return fire. "Swift!"

As soon as she stopped rolling, Quilava focused her sights on her opponent before spitting out a sea of stars at Electivire. The giant raised its hands, trying to block the attack in vain.

"Good cover," Ash praised. "Gliscor, you use Stone Edge on Electivire!"

"Glisc!" the flying type barked before summoning large stones. They were launched at Electivire just as Quilava was ending her Swift attack.

"Not so fast! Scizor, break those rocks up with Bullet Punch!" Yas ordered.

As quick as could be, Scizor sped over in front of Electivire, breaking every stone that flew its way. However, Scizor was smaller than Electivire, so even though it broke everyone within its reach, some still hit the larger pokemon.

"Another speedster, huh? Dawn, I'm gonna boost our speed, okay?" Ash explained. "Gliscor, use Tailwind!"

"You know wind and fire make a good combination," Dawn gratefully answered back. "Quilava, let's make use of the breeze. Flamethrower!"

While Gliscor stretched his body, calling upon a strong breeze to filter through the gym, Quilava spat out a jet of flame. Fed by the wind, it fanned out and blazed brighter, stretching out to engulf Electivire and Scizor.

"Geez, these kids are something!" Yas lamented. "Iron Defense!"

Though Scizor was partially spared by coating itself in a layer of iron, Electivire was forced to take the attack in full.

"It's alright, let out the pain with Screech," Kaz assured, not at all ready to take this lying down.

Flexing his arms inward after the attack, Electivire's booming voice rattled both Gliscor and Quilava.

"I think I know who we need to handle first," Dawn said to Ash as Scizor's metallic armor melted away. "Quilava, use Smokescreen on Scizor!"

As Scizor was obscured, Ash caught onto what Dawn meant. "Yeah, I know, too. Gliscor, use Fire Fang on Scizor!" he ordered.

Diving into the smoke, the trainers only knew that Gliscor was successful when the half-machine, half-insectoid yelp of Scizor reached their ears.

"We can play slick, too!" Kaz warned. "Electivire, use Thunderbolt on Quilava!"

A pillar of yellow lightning struck down on Quilava, momentarily stunning the fire type.

"Show 'em you aren't an easy target, Scizor!" Yas encouraged. "Fury Cutter!"

Just like that, Gliscor was knocked out of the Smokescreen cloud. As Scizor stepped forward out of it, it dissipated into the Tailwind.

"Great job!" Yas pumped a fist. "Let's try Swords Dance!"

As the bug type began its intimidating, intense dance, Ash and Dawn shared a look before nodding. They would keep to their previous plan.

"Use Flame Wheel on Scizor!" Dawn ordered.

Knocking into the steel type, Quilava interrupted Scizor's dance with a roaring cartwheel.

"Ain't no divide and conquer, here!" Kaz snarled. "Electivire, teach that Quilava some manners with a Thunder Punch!"

While Electivire knocked Quilava back and onto her side with the blow, both gym leaders were becoming very concerned. With Ash and Dawn's concentrated attacks, it was evident that Scizor would eventually fall. Electivire would have to take out one of the challengers' pokemon first, it seemed.

"If you wanted a taste, all you had to do was ask," Ash assured. "Gliscor, show Electivire your Poison Jab!"

Flying over, the poison type struck Electivire in the arm with his stinger. A feverish hue overtook what little exposed flesh there was on Electivire's face, marking him as poisoned. Gliscor took off after, putting space between himself and the giant.

"No use trying to hit a flying target yet," Kaz mumbled. "And, it's ground type so Thunderbolt won't work either. So, hit the Quilava with Dual Chop again!"

Quilava yelped as she took the two blows back to back from Electivire's tails, hunkering down into the floor.

"Stone Edge!" Ash ordered, making a sweeping motion with his arms.

From under Electivire, a barrage of rocks flew up, jabbing Electivire and forcing it to leave Quilava alone for now.

"Thanks," Dawn said. "Alright, let's try Flamethrower again!"

Quilava stood before spitting out another river of fire, once again swallowing Electivire and Scizor thanks to Gliscor's Tailwind. Said ground type safely flew above the danger.

"Scizor, use Iron Defense!" Yas ordered a little late.

Scizor obeyed all the same, enjoying a bit of relief that Electivire didn't.

As the fires died down, Ash spotted the silver sheen starting to retreat from the bug type. "Now! Gliscor, use Fire Fang!"

Diving down, the ground type sunk its fangs into Scizor, knocking the steel type over.

Dawn realized it was their chance. "Get Gliscor out of the way!" she warned. "Quilava, finish Scizor off with Flame Wheel!"

"You heard her!" Ash was smiling as wide as his battle partner.

As Gliscor took to the air, Quilava ripped over in a flaming circle. The fire type slammed into Scizor, still moving forward and skidding the steel type before her. She stopped just before the end of the field and sent Scizor flying from her momentum. Gliscor's Tailwind was just what they needed for this match!

The referee raised one flag. "Scizor is out of the match!" he announced.

Kaz looked back at Scizor before looking at Yas shrugging apologetically. Shaking his head, he clenched his fists in determination. "Electivire, use Dual Chop on them both!"

Once again, Electivire's tails whipped around, slamming Gliscor down into the ground while sending Quilava skidding into the middle of the battle field.

"We've got 'em on the ropes!" Dawn enthused. "Quilava, use Smokescreen!"

Ash nodded. "Now, Gliscor, get after Electivire with Stone Edge!"

While Electivire roared in pain from within the black smoke cloud as Gliscor's rocks flew in after it one by one, Kaz wasn't giving up.

"Thunderbolt on Quilava!" he ordered. "Then come out with Dual Chop on Gliscor!"

Just as he said it, another bolt of lightning struck down on Quilava, disorienting her for a moment. This gave Electivire the opening he needed to send his tails out of the cloud cover, blindly groping for Gliscor at first. Then, Tailwind carried away the cloud again. Electivire struck out at the ground type…

"Tailwind, just in front of you!" Ash ordered.

But, Gliscor stopped the two tails with just air pressure alone! Though Electivire's dangerous tails pressed against the powerful gail Gliscor summoned, the ground type wasn't giving up.

"Keep it busy!" Dawn commended. "We'll take it out! Quilava, don't let Gliscor down! Use Flame Wheel!"

While Electivire was still trying to hit Gliscor, Quilava raced forward, ramming into the giant in a fiery sphere. Electivire fell back with enough force to shake the gym just a bit.

The referee lifted a different flag. "Electivire has been defeated! The winners are Tom and Dawn!"

Ash and Dawn turned to each other and clapped a quick high five while Gliscor landed beside Quilava, embracing her in a hug. The fire type nuzzled against the ground type to celebrate their victory.

Kaz sighed while Yas scratched the back of his head.

"They're tough," Yas mumbled.

"I can't say I'm ashamed to lose to Tom, though," Kaz said. "Oh yeah! You did good out there, Yas!"

"You think?" Yas answered. "I'm sorry we couldn't do much about those fire type moves. That's what cost us the match."

Kaz waved it off. "It was a two on two match. If we had all been using our full teams, we could have countered the fire type moves, no problem!" He put a hand to his chin. "We should probably work on some of your water pokemon as far as strength goes, huh?"

"Once we have more time," Yas agreed. "Our regular gym teams are good for now. By the way, I think we'll have to try watching your offensive maneuvers during practice soon! They're intense!"

"Your quick thinking with Scizor is what inspired 'em, stupid!" Kaz barked with a clap on Yas's back.

Across the gym, Dawn and Ash were having a similar conversation.

"Sorry we didn't take the Thunderbolts for you," Ash said. "I know Quilava's pretty tough, so I thought it'd be better to use that time to get in attacks."

"I don't think Quilava minds," Dawn said, looking down at the fire type. Sure enough, she just chirped at Ash and Gliscor. "See? Besides, you can take all the hits you want! Her moves were so strong with that Tailwind!" Dawn put her hands on her cheeks, absolutely taken with the strength of it. There were even sparkles in her eyes! "That's not even covering how good Gliscor's Stone Edge is! I can appreciate it a lot more after having been on the receiving end of it!"

Ash laughed, scratching behind Gliscor's ear. "Thanks! We make a great team, huh?"

However, their mutual praise was interrupted by Yas and Kaz watching over.

On the wall, Koda and Max watched their friends get a Union Badge each.

"I bet some of our moves would work good together," Max muttered.

"Most of my pokemon know some status moves," Koda offered. "I guess if I focused on supporting you, we'd do alright, huh?"

"Yeah. We can talk about that over lunch, can't we?" Max said, looking to his traveling partner.

Koda, unable to be completely sincere with Max, merely cocked his head. "As long as you speak plain and not like an egghead, four eyes."

"At least my hair doesn't look like a Stunky's butt!" Max snapped.

Koda crossed his arms. "What's wrong with Stunky?!"

The two were interrupted by a spectacularly dramatic feat by Dawn and Ash. Together with their battling pokemon and their starters, they performed their respective badge getting and ribbon getting poses, smiling at perhaps an unseen audience… Until Max and Koda realized the teens were smiling at the two of them.

"... That's the corniest thing you've ever done!" Max shouted, suddenly embarrassed that he knew either of them.

Koda shook his head, in agreement with Max. "Very uncool."

Miffed, Dawn put her hands on her hips before sticking out her tongue. "At least we got our badges!"

Ash shrugged, cocky smile on his face. "Who's the winner now, Max?"

Before Max could lose his cool, Yas spoke up.

"We're about to head to lunch," he offered. "I know Pikachu likes the ketchup brand most of the restaurants use in Dark City, so let's head out together."

Speaking for the group, Pikachu jumped from Ash's shoulder to Yas's, rubbing cheeks with the gym leader. "Pikaaa!"

* * *

The little cafe was absolutely packed now. With all of the Dark City Gym crew seated inside of it as well as Ash and his friends, it almost felt cramped. The wait staff rushed back and forth, bringing out meals and refilling drinks as quick as they could. Yet, it felt happy. Between the barking laughter and the friendly teasing everyone expressed towards each other, the mood felt light.

But, even if it wasn't, one pokemon in particular wouldn't have cared. Lapping at his bowl of ketchup, the electric mouse was quiet and content. Though his trainer and the rest of the table were still waiting on their food, he was eating happily. "Pika!"

Ash crossed his arms. "What happened to waiting for everyone?" he sniffed, only slightly offended.

Max looked blankly at Ash. "That's funny coming from the lord of the gluttons."

Koda's chin was pressed against the table. "Nah, I'm with Ash. I'm hungry."

"Me, too," Dawn chimed in.

Thankfully, the staff seemed to hear their pleas. With a rush, four plates of hot lunch were placed before them. With only a brief thanks for the meal, the teens and kids began digging in. Well, three fourths of the table did. Max alone slowly ate.

"Ash," he said, speaking up.

"Hm?" the trainer answered, cheeks puffed out with his meal.

"I wanna battle."

Choking down the food, Ash gestured to his lunch. "I'm eating here right now, buddy. How about after?"

Max rolled his eyes. "That's what I meant."

Dawn put down her fork, already seeing the defensiveness brooding in Max's posture. "You've got to be clearer with your words," she said simply.

Koda spoke up, too. "Yeah, you kinda talk in circles. You either get real wordy or assume everyone knows what you mean."

Flustered, Max ignored the commentary outwardly, but he did mull it over. Was that why he and Koda were always having issues? With no offense towards his friend, Koda always seemed just a behind catching up on delicate matters. Max wondered if part of that reason was that the Hoenn native didn't speak plainly.

"Hey, if you don't hurry up and eat, we can't have our battle!" Ash pointed out, still shoveling his own chow into his face.

Max jerked out of his internal inquiry to quickly bite into his food. "Right!" Sometimes, he should just be straightforward and plain, then.

* * *

After a hearty and satisfying meal, just about everyone was full and ready to go.

"Well, we'd better get back to the gym," Yas remarked, standing outside the cafe.

"We wouldn't wanna miss any challengers! I bet we're on the top of our game after a match like ours." Kaz agreed, still smiling wide at the battle that had unfolded not long ago.

"Yeah, I bet!" Ash grinned, raising a hand to wave to the two leaders. "Thanks for the badges!"

"And, thanks for showing us this place!" Dawn added in.

"I'm guessin' we'll see ya back there soon, right, runts?"

"Oh yeah. We'll be back!" Koda challenged.

"And, we're _not_ runts," Max added.

"Well, excuse the hell outta me!" Kaz let out a boisterous laugh. "You can prove that when ya come back and beat us!"

"Hey, you guys can worry about that later," Ash interjected as the two gym leaders turned to leave. "I promised you a battle, didn't I, Max?" He beamed, jerking a thumbs up towards himself.

"You sure did!" Max turned his attention back to Ash, already beaming at the chance for a second battle.

"Then, let's find an open space and get to it!" Dawn chimed in with a wink.

With a little bit of prodding around, a small dirt-filled clearing with enough untouched space for a battle was found, where the two trainers, one from Kanto and one from Hoenn, took their places.

"I guess I'll be the referee here," Dawn volunteered.

"Hey, Koda! Watch and learn! You're about to see a great battle."

No longer feeling the need to feud, the boy nodded. "I'll be waiting!"

"This'll be a one on one battle!" Dawn called out, raising two hands. "When one pokemon faints or their trainer gives up, the other trainer will be the winner! And… Go!"

"You're not the only one who's gotten stronger," Max boasted, tossing a pokeball. "Go, Electabuzz!"

The Electric pokemon appeared in a flash, raising its fist above its head. "Elebubu!"

"An Electabuzz… Not bad! You're bringing up one heck of a team, huh?" A smile picked up on Ash's lips. "If that's the pokemon we're facing, then I'll choose you… Rosa!"

"Rio!" The Emanation pokemon appeared, quickly adopting a defensive stance.

"Huh? Your Riolu still hasn't evolved?" Max raised a brow, a hand resting on his hip.

The remark caused the small pokemon to pout.

"Hey, she'll evolve when she's ready to evolve! Until then, she'll keep kicking butt as she is!" Ash barked back, quick to defend his pokemon. "Rosa, don't worry about that. Get out there and show them what you can do!"

"Riolu~!" Rosa cried, ready to throw fists… Or paws, rather.

Ash wasn't going to deny her that. "Alright, use Force Palm!"

Leaping off her tiny but powerful legs, she attempted her first move with an outstretched paw.

"Not gonna happen. Use Barrier, now!" Max ordered.

Electabuzz raised its burly hands, quickly raising a wall of light in Rosa's way.

The burst of energy crashed into the barrier, only marginally moving Electabuzz.

"Good call," Ash remarked. This battle was about to get a lot tougher.

"We're just getting started. Thunder Punch!"

Electabuzz cried, raising a crackling fist. With that, a punch was thrown at the small pup.

"Dodge it with Detect!"

The fighting type's hues lit up a sky-blue, her combat instincts reaching their peak as the fist dropped down in her direction. Anticipating Electabuzz's movements, she jumped clean out of range.

"Good, now Aura Sphere!" Ash praised, throwing an open hand forward.

Rosa pulled one paw behind her back, quickly pouring energy into a glowing orb. With a yip, she turned her body to throw that arm forward. The Aura Sphere was launched towards her opponent.

Before Max could utter any other command, Electabuzz was bombarded with the explosive attack, letting out a cry of pain. "That's gonna leave a mark… Use Screech!"

Fueled by fury, Electabuzz let out an ear-ringing screech, forcing Rosa to cover her ears.

And, it wasn't just her.

Ash grit his teeth, both of his hands trying to obstruct the sound. "Ah… I hate that attack!"

"Pika, Pika…!" Pikachu had pulled his ears down under his paws, wincing from the assault.

"It's a lot worse when you're actually close to the battle," Dawn complained. What a move!

But, Max had accomplished his goal. Rosa was defenseless. "Good, now use Low Kick!"

The electric type stomped over to the ailing Riolu, sending her reeling with a merciless kick.

"Hang in there!" Ash encouraged, raising a fist in the air. "Hit 'em with Reversal!"

Tumbling through the air, the fighting type neglected to dwell on her sore jaw, managing to land on her feet. Springing off the remarkable extremities, she made a quick return to the battle. Before Electabuzz could process her retaliation, she'd delivered a brutal uppercut.

Still under the relief of Barrier, Electabuzz stumbled back, rubbing his chin.

"Great! Now, keep up that momentum! Use Force Palm!"

Rosa landed once more, this time springing forward for on the offensive. A single paw was jabbed into Electabuzz's chest, followed by an explosive burst of aura.

"Hey, she's gotten a lot stronger!" Max praised. "Too bad she's not getting through Barrier."

"You sure about that?" Ash put on a smug smile, toying with his cap.

"Huh…? Electabuzz!" Max gawked at the hurting pokemon, who was brushing off a small burn mark on his torso. "What happened…? Electabuzz should hardly be taking any damage!"

"Even if it's buffed up, it's not invincible! You oughta be more careful," Ash warned.

"You're the ones who oughta be careful! Electabuzz, Thunderpunch!"

Charging through the remains of the smoke, Electabuzz struck back, hitting the Riolu with an electrified haymaker.

As the pup skidded back, Max pumped a fist. "Now, box her in with Barrier!"

Electabuzz lifted his hands, grunting with effort. "Electaaaabuzz!"

Across the field, Rosa stood, looking around herself with surprise as pink panels popped up, pressing around her.

Ash could already see what Max was up to. Maybe it was a technique known by Hoenn natives? That would explain why Paul used it, too. "Rosa, break through with Aura Sphere! Just focus on one of 'em!"

Steeling herself, the fighting type went through the pitcher wind-up before throwing a ball of spiritual energy at the Barrier that drew ever closer. The one before her shattered, and Rosa made a quick escape as the rest closed in on where she'd been.

"Keep going!" Ash encouraged. "Hit 'em with Force Palm!"

"She'll have to make it worth her while!" Max yelled back. "Electabuzz, Thunder Punch!"

The two met in a fury of force. Though she was smaller, Rosa was quicker and landed her paw solidly into Electabuzz's cheek. Not long after, Electabuzz's massive fist slammed into her side, pushing her off and to the side. While Rosa tumbled to the ground, Electabuzz was sent staggering. Electricity danced off their bodies. They gritted their teeth before locking eyes.

"A double paralysis," Dawn noted in awe.

Max clenched his fists, shoulders sagging. "She's still close, though… Electabuzz! Low Kick!"

Legs trembling, Electabuzz did as told, falling to his hands and kicking out at the nearby fighting type, aiming to knock her off her barely supportive legs.

"Rosa, catch it with Force Palm! Then use Aura Sphere!"

The pup did as told, but barely. Her arms shook, threatening to give way under the force of Electabuzz's kick. But, instead, her paws pulsed a bright blue, blasting Electabuzz away from her.

"Talk about endurance," Max finally whined, growing frustrated. "Electabuzz, Barrier again! Don't let her out!"

Ash nodded. As a multitude of Barriers began surrounding Rosa, he spoke: "She takes after me." Turning his cap around, Ash grew excited. "Rosa! Aura Sphere once more! Mix it with Reversal, this time!"

With her wrists still stinging from exchange of blows earlier, Rosa focused on making yet another Aura Sphere, ignoring the Barriers squeezing around her…

Aura fed into the vengeful attack, spirit fusing with wrath in an orb so intense that it burst. The bright teal flash rocked the battlefield, freeing the Riolu. She soon stood amongst the debris, huffing for breath.

"Force Palm!"

With Electabuzz still reeling a bit from having his grip on the Barriers snatched away with Rosa's escape, he was left wide open to her running up on him, jabbing him with her pulsating paw. Electabuzz slumped on her paw, knees going weak before he finally passed out.

And, as soon as he did, Rosa dropped down to her butt, pushing the electric type off her. _~I'm exhausted!~_ she complained. She had certainly grown a lot in her opinions of battles. She just wanted a rest after them, now.

"That's the match!" Dawn announced. "The winner is Ash."

Max sighed. "Dang… Oh well… Electabuzz, you did really great out there! I guess we'll have watch more matches with moves like Barrier in them, huh?" Though his pokemon didn't answer, Max walked over to ruffle the electric type's fur slightly in praise before returning it.

"You know he can't hear you," Koda teased. "You're such a softie."

"Says the guy who carried his pokemon to the Pokemon Center after they were hurt until they were too big for that."

Koda blushed. "You ain't gotta go runnin' your yap over everything!"

"Goes double for you," Max quipped.

Dawn giggled, glad to see that, despite how confrontational the two boys were, they were actually pretty good friends and did really care about their pokemon.

"Hey, that's nothing to be ashamed of!" Ash interjected. "Your pokemon do a lot for you! It's okay to tell 'em how good they did and do extra stuff for them!"

"Right," Max agreed. "Well, anyway, thanks for the battle."

"Of course! Gotta keep you on your toes if I'm going to see you at the League!"

Empoleon looked over to the horizon before tapping Dawn on her shoulder. "Empo!" he noted.

"Oh, you're right! Ash, we've got to get going before the boat leaves us!"

Ash nodded. "Man, we don't want that! See you, Max, Koda!"

"Bye, guys!" Dawn said before jogging off, Empoleon waddling after her.

As Ash and Pikachu caught up with the Sinnoh natives, Max and Koda waved goodbye. Thankfully, the sun was setting on the bonds of friendship strengthened between Max and Koda.

The evening would perfect, if our heroes could just catch their boat in time!


	47. No one to Blaine

**Sorry for the delay today, everyone! One of the writers broke their ankle today, so there was a delay in putting the chapter up. Enjoy and review, please!**

* * *

The end of their journey by sea was approaching. With the docks in view, our heroes were packed up after spending a night on the boat, ready to set off on Cinnabar Island. The gleaming sun shined down on them… And, their new badges!

Ash turned it over in his hands, looking back at his badge case for Kanto. "I guess I could just toss it in there. Maybe I should get a bigger case? Gary had one that fit ten badges… But, I've had this one for forever!" he whined.

"You could wear it," Dawn said, piping up. She was currently preoccupied with a sewing kit. "I've got some metal glue, so I'm _trying_ to make a necklace right now." As it for emphasis her efforts, she poked her tongue out, pressing the small metal loop extension she had added to the Union Badge. "Those gym leaders didn't have much taste for fashion, but their badge looks nice enough!"

"Wear it?" Ash parroted, looking down at his own badge. "I could! Where, though?"

"You could make it a pin and wear it on your lapel."

"My la-what?"

"Lapel," Dawn repeated, turning to him and tugging on the upper hem of the zipper on his jacket.

Ash frowned. "... That's, like, just below my collar." Brushing her hand off, he considered where else his badge could go. "What about my hat?"

Dawn shrugged. "That'd work."

"Great! … Could… you do that thing you did with the necklace, but turn mine into a pin?"

She giggled. "Sure! Maybe when it's a little less crowded. I'm scared I'm gonna drop my own now," Dawn answered, putting away her things back into her bag. "There's a lot of people here… There wasn't even room for Empoleon."

"Yeah, I wonder why they're all here," Ash went on, putting a hand on his hip.

Pikachu noted the abundance of pokemon with small accessories, or were otherwise very well groomed.

"Well, my bet is that they're coordinators." Dawn shrugged, crossing her arms loosely. "The competition's gonna be insane…"

Sensing the seriousness of Dawn's statement, Pikachu decided to lighten the mood. Though he would usually rope Empoleon into playing with him, the water type was currently in his pokeball. As such, Ash would have to do.

"Pikapi!" the electric type cried, jumping off his trainer's shoulder and hitting the deck. He swished his tail behind him, inviting the teen to play.

Ash pocketed his badge case and loose badge, narrowing his eyes and grinning. "Huuuh? You think you're gonna outsmart me if we play chase, huh?" Leaping forward, Ash grabbed at where Pikachu _used_ to be. The mouse had already darted off! "Haha, I'm gonna get you!"

As Ash and Pikachu darted off, Dawn began walking after them. "How they even move in this crowd is a mystery… Those two are something else."

Of course, that seemed to jinx their efforts.

As Pikachu entered the dining area, he bound off the foodless buffet table. Even if the ship had cleared all the food to prepare for docking, people still filled the area… And, naturally that served as an issue for Ash.

"Ah! Watch out!" he yelled before crashing into a tall redhead.

Both he and the girl fell onto their butts.

"Ow," the girl whined. Rubbing her head, she looked at the one who had run into her… Only to flip out. "Ohmygooooood," she slurred, running her words together. "Not you again!" She quickly stood up, pointing an accusatory finger at Ash. "You're, like, a menace, guy! What's your problem with me?!"

Ash stood up, wrinkling his nose at her. "Ember…? Aw, whatever, I wasn't trying to run into you!"

Suddenly, yet another familiar face stepped up. Dressed fashionably, a teen with proud posture stepped forward. "Tch, only a weak man would assault a girl. What's your deal, loser?"

Hearing that word, Ash balled up a fist, about ready to brawl. "Who's talking, _loser_? I see you lost to my girlfriend a while ago!" And, here he'd thought that Quijote Mancha had changed.

Scoffing, Quijote tossed his head. "I'm certain a scrappy _loser_ like you couldn't get a girlfriend, especially one who could beat me!"

On cue, Dawn entered the dining area. "Ash! There you are! … What's up?" she asked, sensing the tension.

"Ugh, not you, too!" Ember screeched, raising her hands in distress. "Can't I, like, catch a break?! You two make me ill! I can't chill with you around!"

Quijote looked surprised. "You know both of them, Ember?" His surprise turned to shock as he connected a fact. He whirled, looking to Ash again. "Your girlfriend is Dawn?!" He didn't even know she traveled with anyone!

More smug and confident about his relationship than he'd ever been, Ash threw an arm around Dawn's shoulder. Rejoining his trainer, Pikachu sat on Ash's shoulder, shooting a cocky smirk. "You bet. We're what you call a power couple."

Blushing at the display of affection but not at all fighting it, Dawn spoke up. "You never explained why you ran into Ember and Quijote."

"That's because he literally ran into Ember," Quijote said, clearly a bit more respectful towards Dawn because he lost to her.

"On purpose!" Ember spat.

"I did not!" Ash shot back.

"Ember, do you still think we're after you?" Dawn questioned.

"Chyeah! Ever since I wouldn't let your stupid lumox of a Snorlax eat my precious Cherubi."

"A Cherubi does look like food," Quijote reasoned. "I couldn't blame a pokemon for doing that."

"Quijote…!" Ember whined. "I can't believe you could be so cruel!" Dramatically turning away, Ember ran into the crowd.

Ash and Dawn both made faces.

The trainer shook his head. "You'd be okay with that…? Gross, man."

"I knew you were a little harsh, but that's too much… Cherubi's still a pokemon, you know."

"Let's head back to the deck, Dawn…"

"Right, the ship's about to dock on Cinnabar Island, anyway."

As the couple walked away, Quijote was left by himself. His jaw dropped. "... Isn't it natural, though?! A Snorlax has got to eat!" Hearing no response, he pouted. "So this is the thanks I get…!"

* * *

After leaving the docks, Dawn released Empoleon and the four of them - Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, and Empoleon - walked around Cinnabar. The island was bustling. Temporarily set up booth littered the streets, peddling their wares. Dawn spotted her face on several pieces of contest merchandise and felt a burst of pride. Kanto recognized her!

However, as they were trying to make their way to the Pokemon Center, a stadium came up on the road. A billboard before it boasted that the Wallace Cup would be held there in a week's time. Numerous people were crowded before it, taking pictures of each other and their pokemon.

"A whole week… This is gonna be insane! It's so lively here!" Dawn cooed.

"A week… Hm, that's enough time to challenge Blaine here before you get another ribbon!" Ash supposed.

"You're right," Dawn agreed. "Wanna head to the Pokemon Center so we can book for the week?"

"Sounds good," Ash said with a nod.

With that, he led them to where he remembered the Pokemon Center being. As they walked the streets, they found fewer and fewer buildings occupied in this direction. More and more wild pokemon roamed the abandoned streets. Large collections of what Ash assumed was dirt covered everything.

"What happened here…?" Ash wondered, walking up hill. "This path up the volcano used to be happening. Everyone liked the view."

Dawn turned, looking around to see what Ash meant. True enough, the further up the road they went, the fewer trees and buildings blocked the view of the ocean. "Weird."

Eventually, they reached their destination. Or, at least, where it used to be.

Partially caved in on one side with plenty of charring near the caved wall, it took Ash a minute to recognize it as the old Cinnabar Pokemon Center. It looked as if the walls of the volcano had flowed into the building and a couple of others near it!

"Oh no!" Ash shouted.

Dawn was shocked, but was already trying to think of solutions. "It's fine! We can just book a hotel room and buy healing items from the shops."

"No, I needed to talk to Professor Oak!" Ash explained. "I've gotta switch my pokemon around to challenge Blaine!"

Suddenly, some rocks came crumbling down, missing the duo by a hair. Ash and Dawn both looked up, all four of their eyes growing wide; eight, if you counted Pikachu and Empoleon.

There, none other than the region's Champion, Lance stood atop a craggy elevation on the volcano's edge. Leaping down from his perch, he landed on solid ground, followed by his Dragonite. The gentle giant flapped its teal wings, touching the ground with a thud.

"Ash," the champion greeted, navigating his way between the abandoned buildings to get to the teen. "It's been awhile." Finally emerging from the shadows of the destitute alleyway, the Champion Master could be seen under the sun, adorned in an intricate outfit, including a blue suit with orange adornments, and a billowing black cape.

"Lance!" Ash said, excited to see the older man. "Haha, yeah, it has been! How are you? What happened here…?

"That's right. You've been away from Kanto for quite a while, haven't you?" It only made sense that he was out of the know. "Ever since the incident during your battle with Blaine, the volcano's been a little unstable. A while back, it nearly became active, and well…" He gestured to the wreckage before them. The damage spoke for itself. "The area was vacated, and the Indigo League deemed the gym unsafe for matches… Why that wasn't the case to begin with, I'm not sure."

"I guess you heard about what happened all those years ago... "

"Wait, what does Ash have to do with an upset volcano?" Dawn chimed in, tilting her head.

"What else? Team Rocket tried to get their paws on the gym leader's pokemon," Ash scoffed. That whole hassle had nearly cost them their lives… But, then, an apparently equally devastating fact hit him. "...Ah! That means Blaine isn't here anymore! Man, how am I supposed to have my gym match now?"

"He's relocated to the caverns of Seafoam Islands," Lance explained. "His gym is still open."

"Seafoam Islands… Aw, that means we passed him already, doesn't it!?" Ash's shoulders slumped, his face hid away by the front of his cap. "That's just our luck…"

"Hey, it's not like we didn't have important business of our own there, you know." Dawn pouted. As much as Ash wanted his match, he ought to remember the time was well spent.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ash recovered, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess we'll head over there later."

"Oh, where are my manners? Who's your friend here, Ash?" Lance interjected. "Out of all the companions I've seen you with, this one is new to me."

"This is Dawn!" Ash introduced with a grin, before the girl herself took over.

"I'm a coordinator from the Sinnoh region! It's nice to meet you," she beamed.

"Pol!" Her companion squawked.

"And, this is my Empoleon," she explained. Arceus forbid he was left out. "I can't believe I'm meeting a Champion!" That was, aside from Wallace. But, that rank was hardly the first thing that came to mind with the Contest Master.

"I'm just a trainer who guards the Kanto and Johto regions," Lance dismissed the praise. "It's nice to meet you, Dawn and Empoleon. And, I'm sorry about your gym battle, Ash… But, if I recall, haven't you already competed in the Indigo League?"

"I already have the badge," Ash clarified. "Right now, though, I'm challenging all the gyms in the region again to make sure my pokemon are in top shape for this year's league! This time, I'm gonna come out on top."

Speaking of testing himself with battles, though… Ash's bold demeanor began to shrink, his eyes turning up towards the Champion's. "Oh, uh… Speaking of that. I'm sure you're probably really busy," Ash sputtered, suddenly finding himself intimidated. "But, if you have the time, would you be alright with having a match with me?"

"A match? With him?" Dawn's eyes jerked over towards her companion, both growing wide. That was an awfully bold request, wasn't it!?

"A battle between the two of us…?" Lance echoed, his fiery red brows raising.

"Pretty please?" Ash clasped his hands together, even bowing his head. "After all this hard work, I'd really like to see how my pokemon measure up to the strongest trainer around!"

"Hm… Well, I don't see why not." A small smile picked up on the Dragon Master's visage. "I want to know for sure, though. Are you really ready for a battle of that magnitude? There's no shame in admitting that you're not prepared just yet."

"I've never been more sure!" The teen protested, his eyes once again burning with resolve. Looking straight into the eyes of his superior, Ash clenched his fists. "I've been working hard, non-stop, to be ready to win the Pokemon League. If I'm gonna make it, I've gotta be ready to take on anything! ...So, if it's alright with you, I wanna see what I'm made of!"

"Well… If you want a full battle with me, that's a competition you're going to have to win on your own. But, how about a one-on-one? That should be a good enough gauge of both of our abilities."

"Aw, you mean it!?" Ash gushed, his eyes lighting up like the stars above. A smile spread from one end of his face to the next, thrill setting into every bone in his body. "Alright! I'm getting a match with the Champion! How cool is that, Pikachu!?"

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu raised a paw high, his own blood already boiling. How exciting!

"Um, Ash…" Dawn trailed off, resting a hand on his shoulder. She couldn't blame him for his excitement, but he'd be best off making a good impression!

"It's fine, Dawn," Lance dismissed. "Ash has done quite a lot in the past to earn this opportunity. It can't hurt to let him enjoy it." Whether he'd grown or not, in spirit, Ash was still a kid, after all. "But… I'll warn you. Allowing that excitement to control you in battle would be a grave mistake."

"You don't have to worry about me. I'm ready!"

"Let's take to the rocks, then. Behind the volcano. It'd be best if we didn't draw much attention." Particularly with the media crawling around for the Wallace Cup, unnecessary exposure and attention was the last thing he really needed.

"That's fine with me!" Ash chimed in. "Let's get to it!"

* * *

Not before long, an arduous hike amongst cliffsides and rubble lead the group to a cluster of rocks and hardened lava amongst a dirt and sand-ridden battlefield. Lance had made easy leaps, with Ash close behind. Dawn, however, was beginning to grow sore by time she'd sat herself on a rock well out of the battlefield's range. "Ah, man… You'd think there'd be an easier way back here, like a path or something."

"It's the difficulty that allows one solitude in this area," Lance explained. "Now, Ash, are you ready?" Throwing his majestic cape outward with a sweep of his arm, the Champion bellowed to the heavens. "Today, you'll be facing the full might of my closest partner… Dragonite!"

With that, the large, majestic dragon flapped its mighty wings, quickly conjuring winds that nearly compared to a typhoon. Challenging Ash and company with the casual display of strength, Dragonite landed atop a rocky spire before Lance, letting out a loud, high-pitched cry.

Still holding his cap down in the wake of the diminishing winds, Ash grit his teeth. "Man, it's even stronger than before…! I've gotta give this everything I've got."

"Pika-Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu leaned forward, his ears perking up. He was eager to fight!

"Sorry, Pikachu… Maybe when we battle him next time. I already decided what pokemon I'm gonna use… You're okay with that, right?" Ash checked, feeling some degree of guilt.

"Pika…" The mouse sulked. That was disappointing. Still, he nodded. He'd have his chance!

"Thanks, buddy." Ash reached for the brim of his cap, brows furrowed as he flipped the hat back in one dramatic move. "We're coming at you with all we've got…! Charizard, I choose you!"

A pokeball was drawn back, lobbed forward with enough force to bounce off a nearby boulder, bursting into a large pillar of light. It soon took the shape of Charizard, who emerged above the battleground with an earth-shaking cry. Much like Dragonite, his utterance forced those below to brace themselves, and even kicked up a good deal of dust. Peering down below, fierce aqua hues locked onto Dragonite's. Charizard let out a huff of flames.

"Impressive," the Champion remarked. "I hadn't doubted that you'd grown as a trainer, but your Charizard seems to be in prime condition. This battle may prove a challenging one, yet."

"My Charizard's as tough as they come. We'll show you what we can do!" Ash boasted, a smile spread across his lips. He looked up to his teammate, then. "Hey, Charizard! You ready to battle the Champion's ace pokemon? We're gonna have to give it all we've got!"

Another roar, followed by a pillar of flames followed. Charizard perched atop another large boulder, standing opposite of the mythical pokemon. Claws and fangs bared, the fire type could barely restrain his excitement.

"You'll have to, if you want to make this battle worthwhile." Lance threw his arms outward, calling on Ash and his pokemon, "I'm interested, Ash. Show me what you and your Charizard are capable of!"

Ash only grinned widely, stretching an arm out. "Charizard, give us a Flamethrower!"

Charizard hunched forward, his already scalding spirit igniting further. This would be a match to test his limits like no other. Putting that white-hot ambition to use, he spat out a stream of flames.

Lance smiled. Ash was coming out swinging. Lance would just have to bat it away. He raised a hand, cape fluttering to accommodate the movement. "Aqua Tail!"

Whirling around, Dragonite surrounded its tail in a powerful cyclone, firing the cresting jet of water that came off no weaker than a roaring waterfall. The flurry quickly swallowed and overwhelmed Flamethrower, unabated in its pursuit of Charizard.

Without so much as a hint, Charizard flapped his wings, flying to cleanly avoid Aqua Tail.

Which left only one target it in its path.

"Oh, crap…!" Ash's heart sank, eyes wide in terror. He raised an arm over his body, bracing himself for the worst. There wasn't even time to think about using his aura, and even if he did, it wouldn't be nearly strong enough to…

Ash's racing heart and racing thoughts slowed when there was silence. "...Huh?" Slowly brought back to reality by the lack of a bone-breaking impact, the trainer slowly uncovered his face, turning back toward the Champion in silencde awe. Nothing lay before him but a gentle mist, dissipating to each direction beside him. Rather than being on the end of a deadly force, Ash only felt a cool breeze.

He looked up, noticing Dragonite's antenna twitching.

"Control is the greatest measure of strength," Lance quickly explained before turning his attention to Charizard. "Chase him, with Twister!"

Taking off after the more slender dragon, Dragonite's flapping wings summoned up a sapphire whirlwind after it. The wind tunnel followed Charizard, soon trapping the fire type within.

"Now, Hyper Beam!" Lance shouted.

Though the rebellious dragon was obscured within the Twister, Ash called out to him all the same, hands cupped around his mouth. "You've gotta break free, Charizard! Dodge and spin!"

As Dragonite fired its bright, sun-tinted attack with a boom, Charizard let out a booming roar, blowing the cyclone to bits. He was greeted, next, with the terribly powerful attack just moments away.

Acting quickly, Charizard twisted promptly to the side, reluctantly picking up on Ash's spin maneuver to barrel just out of Hyper Beam's range. Even as he could feel the terrible heat radiating off the move, he vaulted around his pursuer to take off towards its source.

With Charizard circling up towards Dragonite, the vigor for a fight was plain in both dragon's eyes.

"Great job!" Ash praised with a grin, punching forward. "Now, use Dragon Tail!"

As the last of the light from Hyper Beam faded away, Dragonite huffed, its body stalled and slowed from the exhausting, all-out attack. Nothing could have prepared it for what came next.

Charizard appeared in a blur of orange and teal, letting out a self-satisfied huff as his teal-coated tail slammed into Dragonite's skull.

Spiraling and plummeting from high above the island, Dragonite crashed into the rocky terrain below, nearly knocking, Ash, Dawn, and Empoleon off their feet in a ground-quivering crash.

"All this power," Dawn cooed, thoroughly impressed by both.

Beside her, Empoleon had tensed, taking it all in. Somehow, he was jealous. Flying types really had it made. "Pol," he scoffed.

"We can't waste any time!" Ash called out. "Flamethrower!" He knew that it would take a moment for Dragonite to recover. Could the Flamethrower reach Dragonite before time was up?

Charizard fired another wave of flames.

"Twister!" The champion ordered, cool and unperturbed.

However, another vortex of dark, draconically manipulated air took all of the fire in, shielding Dragonite. When both moves dissipated, Dragonite was there on the ground, looking up balefully at Charizard.

"Dragon Rush," Lance said crisply.

With a push of those muscular legs and a flap of its wings, Dragonite was propelled into the air, headed straight for Charizard. A vibrant, raging aura of teal surrounded the titan.

"Flamethrower!" Ash tried again.

It was for naught. Instead, a rainbow gleam glistened over Dragonite's scales as it flew up through Charizard's fire. The dragon's Multiscale ability was activated. Thanks to it, Dragonite was unhindered by the meager flames that managed to hurt it, smashing into Charizard without fail.

Charizard was rocked, recoiling in pain as he plummeted several stories towards the ground. Pride won over injury, though, and the Flame pokemon threw out his wings to recover.

"We've gotta fight 'em with what hurts," Ash decided. "Dragon Pulse!"

The fire type roared, a beam of swirling violet and red hues bursting forth from his maw.

This one, Dragonite failed to avoid. A wicked dragon's jaw formed from the thriving energy, crashing down on the fully evolved pokemon in a booming explosion.

"Alright!" Ash cheered. "Now, let's try Dragon Tail again!"

Ready for a brawl, Charizard soared towards Dragonite, tail aglow with draconic energy.

"Aqua Tail," Lance commanded once more, hands on his hip now as he watched with interest.

Spinning, Dragonite felt some resistance when its tail came to slap Charizard down from the sky… But, with a flex of its muscular appendage, Charizard was really and truly thwacked, another wave of water chasing down the fire type as he was once again sent plummeting.

"Charizard, you gotta break out of that!" Ash shouted, fists clenched. This didn't look good.

Irritated, Charizard cried out as the swirling watery trap carried him down further, assaulting him with vigor. Two sets of claws shone from within, slashing at the Aqua Tail with all the strength and terror of a furious fire type. Dual strikes of sharp claws decimated the attack, freeing Charizard.

"That was a close one," Ash exhaled. "Good work! Now, use Slash!"

All that frustration went into a soaring strike, slicing the floating Dragonite in a vicious attack.

Ash had no plans of resting there. "Dragon Tail!"

Lance frowned. "Ambitious." It was rare two physical attacks of that sort were properly chained together. It was something more reminiscent of a contest than an ordinary battle.

Despite the Champion's doubts, though, Charizard had no issue following through. Swinging his lower body around, he struck Dragonite a second time, this time hitting it in the face with a glowing tail. Hurting, the powerful pokemon was knocked back.

"Dragon Pulse!" Ash called, grinning. He could practically feel his knees quivering. This was what a match with the Champion was like… Both pokemon just exuded power, and in their moves, it showed. On top of that, he was holding up with the best of them! Though, part of that, he definitely owed to Charizard.

"Hyper Beam!" Lance threw a hand out. He couldn't allow Ash to keep his momentum.

After a brief charge, the two moves were sent out. They collided, sparking and dancing against each other in a violent frenzy of deathly pale white and arrogantly dark violet. Suddenly, just as the two moves looked to be on the burst of exploding, the white began eating up the purple, racing up the trail originally blazed by Dragon Pulse.

Charizard roared in agony as Hyper Beam blasted him head on. The terrible power of the move exploded against him, sending a jolt of pain through his body.

Falling through the air, the pseudo-dragon needed but a moment to right himself, fighting to keep his eyes open. Then, he looked up, nostrils flared in rage as Dragonite looked down, intense as the sun itself which shined down on all of them.

Much the same, the trainer and the champion locked eyes. It seemed that they had reached an impasse. Charizard was too swift, constantly sending out a multitude of attacks in the time it took Dragonite to set up one. However, Dragonite was just too powerful and too experienced for Charizard to actually be overwhelmed. Not a word needed to be said about it.

"It's so intense…" Dawn trailed off, marveling at both duos; this time, Ash and Lance and particular. "You can tell just by looking that neither of them would ever want to give up." Was that the true might of a Dragon Master? And, Ash, even?

So, it was time to just go for broke, the both of them.

"Flamethrower!"

"Aqua Tail!"

Keeping their distances, the two dragons threw their elements at each other with all the force they could. Jet after jet of flame was expelled from Charizard all while he dodged the watery arcs from Aqua Tail. Similarly, as Dragonite spun to defend itself with its own move, it could only watch as Aqua Tail drenched the Flamethrowers, but continued to miss Charizard.

The match was growing tense and frustrating. Lance was too good for Ash to just beat, but Ash was also too good for Lance to fully overwhelm.

But, luck decided to shine down upon Ash. A stray Flamethrower had gotten past Dragonite's defenses, earning a snarl of pain from the true dragon.

Ash's fist tightened to the point of hurting, a grin picking up in the corner of his mouth. "Finish it, with Dragon Tail!"

"Repel it with Aqua Tail!"

Both pokemon started by keeping their distance, only closing in to make a swift, decisive attack on the other. Charizard let out a mighty howl, twisting his form around to deliver a brutal overhead strike, attacking with all of the draconian energy he could muster.

Dragonite responded in kind, swinging his wider, sturdier tail around in a flurry of twisting currents. Low enough to match Charizard in force, but high enough to guard his body.

In a teeth-rattling boom, the two attacks crashed.

The Flame and Dragon pokemon proved stubborn, exerting plenty of effort before both were overwhelmed, tossed back by a culmination of respectively super-effective attacks.

Both hovered still, each breathing heavily in exhaustion. Charizard huffed up smoke, and Dragonite inhaled and exhaled deeply. Both retained their focus on the other with furrowed brows.

"It feels like this is more than just a friendly match," Dawn trailed off, her eyes on the two sky-high pokemon. "They're being really stubborn… Their pride is on the line."

Lance grimaced. In an extremely rare occurrence, Dragonite was huffing and wheezing. He'd been dealt quite a few scratches and burns to boot. For all of Multiscale's benefits, he had little to show for it. _'Dragonite's sustained quite a lot of damage… We could very well make a mistake soon.'_ Shouting out to his pokemon, Lance threw a cape-adorned arm to the side. "Dragonite! Bring this battle to an end, with Dragon Rush!"

The rather intelligent pokemon nodded, beginning to hover and eye his opponent with the focus of a hawk. Angling himself just so, Dragonite left Charizard wondering as to why it was so particular in the angle it would attack from. Didn't it know Charizard would just brace himself?

Or, at least try.

As boastful as Charizard felt in his mind, when the big orange monster came barrelling into Charizard, it knocked the wind out of the fire type. Taken on the wild ride Dragonite had set up, Charizard didn't know where he was being taken until Dragonite left off at the last minute, letting the momentum of the move carry Charizard on while it lingered back. When the hard, unforgiving side of the volcano slammed against Charizard's back, he understood.

Consciousness fading from him due to his injuries, the fire type let out a weak growl of humiliation before slumping to the side. There he laid upon a ridge on the volcano's side.

"Ah, Charizard!" Ash blurted, his entire face falling in worry.

Dawn jumped to her feet when only Dragonite remained in the air after a moment. "Is Charizard alright?!"

As Dragonite landed at Lance's side, he answered. "Dragonite thinks so. They both beat each other pretty soundly, though."

Ash's ears perked up and he turned away from where he had been trying to puzzle out the angle to return Charizard from. "Both?"

To prove a point, Lance went to touch Dragonite's face. The dragon's antennas slicked back in warning.

"See? He's sore and raw right now. People usually don't battle me with fire types, so he's not enthused to have these burns."

Whooping in glee, Ash yelled up at Charizard. "Did you hear that, big guy?! You crisped Dragonite!"

"Pika Pika!" the electric mouse yelled up, ecstatic for his teammate.

Turning back to Lance, Ash felt pride surging through him even at the loss. It had been that close, then! "It may've been close this time… But I'll give you an even better battle after I win at the conference!" The trainer promised, a fist raised in confidence.

Smiling, Lance returned his Dragonite… Only release to a Dragonite. "I look forward to the day. We'll train hard for it."

Ash sweat dropped upon seeing Dragonite "again." "Uh… You aren't gonna fly away on him, are you? He's hurt pretty bad, right?" Since Charizard was knocked out, surely it would be too much of a strain for Dragonite to fly!

"This one's different," Dawn answered. She pointed to its head. "The anteanae are shorter and a little more curly. Plus, the horn's smaller." She cocked her head. "It's a little fatter, too."

A bit insulted, the Dragonite snorted.

"That's right," Lance agreed. "She's a healthy eater. Plus, she just evolved not to long ago, so she's getting used to not being a skinny little Dragonair." Rubbing under the dragon's chin, Lance tried to soothe her. "Get a good look at the boy, Dragonite. You' might get to battle him with the others."

Looking at Ash and Pikachu, the dragon let out a low whining noise of approval. She would remember him.

"Wait, hold on! What were you doing hangin' around that volcano, anyway?"

"It's… A very trying training location. My dragons only thrive and grow in the harshest of conditions. We train here when we need that sort of climate. Not to mention, there are rarely any onlookers to bother us around here."

"Oh, sorry… I guess we did do that, huh?" Ash apologized, rubbing the back of his head.

"This was a one-time exception." The Dragon Master cracked a smile. "It was great to see you again, Ash. I'm thrilled to know you've come this far. I'm sure you won't disappoint me." With that, Lance turned to the pokemon beside him.

"Alright, girl, let's get out of here and find a Pokemon Center somewhere less crowded." After mounting the flying type, Lance waved to the trainer and his friend. "Goodbye, Ash, Dawn."

"It was nice meet you!" Dawn beamed, waving to the man.

"You can count on me!" Ash chimed similarly, seeing his superior off.

The two watched as Lance soared off into the horizon before looking back at where Charizard lay.

"Do you think I can borrow Togekiss to get up there?" Ash asked.

Dawn nodded, passing Ash the pokeball. In turn, she took ahold of Pikachu for a moment. Speaking to the electric type and her starter, she suddenly realized something. "Well… We've still got to find the new Pokemon Center before it's booked up!" Turning to where Ash and Togekiss were checking on Charizard, Dawn yelled. "Ash, hurry!"

"Pikapi!"

"Empooo!"

"I'm trying!" the boy whined.

From there, naturally, Charizard woke up, and was summarily praised and thanked for his efforts. Satisfied as he was, though, in his challenge, the proud pokemon couldn't help but remain aloof. The attacks Dragonite had dished out… He still felt their impact. He'd rise to that level if his life depended on it.

Charizard's angst didn't go unnoticed. A hand was rested atop the fire type's shoulder. "Charizard… I know you wanted to win. But you fought really well! You even had Lance worried… Can you believe that!? We nearly beat the Champion! You were totally awesome and-"

In the midst of Ash's rambling, he was greeted by a sudden Flamethrower to the face.

"Ash!?" Dawn gasped, only feeling modest relief when Togekiss had soared out of danger.

"Pika, Pika…" Pikachu sighed, shaking his head. There they went again.

"I… Think he agrees with me…" Ash coughed up a puff of smoke. "Look, I know Dragonite was really powerful… Those attacks were incredible… But that just means we'll have to get that much stronger!" Ash encouraged, raising a fist. "Then, we'll beat the Pokemon League!"

Still battered and beaten, Charizard lazily raised his fist, bumping it with Ash's.

On every step of his journey, Ash and his pokemon were confronted with new, difficult challenges that continued to test his mettle. With each wall climbed, he was one step closer to his goal of becoming a Pokemon Master.

"Hey, Ash! We should probably get to the center, right?" Dawn reminded him from below, bringing the young man out of his dramatic musings. "C'mon, last one there's a rotten Exeggcute!" Winking, the coordinator took off with Pikachu in her arms.

"Wha-!? Hey! You can't pull that trick on me!" Pouting, he turned to hold out Charizard's pokeball. "We'll get you fixed up in no time…" With the fire type returned, he turned to his fleeing companion. "...Once I cream Dawn in this race! You guys get back here!" Ash leapt off the ridge in a typical display of athleticism, sprinting to catch up with his companion.

Between Ash's battles and Dawn's contests, namely the Wallace Cup, the duo had plenty of challenges ahead of them. For all of their travels and challenges, this was just the beginning!


	48. Shoot for the Stars

**Great to see everyone who's reading again! We'd love to hear thoughts and feedback from you all, so please review if you get the chance! Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

The Union Badge gleamed from where it had been pinned to Ash's hat. Another copy of the badge hung around Dawn's neck. Said coordinator looked down the hat in her hands, admiring her handy work. "It's ready!" she announced, passing the cap back to Ash.

He took it back, admiring it briefly before smashing it back down onto his head with a grateful grin. "Looks great, Dawn! Thanks for doing that." He stuffed another bite of pancake into his mouth. "It looks…" Another munch. "...Thothally cuhl!"

"No problem!" Looking to Empoleon and Pikachu, who both sat on the table, she suddenly realized the difficult task ahead of her. She had to decide who would be competing in the Wallace Cup! Before, it wasn't a very difficult decision since she had so few pokemon... Now, Dawn had to pick and choose… And they were all pretty good choices!

"Houndoom and Quilava probably wouldn't like all the water, though…" she mumbled aloud, mentally ticking off potential partners.

Ash looked up from his meal to see Dawn brooding while sipping orange juice through a straw. It was a rather funny sight. All the same, he had to ask, "What's up?"

"I'm trying to figure out who to use for the Wallace Cup," she explained. "And, maybe, how many to use…"

Empoleon leaned over, eyeing Dawn intently before chirping a single word: "Empoleon."

She waved him off, smiling. "Well, of course you're going with me! We were together last time, and we'll be together this time, too!"

Assured, the big water type returned to his meal.

Pikachu rested a paw atop his friend's flipper. "Pikaka Pika Pi-kachu! Pikapi Pika Pikachu!" Dawn was close to Empoleon like Ash was close to Pikachu. The two of them would always be with their trainers. Empoleon didn't need to worry about that.

Back with the humans' conversation, Ash vaguely gestured into the air with his fork. "I don't think Mamoswine would like those little platforms much," Ash trailed off. "Having him stand on ice would leave him pretty open for hits and, uh, extra stuff."

"That's true," Dawn agreed. "Well… I think a good limit will be one for an appeal and four for battles. Any more then that, and I think I'd be too overwhelmed! And, since Empoleon's there, I won't use Buneary. Some of their appeal styles overlap." She clapped her hands together. "That just leaves me with Togekiss, Pachirisu, Clefairy, and Absol!"

Chugging back his milk, Ash then raised the empty glass in a salute. "Let's go somewhere to try 'em out then, huh?"

* * *

Walking through the crowded, bustling streets of Cinnabar, our heroes noted the various, temporary booths. One boasted beautiful feather jewelry. Natu feathers were made into a necklace. Wingull feathers were made into a delicate set of earrings. Another had rows and rows of berry juice, all distilled from the merchant's very own Shuckle. There was even one that sold goods meant to help take care of baby pokemon! A Bonsly was sleeping soundly in the merchant's sling, proof of the product's quality.

However, the booth that really caught their attention was a rather plain one. A single man sat inside of it, talking to a number of trainers. Some of the younger ones turned away, meekly looking down at their wallets.

"He's selling technical machines?" Dawn half-asked, cocking her head at the sign. "Aren't those usually in stores…?"

Ash put his hands on his hips. "Normally, yeah. I guess this guy knows coordinators are looking for an edge in a contest. A new move could be just the thing." Turning to Dawn, Ash jerked a thumb towards the neatly organized shelves. "What about it? You think a new move might help you?"

Thinking it over, Dawn considered her team. "You know… Now that I think about it, Togekiss might be due for a new move." She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure what Princess Salvia had her used for, but sometimes it feels a little limiting." The coordinator paused. "Not that it's Togekiss's fault! If a pokemon isn't doing well –"

"Then, it's the trainer's job to help," Ash finished. "No need to worry, Dawn. I know you weren't bad mouthing Togekiss."

Glad she was understood, Dawn supposed a move might be good for Togekiss to learn. She got out her PokeDex, scrolling through the moves that had been recorded for pokemon of her species to know, plus a few within her egg group might be able to pass on. "I don't know her pedigree… So, it's no good trying to see if she forgot an egg move," Dawn supposed. She turned to Empoleon. "Do you see anything that would be good for Togekiss to know?"

Empoleon bent over. He pointed out a few that seemed to have interesting pictures or descriptions.

Dawn nodded. "Yeah… Ash, what do you think?" She turned the PokeDex around. The screen displayed four of the moves that Dawn had narrowed down from Empoleon's suggestions.

Ash hummed before pointing out one in particular. "That one looks cool!"

The coordinator giggled as she spotted which he had picked. "That's an ironic term to use…"

She looked to the merchant's booth. "That's such a big crowd… I guess we should try to get close."

After about five minutes of waiting and squirming in the crowd, Ash and Dawn found themselves at the front counter.

"Hi!" Dawn greeted. "I wanna buy this move!" She showed the guy her Pokedex screen.

The merchant lifted a brow. "That move isn't on any disc in any region."

"What?!" she squeaked.

"Hey, on that topic, how do you teach a pokemon a move with a technical machine?" Ash inquired.

The seller gestured to Dawn's Pokedex. "You can use them like instructional videos. You pokemon will watch and learn. It's very tedious and takes a while, but that produces the best results. However, if you're desperate, you can just load it onto your PokeDex and it will automatically teach it to a pokemon while it's in a pokeball. This method isn't as reliable or impressive, but if you're desperate, it does the job."

"I see," Ash answered, mulling it over.

"So, are you two going to buy anything?" the merchant pressed.

Dawn shrugged. "I wanted that one move… I don't know what to pick now."

"I'd like to buy something, too. But, I'm not sure what you have." The trainer scratched behind his head.

Huffing, the merchant got out a heavy folder. "Here, look through my inventory. When you're ready, I'll get you checked out. Stand to the side, please. Next customer!"

Scurrying to the side of the booth, Dawn and Ash perused the pages. Before long, they each found a move that they thought they might have use for.

"It's a little costly," Dawn murmured.

Ash nodded. "But, it's not like we're buying a lot…" Turning to the merchant, Ash spoke up. "We're ready!"

Walking over, the man noted the machines that the two wanted. "Ah, I have newer versions of these! The old kind were one use, but you can use these over and over if you'd like. One moment." Taking his inventory book back, the man quickly grabbed two cases before turning.

He quickly named his price for each.

With only a bit of wincing, Ash and Dawn paid up.

"Is this your first purchase?" the man asked before giving them their change.

"Yeah," the two said in unison.

"Well, tell me what color you like. I give complimentary TM cases for first purchases."

Clapping her hands together, Dawn got excited. "What colors do you have?"

"I'll take red," Ash supposed, a bit simpler.

Lugging out the box of cases, the merchant handed Ash the red one. "Take your pick," he offered to Dawn.

Squealing in glee, Dawn dug through until she found a hot pink case. "Perfect!" She quickly put her TM safely inside.

"Well, that's that. Thanks!" Ash said, putting his case and the TM inside of it away in his bag.

"Let's get to training, Dawn."

"Coming!" Dawn chimed.

* * *

They finally found a suitable location after a bit of walking. It was under the shadow of the volcano. Dew still clung to the blades of grass as they walked through and it felt cooler here than on the rest of the island.

With a bit of reverence of how secluded this glen felt, Ash and Dawn nodded to each other before releasing the pokemon they intended to work with for the day.

Raising an eager fist to her starter, Dawn smiled at Empoleon. "Let's do our best, huh?" She then turned to the rest of her team. "I've got some ideas for everyone, so please listen!" She clapped her hands together. "Clefairy, I'm going to trust you with the appeal."

The fairy type fluttered into the air, eyes gleaming. "Clefaaaaaairy!"

"Empoleon, Pachirisu, Togekiss, Absol—I'll rely on you for the battles, okay?"

"Empo!" the starter agreed.

"Pa Pa Pa Pachirisu!"

"Toge."

"…"

"But, for this training," Dawn picked up after her team answered her, "Togekiss, I need you to watch my Pokedex for a bit, okay? There's a move I want you to learn."

Taking the offered machine into her feathery appendages, the white, regal pokemon cocked her head. "Toge…?" After a moment, the technical machine that Dawn had already loaded began playing. "Kiss!" Now, Togekiss understood! She should watch and learn.

"Hehe, do your best!" Dawn praised. "Now, Absol, I want you to practice your Razor Wind-Night Slash combination again, okay?"

The dark type nodded.

"Very good. Now, Empoleon, I want you to try a new combination. It's been awhile since you used Drill Peck, but we're going to combine that with Ice Beam!" Dawn explained.

Empoleon tilted his head and put a flipper on his hip. "Empo…" That sounded rather strange, but he would do his best for Dawn.

Kneeling down, Dawn spoke to Pachirisu. "Your move set's a little limited… And, I don't want to end up using you against someone who can get one over on us, so I need to give your Super Fang an edge. We're going to try to combine it with Sweet Kiss, alright?"

"Pachi Pachi!" the squirrel chattered.

Turning to Clefairy, Dawn smiled. "Now, we're going to try Magical Leaf and Moonlight for you! I can't quite trust Metronome… So, we'll be a little limited with the appeal," Dawn said with a laugh.

The pink pokemon seemed a little disappointed, but nodded all the same. "Clefairy!" She would do her best.

Meanwhile, with Ash… Floatzel, Primeape, and Charizard were prime for competition, blood boiling among all three aspiring fighters. Charizard eyed Primeape, remembering his tenacity well. Hopping on his shackled feet, Primeape returned the same glare, feeling just the same about their first meeting.

"Float! Floatzel!" The Sea Weasel barked out, holding a fist up to Charizard. Fangs bared, he insisted on grabbing the large dragon's attention. Story after story had been told on Oak's ranch, while Ash was busy with other pokemon up at … He was more or less known as the strongest among Ash's pokemon, even if some were quicker to admit it than others. That kind of raw strength had Floatzel intrigued. Getting to see how he stacked up against the best of the best was just too tempting an idea.

Eyeing the three, Ash couldn't help but chuckle, resting a hand on his hip. "You really wanna battle Charizard, don't ya, Floatzel… Well, that's only fair. Charizard, Primeape, you guys battled once already, right? Charizard, you can prepare Floatzel for Blaine's fire types! You know he's not gonna take it easy on us."

"Float!" The water type eagerly agreed.

Charizard let out a huff, turning towards his new opponent.

"And, Primeape… Last time, Blaine had a Rhydon, so I know you're ready for that. Besides, with your new Overheat move, you'll be able to spit fire with the best of 'em! So, why don't you train with Rosa a lil' and keep your fighting skills in their _prime_?"

Snorting at his trainer's pun, Primeape nevertheless agreed. Young and undeveloped as she was, the Riolu proved herself to be quite a fun sparring partner at the Grand Prix. He was up to the task!

"Great! Rosa… I choose you!" Ash lightly tossed a pokeball in the palm of his hand, finally throwing it to release the cub.

"Rio~!" She chirped, quick to greet Ash's other pokemon, as well as Dawn's, with a wave.

"Rosa, how would y'like to do some training with Primeape?" Ash questioned, leaning down to rest his palms on his knees.

 _~Y-yeah! That sounds fun!~_ The Emanation pokemon hopped between her two feet, pumping her fists in the air. Turning to her elder, she grinned. _~Let's go, let's go!~_

Giving something of a fond, fatherly look, Ash nodded. "Great. Rosa, you try to keep using Force Palm until you can land a hit on Primeape! Primeape, you keep her from getting any openings. That should give both of you some practice in fighting close-up!" Not that Primeape needed it, but it couldn't hurt to have his reflexes tested.

 _~You got it!~_ Rosa chirped, taking the opportunity to leap at Primeape with an outstretched paw.

The anger-prone pokemon was quick to raise a fist, promptly blocking the attack.

The Riolu pulled back, launching in again to attempt rapid jabs with an open palm, forcing Primeape to put his footwork on display. The latter parried and blocked, stopping each of Rosa's attacks.

"Great. Now, you two, show me what you can do! I wanna see some real power."

Not like he was worried.

Charizard let out a bellowing roar, eager to put his power on display. Particularly after the day before, he was determined to get stronger. Someday, he'd be stronger than that Dragonite… Today, he'd be stronger than Floatzel. A scathing jet of flames jettisoned from his mouth.

Floatzel's eyes widened. Even as the Flamethrower left Charizard's mouth, the heat bristled the water type's fur from several yards away. Ash's pokemon hadn't been kidding around.

"Float!" The water type cried, raising both arms above his head. A glowing, pulsating orb of water charged between Floatzel's paw, radiating with latent power. "...Zel!" He grunted, lobbing the attack in front of him.

Water Pulse collided with the ground below, erupting into a crashing wave that would probably put a Wailord's splash to shame. Ripe with power and vigor, the explosion of water stood right in the way of Flamethrower, taking the full brunt of the heated attack.

Even so, the water expelled evaporated into steam in seconds.

Floatzel gawked, frozen stiff in the moment that his defense was completely distilled. One would think it was pointless, if it weren't for the Flamethrower that could've scalded him otherwise. Scoffing, Floatzel launched off surrounded by a potent Aqua Jet, springing him towards Charizard with ease.

So, this Floatzel wanted to fight head-to-head? That was fine with Charizard. It wasn't as if he'd ever let a type disadvantage scare him before. No, both of his clawed hands were held outward, waiting for impact.

And indeed, it came. A roaring crash between the projectile-turned weasel and Charizard's physical might erupted, the latter digging his talons into the ground below. Floatzel's torrent pushed hard against its target, held only inches away from Charizard's hide by a sustained effort on the fire type's part. The latter grit his teeth, putting a strained effort into holding the latter off.

With a roar, he succeeded. for the second time in a row, Floatzel's water-charged attack dissipated, leaving only a nearby Floazel, still in mid-air, in its wake.

Irritated, but far from giving up, Floatzel sneered. Raising a glowing cyan fist, he struck.

Charizard recoiled, slammed by a chilly fist to the jaw. He could feel ice creeping through his veins before his boiling body temperature chased it away with a hiss. This occurred in little more than the blink of an eye, allowing him to eye a satisfied Floatzel.

He sneered. Swinging an arm around, Charizard struck with all of his terrible, battle-honed fury. Three slashes of glowing, artificially sharpened claws struck the water type with an unforgiving Slash attack.

Tumbling back, Floatzel grounded his feet frantically in an attempt to slow his momentum and regain balance. The cutting, stinging pain was nearly dulled out by the harsh, concussive impact behind Charizard's strike. Were he any less brave, Floatzel would be discouraged.

Instead, he grinned, egging Charizard on with a gesture of his paw.

He was rewarded with a snarl and a vibrant violet stream of energy that rattled its surroundings, charging Buizel with a draconian head heading the attack. Charizard had used Dragon Pulse.

Staring into the multicolored stream, Floatzel was quick to react. Throwing his head forward, he spit out a punishing jet to meet the other projectile head-on. He'd countered with Hydro Pump.

The two attacks collided center-stage, pummeling the clearing with bristling winds and stray bursts of energy and mist. The collective group surrounding Charizard and Floatzel were forced to brace themselves, Ash included. The teen held onto his cap, one eye reflexively shut to keep out the overwhelmingly bright flashes of Dragon Pulse. "Check that out… You guys are really giving it your all, huh?" Beaming with pride, he kept his headgear held secure to keep it from flying off his head.

The debacle was enough to catch the attention of his two fighting types as well, particularly Primeape. To think that was the power he would've been up against… He would've had a hard ti-

"Pri!" He squealed, jolting at a sudden burst of pain in his torso.

He looked down to see a guilty Riolu, who only gave him a cheeky smile, her paw outstretched.

Why, that little… Primeape let out an amused huff, throwing a quick jab. He wouldn't fall for that again.

As much as he wanted to snicker at that sucker punch, Ash didn't want to encourage underhanded tactics. "Keep it up, guys! You're doing great!"

"Ash is doing great, as usual," Dawn noticed, slightly distracted. She was quickly brought back into reality after a stray breeze from Absol's Razor Wind-Night Slash combo whipped past her, stirring her hair. She looked back, spotting Pachirisu's body rippling with electricity as the little squirrel looked for an opening to attack the dark type.

"Sol…" Absol growled.

"Pachi!"

Suddenly, Pachirisu lunged forward, using Super Fang. Dawn watched this intently.

She spoke up just before the hit landed. "Bring in the Sweet Kiss!"

Following through, a flurry of hearts flew from Pachirisu upon biting into Absol's shoulder. While the dark type snarled in pain, she also seemed to momentarily hesitate to return the blow.

Dawn watched intently. Did it work?

Indeed, it did! Absol teetered, looking strangely at Pachirisu on weary legs. After a moment, she fell over, hurting herself.

Pachirisu clapped her little paws in glee. The combination worked!

"We'll call that Sweet Tooth for short, then," Dawn decided. "I should come up with a name for the Razor Wind-Night Slash combination… There's a move called Ominous Wind and that inspired us, so why don't we call this… Haunted Breeze?!"

Even from where she was heaped on the ground, Absol snorted. That sounded like a terrible name.

"… Night Wind, then?" Hearing no opposition, Dawn supposed Absol was fine with it.

Unable to tolerate not being the center of attention, Empoleon ran over just then, tapping Dawn on the shoulder. "Empo!"

Once she turned around, he gestured dramatically to the damage he'd done to the glen across the way. "Empoleon!"

"Whoa!" Dawn yelled, taken back by the sight.

Spiraling out of the targeted rock a bit, a vortex of ice was visible. The rock itself was thoroughly cracked, on the verge of shattering it looked like. The tip of the ice even poked through the back some.

Please with the results, Dawn looked up to Empoleon. "You've been trying very hard, haven't you?" Looking closer, she grew worried. "Your beak! It's all scratched!" Leaning up, Dawn gently touched her starter.

Though he wasn't really hurt, Empoleon wasn't going to miss a chance to bask in Dawn's attention. He sold himself as truly injured, whimpering and whining into her touch. "Empo Empo Empoleon…!"

In the distance, though, Togekiss was still watching the introductory part of her video, not quite ready to practice. She wanted to understand it all before she tried it. Beside her, Clefairy sat, feeling a little disappointed.

Though the pink fairy was trying, the combination Dawn had told her to try just wasn't dazzling! The leaves already glowed on their own so the Moonlight didn't add anything to Magical Leaf. She didn't want to tell Dawn that she didn't like the move to avoid disappointing her trainer, but this wasn't making Clefairy very happy at all.

Back with Ash, the battles still raged on.

"Riooo!" A high-pitched cry rang, both of the pup's paws slamming into Primeape's guarding arms. Twin bursts of aura shone from between the two pokemon, sending Primeape skidding back.

"Prime!" The Pig Monkey huffed, dusting himself off. His arms felt a little numb now, even.

"Looks like you guys are putting in some hard work, too! Getting past Primeape is pretty tough, huh, Rosa?" Ash beamed, crouching down to the pokemon's level, an arm resting atop his knee.

"Rio…" Rosemary's shoulder slumped. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't manage clean hits on Primeape! Aside from that sucker punch earlier, that was… Every move he made, he was just one step ahead of her. It actually stung a little.

"Hey, don't let that get you down!" Ash encouraged, reaching to pet the top of her head. "Remember, Primeape's a top-class fighting champ! He's been at this a lot longer than you've even been around. So he _really_ knows what he's doing. You just have some catching up to do."

Looking to the Pig Monkey, Ash raised a hand to his chin. "...So doing that over and over today is only gonna get you so far. Why don't we try something different and work on your dodging? If I remember right, Detect's kinda limited, so it can't hurt to try to toughen it up, right?"

Putting a paw to her chin, the Riolu nodded. _~O-okay! I'll do my best.~_

...Even if being attacked by Primeape was just a little bit terrifying.

The pokemon's shivering didn't go unnoticed. Ash continued to scratch behind her head, offering a sympathetic smile. "Hey, if you don't wanna do it, that's fine. But, I know you're tough enough to handle it! Primeape may be really powerful, but you're getting there, too! You just have to believe in yourself."

 _~Right… I'll give it my all!~_ Confidence instilled, Rosa raised both of her paws.

"Great." Ash stood then, giving the duo some space. "Then let's get started. Primeape, Close Combat!"

Primeape needn't be told twice. He charged the smaller fighting type, fists at the ready.

"And, Rosa, you use Detect! Hold out for as long as you can manage. If you start to slip, just pull back!"

The pup's ruby eyes quickly took on a bright, light blue. Every intent of Primeape's punch was analyzed, and Rosa ducked under the haymaker, avoiding the first. A second fist came towards her sliding form though, prompting her to spring off her front paws out of Primape's reach.

...And she landed squarely atop Primeape's head, resting on all fours with a toothy grin.

This playful show of acrobatics left Primeape fuming, his signature vein popping up on his forehead. He struck at Rosa from atop her perch with both fists.

...Only to strike himself right in the noggin.

A teary Primeape winced, turning to find a grounded Riolu snickering.

"Hey, looks like you're getting the hang of this! Primeape didn't know what hit him," Ash held a hand over his mouth, doing his best to suppress laughter. The Pig Monkey pokemon would be fine, after all. Ash knew he'd back at it in no time.

A quick kick from Primeape proved him right.

Rosa hopped over the strike, anticipating it just as she did the next punch, swinging on the pokemon's fist before attempting to dodge the next punch.

This time, she wasn't so lucky. Rocked by a ruthless punch to the nose, the Riolu tumbled back.

 _~Ow…~_ She whined, rubbing her little beady nose.

"Ouch. Ya slipped up that time… But hey, sometimes that's gonna happen! That just means you have to try harder," Ash enthused, closing both fists together in front of his chest. The more confidence she picked up, the better!

 _~R-right!~_ Rosa stood, raising her guard once more.

At that point, a roaring flame caught Ash's attention, turning his eyes on Charizard.

A wide sweep of the Flame pokemon's tail conjured up an orange trail of fire that circled towards Floatzel. Moving on with all of Charizard's momentum, it quickly surrounded the Sea Weasel in a tornado of heat.

"Float" The water type hissed, fending off the licking flames that closed in on his body.

He needed a way out of this… Well, it was like his trainer said.

 _The best defense is a good offense!_

"Floatzel!" He cried, his body quickly consuming itself with a jet of water. Twisting into a spin, the water type unleashed a furious Aqua Jet Counter Shield.

And with that, the typhoon blasted Fire Spin to bits. Charizard was next to suffer, blasted by a succession of powerful jets of water. Letting out a roar, the Flame pokemon swatted the remainder of the attack away with his tail.

Floatzel soon emerged from the smoke with a grin. Having repelled Charizard's attack, he felt confident enough to keep up his assault, swinging his dual tails in a pair of twists that unleashed a Sonic Boom.

Charizard was quickly confronted with the waves, crushing them with a duet of two brutal Slash attacks.

He put those attacks to rest… But he wasn't expecting the next assault.

"Float!" Floatzel screeched, slamming into the unaware Charizard's chest with a swift Aqua Jet.

Charizard grit his teeth, attempting to dig his talons into the ground and hold the water type back.

Floatzel persisted, though, pushing through to turn the attack into an uppercut. "Float… Zel!"

Charizard was knocked skyward, tumbling before flapping his wings, letting out a scalding, frustrated huff. Glaring daggers at his grounded opponent, he flew to greater and greater heights.

"Uh… Charizard!?" Ash gazed up at the fire type, lifting the brim of his cap to get a look at him.

All of the commotion soon had Dawn's attention too. "I wonder what he's doing up there? Charizard can't learn anything like Brave Bird, or Sky Attack, can they?" She brushed a bang away from her eye, squinting to better observe the pokemon.

"Not as far as I know," Ash shook his head. Suddenly, though, his heart sank, and he cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey, Charizard! You better not be getting ready to shoot down Flamethrowers from up there! We can't all afford to get toasty like you can!"

He was only answered with a loud, bellowing roar. Charizard then shot down, tucking in his wings to make a quick approach. It was only mere seconds before he was within Floatzel's range, and he was showing no signs of slowing down.

Ash was moments away from panicking. "Charizard!? ... Floatzel, watch out!"

"Float!" Floatzel stood his ground, inflating the large, yellow tube around his body, inhaling just as he took the blow.

Floatzel's eyes nearly lost color, quite literally having the wind knocked out of him.

"Ah! Floatzel!" Ash panicked, sprinting and leaping in the Sea Weasel's path.

Ash, and Floatzel with him, was sent tumbling under the latter's momentum, skidding and turning across the clearing in a thick cloud of dust and dirt.

"Ash! Floatzel!" Dawn cried out in worry, sprinting over to the downed duo.

"Ah…!" Ash hissed, finding himself pinned underneath the water type's weight. But that was the last thing on his mind. "Floatzel… Floatzel, are you okay?" He forced himself to sit up, an arm supporting the water type.

"Float…" The pokemon coughed. That had been a devastating blow if he'd ever felt one. Pushing himself to his feet with shaking paws, he turned to assure his trainer. "Float…!" He raised a paw, insisting that he was fine. He couldn't have his trainer forgetting that he was plenty tough!

"Good to hear," Ash exhaled in relief. He turned to the Flame pokemon then. "Charizard, what's the big idea? I know you like showing off, but you've gotta be more careful."

Charizard averted his gaze, letting out a breath of flames.

"He doesn't look happy," Dawn noted. "Maybe he was trying out some new move, but it didn't work?"

"Maybe… But what kind of move has you flying up high like that?"

"...Hey, I know!" Dawn raised a finger. "Maybe Charizard's trying to use Dragon Rush! Didn't Lance make a big deal of that move the other day? He could be trying to learn it, too!"

"Oh, right! Is that what it's about, Charizard?" Ash looked to his companion.

"Groar!" The large, orange lizard nodded. The power that Dragonite showed off the other day… Even if he was proud of his performance, he couldn't help but feel some degree of shame. If Dragonite could become that strong, then so could he.

"Well, if you wanna learn a powerful new move, you know I'm right behind ya." Ash gave the large pokemon a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "How about you warn us next time, though, huh?"

The pokemon nodded. Though, he couldn't help but respect Floatzel for getting back up.

"Float!" Said pokemon grinned, folding his arms over his chest. He'd be able to handle it next time. Besides, this might make good practice for taking hits from the gym leader that Ash'd hyped up so much.

"Alright, let's give it another try! If you guys work together, Charizard'll pick it up in no time!"

"Roah!"

"Floatzel!"

"You guys keep that up. Rosa? Primeape? How're you guys doing?"

"Pri! Pri!"

 _~We're doin' good! I'm… I'm hanging in there!~_ The Riolu insisted, boasting only a small pattern of scratches and bruises. From the look of things, her pain tolerance had increased quite a bit.

"You sure are!" Ash praised. "Now, let's see… When you guys battled at the P1, didn't Rosa start fighting back against Close Combat? I know you can't use the move yet, but it can't hurt to practice!"

"Primeape!" The Pig Monkey cheered, hoisting up a fist. He was all for making things more competitive.

"Alright. Then Rosa, you go all-out. Primeape, you just try to give her a challenge!"

"Rio!" She cried, throwing a punch at Primeape.

The strike was quickly sidestepped, followed by a punch in return, which the Riolu was forced to duck.

The exchange quickly evolved into a flurry of blows, each fighting type dodging and striking at the other.

"Good job, guys! Keep it up!" Ash grinned, cheering the two on.

"Pika, Pika!" Pikachu waved both of his paws over his head, echoing Ash's support.

Soon enough, Rosa's predictions fell through. A punch landed in her gut, knocking the wind out of the small pokemon.

Leering up at Primeape, she struck back with a kick to the stomach. _~Hiya!~_

The pup's tenacity caught Primeape off-guard, knocking a snort from the pokemon's nostrils.

 _~Eee… Ya!~_ Rosa shrieked, following up with a kick to the nose.

"Ape!" The larger, furry fighting type squealed, holding onto his snout. For the first time in quite a while, his temper flared. Brandishing a fist up high, Primeape snorted. His extremity began to take on a bright orange glow.

"...! Primeape! Take it easy!" Ash sputtered, raising both of his hands. "Don't hit back that hard!"

Alas, it was too late. A shining fist was thrown Rosa's way, knocking the Emanation pokemon square in the jaw. Overwhelmed, she was sent flying before skidding across the grass.

"Rosa!" Ash fretted, quickly running to the tiny pokemon's aid.

The pokemon sat flat on her bottom, whimpering from the counter-attack.

"That had to hurt… Are you alright?" Tough as she was, Primeape was far stronger. Naturally, his instincts couldn't help but act up and worry Ash.

 _~That…. That…~_ Rosa stuttered, wiping at her eyes.

Nervous, Ash and Dawn remained silent.

 _~THAT WAS SO COOL!~_ The cub burst with energy, hopping to her feet.

"...Huh?" Ash blinked.

 _~That wasn't just a punch! It was all shiny, and it went… Wham! And Boom!~_ She prattled on, raising both of her paws in enthusiastic glee.

"Well, at least she's alright…" Ash trailed off, turning to Primeape with his pokedex. "What move _was_ that, anyway?"

 **"Power-Up Punch: A fighting type attack.** **Striking opponents over and over makes the user's fists harder. Hitting a target raises the Attack stat."**

"That's a new one… I don't remember Primeape using that before." Ash scratched his cheek.

"Did you go through all of Primeape's moves?" Dawn pondered, tilting her head.

"Oh! Uh… There were a lot of them, so I kinda forgot some of them," Ash admitted with a nervous laugh.

Which prompted a sigh from Pikachu.

 _~I-it makes you stronger?~_ Rosa piped up, her ruby eyes gleaming. _~I wanna learn it, I wanna learn it!~_

Ash couldn't help but beam with pride. "Well, what do you say, Primeape? You wanna pass on what you learned?"

"Pri! Primeape!" The Pig Monkey pumped a fist in the air. Gesturing for the Emanation pokemon to watch, he let out a series of snorts and squeaks before rearing back his fist. Focusing his vigor into the limb, he allowed his fighting spirit to peak before throwing a shining punch forward.

Rosa imitated his pose, pulling a paw back. _~A-alright… Ha!~_ With some vigor, she punched forward.

"There. Now, just keep it up, and you'll learn it in no time!" Ash encouraged, turning to Dawn. "I guess your training's coming along too, huh… Woah!"

Ash was forced to hold his hat to his head, confronted with the residual power of a violet-tinged cyclone, courtesy of Absol. Letting out a chuckle, he adjusted the headgear. "I'll take that as a yes…!"

"You bet!" Dawn confirmed, a tightly knit smile and glowing eyes showing her enthusiasm. "Everyone's making progress! At this rate we'll be ready for the Wallace Cup, in no time…!" The coordinator winked.

Looking back to her team, though, her smile began to falter.

"Hey, is something the matter, Dawn?" Ash cocked his head to the side.

"...Oh, there's no need to worry! Let's just finish up training so we can get back to the pokemon center and rest!" Dawn quickly dismissed, waving her hands in front of her, the teen's voice cracking.

"Right…" Ash trailed off, skeptical. But he didn't linger. "You heard her, everyone!"

* * *

After a tiring but successful afternoon of training, the entire party returned to the pokemon center. With the sudden influx of trainers, the normal seating style was changed. Take-out boxes were available for those who wanted to eat in the privacy of their rooms, but for everyone else, the seating had been rearranged for maximum capacity, each table surrounded with as many chairs as they could sustain. A projector shone against the center's wall, putting on a showing of _The Fast and the Fury Swipes._ Quiet munching and chattering underscored screeching tires and special effects from the speakers hanging from the ceiling.

"Man, did you see that! Glameow Girl's leaving that guy in the dust!" Ash jeered, taking a large bite into a steamed bun. "If he keeps it up, she's gonna Slash his sorry-"

A young coordinator shushed the boisterous trainer, throwing him a dirty look.

Finally growing wary of his surroundings, Ash reached for the brim of his cap, only to grab at thin air. Lacking his usual means of escape, the trainer sank into his seat, his face a Tamato Berry red. "Sorry."

For Dawn, however, the movie was the last thing on her mind. Absently shoveling the curry-rice dish of the night into her mouth, she couldn't shake Clefairy's lackluster performance during training. Empoleon had led the group with enthusiasm, but Pachirisu and Absol weren't slacking either. Even Togekiss was showing promise with the technical machine move! But, it didn't even seem like Clefairy was interested in her combination.

"Maybe I should try something different," Dawn trailed off.

Ash, oblivious to Dawn's turmoil, nodded. "Yeah, the curry's a little spicy."

"The what?" Dawn blinked.

Ash looked up from where he was helping Rosa to drink from a glass. "That's what you meant, right? I think I saw some loaded potatoes back at the counter. That'd be a little easier on your stomach, I think!" Ash suggested.

 _~I want the potato, instead!~_ Rosa whined, panting from the spices.

Pikachu, who had kept to the pokechow, merely cut his eyes at the puppy. He'd warned her that people food could get a little dicey.

Empoleon seemed to take this as a challenge as he promptly used his metallic flipper to shovel some of Dawn's curry into his mouth.

"Empoleon!" Dawn scolded. "Ugh!" Frustrated and certain she wouldn't be able to think right here, Dawn looked to Rosa. "You wanna go with me to go get something else?"

 _~Yup!~_ the pup agreed before leaping into Dawn's awaiting arms.

As Dawn walked off, Ash chided Empoleon. "You should really ask before taking other people's food. That was kinda rude."

Meanwhile, Dawn flowed with the crowd back to the serving area… Only to spot a familiar face!

"Ciara!" she called out, giddily walking over. "I didn't expect to see you here!"

"Dawn!" The younger girl greeted. "How are you?"

"Mm…" the coordinator mumbled. "I could be doing better, I guess."

"Really? What's up?"

Lifting Rosa higher into her arms, Dawn explained her situation briefly. "I'm trying to get a pokemon ready for the Wallace Cup, but she doesn't seem crazy about the routine."

"Well, what does she want to do?" Ciara inquired.

"... Huh?"

The lavender haired coordinator gestured vaguely towards Dawn. "You said she didn't like what you suggested, right? So, that must mean she wants to do something else. What is it?"

"... I hadn't even asked. Most of the time, my team lets me lead…"

"That's usually how it works. My Ponyta's like that, though. He has a certain special interest and we always have to incorporate that into his appeals or he gets bored during the contest."

Dawn nodded. "Right. I'll ask her what she's interested in, then."

"I better see that it worked out in the contest!" Ciara teased. Her brave demeanor melted away with a sudden realization. "Oh no… I never called my parents! E-Excuse me, Dawn! I've gotta go…!"

The coordinator waved as her younger peer dashed off. "Hehe, poor Ciara…" Dawn turned to Rosa. "Well, let's get you that potato, huh?"

About this time, Ash was half considering eating Dawn's leftovers since it was clear that she wasn't going to touch it, but Empoleon's short bravado didn't last long enough to help him finish off the spicy dish. Just before the trainer broke down, Dawn returned with Rosa in tow.

"You only got one potato?" he asked, thinking back on the fumbled date. She wasn't trying to seem like a light eater in public again, was she?

"It's for Rosa," Dawn quickly explained. "Say, can you hold down the fort? I'm going to go do some training with Clefairy."

"Sure," Ash agreed. "We can stay here and munch for a while, can't we, gang?"

Empoleon, Pikachu, and Rosa all cheered in response.

Smiling and plucking out a certain pokeball from her bag, Dawn waved goodbye. "I'll see you guys tonight!"

* * *

By now, the sun had set. As Dawn made her way back to the little glen she and Ash had been training in earlier, she looked up into the sky. The clouds were covering up the moon, but its light still tried to shine through all the same.

At the edge of the meadow, Dawn stopped. "Clefairy, come on out."

With a click, a pop, and a beam of light, the pink fairy stepped onto the grassy turf beneath the canopy of trees. Looking up, she smiled at Dawn. "Cle!"

Dawn squatted down. "Hey… Today, when we were training, you didn't seem very happy. I got to talking with Ciara - you remember her, right? - and she said I should ask you what you want to do." Dawn held out her hand. "So, what do you want to do, Clefairy?"

Perking up significantly, the young pokemon gasped in joy. Then, she took to the air, fluttering around Dawn. She took the girl's hands, leading her into the clearing.

Then, Clefairy began making long, graceful arcs in the sky. Dawn watched quietly, letting her pokemon show her what made the fairy's heart soar. Soon, though, Dawn noticed the moonlight growing stronger; it wasn't just the clouds moving out of the way. Clefairy was using her own Moonlight attack!

"Beautiful," Dawn whispered.

Clefairy came down again, grabbing Dawn's hands. Catching onto what the small pokemon wanted, the coordinator began twirling with her in the pale light of the moon. Together, the two danced slowly and joyfully.

Soon, little bursts of spiraling, silver energy began raining down around them. They were Moonblast attacks! They were weaker, since Clefairy was distracted by dancing with her trainer, but thanks to the happiness the fairy was feeling right now, she felt like she could fire off so many of them at once!

The two broke apart their dance to watch the many miniature moons that Clefairy had created fall down to the meadow. The sound of them crashing into the grass and rocks was like a dozen bells being chimed all at once.

"I should have known," Dawn finally said after the magic ended. "You love the moon and stars. Of course you want to think of them when you get a chance to show yourself off to people, huh?"

Nodding, Clefairy was very glad Dawn understood her so well.

"We'll work on this to use it in the Wallace Cup, okay?"

"Clefairy!" the pokemon shouted before hugging her trainer.


	49. No Fury Like a Man Scorned

**We'd like to take a moment to thank everyone for the kind and thoughtful reviews! Knowing that everyone here is enjoying the story and putting thought into feedback is part of what really drives us forward and lets us know what readers like to see. Please continue to give feedback and let us know what you think! We hope you enjoy this chapter, too  
**

* * *

The sound of Ciara's quiet, meek voice startled Dawn ever so slightly as she and Ash ate breakfast in the Pokemon Center.

"Dawn!" the fire specialist greeted. "Good morning!"

"Good morning," Dawn said in return. If Ciara ever needed a side gig, she could definitely be a spy or something, what with how quiet she was, Dawn decided. "Wanna sit with us?"

Ciara nodded, pulling out a chair on Dawn's side of the table and sitting down. "Hi, Ash."

The trainer looked up from the pancakes he was cutting up for Empoleon and Pikachu. "Hey, Ciara!" With that, the boy returned to the task at hand.

Turning to her friendly rival, Ciara clasped her hands together. "How did last night go?"

"Last night?" Ash inquired.

"Oh! Remember, I went to practice with Clefairy? I can't give away details," Dawn said with a wink, "since there's competition in the room, but things went well!"

"Aw, well, I wanna see before the Wallace Cup!" Ash insisted, backing off as his and Dawn's starters began eating their share of breakfast. "You and Clefairy came back so late… Empoleon ended up bunking with me and Pikachu, ya know!"

"I know, and I'm still sorry about it." Dawn had to admit, though, the three of them barely fit together on the bed but it was pretty much the most precious sight. She propped her head up on her hands, then. "Tell you what, if you'll dance with me like the last time we had all those Clefairy and Clefable under the moonlight, I'll show you."

Ciara's face flushed at the conversation between Ash and Dawn. She put her hands on the sides of her cheeks, daydreaming. "M-My, that'd make such a nice d-d… date…"

"You think so?" Ash shrugged. "I guess that was our first date then, huh, Dawn?"

The poor lavender haired coordinator squeaked, looking very shocked. She looked between Ash and Dawn, positively red. "S-Sorry to pry, but does this mean you two are… dating?!"

"Oh, yeah, we are!" Dawn clarified with a laugh. "It happened not too long ago, actually! We were in Seafoam and, well… He accepted my feelings when I confessed."

The younger girl was listening in awe, mouth agape and stars practically in her eyes. "So cool…!" She buried her face in her hands, then. "Gosh, you've really got it together, Dawn…!"

"Aw, geez, thanks, Ciara." Dawn couldn't help but feel flattered at her friend's praise.

There was a brief pause when everyone returned to eating. Then, Ciara spoke up again.

"Actually… If it isn't too much trouble, would you two mind coming with me to lunch today? My… my crush is coming into port today… for the Wallace Cup!" Ciara hid her face in her hands again, giggling slightly. "I want to greet him, but I'll be so nervous if it's just the two of us. Plus, he's so cool, I'm sure the two of you would like him…!"

Throwing her arms around the smaller girl, Dawn found herself getting giddy as well. "Oh my gosh, Ciara, of course we will! Won't we, Ash?"

"I won't turn down a good lunch," Ash figured.

"Right! I'll support your romance no matter what!" Dawn promised, nuzzling her face against Ciara's as the girl giggled. Pulling back, Dawn spoke up again. "So, what's he like?"

"I-I wanna keep some of it a secret…" Ciara confessed, barely avoiding mumbling into her hands. "He's… so macho… He moves like a warrior on stage. B-But, he's got this… boyish charm…"

"What's he battle like?" Ash asked, cutting to the chase.

Ciara flushed. "I haven't been lucky enough to battle him myself… We've only met a few times in person."

The trainer nodded. "Hehe, well, if you think he's so great, and you get all impressed by Dawn, I'm sure he's gonna be a good battler! I'll battle him myself for you, so we all know for sure!"

Dawn rolled her eyes before continuing with breakfast. Of course Ash would want to battle the guy.

* * *

The town was still bustling. Despite the crowds, Ash and Dawn were out. Empoleon and Pikachu helped them try to keep an eye out for the little cafe Ciara had told them to meet at.

"Couldn't we have just followed her to it?" Ash asked, hands on his hips as he and Pikachu swiveled to look for the restaurant.

Dawn raised onto her tiptoes, trying to see the shop's sign. "She wanted to go pick him up herself as a surprise for us, remember?"

Suddenly, Empoleon squawked, pointing out their destination. "Empo Empo!"

"Great job, Empoleon!" Dawn praised before the group walked over that way.

Once they walked into the shop, it followed neatly. Ciara spotted them and waved them over. Dawn begrudgingly noted how small the shop was and was forced to return Empoleon. After that, though, she and Ash walked over to sit at the table Ciara was at.

"So," Dawn started. "Where's your… ah, friend?"

Too flushed at the moment to blush any further, Ciara merely laughed nervously. "Oh, he's, um, freshening up right now… Y-You know, because he was on the boat so long!"

Dawn snapped. "That's actually pretty smart. Ash, we should probably freshen up, too! We were out training."

"What? Why? It's not like we were fighting or anything. I mean, our pokemon practice, but I didn't put my hands in the dirt or anything," he argued.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm going to freshen up."

"The bathrooms are just around the corner!" Ciara supplied.

Just as Dawn was about to get up, the mysterious stranger rounded the corner. A stocky, but growing teenager with voluminous chestnut hair and a rounding jaw came into view. Just as he turned towards the crowded eatery, the male halted in his step, dark eyes growing wide at the duo accompanying the first familiar face.

Ash and Dawn halted in kind, both of their hands planting down on the table. Was that 'stranger' seriously who they thought he was!?

An awkward silence overcame the group, each frozen in place as if the entire world wasn't moving around them.

Mustering up all her courage to speak clearly, Ciara tried to carry on her introduction. "D-Dawn, Ash, this is Kenny! Kenny, this Dawn, and her boyfriend, Ash!"

That was all it took to break the silence. The other Sinnoh native's face went from shock and confusion at the sight of the duo, to hurt, and then quickly to fury. "Aw, are you kidding me?!" With no more words than that, Kenny stormed out of the cafe.

"W-What?! K-Kenny?!" Ciara squeaked, panicked and worried. Nearly in tears, she turned to her friends. "W-What j-just happened?!"

Standing up beside Dawn, Ash himself looked rather perturbed. "Heck if I know! Dawn?"

The coordinator crossed her arms, trying to figure out what had Kenny so riled up. "I'm not sure… I mean, we're childhood friends but… He's never been that angry before." She sighed. "I don't know… Ever since we started getting old enough to think about training seriously, he started telling me less and less about his feelings." She shrugged. "I'm not sure what the issue is."

Ciara blinked, taken aback by the new information. "So… You know Kenny that well?"

Dawn could only come back with nervous laughter. "Yeah… We grew up together. We were like siblings, you know?"

"Well, right now, I think we need to find Kenny," Ash butted in.

The girls nodded in agreement. With that, all three left the cafe, plans for lunch long forgotten.

* * *

It was about an hour before the group finally managed to find Kenny. He was sitting on a bench overlooking Cinnabar's port, his back to them. He was leaning forward a bit, seeming to stare at the ground, perhaps even sulking.

Ciara looked over to Ash and Dawn. "Dawn… Maybe you should talk to him first. You know him best, after all."

Dawn wondered if she actually knew him best, what with how strangely he was acting, but she supposed out of the three of them, she was the closest to Kenny. So, nodding, the coordinator walked forward.

Quietly, the bluenette approached her old friend before putting a hand on his shoulder. "Kenny, we were looking everywhere for you! What's wro-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence. Jolting up and whirling around to face her, it was clear that Kenny was probably still upset. The lightest touch of pink rimmed the bottom of his eyes. His brows were furrowed very deeply. Though his fists were balled at his sides and he was glaring at Dawn, she could tell by his posture that he wasn't actually going to fight her. All the same, this was enough of a violent reaction to get her to take a step back, shocked.

"You're so oblivious!" he shouted. He shook for a moment, trying to put his words together. Finally, his shoulders dropped and his head hung. "You've… always been so oblivious." He clutched one arm as if he were cutting himself off from Dawn, guarding himself from her. "I liked you, Dawn…" He looked up, eyes clearly full of hurt. "I've always liked you. I-I was so scared of this happening in Sinnoh… You and Ash were so close…" The chestnut haired boy laughed bitterly then. "But, it happened anyway!"

Blinking, Dawn tried to process what Kenny was saying. "W-What?!"

"You're still so oblivious," he repeated. Having said his piece to Dawn and explained why he was so bothered, the coordinator looked to Ash. "How'd you two even end up together? He's just as bad as you are."

Having held back as long as he felt comfortable with how weird Kenny was acting, Ash finally marched over. No one treated his friends like this, regardless of how hurt they were! "Hey!" Ash snapped, moving to stand between Dawn and Kenny. "You can't take this out on Dawn!"

"You shut up!" Kenny yelled. "You don't have any idea what this feels like! It hurts!"

Having walked over while the two boys were staring each other Dawn, Ciara hesitantly tugged on Kenny's sleeve. The boy calmed upon seeing Ciara, thankfully. She wouldn't make eye contact with him, though. She was crying silently.

"K-Kenny… I'm sorry. T-This was my f-f-f… I messed up. I'm so sorry… I didn't know… And, because I kept secrets and tried to make it a surprise… Y-You got hurt. I'm so sorry, Kenny."

Nothing the hesitance Ciara had at touching him and the desperation she had to regain his approval, Kenny relented. He also made a mental note of the occurrence. He was familiar with the feeling himself. "This wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known."

Ash backed down, noting how gentle Kenny had become with Ciara.

Likewise, Dawn breathed a sigh of relief.

"These things are just difficult," Kenny clarified, putting the youngest coordinator at ease. "So, I'm going to need some time to myself. I'll talk to you back at the Pokemon Center." With that, he backed up from her a bit. Ciara let go of his shirt.

All three of them, Pikachu included, watched quietly as Kenny walked away, quickly exiting the surprisingly secluded seating area. Suddenly, Dawn was very thankful they hadn't caused a scene.

Ash stared after where Kenny had walked off, mulling over the whole scene. He looked back over at Dawn only to see she was hugging Ciara. The younger girl was crying loudly. The bluenette was trying her hardest to console the youth, stroking her back and whispering comforting words to her.

"Hey, Dawn," Ash spoke up.

"Hm?"

"Will you go with Ciara back to the Pokemon Center?"

Thinking about how close Kenny and Ash had come to blows - the closest Dawn had seen Ash get with anyone - she couldn't help but worry the hot-blooded trainer might go try to instigate things again. "Where are you going?"

Fiddling with his cap, the trainer swallowed a lump in his throat. "You, uh… probably weren't the only person I ignored, Dawn. With your feelings, I mean." He looked off. "I wanna think about that for a little bit."

Now, that was unusually insightful for Ash - wherever it had come from. Gawking at the trainer wordlessly, Dawn processed his response. While she herself wasn't the best at picking up on flirtations, she had never known Ash to really sit and consider anyone other than a pokemon's feelings when it came to such delicate matters. "Alright," she agreed. "We'll go back together."

"Thanks."

* * *

A few hours had passed by and Dawn and Ciara had decided to go to a small grocery store near the Pokemon Center. Though Ciara had needed some time to calm down in the privacy of her room there with Dawn comforting her, the effects of skipping lunch were soon felt. That led to the current situation of the two girls browsing the food aisles. Empoleon walked behind them, ready to help them reach a particularly heavy item or something off a high shelf.

"Oh, Cosmic Power Brownies!" Dawn cheered, grabbing the box of snacks. "Do you like these, Ciara?"

"I actually prefer the Nanab Marshmallow Pies…" She confessed. "Shouldn't we get something healthy to eat, though…?"

Dawn waved the girl off, tossing the snacks in the cart she was pushing. "After you cry, it's fine to eat all the sweets you want."

"B-But… You weren't the one crying."

Point taken, Dawn huffed before looking further down the aisle. "We'll go to the deli to pick up some sandwiches and maybe a salad. How about that?"

"That's perfect," Ciara enthused.

With that, the two girls headed away from the snack foods.

The peaceful lull between them was interrupted as Ciara got to thinking about why she was crying in the first place.

"Dawn… Are you really okay with me liking Kenny? I mean… He likes you," the youth gently asked, fretting and wringing her hands.

Looking down at the smaller girl, Dawn could only smile gently. "I like Ash, and he likes me." That should be enough of an answer, but thinking about it, Dawn found herself sticking out her tongue and making a rather displeased face. "Ew, plus, like, Kenny's like my brother! I can't think of him as a boyfriend…! We knew each other when we still couldn't wipe ourselves! … Sorry, that's probably too much info, huh?"

"A little," Ciara agreed. All the same, the girl was pretty relieved. Dawn wasn't upset with her like Ciara was worried she would be. It was a strange fear, but with how shy and nervous Ciara always was, she couldn't help but get anxious over a friend being angry with her. It was bad enough that Kenny might not be interested in her; Ciara didn't want to lose Dawn's friendship over this.

Thinking about her relationship with Kenny, Dawn spoke up again. "Hey, make sure he respects you. I didn't know what to do about it because I didn't think about it, but back when I was in Sinnoh, Kenny was kind of… mean to me. I guess he was just confused, but I should have put my foot down sometimes."

The purple haired coordinator blanched. "No way! Kenny's such a gentleman with me. I can't imagine that he was ever mean or rude…!"

"Hm… I guess being around Jasmine was good for him, then," Dawn wondered.

Ciara hummed in agreement. "Y-Yes! He said Jasmine was very strong and taught him lots…!"

Soon, the girls reached the deli and fresh produce section. They browsed around before settling on some packaged salads for themselves and getting in line for the deli counter.

"I-If it's not too much to keep asking… If… you two are both as oblivious as Kenny seemed to think, how did you two get together…?" Ciara asked, looking up at Dawn.

Dawn blushed, looking off. "You know, I couldn't really be mad at Kenny for being jealous, because that's what it took for me to realize I liked Ash. We met Ash's old friend Misty, and they had, er, have a certain… chemistry. I mean, like, Misty was over him by that point, so she kind of treated me like I'm treating you now? She wanted me to go for it, haha." Dawn scratched the back of her head. "So, I'll do the same as her! I'll wish you luck."

Ciara smiled warmly. "Thank you, Dawn! But… How did you two get together?"

"Oh! Well, you know, back on Seafoam, we, uh, watched a sunset together… This Slowpoke was fishing for Shelder. It caught one. It was magnificent." Dawn stared ahead, smiling. She was remembering the scene vividly. Ash had been so stupid at first, but it was completely and utterly worth it. "I told him I wanted us to be like that Shelder and the Slowpoke - get stronger together. He understood that."

The younger girl giggled behind her hands, bouncing on her heels. "That sounds so cute! Very romantic, Dawn."

She was sure glad Ciara thought so, because that evening hadn't exactly been easy on the two of them. But, Ciara didn't need to know that.

Speaking of the two of them, Dawn suddenly realized there would be two more hungry mouths to feed. "Oh, dang, Ash and Kenny haven't eaten!" An idea struck her. Dawn grinned down at Ciara, plotting already. "Say… Ciara, why don't you pick out something for Kenny to eat, huh? I'm gonna decide on what to get Ash."

Picking up on Dawn's implication, Ciara blushed. She fiddled with her skirt. "T-That's alright for a girlfriend to do for her boyfriend, but would Kenny be okay with me just… C-Choosing things for him like that?!"

The older girl waved off Ciara's concerns. "It'll be fine; you're just showing him that you care." Looking up at the menu, Dawn shrugged. "I guess I should order number eight for Ash."

"... Dawn, that's a family lunch…!"

"Trust me, he'll eat it all."

Taking Dawn's lead, Ciara looked at the menu. She smiled upon seeing one particular meal combination. Maybe Kenny would like that?

Still aflutter at the thought of doing something like this for her crush, the lavender haired girl hid her face in her hands again, giggling. "Gosh…"

* * *

After a long walk with Pikachu, Ash felt certain of his feelings, motivations, and influences. Some of them he hadn't really thought about in years. It had been unfair to push people away as he had done, but he couldn't beat himself up over it. He knew better now. He could act on it better now.

"Thanks for listening, buddy," he gratefully said to his companion pokemon as the duo entered the Pokemon Center.

"Chu," Pikachu earnestly answered, happy to lend an ear to his trainer.

Just as the two were about to pass the nurse's station and head back to their room, they spotted the catalyst of Ash's emotional growth for the day.

The two boy's eyes met. Ash paused mid-step and Kenny froze from where he was gathering his pokeballs off the tray the nurse had left for him.

The moment ended with Kenny frowning, snatching up the rest of his pokeballs and turning his back on Ash very quickly.

"Hey! Wait!" the trainer shouted, jogging over to catch up with the coordinator.

Standing in front of the brunette, Ash spoke again. "I wanna talk to you!"

Kenny narrowed his eyes in disbelief. "What do you want?" There wasn't anything Ash had to say that Kenny figured he wanted to hear. "I'm not your rival," he snarled, "I'm not even a close friend or anything. So, what do you want?"

Caught off-guard, Ash winced. He thought he and Kenny were rather close. Was the shorter boy really going to throw the friendship they'd built up over the course of Ash's journey in Sinnoh over a girl? Sure, the girl was Dawn and she was magnificent, but did that mean they couldn't be friends? "Kenny, don't be like that. I know how you felt, buddy."

That set the shorter boy off. He was moments from shouting in Ash's face before peering at his surroundings. He let out a huff, crossing his arms over his chest.. "I don't think you do, but go on."

Scratching the back of his head, the trainer gestured with a tilt of his head towards the stairs. "I kinda wanna talk about this in private."

"There's balconies on the second floor," Kenny curtly suggested. "I'm sure there's an empty one. We can chat there."

* * *

The sun was edging towards the horizon when they walked out to the balcony, but orange light wasn't yet filtering their world. Kenny at once leaned against the wall near the door while Ash rested his weight against the railing, where Pikachu stood. A heavy silence rested between the two. They didn't make eye contact.

Crossing his arms, the trainer looked off. "I, uh, wasn't being oblivious. Before, I mean." He looked up. "I think I was ignoring romance."

Confused by this revelation, Kenny's nose crinkled while he narrowed his eyes. "What? Why?" he scoffed.

"You ever heard of the fourth Sensational Sister of the Cerulean Gym?"

The coordinator nodded. "Yeah. I took a train from Johto to Kanto a few months ago as a little reward. She was there, managing the pokemon during one of the underwater plays."

"I used to travel with her." He finally looked up, making eye contact with Kenny. "There was… Well, dammit, there was something there!" He grew frustrated, scratching the back of his head before shoving his hands in his pockets. "I don't know what it was. I mean, I think we liked each other? We didn't do anything about it, though. Then, we split up and it just - it bothered me! So, I didn't wanna think about it and I did pretty good job not thinking about it for a long time."

Snorting at the end of his own spiel, Ash looked at the ground, kicking at the air absently. "So, don't go running your mouth like that anymore, alright? I know what it's like. Stop thinking no one's on your side."

After a brief pause of waiting for Ash to continue, Kenny sighed. "I guess that's what Brock was trying to protect me from when he told me to go for broke with love." He clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "As much as I'm not crazy about what happened, I guess it'll be okay, huh? I tried to make myself understood and I don't have any regrets about what I did. I tried to approach her."

Rolling his eyes, Ash tried to lighten the mood again. He wasn't the biggest fan of dwelling on negative feelings. "Yeah, yeah, we all benefit from my screw-ups. Wish Brock could have warned me, too."

Laughing a bit at Ash's humor, the coordinator walked over, putting a slight distance between the two boys but looking out over the city. "So, what happens now? I'm not mad anymore. I actually wasn't for the most part when you spotted me down stairs. My pride and feelings are hurt, yeah, but give me a little bit and I can be happy for you and Dee Dee. I'll move on."

"Well, first, you should probably stop calling Dawn Dee Dee. She hates that name." Reaching over to ruffle the shorter boy's hair, Ash put on a cocky grin. "And, second: give me a rematch. A real rematch. I thought about it while I was thinkin' 'bout Misty, and you just battled me way back in Sinnoh just because you wanted Dawn's attention, didn't you?"

"Yeah… Just her attention," Kenny mumbled, knowing his intention to make Dawn travel with him hadn't been the noblest thing he'd ever done.

"So, let's go for it! Floatzel deserves a good match against Empoleon! Plus, it'll be fun and then we can be friends again! Nothing like a good battle to clear the air!" Ash encouraged.

"You know what? You're right!" Kenny agreed, pushing himself off the railing. "I'd like that a lot."

"Heh." Walking towards the door after allowing his partner to mount his shoulder, Ash kept his chin high… Before making a mad dash. "Last one out the door is a rotten Exeggcute!"

"W-What?! Ash, you dirty cheater!" Kenny yelled before bounding after.

Despite this, the two of them laughing could be heard down the stairs.

* * *

"You cheater…!" A growing, broad-shouldered brunette growled in the midst of a huff as he rushed down railed stairs, the smile spreading on his cheeks betraying him.

"You're only saying that 'cause you're losing," Ash quipped through a grin, forcing himself to a halt when he found the center to be a bit more crowded than he'd remembered. Skidding to a stop, Pikachu only barely managing to cling to his collar, Ash pulled down the brim of his cap, heat raising in his cheeks at the few dirty looks he got. Maybe he was getting to the age where that behavior was less tolerated.

Kenny's playful beaming turned to a mischievous, self-satisfied smile. While Ash had gotten the jump on him in speed, Kenny got to keep his integrity as he strolled through the center, unnoticed by the cluster of trainers and their pokemon in the lobby. While Ash dragged his feet in shame, Kenny had kept his self-respect. So, who was the real winner here?

"Smooth," the coordinator prodded after they both passed through the sliding glass doors.

"Shut up," was all Ash had to say. When he finally lifted his gaze from the ground, though, his slump dissipated quickly. A collection of marked battlefields lay parallel to the next outside of the Pokemon Center, making full use of the grassless patches of land that peppered the island.

A majority of them were taken, occupied by pairs of trainers who competed and practiced appeals, giving any onlooker quite the sneak preview of the Wallace Cup. Flames spat in attempts at coordinated, beautiful patterns, pairs of quadruped pokemon attempting to gracefully trounce one another, and flashes of lightning and ice preluding what would soon become appeals and battle round performances. The lack of flashy outfit's characteristic of Sinnoh's Super Contests made it a bit harder to tell, but the island was clearly crowded with coordinators attempting to make a name for themselves.

"Never mind that," Ash dismissed his embarrassment, beaming at all the activity. "Look at all these coordinators! Looks like you've got some serious competition." He looked to Kenny.

"Look, if you're trying to psyche me out…"

"You kidding? I'm kind of jealous! You'll get to test yourself against all these different opponents… I gotta wait a couple more months for my chance." He jerked a thumb towards one of the few open fields. "C'mon. I'm sure our match'll get you pumped for the big event!"

"I'll make sure Empoleon's ready to wipe the floor with everyone else!" Kenny boasted, rushing to his box on the field before casually tossing one of his pokeballs towards the ground before him.

A flash was spat from the ball, soon taking the regal form of Empoleon, himself. Upon spotting Ash, the creature cawed in greeting. "Empol!" He crouched with his wings hovering outward, his well-polished crown glimmering under the bright noontime sun.

"Good to see you, Empoleon!" Ash greeted, quickly gripping a sphere of his own to toss.

"Floatzel, you're up!"

The grown Sea Weasel crossed his arms over his chest in typical tough-guy fashion, eyeing the opposite water type like a hawk. "Float!" A toothy grin formed. He definitely remembered this guy… It was time for a rematch with a very different result.

"Pol…" The emperor's pitch-black eyes glimmered. If this was the same Buizel he'd faced in the past… well, that was something of a comfortable win, but not only had he evolved, but he looked more experienced. This would probably end up being an actual challenge. A perfect way to start the Wallace Cup off.

"Alright, time for round two!" Ash grinned, throwing a finger forward. "Floatzel, Aqua jet!"

A torrent exploded around the mammal, launching his body with a grunt towards Empoleon in a missile of raging water.

"Nice try," Kenny quipped with confidence. "Stop it in its tracks with Grass Knot!"

Before an exclamation of shock could even leave Ash's lips, two glowing, vibrant green roots shot out of the ground, quickly ensnaring and capturing Floatzel. The water veil burst and dissipated, leaving the water type helpless.

Or, so Kenny would like to believe.

"Grass Knot…! That's a new one." Ash grinned, a toothy smile picking up in the corner of his mouth. "But, it's not enough to stop us! Break out of that with Ice Punch!" He raised a fist.

"Float…!" Floatzel raised an arm, his paw quickly glowing with chilling energy.

Kenny frowned. "You're not getting away with that. Empoleon, Drill Peck!"

Empoleon twisted his burly form, launching at Floatzel like a spinning top.

"Zel!" A swing of the frosted limb snapped through the roots like a Scyther's blade and a brittle branch. By time the frosted plant began to descend, though, Floatzel found himself face-to-face with the spinning drill, ready to do him in.

"They've gotten fast… Brick Break!" Ash ordered.

Gravity hadn't reeled him in yet. The suspended Floatzel raised both of his paws over his head, canines glimmering as fighting spirit was packed into both of his paws. A twist of his hips just eluded the fierce drill. Floatzel took this opportunity to cry out, swinging both of his shining limbs down upon Empoleon in an axe handle.

The ground broke and tremored in a show of brutality not quite characteristic of contest battles. Floatzel distanced himself from the dusty debris, grinning at his success. Nice try, Happy Feet.

Kenny scowled, his thumb digging into his palm. "Hydro Cannon!"

The dirt began to disperse, what remained illuminated by a large, teal orb before Empoleon's beak. The proud pokemon cawed with one steely flipper supporting him, firing the blast.

Ash's heart began to pound at the sight of the most powerful known water type move. But he had to keep his cool. Brows furrowing, he threw his arm up to point towards the sky. "Dodge, with Aqua Jet!"

Floatzel launched off, ribboning around the watery blast to escape it above.

"Now they're trapped… Keep up that Aqua Jet!"

Already airborne, Floatzel peaked, turning into a straight dive towards Empoleon.

Huffing and low on energy, Empoleon was struck. Skidding back, he dragged his wings across the dirt with grace that did even his vulnerable position justice. That Hydro Cannon had been tiring, but if a single Aqua Jet was the price, he'd be fine to carry on.

This upset was beginning to wear on Kenny's pride. Just how strong was Ash? "I've gotta admit, you've gotten stronger. Let's see just how much you can handle! Flash Cannon!"

"Pol!" Empoleon shrieked, firing a silver burst of energy from his beak.

Ash's fist closed. Floatzel was just landing and that was coming in fast. "Sonic Boom!"

Floatzel didn't miss a beat, landing on one foot to twist his hips, launching a sound wave from his tails. "Zel!"

The projectile collided with Flash Cannon, causing the lustrous blast to splash and slow, but it continued on its path, stubborn to run down the water type.

"More Sonic Boom! Stop that attack!" Ash encouraged.

"Zel! Zel! Zel!" Floatzel continued to spin, launching one wave after the next, cutting into the Flash Cannon. The attack soon began to splinter and lost its momentum completely, dissipating.

Kenny's canines bared. How hard could it be to beat this guy? "Grass Knot!"

"Aqua Jet!"

Another pair of vibrant roots shot up, only to claw and reach for their target in vain. By time they surfaced and struck, the watery jet was well above ground, shooting towards Empoleon.

"Now, time for our signature… Let's make this an Ice Aqua Jet, with Ice Punch!"

"Float!" The soaring pokemon chanted, raising a fist inside his jet, covering it in an icy glow. With that, he spun, pulling a swirling trail of frost through the current. What had just been an Aqua Jet had turned into a spiraling drill of ice, spinning towards Empoleon.

"Now he can make Ice Aqua Jet on his own!?" Kenny gawked, nearly seething with jealousy. Though, this time, it was over skills, rather than the bluenette they both knew well. "That's too risky. Empoleon, stop it with Drill Peck!"

Empoleon mirrored his opponent, launching at Floatzel like a spear-tipped, spinning top.

Both trainers kept their eyes locked on the spectacle, hearts skipping a beat when their pokemon collided.

Over everything else, shattered ice could be heard in an ear-ringing crash. Floatzel and Empoleon hovered above, their momentum cancelled. Their narrowed eyes met, looks of competitive fury challenging one another.

This was their chance, Kenny figured, watching them from below. "Hydro Cannon!"

Empoleon grinned before parting his beak wide, gathering power.

"Brick Break!" Ash shouted, motioning an uppercut.

"Float…" The Sea Weasel streamlined his body, diving at the attacking Empoleon. The shining, teal orb in the penguin's mouth made his heart jump. "Zel!" He ducked, throwing a fist forward.

One pokemon's focus was shattered, his resolve breaking.

A terrible, breathtaking pain knocked all of the oxygen from Empoleon's lungs, his pupils shrinking to the size of pin points. He squawked a painful squawk, bested by a punch to the abdomen. The punch even followed through, knocking him upward before gravity took over.

Soon enough, Empoleon hit the ground.

"...! Empoleon!" The chestnut-haired coordinator panicked, leaning forward to peer at his pokemon. He was disappointed to find that, unsurprisingly, there were swirls in his eyes.

Floatzel landed on his hind legs, huffing, his pride sated.

* * *

"Dang," Kenny said, shaking his head. He looked up at Ash after, smiling. "Congrats."

"Thanks!" Ash enthusiastically said back. "Floatzel, you really ruled out there!"

"Flo," the orange pokemon responded, swishing his tails proudly.

At that time, both boys heard clapping. They looked over, spotting Ciara and Dawn both standing on the sidelines. Dawn was, as typical of her, much more enthusiastic about it, clapping wildly and hooting while she was at it. Ciara, on the other hand, did something akin to a golf clap.

"Haha, you guys saw that?" Kenny asked with a chuckle. After the girls nodded, he looked to Ash. "Well… At least I got some ideas out of the match. I've been wanting to teach my Floatzel that Ice Aqua Jet move of yours since I saw it back in Sinnoh. Seeing it again might help…"

Ash, grinning, put his hands behind his head. "Huh? You gonna steal my moves, Kenny?" He laughed then. "Nah, it's fine if you do!" The trainer was then distracted. "Mm… What's that smell?"

Dawn picked up one of the bags she'd left on the bench behind herself and Ciara. "We brought dinner!"

"Dinner?! Oh boy!" Ash at once picked up Floatzel and ran off the field. The shocked pokemon needed a moment to process the fact he was being carried like luggage. The dash didn't stop there. Dawn let out a yelp, too, as Ash picked her up by the waist, making a beeline for the nearest table he saw.

"... Wow," Kenny said after that affair.

Ciara, realizing this was her chance, picked up the box of food she'd picked out for Kenny. She walked over, shyly holding it before her. "H-Here. I picked this up for you."

The older coordinator's eyes widened but he accepted it. "Oh! Thanks." After a brief moment of opening the box and realizing the food was actually pretty good looking, Kenny looked back to Ciara. "Hey, wanna help me eat this? Just the two of us?"

Blushing, the dark skinned girl shook her head. "A-Ah, I'm already full!"

"Well… I'm not quite ready to hang out with Dawn yet," Kenny confessed. "So, will you keep me company?"

Fiddling with her hands before nodding, Ciara meekly followed after Kenny.

Across the way, Dawn couldn't help but smile as she watched. "Aw, I'm so happy for Ciara."

Putting down the cup of mashed potatoes he'd polished off already, Ash burped before wiping his mouth. "What's up?"

"They're eating alone. Er, Kenny's eating with Ciara." Turning to Ash, Dawn tilted her head. "What did you two even talk about?"

Ash chuckled, holding a sandwich in one hand. "Um, well… Romance."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Huh," she tutted, crossing her legs and leaning on her hands. "Never would have expected that. I figured that you two would have just battled and made up."

"Well, that's a part of why we did battle-to get rid of any bad feelings."

"I wonder if Kenny'll be okay…"

Ash nodded, taking a huge bite out of his sandwich. "Kenny'll be fine. He just needs time."

"I hope you're right," Dawn mused, her vision turning to the large structure that would serve as the home of the Wallace Cup. Even from another part of the island, it was impressive. "I'd hate for him to feel less than his best for a contest like this. Especially if it was my fault."

"Hey, he'll be ready by then." Ash laid a gloved hand upon the girl's shoulder, a wide smile brimming with confidence. With a fist raised, he continued. "No need to worry, right?"

Her lips creased upward, the urge to roll her eyes fondly too strong to resist. "There you go again, using my catchphrase."

"Only because it's true."

"Right… No need to worry!" Ash's enthusiasm was contagious. Dawn's eyes homed in on the building once more, blue brows knit and a smirk picking up on her glossed lips. "Once we get in there… May the best coordinator win!"


	50. Starting with a Splash!

**Thanks everyone, for tuning in for our 50th chapter! We appreciate your attention and feedback tons, and would love to hear what you think of this update! Unfortunately, real life events have made writing a little difficult, so chapter updates might be a bit sporadic compared to our usual schedule. Not to worry, though, the story's still being written and the uploads will still continue! We hope you enjoy what we have in store.**

* * *

The day of the Wallace Cup had finally arrived. With triumphant fanfare and streamers abound, the city was alive with celebration. Dawn and Ash walked among the crowd of contestants headed into the stadium that would serve as the battle grounds for today's contest. The crowd was amassed behind Wallace. Whoops and cheers for the Contest Master made Ash swear he was going to go deaf.

As Pikachu stood atop Ash's head, trying to keep a good eye out on everything that was happening, Ash grabbed Dawn's hand.

"You ready?" he double checked.

Dawn nodded, catching a glimpse of Ciara and Kenny walking together out of the corner of her eye. "I am." She grinned upon seeing Ciara duck and blush at something Kenny had said, the boy laughing at her reaction.

"A lot of people from your other contests are here," Ash noted, pointing blatantly at Quixote who was marching a few paces ahead of them.

Dawn looked out for Ember since she seemed to trail behind the guy, but didn't see the girl. "I wonder who's gonna show up."

Soon, they were entering the arena. A gaggle of Nurse Joys-some rather young looking, reserves perhaps?-stood there, ready to register everyone for the Wallace Cup. Dawn spotted Larkspur among the crowd and felt a little comforted. That little fellow had done his best before.

"Well, I guess this is it." Ash patted Empoleon on his chest before giving Dawn a thumbs up. "I'll try to get a seat up close, okay? Do your best!"

"No need to worry!" Dawn assured. With that turned around, ready to register-

-And, came face to face with her least favorite rival.

"Maddox."

The man seemed rather unbothered by her callous tone. "Hey! Little blue. Still rumblin' to your own rhythm?"

"..." What the heck was he asking?

The man laughed. "Aw, I see! Fat cat's stage game's got you all riled up. Don't worry none. Whether or not the man sees it, you're what you are." He waved at Dawn before moving towards the backstage area. "Rock what you've got!"

"... Weirdo," Dawn muttered before walking to the counter to register.

* * *

The spotlights focused in on Lilian as she gestured to the crowd. It was necessary in the coming darkness of sunset. From where Ash sat, second row but dead center to the action, he grew anxious with eager anticipation.

"And, now-the man, the myth, the miraculous: Wallace!" One of the screens which would later enlarge the stage's contenders for the audience flashed with a particularly well staged photo of Wallace. He looked to be in the middle of a gym battle. "A gym leader!" Another photo flashed of him, this time holding a ribbon; particularly, it was the Aqua Ribbon. "You know him! You love him! Now, help me greet him. Here's-"

The audience finished for her. "WALLACE!"

With a terrific Dragon Pulse, Wallace's Milotic arose from the water. The crowd grew even wilder. This prompted Milotic to use Safe Guard and then Twister. Just as the water was whipped up into a fury, so was the crowd. The serpent finished up its introduction with Aqua Ring. The move circled it before being burst. This ring of water hit the Twisters, quelling them as well.

At some point during all of this, Wallace had replaced Lilian on the stage. He drew back the crowd's attention just by being there after the water settled. With the sunset's orange light glinting off the water, it only added to his dazzling appearance.

"Good evening, Kanto!" Wallace greeted.

The crowd yelled back fondly.

"It is my pleasure to host this year's Wallace Cup on Cinnabar Island!"

Meanwhile, behind the stage, the coordinators all reacted.

"Oh, isn't he a dreamboat?" Ember cooed.

For once, Dawn was in agreement with her. "His Milotic's graceful as ever…!"

Quixote nodded in agreement. "Truly, Wallace is the epitome of machoness with grace! Class with power! Action with aesthetics!"

Back on stage, Wallace was beginning to wrap up his introduction. "I am here to find out who has the most appeal in all of Kanto. Won't you show me?"

Lilian jogged back onto stage. "Thanks, Wallace! Now, contenders and audience, Wallace will be one of our guest judges for the evening! He will be joining Mr. Contesta, Mr. Sukizo, and the breeder Suzie!"

All three of the other judges waved.

"Now, let's begin!"

* * *

"A breeder named Suzie!?" Ash's eyes turned from Wallace at the mention of the name. "That sounds super familiar… Lemme see." Trying to ignore the waving hands and ear-splitting cheers, Ash narrowed his eyes to peer at the judges' stands. "Wallace, Contesta, Sukizo… Aha! It is her!"

"Pika-Pika~!" Pikachu jumped up on his trainer's head, prompting a yelp as the latter's red cap was pushed down over his face. His eyes sparkled at the sight of their old friend. A tall, porcelain-skinned, green-haired woman, wearing what he could only assume to be the highest fashion.

"Heyyy! Suzie!" "Pika-Pikachu!" The two shouted, waving over their heads to the judge.

Needless to say, they were drowned out by the crowds.

"Aw, she'll never hear us from here." Ash folded his arms over his chest. "She must've come a long way to be a Wallace Cup judge, though… We'll just have to catch up once things calm down, later!" Satisfied with his plan, the trainer smiled widely to himself. "For now, let's watch Dawn whoop some butt!"

* * *

"Aaand, we'll be starting with a familiar face at the Wallace Cup! Our first contestant is a former winner of the Aqua Ribbon from the Sinnoh Region: Dawn!"

The curtains began to part, and the crowd erupted in cheers. Fans of the contest scene, old and new, were riled up for the hype of a former winner. Here and there, cheers of the Sinnoan girl's name erupted amongst the noise. For sure, it was a strong note to start on.

Just as Ash was shouting himself hoarse, a rattling pokeball on his hip catching his attention, followed by a bright burst of light in his face. The shine took the form of a Riolu in his lap.

Rosa gawked with glee as she spotted the bluenette on stage. She'd popped up the second she heard the girl's name from inside her ball. Dawn was doing something, she was doing something!

Which brought something to mind…

She spun back to Ash, bearing a look of hurt. _~Hey! Why didn't'cha tell me Dawn was up, huh!?~_

Looking uneasy, as did Pikachu, Ash scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry, but… The thing is…"

The pokemon blinked, feeling the color leaving her face. Or, at least it would, if it weren't covered with fur. All those raucous cheers and obnoxious shouts… All those countless faces… Her tiny heart began to pound, her head spinning with an overflow of sounds and images.

"That's why," Ash stuttered, lightly stroking her ear with his thumb. "You're fine, you're fine… Those people aren't important. All that matters is Dawn. Try to focus on her and the stage, okay? Just watch her do her appeal and have fun!"

"Pika, Pika. Pikachu." Pikachu, who had been forced to share the space in Ash's lap, lightly stroked her with the broad end of his tail. Nothing else mattered right now. It was just time to enjoy the sights of all of these appeals!

Rosa's eyes fell shut, a deep breath leaving her. She turned back towards the stage, just in time to watch Dawn reel back her pokeball. If she could just focus on this… _~D-do it, Dawn!~_

She clutched pokeball tightly, walking into the bright circle of light on the stage. "Spotlight, Clefairy!" Dawn called, tossing the pokeball up into the air. The fairy type appeared in a burst of energy before Dawn caught the pokeball again. The coordinator focused on smiling as Clefairy landed before her on the ground, both of them waving to the audience. Still, how bright the sky was still even as the sun was finishing setting was concerning. Would Clefairy's Moonlight be effective?

She couldn't let that deter her. "Let's take a stroll with Magical Leaf!" she ordered, raising her hands up.

Clefairy stood before Dawn, mimicking the motion. A flurry of leaves darted in from the left and right of Clefairy, parting around her. The muted iridescent sheen over them reflected the fading light of day ever so slightly, making them look as if they were purple and red.

No slouch, Clefairy began walking after her leaves. She eventually stepped off of the platform and onto her leaves. In reality, she was just floating as Clefairy were known to do, but between her careful choreography of the Magical Leaf attack and her foot placement, it did look as if she were riding the leaves over the water.

A surge of relief rushed over Dawn as she noticed the water only barely reflected the show above. It was dark! The contrast could only work in her favor.

"Now, use Moonlight!"

Clefairy twirled, creating an artificial moon. The light of it followed the tiny pink dancer as she stepped from one cluster of leaves to another.

By now, the crowd had become completely silent. The sun's light had, thankfully, completely faded away. Aside from the dimmed lights of the stage Dawn stood on, there was nothing to distract from Clefairy's moonlit dance. A slightly chilly evening breeze only lent to the appeal's serenity. Dawn could see Clefairy's wide smile and hear her soft singing even from here.

"Clefairy, Clefairy!" she sang, recalling the full moon festivities of her clan back in Mt. Moon.

Dawn stepped to the edge of the platform. "Now! It's time for the finisher! Use Moon Blast!"

Raising her hands once more, Clefairy swayed back and forth over her ever tightening collection of leaves. Her mini moon above, however, began to descend. Hushed whispers and oohs could be heard from the crowd as the attack fell faster and faster. Soon, it crashed into the water. The light of it lasted for moments more, making the water that splashed up glitter like milk over ink. The dying light of Clefairy's false moon was forgotten as the crowd looked back to Clefairy.

In the time the attack had taken to execute, the fairy had flown back over to Dawn. The coordinator held Clefairy closely, winking at the crowd in time with the pink pokemon.

There was a brief pause before Lilian spoke up. "What truly inspired performance from Dawn and her Clefairy! I couldn't tell what was brighter-Clefairy's smile or her Moonlight attack!"

Mr. Suziko clapped adamantly. "What a positively pleased pokemon! Remarkable!"

"I could tell this routine was tailored to this pokemon," Mr. Contesta commented.

Suzie nodded her head. "Clefairy seems well taken care of, with her needs and wants both valued by her trainer."

Wallace smiled up at Dawn. "She certainly knows how to work the water. Impressive, but I think I should expect that from her!"

"That's a favorable review from the judges there!" Lilian concluded. "Alright, Dawn, thank you for your appeal! Let's let you and your Clefairy have a rest."

Smiling from ear to ear, Dawn dipped her head to bow dramatically to the crowd, turning to make her way backstage next. With all of that positive fervor, she was satisfied.

"We made a huge impression, with that one! You were amazing, Clefairy." Free of the public's eye, she pulled the tiny pink pokemon into a hug. "I'm glad we got to discover the way _you_ want to do things."

"Clefairy!" The pokemon threw her stubby arms around Dawn's neck, elated. Throwing the full influence of the mood over her head and dancing below it, especially with all of the warm, welcoming applause… Truly, it'd been exactly what she'd wanted!

"Now, let's get backstage and watch the rest of the appeals. They'll have to be pretty amazing to win the spotlight back from us." Dawn winked, walking the pokemon back towards the locker room.

* * *

The master of ceremonies spoke up again over the microphone. "Up next is the unmatched Maddox!"

The crowd seemed to give a mixed reaction. Hardcore fans of the man and his scene reacted with jubilation. Others who had no idea who he was only seemed confused. People who knew who he was but resented his rebellious ways dared to even hiss or refuse him applause in a chilly act of disapproval.

Not that Maddox minded, of course. He stepped onto the stage, releasing his Granbull. "Alright, let's rock and roll with Outrage!" he yelled.

As quick to act as he was prompted, Granbull threw his fists, sending off brilliant blue bundles of energy with fiery yellow centers. The energy balls were flung into the night sky rapid fire. Granbull tittered for a moment after firing them, almost confused.

"Play Rough!"

As the dragon type move began falling down, Granbull was ready. With playful kicks, punches, headbutts, and even hip thrusts, the fairy type knocked the Outrage balls back up so that they burst into the air.

"Now, bring it home with Payback!"

The Granbull stomped down, a dark aura overtaking his body before he thrust it out towards the crowd.

Lilian spoke up once it was obvious the coordinator was finished. "Well, there we have it! An explosive performance from Maddox and his Granbull!"

Mr. Contesta shook his head. "It was a very energetic performance, but it was a little dry."

"Granbull sure seemed to be enjoying himself!" Mr. Suziko praised.

Suzie frowned. "Granbull seems a little roughed up…"

Wallace sighed. "While the appeal had the energy we're looking for, the water element wasn't incorporated at all. It's not much of a Wallace Cup without the water."

Maddox seemed shocked as Lilian took over the stage again.

"There you have it, folks! Give a round of applause for Maddox and Granbull!"

* * *

"Next up is Ember!" Lilian announced. "She's a petite pink princess!"

As the tall and slender young woman stepped out onto stage to a muted but positive reaction. She wasn't particularly well known, but the audience had no dividing views on her like they had against Maddox.

"Cherubi, let's go!" Ember sing-songed, releasing the little grass type.

"Cheru~bi!" it chimed.

"Alright, Cherubi!" Ember gleefully said, pointing towards their audience. "Use Sunny Day!"

Golden, glimmering sunlight formed over the dark waters, causing it to sparkle where the water crested. Cherubi stepped to the end of the stage, basking in the sunlight.

"Beautiful!" Ember squealed. "Now, go ahead and use Growth!"

Cherubi twirled, its leaf and smaller head swaying in the motion. As it did so, it also grew larger. In fact, Cherubi doubled in size just as quickly as it had spun around! The audience cooed at it, impressed.

"Now that you're large and in charge, give 'em a Solarbeam!"

Singing as it fired the attack, Cherubi stood before a pillar of light. "Cheru~bi!" The water sizzled, superheated by the sudden Solarbeam firing down at it. Through the steam, a faint rainbow could be seen from Cherubi's Sunny Day.

Ember rushed forward, scooping Cherubi up before waving at the audience. "Hehehe, yeah, you did it, Cherubi!"

Lilian took over here. "Well, what a sunny disposition for a summery appeal!"

Suzie furrowed her brows. "That's a petite but pretty Cherubi to go with an equally petite trainer…"

Mr. Contesta crossed his arms in satisfaction. "You've got my blood boiling, but in a good way!"

Suziko picked up on the puns. "I'm simmering with a certain excitement at what else you'll show us."

"Sun and surf are a classic combination, though your routine is a bit, well, routine," Wallace said, his praise mixed with criticism.

"Well, Ember and her Cherubi certainly warmed up to the judges. Let's give them a round of applause!"

* * *

"Next up is the daughter of some of Kanto's fire specialist breeders: Ciara! Let's give her a warm round of applause!" Lilian introduced.

Between Ciara's sweet disposition and her slowly blossoming title among her peers, she had gained some fans. They clapped for her, delighted that she was participating despite her clear disadvantage on the stage. The claps turned to coos when the girl walked onto stage.

"Now, Ponyta, charm up!" she half-whispered, releasing her fire type with minimal fanfare.

The crowd's collective smile turned to confusion upon seeing Ciara's Ponyta. The poor pale colt's flames burned low, completely yellow. His knees shook and he looked weak. Despite this, Ciara smiled at him. Whispers began to spread throughout the crowd. Even the judges look worried.

Ciara remained calm, though. "Use Fire Spin!"

Mustering up strength that betrayed his fatigued looks, Ponyta stomped down. A spiral of flames jumped up from his hooves, cloaking him in it. The wall of fire roared loudly in the midst of all the silence in the contest hall on water.

It erupted into applause once the Fire Spin was snuffed out by none other than Ponyta himself-or, rather, what he had become: Rapidash!

"Good job, boy!" Ciara praised. That had been risky, asking him to hold off on evolution like that, but the wear it took on his body to hold back the transformation was worth it. Would anyone else be able to pull off such a feat during the appeals? She was certain to pass onto the next round, she knew it! "Now, use Agility!"

This was the move they had spent so long trying to master. The judges looked on with worry as Rapidash ran straight for the pool-but kept above it! For those that looked closely, they would see a pink glow under Rapidash's hooves. He had mastered the psychic element of the move and used it to propel himself over the water as well as increase his speed.

As a result, the magnificently new stallion was able to canter over the water in long, graceful strides.

"Flame Charge!"

The speed was increased and Rapidash was bathed in flame. Bursts of embers fell behind him, sizzling upon coming into contact with the water. He ran around and around, kicking up water behind him as his canter turned into a full gallop.

"Poison Jab!"

Flexing his muscular neck, the stallion tucked his head in, jabbing at the water he had kicked up. It immediately turned purple. He skidded, causing a crest of water to trail after him. He quickly turned and used his new horn to stab at it, turning that purple as well. It stood between him and the audience and glowed for it, his mane and tail illuminating the brief display.

With that finished, Rapidash quickly cantered back to Ciara side. The girl pet her fire type's muzzle as the crowd whistled and cheered.

Suzie spoke up first. "That was a little risky for the pokemon to restrain evolution through sheer force, but his strength and energy really show you made sure to make sure he was safe!"

Suziko was practically standing in his chair. "Magnificent! A fiery, passionate performance! You and your pokemon have shown your growth!"

Mr. Contesta was a bit more conservative. "I worry this might start an unfortunate trend, but you're extremely talented. I'll warn those not as skilled to not try this maneuver and praise you for it, instead."

Wallace nodded. "Mr. Contesta is right. What you did is risky-only a trainer with a deep bond with their pokemon and knowledge of their limits should try." The man cocked his head and laughed. "Luckily, Suzie and I both see that you fit that category!"

Ciara blushed and bowed before hurriedly leading Rapidash off stage.

Lilian spoke up once more. "Well, the competition is heating up! Let's have one last cheer for Ciara and her Rapidash!"

* * *

"I think it's safe to say our contestants are giving us a night to remember!" Lilian shouted, rallying the crowd with the hand holding her microphone thrown in the air. Echoed by a chorus of cheers, she continued. "Now, we'll continue with another coordinator all the way from Sinnoh! Introducing, the suave and sturdy, Kenny!"

The chestnut-haired teenager ran onto the stage, earning a muffled, quiet reaction. No one in Kanto had even seen this guy before. It seemed that, unless you had history at the cup, coming from another region didn't do a coordinator any favors.

But, Kenny wasn't about to be deterred. Holding a pokeball in a tight grip, he grinned before tossing it with all the conviction one would expect of someone who hadn't walked into a silent stadium. "Go, Empoleon! Stir things up with Mist!"

The Emperor pokemon, tall and proud, emerged from his pokeball, parting his beak wide to spray a vast, frosty cloud of mist across the large body of water. Water vapor blanketed the pool, obscuring the arena much like a foggy lake. Without a doubt, it was a potent start.

A few cheers and some chatter could be heard. That display certainly required a good deal of power!

"Now, blow that away, with Flash Cannon!" Kenny ordered with a wide smile, pointing forward.

"Pol~!" Empoleon cried, throwing his wings out as he fired a booming ray of silver, metallic energy from his mouth. A wide sweep of his head blasted the mist from the pool, quickly clearing the arena in an impressive burst of power. Meanwhile, the clearing water glistened from Flash Cannon.

"Good! Now, follow up with Bubblebeam!" Kenny followed, throwing a hand upward.

Empoleon began to spin, firing a dense, swirling cluster of glistening bubbles into the evening sky. Residual glitter from Flash Cannon lived on in the bubbles like a gigantic kaleidoscope.

Kenny watched on with confidence, a fist clenched tight. Everything was going according to plan. Of course, now it was time to wrap things up and really win the masses' favor. "Don't put all of your effort to waste, Empoleon! Get up there and have some fun!"

The water/steel type did just that. With an impressive leap, Empoleon soared into the midst of the bubbles, popping them along the way and twisting through them as he pleased. It was like soaring through a net of bubble wrap! Already enjoying himself, he indulged by spinning through the center of the cluster as he fell back towards the ground. Bubbles were burst and dispersed, finally popping in rapid succession after Empoleon landed.

Pokemon and trainer alike then bowed.

"What an exciting performance from Kenny and Empoleon! Let's hear what the judges have to say about this determined duo!" Lilian announced, lending a raised hand to the judges' table.

Suzie gave a nod of approval. "Kenny's appeal really showed off Empoleon's shiny coat! It's clearly fit, well cared for, and happy to be part of this appeal."

A smile picked up on the creases of 's cheeks. "Plenty of power and passion in your display!"

Suziko picked up on the puns. "Enrapturing, and remarkable!"

Wallace clapped, a gleam in his turquoise eyes. "You did an excellent job of showing your Empoleon's strength, shrouding it in mystery before truly showing its appeal! An excellent use of the arena, as well. Well done."

"Even as an outsider, Kenny has generated plenty of favor from the judges! Let's hear it for him and Empoleon!" Lilian concluded, followed by whoops and cheers from about the stadium.

* * *

"And now, time for our next contestant! Macho man and showman, Quixote!"

The haughty coordinator made a dramatic, dashing entrance, skidding to a halt with a self-assured grin. "Let's give them a show, Aggron!"

The gigantic steel type appeared, letting out an earth-shaking cry.

And that was just a preview of things to come. "Use Heavy Slam!"

"Gron!" The pokemon jumped above the stage, crashing back down with a thud.

The stage began to shake and tremble, sending wave after wave over the disturbed waters.

Ash clutched the sides of his seat all the way up in the stands, eyes wide and his mouth equally large. "H-hey, Pikachu… Is it just me, or is the whole stadium shaking?"

"Pika-Pika…!" The mouse's ears stood acute. He could, indeed feel the trembles.

That was worrying.

"Now, show them real power, with Dragon Rush!"

Needless to say, an Aggron launching itself across an open pool of water wasn't a terribly brilliant idea. Instead, the bulky pokemon turned to dip his iron-clad tail in the water. The pokemon let out another metallic cry, his entire body becoming coated in a blazing teal aura.

The draconian power surged through the waters, kicking up a horizontal cyclone that roared from one end of the pool to the other. It soon crested in a crash against the arena walls, parting with a boom.

Split waters ran straight across the aquatic arena, earning a combination of whoops and shouts.

"And, that's a wrap!" Quixote crossed his arms. As did Aggron.

"What sheer force from Quixote and Aggron! Let's hear what the judges think!"

Suzie went first. "A great way of showing off the brutal nature of a steel type. Not to mention, it has quite a lustrous, healthy coat!"

Then, . "A bit straightforward… But I can say for certain it'll be remembered for its strength."

, next. "Earth-shaking, and remarkable!"

Wallace hummed. "You stayed true to the nature of an Aggron. Simple, but beautiful in its strength, and you used the arena to show that quality well. Well done."

Though, the trainer could have made a bit less of a show of himself, he mentally noted.

Finding his own criticism to be the praise of Wallace himself, sheepishly adjusted his bowtie. That was at least a tiny bit humiliating.

"And, there you have it! On to our next contestant!"

* * *

"We have another trainer from across the sea! This one is actually a student of sorts under our dearest Wallace. Let's all give it up for Brendan!"

Stepping onto the stage, the trainer-coordinator waved to the audience. The dark skinned youth then released his chosen pokemon. "Rhyperior, let's go! We've got to show Wallace what all we learned from him!"

Ash squinted. A student of Wallace's? Shouldn't he have heard of him? Then again… He wasn't as interested in May's contests back during Hoenn as he should have been. Perhaps he had been there but Ash hadn't noticed.

Regardless, the audience who knew anything of Hoenn contests was excited for Brendan's appeal and the appearance of his bulky pokemon.

"Sandstorm!"

Rhyperior raised its hands, whipping up a heavy sandstorm. Soon, the audience was blinded by it, visually cut off from what was happening with Brendan and his Rhyperior. Their baffled cries were not lost on the trainer.

Unfortunately for them, it was all a part of his plan. Shrouded in his veil, he was able to work in privacy. Only thuds and splashes were able to give away the results of his voice commands. "Stone Edge! Rock Blast!"

After a short time-worryingly long for his fans, who knew it was risky to not let the judges see his pokemon perform-the sand died down.

Before him, a makeshift zen garden had been created in the water. Massive stones from the Stone Edge jutted out of the water while smaller trails formed from Rock Blast trailed between the 'mountains'. The rivers of sand flowed beautifully, clinging to the top of the water.

Most importantly, Rhyperior was at the edge of the tainted pool, carefully raking at the sand-flooded water with his claws as if he were genuinely tending to a zen garden. Brendan stood beside his pokemon, rubbing under his nose and looking proud.

Wallace looked devastated. Brendan had done this on purpose, he was sure of it! "It was a clever way to get in work and give off an air of mystery… But, it completely ruined the pool! Still… Excellent craftsmanship from your pokemon."

Mr. Suziko looked upset just because Wallace was. "It was certainly transformative."

"You took an element that wouldn't have worked with you and made it your ally," Mr. Contesta nodded before grinning. "Impressive."

The breeder looked perplexed before laughing. "Well, that's one way to make a way when there is none! It takes a very well cared for Rhyperior to pull that off!"

Lilian took over then. "Well, that was a colorful appeal from Brendan and his Rhyperior! Why don't you all give them a round of applause before we go into a short intermission. We need to clean the pool out from… All of this."

* * *

As Ash collected the trio of pokemon he had out watching the appeals with him, a team of Slowbro was let out into the pool. Some used Psychic to move the large boulders out of the water while others filtered out the sand by pulling a long strip of linen through the water.

"That sure looks like it'll take a while," Ash noted, carrying Rosa in his arms while Pikachu sat on his shoulder. Empoleon walked behind him as they followed the crowd up and out of the stadium seats. "What do you say we grab a snack before we go check on Dawn?"

The three pokemon naturally agreed. With that, they were on their way to the food court.

Meanwhile, Dawn was waiting out the downtime with Ciara and Kenny.

Feeding a poffin to Clefairy, the coordinator turned to her young friend. "Seriously, that was incredible! I can't believe you were able to pull that off with Rapidash."

Ciara blushed. "Thanks! It was really difficult, but Ponyta was the only one I knew who could handle a water challenge like that. Rapidash looked even better than I could hope."

Kenny shook his head. "I still don't know how I didn't see it coming…"

"Well, I made sure not to use Ponyta in front of anyone. Sorry! If it means anything, Rapidash wanted you to be one of the first to see him after all of this. He's really impressed with you, Kenny."

Flattered by Ciara's pokemon's admiration, the Sinnoh native smiled. "I'll praise him once I can. Sound good?"

"Sounds great!" Ciara agreed.

"What sounds great?" Ash asked in greeting before stuffing a handful of buttery popcorn into his mouth. Beside him, Rosa, Pikachu, and Empoleon were doing much the same, scooping out their share from the impossibly ginormous bucket Ash held.

"Hey!" Dawn said, standing up upon seeing them all.

"I'm gonna spend some time with Ciara's pokemon," Kenny clarified.

"Oh! Sounds good." The boy swallowed a salty mouthful. "You guys were all great out there, by the way."

They were about to respond to Ash's praise when a loud banging noise alerted them to the fact that Maddox and Brendan had gotten into it. The Hoenn native was leering up at the taller man, arms flexed powerfully from where he'd slammed Maddox into the lockers lining the waiting room.

"Show a bit of restraint, you lummox!" Brendan shouted before realizing the attention they'd gathered. Backing off, the coordinator righted himself.

It looked as if it were taking Maddox every ounce of self-control he had not to retaliate. "Chill out, bro!"

"I will not! You will keep your hands to yourself!"

Quixote stepped forward to Brendan's defense. "That's right, you brute, you ought to-"

"You be quiet!" Brendan commanded. "You riled him up. He has no sense of self control and neither do you!"

"I was just tryna say hey!" Maddox argued.

"And, I was just trying to put this scum in his place!"

As the boys bickered, Ash and company watched on along with the rest of the crowd. The verbal beat down was beginning to thoroughly embarrass Quixote before his peers while it was frustrating Maddox to be talked down to.

Ash whistled lowly. "Whoa," he muttered in awe. "Brendan's certainly rippin' them a new one."

"You're telling me," Dawn agreed.

The near fight was broken up by Ember's squeal. "Oh my gosh, guys! They're done cleaning up the pool! It's time to start the appeals again!"

* * *

"Welcome back, folks! We hope you were able to rest a little during our intermission! Without further ado, here's another Kanto contender: Larkspur!"

Walking out onto the stage, it was evident Larkspur looked a little concerned. Despite this, he tried to remain certain for the sake of his pokemon. "Bellossom, it's show time!"

Taking the stage, the little grass type curtsied after being released from her pokeball. "Lossom!"

"Let's use… M-Magical Leaf!"

Behind the stage, Dawn suddenly understood why he seemed so unsure. "We had the same idea…! Oh, no, Larkspur, don't get worried! If you act nervous, the judges _will_ think you stole the idea!" He couldn't hear him, but she hoped he would at least know to try to remain calm.

Back on stage, Bellossom stepped onto her summoned group of glowing leaves. They bowed ever so slightly under her weight as she wasn't able to float above them like Clefairy was. Despite this, she walked out over the water, taking careful, graceful steps like a ballerina.

"Good going," Larkspur praised. "Now, use Petal Blizzard!"

Under the faint, now natural moonlight, Bellossom twirled. A thick curtain of flowing petals was brought into play. Some of the petals whisked around, playing with the edges of Bellossom's skirt. She looked merry and whimsical, like a woodland sprite!

Relief began to flood his system. Larkspur threw his arm out. "Now! Leaf Blade!"

A giant, glowing green sword appeared at the end of Bellossom's hand. She swung it, cutting through her Petal Blizzard. The pink petals fell to the surface of the water, coating it beautifully.

"Good job! Now, come back and clean up with Magical Leaf!"

Running back to her trainer, Bellossom allowed the Leaf Blade to disappear from her grasp. Underneath her, the Magical Leaves she was done stepping on scooped up the petals. As she reached Larkspur's happy embrace, her adornments flew away into the night sky.

Suzie cooed. "Bellossom's petals were so bright and lovely!"

Mr. Contesta seemed torn. "It's a good thing we had an intermission. Still, your appeal was well thought out. Great minds just must think alike!"

couldn't help but say what they were all thinking. "I must say that appeal seemed to mimic a Clefairy earlier…"

"Well, you know how to set yourself apart even when using a similar method. Excellent showmanship and environmental awareness," Wallace praised. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, as well."

Lilian rushed to manage the situation. "Well, after a classic start, Larkspur and his Bellossom set themselves apart in the pack! Let's give them a round of applause for it!"

* * *

Once Larkspur got backstage, Dawn caught his attention.

"Hey!"

He flinched. "I'm sorry! I wasn't trying to steal your appeal! We just had the same idea, and-"

"I know, it's fine," Dawn interrupted, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You did great out there." She gestured to where she was sitting. "My friend Ciara's busy with…" Well, what was Kenny to Ciara, anyway? "Prepping, so wanna hang out with me while the last appeals go by?"

Looking delighted, Larkspur regained his calm. "I'd like that a lot. It'd be most respectful and honorable to give our peers the proper attention."

The coordinator giggled as she sat down with Larkspur. "You sure talk proper!" Pointing at the screen, she watched the next appeal. "Oh, yikes. That guy's got a Rapidash, too. They gave you trouble for using one move the same way. It's gonna hurt to see this guy's review."

As the appeal went on, Larkspur similarly cringed. "Dang. Mr. Contesta and Wallace went in on him."

"Suzie wasn't too kind, either…" Dawn mumbled.

"Well, the Rapidash's mane was all red! That's not healthy!" Larkspur pointed out.

"That's true. … Oh, hey! There's a Dewgong out now!"

"Whoa, that's a powerful Ice Beam!" Larkspur looked somewhere between frightened and impressed.

"Hope you and your grass types don't run into that!" Dawn teased, watching as the Dewgong used Brine to throw water into the air. She could almost smell the salt from it backstage!

The boy shuddered. "Ugh, I hope I don't have to battle them… What if their team is all ice types?" He switched to cooing at the northern lights effect that was brought on by the use of Aurora Beam.

"What if it's all water types, though?" Dawn tried to encourage.

"What're you guys up to?" Ciara asked, sitting on the other side of Dawn.

"Just commenting on everyone else," Larkspur answered. "Splash? It's using Splash?!"

"Where's Kenny?" Dawn questioned, then pointing at the Azurill for emphasis. "It's using Charm, now. And, look, Bubble, too! They're trying to play up how cute it is."

"Suzie got onto them since Azurill needed help getting out of the pool…" Ciara noted. "Oh, um…! K-Kenny went to talk to Quixote. I… don't wanna hang out with Ember because she's mean to you and Ash, and she's always around Quixote…"

"Even after their little quarrel?" Dawn asked as a Shedninja came onto stage.

"Aw, just Shadow Sneak and Confuse Ray?!" Larkspur groaned. "That's such a basic appeal! It looks cool, but, like, that's all?! This is the Wallace Cup!"

Ciara shrugged. "I don't know. I just wanna stay away from Ember… She's loud, and pushy, and… And…" She jumped in her seat when the Wailrein roared in his entrance.

Dawn patted the girl's knee. "It's fine."

"Powdered Snow?! And, Hail?!" Larkspur practically squealed, pulling at his hair. "Aw, man!"

"Aw, don't worry, Larkspur. Ciara's a fire type specialist. Even if that thing knows… Blizzard. Wow. That looks tougher than even Mamoswine's blizzard."

Ciara tried to smile at Larkspur. "L-Leave it to me! I'll take down any ice types that get in m-my way… Definitely!"

"Yeah, but my pokemon are grass. You'll beat me, too," the boy pouted.

"Wow, that's quite the Beedrill," Dawn noted. "Maybe it's got an Ariados dad? It sure works fancy with the String Shot."

"Nah, it knows Toxic Spikes," Ciara argued. "There's other moves it could have learned from an Ariados. I think the trainer was just particular about its moves." She whistled lowly. "Quite the Fell Stinger."

"I thought they said your folks were fire specialty breeders?" Larkspur pointed out.

"Just because we specialize in fire types doesn't mean we don't know about common pokemon, too." Ciara gasped. "A Dragonite!"

"It's certainly whipping up a storm," Dawn noted. "Rain Dance made Hurricane and Thunderbolt perfectly accurate. Intense."

"I feel sorry for the first row of the audience," Ciara mumbled.

"They're probably expecting it," Larkspur argued. "I mean, check out this Krabby. It's using Bubble. Look, this kid up front is loving it."

"There have been an awful lot of water types… There's been so many I haven't even had commentary on them all," Dawn admitted. "Oh hey, it's a Pi-oh, it's not her."

"Her?" Ciara asked.

"There's this girl that I've competed against a few times. She had this Pikachu. That's not her or her Pikachu, though."

"... Are Pikachu supposed to know Heart Stamp?" Larkspur asked, raising a brow.

Dawn shrugged. "My Empoleon knows Headbutt, and I don't think they're supposed to know that."

"Ah… That's the end of the appeals. They're gonna put up the people who made it through now." Ciara crossed her fingers.

* * *

In the audience, Ash shifted. He, Pikachu, Rosa, and Empoleon all watched the big screens with anticipation. Several unfamiliar faces plastered the screen. Then, he spotted them: Ciara and Dawn!

"She made it!" Ash cheered, standing up in his seat. "I see Kenny!" His friends all made it through! Some other familiar faces did, as well, but those three were Ash's focus.

"Look at that, guys… They all made it through. That means we'll see them all in the battle rounds!" The trainer grinned, clutching the knees of his jeans.

"Pika-ka!" Pikachu gushed, waving his paws in celebration.

 _~Go, Dawn!~_ Blue paws with grey markings were held above the Riolu's head. With all of the pretty appeals, the surrounding crowd from before had nearly become invisible!

Tomorrow, the real excitement of the Wallace Cup would be in full-swing.


	51. Friendly Fire

**The battle rounds of the Wallace Cup have arrived! Thanks for sticking with us 51 chapters in, guys. You're a great audience. As always, feedback is encouraged!**

* * *

A gorgeous, exciting night under the stars on Cinnabar Island came to a close with the appeals round of the Wallace Cup. Then, after a refreshing night of sleep, the coordinators and spectators alike returned to the stadium, nerves bundled and hearts racing in anticipation. Fans in the audience waved signs for popular coordinators, while kids - and Ash - munched on cotton candy.

Decked in blue, Lilian Meridian took the center of the stage in the stadium that was hosting the Wallace Cup. "Alright!" she cheered. "You've seen our talented contenders who made it to the first battle round! Now, let's them have at it!"

* * *

Behind the stage, Dawn relaxed with Larkspur as the two watched the screen.

"So, first up is Ember, huh?" Dawn noted. "I can't wait to see how this ends…"

Beside her, Larkspur watched as the red haired woman and her opponent stepped onto stage. "What's your issue with Ember, anyway?"

As Ember released her Flaffy and the opponent released her Drifloon, Dawn crossed her arms. "Ember has a nasty habit of putting the cart before the Ponyta. Still… I'm not gonna bad mouth her while she's battling."

"... Sure," Larkspur agreed, not really understanding. "Let's watch."

* * *

With her long, ruby hair flowing behind her, Ember cried out her instructions for her first attack. "Flaffy, use Electro Ball!"

Twirling on one foot and then whipping its tail at the end, Ember's Flaffy sent off a rapid fire ball of electricity at the opposing Drifloon. The opposing pokemon offered little resistance to the super effective move. Its dangling strings even crackled afterward as sparks danced between the two tendrils.

However, Ember's opponent looked unperturbed, even as the display cost her points.. "Drifloon, Stockpile!"

The purple pokemon seemed to swell up.

"Now, use Swallow!"

It constricted. With the constriction, all signs of injury from Flaffy's earlier Electro Ball disappeared! Shock was written plainly on Ember's face.

"Oh my!" Lilian commented, "Looks like we've got a healer in the house! That's gonna be a tough wall for Flaffy to climb. Can Ember figure it out?!"

"Tch… I can totally burst this ghost's bubble," Ember muttered to herself. "Flaffy, don't worry! We can do it! Just use Cotton Spore!"

Pulling its fists into itself, Flaffy's wooly mane expanded before drifting away and off towards the Drifloon. The latent fuzz stuck to the purple pokemon, introducing a whole new layer of drag resistance to it and slowing it down!

"Hm… Drifloon, use Ominous Wind!"

A purple, hazey breeze blew up from off the pool beside where the two were battling. "Flooooon!"

The impact of it sent Flaffy barreling over.

"Oh no!" Ember cried out. "Use Cotton Guard!" Her points and her pokemon had taken quite the hit. She couldn't keep risking that!

"Setting up your defenses, huh? That's fine! Drifloon, use Stockpile!"

Both pokemon began bulking up. New pieces of luxurious white fluff began forming along Flaffy's pink hide. Across the field, Drifloon grew four times the size it had originally been.

"That thing's gonna be a tough sell… We can't waste our chance!" Ember decided. "Use Charge and Cotton Spore!"

Crackling with electricity, Flaffy threw off another wave of fluff to slow Drifloon down.

"Do you think you can just fend it all off because it's not type advantageous? Well, you're wrong! Drifloon, use Stockpile once more and then Spit Up!"

Flaffy's now thoroughly fluffy body was completely covered in gross gunk. Ember's points went down further. She grit her teeth in frustration.

"Ugh, super mega ultra mundo gross!" she squealed. "Flaffy, use Electro Ball! I'm tired of this thing!"

"Flaf!" the sheep yelled before twirling again, its whole body sparking with electricity. It traveled down its tail, finally being shot off with a flick of the appendage at Drifloon. Though its target was small once more, it hit true. Furthermore, the sparks had fluffed out Flaffy once more, and the wool clinging to Drifloon lit up in sparks and embers, frying the ghost type.

"Loon!" The ghost type cried out, deflating and falling to the ground unconscious.

"Yeah!" Ember cheered, jumping up and down.

Her Flaffy sighed in relief before sitting down on its butt.

"Well, Ember and Flaffy certainly volted over that obstacle! Good show girls, both of you! Let's give them a round of applause!"

* * *

Back behind stage, Dawn was one of the many clapping for Ember as she came back down the steps to the lounge area.

"That was a pretty quick first round," Larkspur noted. "The rest should take longer than a couple of minutes, right?"

"Probably," Dawn agreed. "Oh! Ciara's up!"

"Against Quijote," Larkspur groaned.

Dawn shook her head. "I'm sure Ciara can beat Quijote." To prove a point, the coordinator stood up as Ciara was walking away from Kenny. "Heeeey! No need to worry!"

Ciara blushed and nodded at Dawn before walking onto the stage.

"She'll do great," Dawn repeated before sitting back down.

* * *

Ciara felt the familiar shaking in her knees at being before a stage. However, she had to do her best. "Vulpix, Charm up!" She threw her pokeball out, releasing the shiny fire type.

"Oh, this is a fire type of a different color, isn't it?" Quijote rhetorically asked. "Very well. Nidoking, let's show them true majesty!"

The monstrous poison type appeared opposite on the field of his opponent, bellowing furiously. Vulpix, for her part, stood tall and proud, her tails swishing behind her lightly.

Given her smaller size and more lithe nature, Ciara called out her attack. It was doubtful that Nidoking would move before her. "Vulpix, Sunny Day and Confuse Ray!"

The stage lit up as Vulpix's tiny fireball coordinated with the looming noon sun. In the meantime, a bolt of black-purple light swirled out and around Nidoking's head, dazing the poison type. Quijote's point began dipping at this point, severely affected by Ciara's commanding opening.

The man gritted his teeth. "Mm, yes… Nidoking, use Poison Jab!"

"Quick Attack out of there!"

While Nidoking fumbled forward and crashed into the ground, Vulpix quickly darted away.

"Poison Tail!"

"Quick Attack!"

The ticker for Quijote's points creeped down more as Vulpix once again elluded Nidoking's wrath.

Grunting, Quijote raised a fist. "Nidoking, use Poison Jab and make it count!"

"Nidoooo!" the beast roared before going after Vulpix again.

This time, neither she nor Ciara were quick enough to avoid the attack. Caught just under her stomach by Nidoking's Poison Jab, Vulpix was lifted up into the air, cresting in her wild and dangerous arc almost so high as to brush against her own artificial sun. Trailing behind her to the tip of Nidoking's horn was a toxic trail of purple liquid. Nidoking's mouth widened into a proud smile as his confusion passed and he realized what he'd done.

Vulpix trembled on her feet as she tried to regain composure. She was poisoned and her trainer's points were dropping.

"Vulpix!" Ciara called, genuinely worried. "Are you alright?!" She clutched her pokeball. Should she return and forfeit? That was insane…! Quijote's Nidoking had used all his strength against an opponent so much smaller than himself.

Still trembling, the golden furred Vulpix turned to look at Ciara, determination burning in her eyes. "Vul…!"

"Alright," Ciara agreed. "Use… Flame Burst!"

Vulpix spat a huge bundle of fire. Once it blasted Nidoking in his face, it rolled off to the sides, briefly catching the stage on fire. The big pokemon briefly recoiled, growling in pain.

"That's quite the fire hazard," Quijote taunted. "Nidoking, use Venom Drench!"

Raising his arms, Nidoking created a bubble of poison. Lobbing it towards Vulpix, the bubble burst into a noxious bath on the fire type.

"Vullll!" she cried, shivering on stage. The toxins in her veins burned so much! It hurt!

"Vulpix!" Ciara cried out, too caught up in her pokemon's pain to notice that her points were dropping again.

"Finish her, Nidoking! Use Earth Power!"

The ground type began to glow in a golden hue. Jabbing his fist down at the stage, a trail of golden cracks spread out and towards Vulpix.

"Oh no! Vulpix, use Quick Attack!"

Taking off at Ciara's command, Vulpix did try to out speed Nidoking's attack. However, as more and more of the stage took on those gilded fissures, Vulpix quickly found herself trapped. The fox desperately tried to dodge the coming energy blows, but it was all for naught. Bursting up from the ground, hot and angry, the ground type move blasted her up into the air in a veil of gold.

When the move ended, Nidoking alone stood in it. Vulpix was in a crumpled heap on the stage. Ciara's points were nearly depleted, as well.

"Vulpix!" Ciara yelled, running onto the stage to scoop up her precious pokemon.

It took Lilian a stunned second to take the stage, distracting the audience from the admittedly less than completely friendly competition. "There you have it, folks! Quite the impressive show of power from Quijote Mancha and his Nidoking! Let's give both of our competitors a quick round of applause!"

* * *

Dawn's eyes were wide as she watched both Ciara and Quijote leave the stage. Standing, the coordinator ran to the entry way. Larkspur trailed behind her. The two met Kenny; he looked equally distressed on behalf of their friend.

"Ciara!" Kenny and Dawn both yelled as soon as the girl nearly ran into them, tears staining her cheeks.

"Come here, we'll get Vulpix healed up!" Dawn offered.

"You did great out there," Kenny assured as the four of them moved out of the way of the entrance.

Ciara wailed as she held Vulpix to her chest. "I was so scared! I-I really thought he was trying to hurt her…!" The girl shook. "I'm so embarrassed. That was so stupid. Vulpix is a-all h-hurt because… because…!"

"Ah, don't be embarrassed, little one."

The group turned, seeing Quijote leering behind them.

"It's only natural for a delicate woman such as yourself to lose to a robust man such as myself," Quijote clarified. "Just a Snorlax yearns to taste the forbidden fruits of a Cherubi, so must the mighty defeat the… Well."

"Quijote, you dick!" Kenny hissed, fists clenched.

However, Dawn was quicker on the draw. Stepping forward, the bridge of her nose and her brow were wrinkled in an angry scowl. "I'll show you-"

Suddenly, Dawn felt an arm across her, keeping her from lashing out at Quijote as she wanted to. "I'll handle it if he says another word," Brendan offered. "I'll take him out myself."

Between Dawn's anger and Brendan's sudden reappearance, Quijote found it appropriate to make himself scarce. It was perfect timing, too, since Dawn turned her aggression on the stage guy.

"I don't need your protection," she quickly clarified. "I can handle myself."

"I know that," Brendan shot back. "But, you should focus on comforting your friend. She needs you right now."

After a tense pause, Dawn relaxed. "... Right. Thanks." She turned on her heel, looking at Ciara, who was standing between Larkspur and Kenny.

The noise of the current battle-a Gastrodon against a Sandshrew-was all but lost on Dawn's awareness.

"Dawn," Kenny said gently. "I'm up next. Will you go with Ciara to get Vulpix healed up real quick? There's always a nurse somewhere backstage…"

"Of course," she agreed. "Larkspur, will you watch our stuff?"

"Yep!" the boy agreed. He turned to Ciara. "... Hey, don't feel bad. Vulpix is really strong. She did her best for you."

That only brought on a new wave of tears. "I-I know," Ciara said, choking back sobs. She smiled, cuddling her shiny Vulpix. "S-She always does her best for me! I-I'm so proud of her…!"

With that, Dawn led Ciara away while Kenny and Larkspur continued to watch the current battle wind down.

Among the crowd of already eliminated coordinators, Maddox remained. He had wanted to leave, but he was intrigued by Brendan as well as frustrated. Now, something new had been revealed to him. Just as he respected Dawn for her previous spitfire attitude in Fuschia, he now admired her loyalty; so the same was with Brendan, whose take-no-garbage attitude was admirable.

Scratching the back of his head, the green haired punk chuckled. "Well, I guess I was The Man earlier… I gotta learn to talk better and understand others." He crossed his arms, smirking though no one was listening to his little monologue. "It isn't very punk to expect everyone to always conform to the way I roll." He nodded. "Yeah. No establishment in me. Just bein' real. Everyone's real."

* * *

Lilian was back to her cheerful self. "Our next competitors will be Kenny of Sinnoh and George of Kanto!" The hostess waited for the crowd to give a quick, cordial round for applause for the two men. "Now, let's go!"

"Machamp, let's go!"

"Rampardos, vamonos!"

Both of the large, gray skinned pokemon appeared and began posturing for the other. While Machamp flexed all four of his mighty arms, Rampardos crouched down and snapped its beak.

Knowing he couldn't risk wasting time, George raised a fist. "Screech, then Headbutt!"

Kenny's eyes widened. They couldn't flinch! Not this early in! "Vital Throw!"

Despite bracing himself, Machamp felt his resolve waver a bit in the face of the high pitched, predatory whine that Rampardos let out. For its part, the revived fossil pokemon flexed its long claws before charging straight at Machamp. Head down and tucked carefully so that it reduced the risk of neck injury, the rock type slammed directly into Machamp's stomach.

The wind was knocked briefly out of the big fighting type and Kenny's points suffered for allowing the disgraceful display to go unhindered. However, as soon as he regained his senses, all four of Machamp's arms locked along Rampardos's body. Two went around the beast's neck and another two went under its stomach. Spinning, the fighting type sent Rampardos flinging away.

The rock type skidded across the stage. This time, it was George's points that dropped!

"Not bad!" George praised. "Still… Do you think the clock's gonna let you play second fiddle?"

Regaining his normal, cocky spark, Kenny shrugged with one shoulder, his opposite hand firmly on his hip. "Who's gonna stop me?"

A bit insulted, the trainer got back to business. "Rampardos! Show them our Ancient Power!"

"Rampaaaaaaaar!" The dinosaur's eyes began to glow blue as the stage shook a bit. A volley of large stones was created.

"Attaboy!" George praised just as Rampardos let them from.

"Well, crap," Kenny muttered. "Hey, don't you get spooked out there!"

Despite this, Machamp was knocked on his butt by one of the stones. More would surely follow.

"Use Focus Energy and then Strength to stop them!"

Standing back up, the fighting type quickly flexed his muscles before holding his hands out. One by one, he caught each boulder and tossed them harmlessly to the side.

On his side of the field, Kenny sighed in relief. That had been a boon! Machamp's damage intake had been lowered, George's points were lowered for Machamp's composed recovery of the situation, and the time had been whittled away by Rampardos's stubborn insistence that an Ancient Power attack would eventually stop Machamp! It was only when a pile as tall as Machamp himself has accumulated on both sides of the pokemon that Rampardos stopped.

"They aren't using many moves, but this is still a match that is testing our competitors' endurance!" Lilian narrated. "The amount of tolerance these two have for taking and giving out a beating is truly incredible!"

The Rampardos looked strained. There was tired ring of red around the creature's eyes. Machamp, meanwhile, was breathing very deeply with sweat rolling down his massive body.

"Ugh… The clock's ticking! We can't waste anymore time. Rampardos, use Zen Headbutt!"

Bingo! Kenny threw a hand out. "Let him come to you, Machamp! Then, use Submission!"

Rampardos ran at Machamp, though it paused at the last moment. Recalling the crushing embrace of the fighting type's many arms, the rock type leered for an opening. The two postured like this for a brief while. When Rampardos took a jolting step forward, ready to jet towards a vulnerable opening, Machamp would adjust his posture, compensating for it.

However, time was a precious thing and they were running low on it.

"Augh… You're just going to have to go for it!" George yelled.

Giving in, Rampardos leaped up, aiming to knock skulls with Machamp. And, sure enough, the Zen Headbutt worked! Machamp was sent onto his back, stars briefly floating before his eyes…

But, before anyone knew it, the fighting type kicked out to his panting adversary, knocking Rampardos onto its own side. Then, the fighting type was on top of the other. The brief wrestling match ended with masterful care. Machamp caught Rampardos up so that the brute couldn't move at all, only thrash desperately!

The crowd watched in quiet awe at Kenny's calm conclusion to the match. There were still five agonizing seconds left on the clock. George's points went down rapidly during them. Though it didn't empty, the display made the point clear enough: Kenny had control during the match.

"Well!" Lilian announced as the timer ran out. "That was quite the cool, collected contest battle! Let's give a round of applause for Kenny and his Machamp!"

* * *

"Well, here we have one of Wallace's students against a could-be queen! Give it up for Brendan and Victoria!" Lilian cheered.

Tossing out the pokeball with a barely contained sense of enthusiasm, Brendan called forth his pokemon. "Shiftry, it's time!"

The woman, on the other hand, tossed her hair behind her shoulder before clicking the button on her pokeball. "Vespiquen, this is an important battle, so let's do our best, okay?"

"Well, if that isn't a compliment, I don't know what is," Brendan said, taking on a suave air. "Shiftry, use Fake Out!"

The click clack of Shiftry's feet on the stage was all the warning Vespiquen got. Sweeping his leafy hand up first to startle Vespiquen, the grass type then kicked out with its hard, wooden feet.

The mother-queen bee was knocked back mid-air, left only to reel. After a shocked pause, she looked pissed.

"Hey, keep calm!" Victoria reminded her pokemon. "Just use Heal Order."

Breathing deeply, the bug type closed her eyes. In a flash, a mob of small grubs appeared out the combs that served as her dress.

"See? It's not a big deal," Victoria assured. "Now, let's show them our Attack Order."

Brendan watched quietly as the swarm was formed. The buzzing noise was almost on par with the beating of his heart. "Shiftry, Leaf Blade!"

Flinging one arm out behind him, the middle leaf of Shiftry's arm expanded in a brilliant green light. When it ended, a glowing green 'sword' had formed.

With the utmost swiftness, the grass type lunged at the bundled swarm, striking at the assault to the tune of several feral shrieks on Shiftry's part. Several swings of its blades ended in a cross-armed swipe that left the infestation scattered, falling behind its form like a shredded foe.

Flashing a victorious, cool-tempered grin, Brendan opted to pounce on his style and momentum, throwing a hand up towards the afternoon sun. "Great job! Now, follow that up with Growth!"

Shiftry raised both of its fanned limbs to the sky, forming a vacuum of green particles of natural energy that encroached upon its form. A vibrant glow enveloped the grass/dark hybrid, channeling into the leafy appendages on both of the pokemon's arms. The Wicked pokemon cried out with vigor, inspired and revitalized.

Maintaining control of momentum from one move to the next, Brendan watched his opponent's points begin to chip away further. A bead of sweat rolling down his forehead betrayed his look of confidence, however. _'I'd better keep this pattern going… If one effective bug type move makes it through, Shiftry's in serious trouble.'_

Victoria scowled. If her opponent continued to press on with his fierce attacks and showmanship, she'd lose any chance to act on her tactical advantage. Not to mention, her points would probably hit zero before her Vespiquen even hit the contest floor. "Use Defend Order!"

Yet another buzzing swarm coiled around the queen bee, earning a mixture of impressed cheers and frightened chatter from the audience. The display of Vespiquen's mastery of her own element chipped away at Brendan's points, to boot, shrinking the gap between the coordinators.

Confident in her defenses, Victoria pointed forward. "Now, Toxic!"

Pushing her arms out, the Beehive pokemon caused a glow of purple to circle around Shiftry's feet. Brewing into a bubble, it flashed over Shiftry before completely concealing him.

Brendan's cool demeanor briefly slipped. "Leaf Tornado! Get out of sight!" That was exactly what he'd feared. Shiftry's only advantage thus far had been staying a step ahead of Vespiquen. If that poisoned status started to cost his grass type in endurance, they'd be up a creek. It didn't help that Toxic's display was stunning. Luckily, the forming blur of leaves was impressive, too.

"Aw, won't you keep playing with us?" the opponent taunted. "Vespiquen, use Attack Order."

Narrowing his eyes, Brendan realized they had to fight a little dirty. Under the intense cover of the Leaf Tornado, he called out a surprising move. "Fake Out!"

"Huh?!" Victoria's jaw dropped.

The cluster of leaves was so thick there was no way that Vespiquen could have anticipated it. Though he was still struck by the Attack Order as soon he blew his cover, Shiftry was at least able to get a blow so shocking that Vespiquen was stunned into stillness.

"A Fake Out during the match!" Lilian announced. "A rarely conceived notion, folks! Brendan really had to set up for that! Some of you with sharp eyes may have noticed that Leaf Tornado didn't touch Vespiquen earlier. It seems Brendan sacrificed that to set up for Fake Out! The question is-will it be worth it for Brendan?"

"There's our opening!" Brendan commanded, almost crouching with how far he was leaning forward. "Shiftry, you're going to have to use Leaf Blade now!"

"You will not!" Victoria snarled. "Vespiquen, Attack Order!"

If Victoria's points hadn't already dropped due to being duped by Brendan's Leaf Tornado-Fake Out combination, then they definitely dropped for reusing the same attack twice in a row.

Still, the audience watched with baited breath. The tak-tak-tak of Shiftry's clunky, wooden feet over the stage and the mindless buzzing of Vespiquen's grubs were barely audible even with the audio system in the stadium due to the audience's cheering approval. This was a match! Power, pizazz, surprise!

It all culminated in a heart pounding moment as Shiftry was flung into the throng of underlings, slicing at the queen! Falling down behind her with the swarm having finished what little time they got to attack the grass type, everyone was on the edge of their seats.

Shiftry dropped down onto one knee.

Vespiquen dropped onto her face.

"Our winner is Brendan!" Lilian announced. Taking on a teasing tone, she laughed. "But, hey, we have to give it up for him! It would have been embarrassing if he lost in front of his mentor, wouldn't it?"

* * *

While the next competitors, using a Froslass and a Torkoal apiece, walked onto the stage, Dawn approached the winner of the last match as soon as he walked off the stage.

"How'd you manage that?!" she asked with a bit more force in her tone than was necessary. She was somewhere between baffled and impressed.

Scratching the back of his head with something like pride, he answered her. "Um, well, Wallace told me that if I couldn't beat someone with two type advantages, then I'm not really that clever, so-"

Dawn cut him off. "No, the second Fake Out!"

"Oh!" Brendan said. He looked over his shoulder, still seeing Quijote in the room. Grunting, he jerked his thumb to a slightly secluded corner of the lounge. "Follow me."

Obedient, the blue haired girl was content to listen to his request. Now that they were alone, she raised a brow in question.

"Okay, so," Brendan started. "You normally can't because, like, once the Skitty is out of the bag, it's out of the bag. But! If you can create a sound and a noise diversion, like my Leaf Tornado since the leaves go all whooshy and it's clearly a visual thing…" He gave a thumbs up. "You're golden!"

"Huh. Impressive," Dawn tutted.

The boy laughed. "I honestly learned it after Wallace kept kicking Shiftry's butt even though we had the type advantage!"

Thinking of all of the times Ash had stubbornly gone against type advantage, Dawn waved her hand. "That doesn't always mean anything, like how you showed with Vespiquen."

"That's true." Nodding, Brendan held his hand out. "Hey, I hope I get to battle you. You've met Cynthia, right? I got to eat lunch with her once when she was visiting Wallace and Steven. She talked highly of you."

Thrilled that Cynthia remembered her, Dawn smiled. "We've both gotta make our home regions proud then, huh?" She shook the other coordinator's hand vigorously.

* * *

"Now, we have Dawn and Aaron! Let's give them a round of applause!" Lilian encouraged. Sure enough, the audience did give up a hearty round of applause for the two coordinators. Dawn and the child she would be battling both stepped to their appropriate spots on stage.

"Pachirisu! Spotlight!" Dawn called out, releasing her electric type.

The white pokemon landed on all four feet, chattering happily in greeting.

"Aron, let's go!"

Dawn balked at the appearance of the steel type. A guy named Aaron was using an aron? Still… Since rock types had an advantage, she couldn't afford to waste time! "Pachirisu, use Sweet Kiss!"

Darting over, the little Elesquirrel pokemon went over to Aron. She twirled cutely before pressing her lips to Aron's cheek. For his part, the steel type immediately buried his face into the stage. A rusty red shine overtook his shell. He was embarrassed!

"Aron, use Heavy Slam!"

However, the pokemon was too confused by Pachirisu. He looked up back at the current object of his affection before slamming his face down into the stage again in confusion.

"Not bad work," Dawn praised. "Now, use Super Fang!"

"Pachi!" she exclaimed, long teeth glowing white and growing longer.

"Oh boy." Aaron gulped. "Aron, use Protect!"

Not having to face the object of his frustrations to use the move, Aron was able to pull it off wonderfully! Pachirisu planted mouth first against the shield and chattered angrily at it.

"Pachipachipachi!"

"Pachirisu, pull back," Dawn pleaded, praying that her voice instilled more confidence than she really felt at the moment. She loved the little rodent, but it had a bad habit of not knowing when to quit.

Just as the pokemon did back off, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Great, now let's throw them off, with Spark!" Dawn threw a hand forward with all the confidence she could muster. With any luck, they could hopefully paralyze the opponent and secure their victory.

Pachirisu did as ordered, making a mad dash for Aron with a blue electrical trail.

By now, Aaron was sweating. It was obvious the older coordinator was seasoned; the match hadn't reached a fever pitch yet and she was already using mind games. "Iron Defense!"

The small steel type tensed his exoskeleton, reinforcing it with a second layer of metal.

Pachirisu crashed, managing little more than a few beautiful sparks and a sore skull.

"Look at that," Lilian interjected with a shout. "Iron Defense is making Spark look like some sort of fierce ironwork! The sparks dancing off of its coat have truly robbed Dawn of the spotlight!"

Dawn swallowed, her stance held stiff to hide any sign of fretting. The kid came off like a newbie, but he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, she'd give him that.

"Now, use Discharge!"

"Chi-Pachi!" The Elesquirrel shrieked, firing off a myriad of bolts.

"Charge through it with Headbutt," Aaron shouted. Maybe if intercepting worked once, it would work in his favor again!

"Ron!" The tiny underdog cried, stampeding towards Pachirisu in all his might. In all of his excitement, though, he lost his footing, letting out a squeal as he slid across the ground…

...And right into the path of an explosive Discharge.

"Oooh, that was unfortunate! If Aaron and Aron can't keep their composure, their toughness might not last them through the round!" Lilian narrated, her eyes on the score. Each contestant's score had chipped away bit by bit, but Aaron's laid less than comfortably below half.

The smoke finally began to disperse, revealing a standing, robust Aron.

Dawn's points dipped a bit closer to her opponent's.

"Look at that! Nothing more exciting than a hardy little dark horse ready to tough it through!"

He was holding up far too much. Dawn had to knock Aaron and his Aron down to size, or they might actually lose! "Pachirisu, try Super Fang!"

Knowing very well what that move did, Aaron threw out a hand. "Heavy Slam!"

The two tiny pokemon ran at each other. Pachirisu was more lithe and speedy, so the two met on Aron's side of the field. Despite this…

"Oh, a blow right to the mouth! Very painful, not very graceful," Lilian explained over the speakers.

Pachirisu held her head, walking back from the failed attack. Aron, for his part, snorted and pawed at the ground, feeling very confident. She wouldn't be able to take much more of a beating like this. Even if she was more experienced than Aron, he had weight on her.

Begrudgingly, Dawn realized the typing and weight issue were too great. She supposed if she absolutely had to, she could batter Aron until it succumbed to Pachirisu. However, she wasn't sure if the timer or her points would give out first for trying that. She couldn't risk either of those. She would have to bank on running down Aaron's points. Hopefully, she could empty them out, but if she could just keep it lower than hers by the time the match ended, she could deal with it.

"Pachirisu! Come back over here! You remember how we used to make those flowers with your Spark attack?"

Darting back to Dawn's side of the field, the squirrel nodded.

"Good! Now, let's try Sweet Kiss. Let the attack go to Aron, you hang back."

"Hmph. Aron, use Protect!" At this distance, it was unlikely Aron would be hit by the Sweet Kiss hearts. It was a little less reliable than using the move as it was traditionally intended (physical contact), but even Aaron had to admit the hearts looked very cute flying through the air.

Pity they bounced right off Aron's Protect.

"Let's hope this works… Discharge!"

Just as Aron's Protect was going down, Pachirisu's blue electricity surged across the field. First, it shattered the Sweet Kiss hearts into pink bursts before rather ineffectively causing Aron's metallic shell to sparkle.

"Well, there's probably a line about a woman scorned to be said here, but I've never seen such a shocking response!" Lilian praised. "The flair is there, folks!"

She breathed out a sigh of relief as Aaron's points plunged for a moment. The impactful, poignant statement made by breaking the refused hearts spoke to the judges' appreciation of theatrics. The sparkling on Aron's shell spoke to their aesthetics.

Dawn was just going to have to keep using Aaron's Aron as her unwilling partner in what was turning from a battle to an extended appeals performance.

Unaware of what Dawn was up to, Aaron stomped a foot. "That was a dirty trick! I just used up my Protect! Heavy Slam, Aron!"

"Aron!" the pokemon grunted before charging at Pachirisu.

"Pachirisu, give it a Spin with flair!"

Holding her hands up and to the side, Pachirisu did just that. She twisted her tail around her as she slipped out of Aron's path.

"Good!" Dawn praised. "Now, try Super Fang with Spark!" Hopefully, it would give it a similar strength to Thunder Fang but with the trailing light show Spark always offered.

"Headbutt, Aron!" Aaron said, keeping an eye on the timer. For now, he was still behind Dawn! This wasn't good!

Aron rammed his head into Pachirisu's stomach. She would have been tossed over him if she hadn't managed to hook her teeth into his exoskeleton! The two of them surged forth as Pachirisu began to crackle with blue electricity. Soon, it covered both of them. The sight of the little steel type running with the blue trail… It was magnificent!

But, it was all Dawn's planning, which meant it cost Aaron points.

Just as the joy ride ended and Aron managed to knock Pachirisu off, the timer sounded.

"Looks like we've got to call this match, folks! And, just close enough to probably work up a sweat, our by-a-nose winner is Dawn! Let's give her and Pachirisu a round of applause!"

* * *

"Now, Larkspur and Mary are up! Let's give them a warm round of applause!" Lilian introduced.

Tossing a pokeball forward, Mary took a decisive point position. "Remoraid, it's go time!"

Larkspur nodded. Hopefully, this wouldn't be too difficult. After seeing the match between Pachirisu and Aron, though, he wondered if the type advantage would mean anything. "Victreebel, I need your help!"

One of the first competitors to be able to make full use of the pool, Remoraid already cut a bit into Larkspur's points just for taking advantage of an element none of the other competitors had yet. Victreebel, on the other hand, leisurely stood on the platform. Both competitors turned to face the audience, then, as they had to watch their pokemon before them.

"This is already quite the unusual positioning! Let's see where it leads," Lilian narrated.

Twirling, Mary placed her hands over her heart. "Remoraid… Use Ice Beam!"

That was what Larkspur was afraid of. "Victreebel, Ingrain!"

Just as the flash of icy power doused Victreebel down, the plant extended its roots, locking into the stage and even touching into the water. Drawing on the energy around it, Victreebel drew forth a bit of strength. It wasn't enough to negate Remoraid's attack, but it lessened the blow.

"Oh my! It's an Ingrain user! Those are always stubborn!" Lilian seemed excited, to say the least.

"Hmph," Mary muttered. "Still… How long can you hang on? Remoraid, use Ice Beam again!"

Despite the points lost due to using the same move twice in a row, Mary stuck with her idea. Remoraid blasted Victreebel once more with frost.

Though the plant shivered a bit, it did not freeze and did not faint, though it felt close to doing such.

"We'll need to replish Victreebel's energy. Hey, Mary, be a pal. Lend us some strength when we use… Giga Drain!"

The girl squealed in shock. Remoraid, however, glowed green at the same time that Victreebel did. Little green orbs of energy floated towards the grass type, replenishing its strength.

"That's better. Now, let's use Toxic and then Venoshock!" Larkspur commanded.

Still woozy from having its energy stolen, Remoraid was prone and vulnerable to Victreebel's Toxic attack. Purple bubbles flooded the water, foaming around Remoraid.

"C'mon! You need to use Water Pulse!"

Pained and disoriented, the small fish responded to the call for Venoshock, keying into its trainer's command. Its tiny mouth parted, conjuring a glowing orb of water before firing.

The Water Pulse and Venoshock collided, bursting the bubble of Water Pulse with such potency that a sparkling, gassy purple mist exploded from the collision point, showering contaminated water vapor over the pool spanning the arena.

"Victreebel almost closed the deal with a well-thought combination of Toxic and Venoshock, but Remoraid held things together with a beautiful Water Pulse! I think we can all agree that it made a great use of the poisonous goo that was intended to finish Remoraid off!" Lilian shouted into her microphone, playing the match up.

Mary gripped a fist at chest height, her brows knit. "With Toxic going, we don't have any time to spare… Let's settle this, Remoraid! Set your sights, with Lock-on!"

A red ring projected from Remoraid's gaze, settling intently on Victreebel's form. Both the fish's eyes and the ring glowed.

"Whatever you're preppin' for, I don't want any of," Larkspur muttered. "Venoshock!" Though his points were wavering down even with his opponents, if his hunch was correct, it would be worth it. He just had to last through whatever Mary was planning!

"Hyper Beam!"

That's what she was planning!

As the white light began to glow in Remoraid's tiny maw, Victreebel belched up another Venoshock. The effect was potent! Hyper Beam's budding form briefly wavered…!

But, it was not enough. Blasting out, Victreebel was completely obscured by the white light. Both Mary and Larkspur stepped back, giving a wide girth to the attack.

When it faded, Remoraid was panting in the water, thoroughly exhausted.

Similarly, Victreebel stood, clinging barely to the stage with its Ingrain move still intact.

"Unbelievable!" Lilian shouted, full of energy. "Even after taking on a Hyper Beam, Victreebel's still hanging in there! Ingrain saves lives, folks!"

Sighing in relief, Larkspur felt pride that his hunch had been proven correct. "Now, finish them off with Giga Drain!"

Sucking Remoraid dry of its energy, Larkspur was also satisfied to see the green light show dipped Mary's points below his own. For a moment there, he had been really worried!

Once Remoraid fainted in the water, Lilian announced the conclusion of the match.

"There you have it, folks! Let's give it up for Larkspur and his Victreebel!"

* * *

The first battle rounds had concluded. Now, it was just Lilian on stage, announcing the match ups for the next round.

Backstage, Quijote felt himself catch a chill as he saw his face appear next to Brendan's. Much the opposite, the Hoenn native trainer only nodded, looking back at Ciara.

"Hey, I'll teach him some manners for you, huh?"

The girl, who was less upset now that her Vulpix was resting easy, smiled back. "T-Thank you, Brendan…"

Dawn, on the other hand, spotted her face among the many others on the board. She furrowed her brows upon seeing who her opponent would be. "Ember, huh?" She sighed. "This is either gonna be fun or completely awful…"

"Ah, Kenny! You're up first!" Ciara said, smiling at her crush.

The boy nodded, adjusting his shirt. "I'll do my best!"

* * *

"Now, to start off the second round of battles, we'll begin with two of our so-far-successful competitors. Now, let's count on them to give us a good show, and turn up the heat!" Lilian's voice blared through her microphone and over the loudspeakers.

"Kenny powered through the last round with composure and brute force! Now, we'll get to see how that prowess stacks up against all the beauty and elegance of Michelle and her pokemon!"

Both competitors had taken to the stage, Kenny standing tall with a fist stationed securely on his waist. His opponent Michelle brushed a hand smoothly through her own locks. The personality of both coordinators was evident, and a whooping audience proved itself convinced.

"Let's show them how we stack up… Alakazam! You're up!" Kenny called, tossing his pokeball.

"Kazam." The telepath held a silver spoon diligently in each of its hands, eyeing Kenny's opponent in a steely, focused gaze.

"We'll battle circles around them! Let's go, Altaria~!" Twirling in a way that could only be described as being a show-off, Michelle tossed her pokeball high, releasing the cloud-coated dragon in a bright flash of light. It fluttered around Michelle's platform as if it were as light as the clouds in the sky above.

"And… Begin!"

Michelle was quick to make the first move. "Fluff yourself up with Cotton Guard, and then use Moonblast!"

"Taria~!" The pokemon sing-songed, flapping its wings. A cloud of puffy cotton began to materialize out of thin air, surrounding and drawing to Altaria's body, giving it a thicker, even more elegant coat. The protective puffs faded into its form, its increased defenses indicated with a blow glow.

Ooh's and cheers could be heard in the stadium, admiring the pokemon's beautiful appearance.

Kenny's points chipped just a bit.

Altaria followed up with a shining, swirling orb of pink luminous energy, firing from its beak.

"Intercept that with Shadow Ball," Kenny ordered, throwing a hand aside.

"Alakazam!" A ghastly mass of darkness appeared before the PSI pokemon, crackling with dark lightning that trailed it as it fired with break-neck speed towards Altaria's attack.

The two colorful collections of energy collided over the pool, shoving against one another in a clash that caused reverberations across the pool. Flashing and snapping at one another, they finally collapsed in a swirl, resulting in a large, booming explosion of intertwining light and darkness. It looked as if a little chunk of space had been grabbed out of the night sky, allowing all present to see a miniature explosion of a star.

"Absolutely beautiful! Even with a disadvantage in type, Kenny staged a sturdy defense, and made a wonderful spectacle out of Altaria's Moonblast, as well! Way to keep cool under pressure!"

The auburn-haired teen grinned. "Now, keep up those defenses, with Light Screen!"

A green grid of translucent energy formed in a flash around Alakazam.

"Now, look at that! Kenny and Alakazam are using their heads, and securing their guard against the beautiful attacks by Michelle and Altaria! She'll have to press them if she hopes to gain an advantage!"

It seemed Kenny appealed to the smart category of appeals as Michelle's points dropped an inch or two. Now he was in the lead, but only by a bit. This match was far from over.

"You heard them," Michelle replied, throwing an open palm up. "Let's dazzle them with Draco Meteor!"

Altaria spit a shining meteor into the sky above. With a dazzling explosion, fiery shots of energy rained down upon both the battlefield and the platform Alakazam stood upon. The shimmering splashes caused by the latter were a sight to behold, managing to even the score.

As for Alakazam…

"Dodge those with Teleport," Kenny ordered without missing a beat.

As the meteors cascaded, Alakazam vanished and reappeared time and again, narrowly avoiding explosive impacts several times in a row in a diligent display of quick thinking.

The smoke soon cleared, revealing an untouched Alakazam.

Altaria, on the other hand, was huffing from the potent dragon type attack.

The contrast spoke for itself, chipping away at Michelle's points heavily.

"Ooh, and Michelle made took a risky gambit with Draco Meteor! But, Alakazam stayed composed and came out for the better, without a scratch on him! What a defense!"

By now, Michelle's heart was beating a few ticks faster. As graceful as Altaria was, all of that power and beauty was only coming off as foolish in the face of a pokemon with all of Alakazam's power and wit. They had to break Kenny's composure if they wanted any chance of coming out of this looking graceful. It was time to break out their trump card.

"Now, Altaria, use Perish Song~!"

"Allltar~!" The pokemon began to sing in a deep, haunting tone, its noble head thrown up to allow its notes to reverberate throughout the stadium.

Fortunately, they only went so far, stopping short of affecting pokemon hanging in the audience. But they did strike the ears of Alakazam, who cringed, taking in an eerie sense of foreboding.

"And, Michelle throws it all down at once, with a beautiful but chilling Perish Song! It's doubtful either coordinator will last the full five minutes now… This really ramps up the pressure!"

Kenny grimaced. "Way to throw this match for a loop… If we want to win the judges over, we'll have to make our time count while we still have it, Alakazam!"

"Kazam," the pokemon agreed with a nod. The pressure was on, but for a pokemon with an IQ of 5,000, this wasn't enough to hinder and distract his brilliant mind. The show would go on.

"Now, use Psycho Cut and combine it with Shadow Ball!"

"Alakazam!" The psychic type swiped both of his spoons in an arc, firing two large purple crescents towards Altaria. A pair of Shadow Balls followed, one from each spoon.

The arcs were eaten up by the spectral essence of Shadow Ball, leaving Altaria to confront a pair deep lavender crests, each consuming the light immediately around them.

"Dodge that!" Michelle called out, her voice cracking. What a combination…!

Altaria swooped above, crying out as it attempted to steer clear of the incoming crests.

Its command of the skies would have steered it clear of Psycho Cut alone, but the momentum lent by the Shadow Balls sped the attack up further, allowing Altaria to just barely skirt aside the first Psycho Cut. A dark violet blade of energy grazed Altaria's voluminous cotton, parting the clouds without actually hurting the evading pokemon.

The second, however, hit Altaria head-on. It cried out in pain, caught up in a booming explosion of different shades of red and violet. Telekinetic and spectral energies had hit their mark.

"Oh! That's got to hurt! Altaria tried to steer clear, but it just wasn't fast enough!"

"Moonblast!"

The dispersing smoke was blown away by another brilliant pink orb, closing in on Alakazam.

"Kazam!" The psychic type grunted, pelted with the explosive blast of magical energy.

Of course, his shimmering golden coat was only lightly dusted by the explosion, a large chunk of Moonblast's power eaten up by the green glimmer of Light Screen. A snarky reminder that Kenny and Alakazam had come into this battle prepared.

"Both pokemon stage a beautiful offensive! Ooh, but Light Screen is not doing Michelle and Altaria any favors! Alakazam is holding his composure quite well, as a result!"

Needless to say, the clock was ticking on Perish Song, as well.

Michelle's fists were trembling. With that, piled on Kenny's continued dominance, she was beginning to regret making that power play. If they didn't act now, they were done for!

With a grunt, she threw another hand to the air. "Now, let's dazzle them with all of our power, Altaria! Let's show them a gorgeous Draco Meteor!"

The dragon's beautiful call echoed through the stadium, another bright orange orb conjuring above it. Under its orange glow, Altaria's body illuminated like clouds hanging in the beautiful overcast of a setting sun.

This, sun, however, soared instead of sinking. It burst like its predecessor, raining down another barrage of fiery meteors upon Kenny's side of the battlefield.

"Now, go above and beyond, with Teleport!" Kenny grinned. Time to make them repeat their mistake.

Alakazam watched the incoming barrage with an observant eye, vanishing from one point on the stage to the next. He once again warped between impact points, his body then vanishing from the smoky stage.

Standing tall and poised, Kenny, snapped a finger. "Now, pay back the favor with Shadow Ball!"

Far above the smoky debris was none other than Alakazam! A last-second Teleport had brought him even above Altaria, earning cheers and hollers from a watching crowd. "Kazam!" The PSI pokemon thrust out both spoons, firing off a hail of violet, crackling orbs upon Altaria.

The normally elegant pokemon squawked in fear, weaving and soaring between the ghoulish blasts to the best of her ability. Most of the Shadow Balls were brushed off, but finally, one impacted, followed by roughly half a dozen more piling on top.

Thank Arceus for Cotton Guard. Altaria wearily hovered lower towards the ground, instinctively hiding under the cover of the dispersing smoke from Alakazam. Not at all suited for a contest, but self-preservation was a primal instinct that would not be won over.

"Ohhh, and Kenny counters with his own answer to Draco Meteor! A terrifying display of prowess, but Altaria's still… Ah! Look at that! It seems Perish Song finally kicked in!"

Both pokemon were brought down by gravity, each unconscious, landing in a heap.

The siren's spell had done its job.

"Would you believe that! A double knock-out! I'm not quite sure what this means for the match… The judges will briefly consult one another and give us a verdict!"

Kenny, Michelle, and the entire crowd had their eyes glued to the panel, all of which crowded together in a hushed cluster of whispers. Try as they might, even spectators in the front row couldn't overhear.

Finally, Wallace stood. "The Wallace Cup can't very well proceed without at least one victor to move on to the next round! Since both pokemon are unable to battle, the criteria used to determine a victor will be the primary one used without the presence of a knock-out!"

A dramatically waved had gestured to the scores presented on screen.

"...By the remaining number of points! In this case, that honor goes to Kenny, and his wonderfully diligent Alakazam! Both contestants put their hearts into the cup today, but it's a worthy lesson learned for both trainers, that even the most elegant beauty will fall prey to its competitors without a sturdy constitution, and the fangs to keep its enemies at bay!"

With that only, Kenny's face remained on the monitor.

The foreign coordinator resisted the urge to breath a heavy sigh of relief, opting to flash a cool smile and keep his composure. "Excellent job, Alakazam! You played your part well."

"Alakazam!"

Whoops and hollers of approval could be heard from the audience, many of them sounding young and feminine. The brains and brawn put forward seemed to attract a bit of a fanbase to the Sinnoan young man.

* * *

"Next up, we have one of our fan favorites here in Kanto and another strong willed young woman. Let's see what Dawn and Ember can do!"

Stepping onto her part of the battle grounds, Dawn looked across to Ember. There was a fire in the other girl's eyes and it made Dawn just the littlest bit nervous. Considering how Quijote, who Ember had recently been hanging out with, had acted with Ciara, would Ember do the same? Did Ember have it in her…? No! Dawn wouldn't stoop to the other girl's level and assume the worst.

"Let's have a good match!" Dawn said, hoping it might warm some of the chilly atmosphere between them.

"I plan to!" Ember spat back.

So much for that, Dawn thought.

"Absol, spotlight!" Dawn called, releasing the pokemon.

Her white furred dark type landed on the stage with a clack of her claws, looking the scene over briefly before shaking her magnificent mane. Dawn's grooming had paid off! It glistened in the sunlight.

"Miltank, we're gonna school 'em!" Ember tossed her own pokeball out.

Landing on one foot with the grace that betrayed her hefty form, Ember's Miltank pumped a fist, looking fiesty and fierce. "Mil mil!" she bleated.

"Now… Begin!" Lilian called.

"Absol, use Future Sight!" She wasn't sure what Miltank was capable of, but Dawn had to prepare for it just in case! She was sure the pokemon wasn't resistant to psychic type moves if her memory of Autumn's Miltank was reliable.

"Always using a dirty tactic… Defense Curl!" she ordered, pointing an accusatory finger towards Dawn's side of the field.

While Absol stood still, eyes glowing blue ever so briefly, Miltank tucked into herself, covering her vital areas.

"Now! Use Rollout!" Ember cheered, jumping a little with enthusiasm at the idea of getting the jump on Dawn now that her pokemon was busy doing psychic stuff.

The other coordinator, however, wasn't having it. "Detect!"

Stance tensing, the Absol's horn seemed to quiver ever so slightly just as Miltank began rolling in place. When the pink cow lurched forward, the dark type quickly darted to the side. The stage was alive with the splat-splat-splat sounds of Miltank's fatty body rolling across the stage and the click-clack of Absol's claws carrying her away from danger.

Even as Dawn's pointes had dipped from the suiting combination of Defense Curl and Rollout, her quick thinking and Absol's quick reflexes brought Ember's points down just the same.

Ember growled a bit. "She's just a big sneak!" she hissed to herself. "Miltank, use Stomp!"

Popping out of her Rollout ball, Miltank quickly began running at Absol.

"Dodge!"

Unfortunately, avoiding one's problems for too long only resulted in having to face them unprepared. Thrown to her side by what was more like a bucking kick than a stomp from Miltank, Absol flinched and laid on the floor for a time.

Absol's composure broken, Dawn's points began to dip again.

Fortunately for Dawn, Absol's Future Sight came home to roost, hitting the pink cow and causing her to bellow in pain.

"A little bit of Foresight on Dawn's part really helped out, there!" Lilian narrated. Some of the crowd members groaned at the joke. Several others, our hero Ash and company included, laughed at it.

Dawn herself had laughed at Lilian's joke. But, she tried to make herself focus on the match at hand. "Absol, use Razor Wind!"

Absol jumped to her feet, tossing her head to begin whipping up a gale. Both of the coordinators' long hair flowed in the wind.

"Rollout!" Ember cried.

And, there it was, the first significant point drop in the match. It had been too soon since Miltank used that tactic the last time. All the same, Absol was crashed into by the rolling mass of meat and bones.

"Absol, you alright?!"

"Sol."

Relieved, Dawn gripped a fist. "Now, let's try adding in Night Slash!" Their Razor Wind from earlier was coming to a head. Dawn suddenly was happy she'd switched to shorts. She could only imagine what problems wearing a skirt while using this move could cause!

But, as it was, the darkening winds of Night Slash and Razor Wind combined were beautiful. Miltank, still in ball form, was tossed around the gales, damaged much more than she would have been with either move alone.

"What kind of move is this?!" Ember shouted as the winds died down. "Miltank, keep at it!"

Needing no second order, Miltank slammed into Absol again. The accumulating damage was taking as much of a toll on Absol as it was on Ember's point for using the same move over again.

"We can't keep going like this," Dawn noted. "Use Detect!"

Eager to get a break from this beat down, Absol tensed once more, preparing to avoid danger.

"Again!"

As Miltank came spinning towards her, Absol jumped clean over the normal type. Said pokemon disengaged from her spinning move and whirled to glare at Absol. Likewise, the dark type lowered her posture, taking on a predatory stance.

"Let's try our own ace again, Absol! Razor Wind!" Dawn called.

"Oh, as if! Milk Drink, Miltank!" Ember shouted right after.

As the winds picked up on stage again, Miltank's belly began to glow. She started healing herself, recovering almost all the energy that had been lost battling Absol by the looks of things.

Lilian's voice came over the sound system again. "That's Gym Leader Whitney's trademark Miltank moveset, folks! I knew it was popular among trainers who have Miltanks, but I've never really seen it in contests! Let's see if Ember made the right choice gambling with a moveset meant for gym battles rather than contest battles!"

"Night Slash!"

"Stomp!"

Absol tossed her head again, setting off the same dark winds that had tossed Miltank around earlier. This time, though, the normal type ran through them, aiming at Absol despite her accumulating injuries. The normal type kicked out, sending Absol onto her side once more. However, a dark gale in the windstorm Absol had created swiped through, landing a critical blow onto Miltank.

"Mil!"

Absol was down, having flinched again.

"Use Stomp again!" Ember knew they couldn't waste any time.

Dawn looked up at the scoreboard as Miltank did that again. Didn't Ember know it was costing her points to keep using Rollout and Stomp back to back?! Or, did she even care?! Was this just some kind of grudge match?

Judging by the way Absol yelped upon being Stomped, Dawn could only assume that, yes, yes it was. That was fine. If Ember wanted to act reckless, then Dawn would stop her!

"Absol, use Future Sight."

Standing back up, Absol set up the attack, panting heavily. She couldn't last much longer. Miltank had her on the ropes!

"Rollout!"

Tucking into herself, Miltank set off towards Absol.

"Detect!"

Sidestepping the attack, Absol watched in satisfaction as her heavy weight opponent tumbled clumsily after ending the Rollout. She was very tired of having to deal with Miltank!

"Now, Night Slash!"

Leaping into the air, Absol tossed her head, sending off a single arc of dark cutting energy towards Miltank. At the same time, the Future Sight glowed blue around Miltank. The psychic and dark energy exploded as they collided. Standing in the middle of both attacks and receiving them was more than Miltank could bear!

When the smoke of it cleared, Absol had landed on the stage safely, pretending that she had hardly suffered at all. Her opponent, on the other hand, laid on her back, having fainted.

"With that decisive victory, the match is over! Give it up for our winners, Dawn and Absol!"

Up in the crowded audience, a small ruckus in particular stood out.

"Alright, Dawn!" Ash whistled through two fingers, a fist pumped in the air. "You showed her!"

"Pika-Pika~!"

 _~Ember seemed kinda mean,~_ Rosa whimpered. Having tried to tune out her surroundings, the Riolu had focused all of her senses on the competitors. Talk about someone with anger issues!

"Well, if she looks like a Psyduck, quacks like a Psyduck, and holds her head like a Psyduck…"

* * *

"Now, it's time for our next match! Larkspur and Taro! These two gentlemen are both as eloquent and neat as a Kalosian garden! Let's give it up for them!"

As the audience clapped, Larkspur stepped onto stage. He couldn't help but note that the man across from stage wasn't even dressed that differently from himself. He even postured himself similarly! Perhaps they were birds of a feather…

"Farfetch'd, it's time to shine!" Larkspur commanded.

Taro tossed out a pokeball. "Golduck, let's dazzle 'em!"

Larkspur didn't mean that literally, but here it was. They were both using duck pokemon.

"Well, I seem to be copying you a bit," Taro admitted. "So, I'll take the lead so you aren't mimicked. Golduck, use Aqua Jet!"

Taking on a veil of watery protection, Golduck rushed Farfetch'd, sending the flying type onto its butt. The water veil burst after, splashing the stage beautifully.

Already, Larkspur's points were diminishing.

"Oh boy… Aerial Ace, Farfetch'd!"

"Farfetch'd!" the pokemon called out, taking its leek into its beak. It took to the air, slapping Golduck with its wing and leaving an arc of blue behind it.

Thankfully, Taro's points chipped down some.

Larkspur pumped a fist, confidence restored. "Now, use Swords Dance!"

"Mm… Let's put a little distance between us. Golduck, use Disable and then hit the water."

While Farfetch'd was moving into a dance, Golduck put both hands on either side of its face. Just as the silvery illusion of a sword was appearing alongside Farfetch'd, costing Taro some points, Golduck's Disable move activated! Marked by Golduck's forehead gem glowing, Farfetch'd found itself tripping over its own feet!

This, in turn, cost Larkspur a few points.

Sabotage completed, Golduck leaped off into the water.

"Well, talk about nipping it in the bud!" Lilian announced. "Taro isn't taking any chances!"

"I guess he thinks he can avoid us," Larkspur said to Farfetch'd. "That's fine! If he wants the sea, you take to the sky! Fly overhead!"

Farfetch'd took off, flapping its wings and flying above the pool of water where Golduck swam. The view of the two birds paralleling earned a series of coos from the audience.

"There's a tough target. Still… Golduck, try Mega Kick!"

Launching itself out of the water with tremendous energy, Golduck kept one leg poised out and towards its opponent.

"False Swipe!" Larkspur quickly called out. Given that flashy exit from the water that Golduck just had, his points were down. Taro would win right now if Farfetch'd knocked Golduck out!

The two attacks combined mid-air. Using its leek skillfully, Farfetch'd was able to divert what could have been a critical kick to the breastbone from Golduck to the side, instead. Foiled, Golduck glared up at Farfetch'd as it fell back towards the water.

"Confusion!" Taro called out.

Bobbing its head out of the water, Golduck's eyes glowed blue. An outline of the same shade closed in around Farfetch'd. Before the flying type knew what was happening, it was plunged down into the water.

"Oh no! Farfetch'd, use Fury Cutter!"

Pulsing with bug energy, Farfetch'd broke itself free of Golduc's hold. Unleashing the power of its leek, Farfetch'd skidded over the water, furiously flapping its wings. It whapped Golduck smoothly with its leek, held firmly in its beak.

"What a display of power! Though Golduck overwhelmed Farfetch'd, Farfetch'd furious retaliation reminds us why these pokemon should be respected!" Lilian said aloud.

Mirroring this, Taro's points took a huge plunge.

Furrowing his brows, Larkspur realized he was about to have to take a risk. "Farfetch'd, take to the air again! Keep your leek ready!"

"Oh, no! You're not flying away again! Golduck, use Aqua Jet!"

While Farfetch'd took to the air, Golduck began stirring up the water around it. With that, it launched itself after Farfetch'd, closing in closer and closer in the air.

"Now! Fury Cutter, again!"

The move had increased in strength. So, Farfetch'd turned swiftly, slapping Golduck off track and out of the air and back into the water.

Meanwhile, on stage, Larkspur breathed a sigh of relief. Though he lost a few points for repeating a move, Taro lost even more since his pokemon was dismissed so gracelessly.

"Farfetch'd, let's get ready to use a Fury Cutter so great it'll rip the waters apart!"

"Fat chance!" Taro yelled. "Golduck, knock his lights out with Mega Kick!"

Twirling in the air before diving, Farfetch'd grinned. Its leek glowed lightly with bug energy. Meanwhile, in the water, Golduck sat in waiting. As Farfetch'd got closer, it stuck its leek into the water. Soon, they part as if they were cleaved by a fast boat. Golduck leaped out, planning to kick Farfetch'd.

The bird pulled up at the last moment, bringing its leek up Golduck's whole body.

"Gooooool!" it screamed, being critically hit.

Soaring above the battle grounds, Farfetch'd was please to see Golduck flop back onto the surf knocked out.

"There you have it, folks! A victory for Larkspur and his fine flying friend Farfetch'd!"

* * *

"Up next we have two gentlemen! This match should be a great show for all of us who want to see coordination as it's meant to be done!"

While Lilian introduced them pleasantly, Brendan looked across to Quijote, who looked as if he were extremely aware of Brendan's intentions.

"Hey, Quijote," the Hoenn native said, smiling wickedly, "I hope you aren't in a rush. I'm going to make this match last the full five minutes. I'm going to beat you with a sleeping pokemon, too."

Quijote flinched. There was no way Brendan could really do that, right? "Are you still holding a grudge?"

"Huh? Weren't you the one who said it's natural for the strong to beat the weak?" the other boy taunted.

"Begin!" Lilian said, oblivious to the quiet conversation on stage.

"Milotic, let's go!" Brendan said before releasing his chosen pokemon.

"Seaking, we must prove ourselves!" Quijote called out.

Both of the scaled beasts splashed into the water. Seaking's delicate fins fluttered in the water as it looked towards Milotic, who floated in it quietly and calmly.

Not sure how to handle going against another water type, Quijote winged it. Perhaps he could beat them with pure force? "Waterfall, Seaking!"

As the pool began to rock and tremble, Brendan turned to Milotic. "Ride it out."

Suddenly, one side of the body of water lowered and the other lurched higher. It then rolled across the entirety of the pool under Seaking's command. Milotic, however, merely remained underwater, swimming only as was needed to correctly orient herself.

"Good girl!" Brendan praised. "Now, use Dragon Pulse!"

Quickly surfacing, Milotic leaped from the water before releasing a blue-hot beam of draconic power. It tore through the pool, blasting Seaking with all of its strength. The water around the attack bubbled and boiled briefly before cooling just as quickly. Steam rose to the surface from the force of it.

This set a decisive tone for the match. Seaking's points were lowered for Milotic's finesse and power. Another tax was levied against Quijote for the magnificence of Brendan's instructed attack.

"No way…!" Quijote's eyes were wide and his hands had fallen open in shock. "Seaking, knock them away with Waterfall!"

"Seeeaaaaa…!" The waters swelled around Milotic as Seaking prepared his attack. "King!" They burst up, rocketing Milotic into the air.

"Disarming Voice!" Brendan called out. "Then, take back to the water!"

Free falling in the air, Milotic quickly used the fairy type attack. A melodious sound so sweet and soothing, yet marked by dangerous, dancing hearts and a visible frequency of pink was pitched towards Seaking. Milotic, meanwhile, straightened herself out, aiming nose first into the water to minimize her re-entry damage.

"Ki!" the water type cried out upon being hit by the deceivingly innocent looking attack.

"Brendna lost some points for letting Quijote show off, but that Disarming Voice wasn't anything to sneeze at!" Lilian was only whipping the crowd's excitement beyond what it already was.

"We can't keep distant… Seaking, use Megahorn!"

Swimming as fast as he could manage, Seaking stuck his horn out forward. Soon enough, it rammed into the side of the long serpent below the surface.

Milotic let out a cry that barely registered as audible above the waters. Thankfully, the underwater cameras and microphones were perfectly designed, and did pick up the shrill cry.

"Miloooooo!"

Brendan's points suffered just as his pokemon did.

"Disarming Voice!"

Taking all of her pain and Brendan's order in the same action, Milotic turned to Seaking. Water was a much better conductor of sound than air was, so the attack was even speedier down here.

Seaking suffered in the sonic assault, blown back by the force.

Quijote nodded, feeling as if he were pushing back against Brendan. "Good work, my friend! Use Scald!"

Focusing, Seaking flexed its muscles before turning the water around Milotic to temperatures so high they boiled. The snake writhed in pain, quickly swimming away to cooler parts of the pool. Unfortunately, the damage was already done.

Brendan only smirked. "Alright. Time for our trump card. Milotic, use Rest!"

Closing her eyes, the heavy, muscular body of Milotic slowly sank to the bottom of the pool. Only the movement of her gills gave her away as merely sleeping.

"What kind of a trump card is that?! Are you messing with me?!" Quijote snapped, completely insulted. "Seaking, toss it out of the pool with Surf!"

"Sleep Talk," Brendan replied.

Just as one side of the pool began lowering so that one might become larger, Milotic lazily raised just its head. Her mouth opened wide in that was that snakes opened it - big as a chasm. A bundle of burning blue and yellow energy was shot out. Milotic had used Dragon Pulse. It ripped through the waves which would have swept her angrily out of the pool, and instead struck down Seaking.

Milotic only drifted along the bottom of the pool, avoiding being dragged up.

Quijote looked up to the score board. He understood, then, what Brendan meant. The cleverness of Brendan's ruse was costing Quijote points. No matter how magnificent his own displays were, the simple fact that he was fighting a sleeping pokemon would bite him in the butt.

The other coordinator's scheme was evident. He could keep Milotic asleep for however long he wished and refuse to use Sleep Talk if he wanted to make the match last longer. He would beat Quijote with points, wouldn't he?

At least, he would try. Quijote was not going to lie down and take this, after all!

"Scald!" Quijote ordered.

"Sleep Talk!"

As the water heated up around Milotic, she woke up. Brendan cursed under his breath as she was hurt. However, she was not burned. He could keep her awake for a while, he supposed. Quijote felt a sense of relief for Brendan having lost a turn.

"This is anyone's match!" Lilian loudly announced. "Brendan and Quijote are really going at it!"

"Megahorn!"

"Disarming Voice!"

While Seaking surged towards Milotic, she used another series of fluctuations against her opponent. It was visible to anyone observing. Seaking had to swim into and against Milotic's vibrating attack before he could even get to her. However, once it ended, he was free to ram into her side.

Looking to the clock, Brendan saw the clock ticking. Less than a minute remained. "Rest!"

"Megahorn!" Quijote was growing desperate. Brendan couldn't get the upper hand!

Though Seaking hit Milotic again, he lost points for using the same attack twice.

"Waterfall!"

Brendan held his breath as he watched Milotic be tossed into the air. He needed this. As she was falling down again, he called out: "Sleep Talk!"

As the final moments of their match counted down, Milotic opened her sleepy maw…

And, used Dragon Pulse.

Five seconds. The beam ripped through the air and splashed into the water with a steamy, sizzling hiss. Four seconds. Quijote's points were dropping. Three seconds. Seaking was writhing in pain. Two seconds. Milotic hit the water with a loud splash. One second. Seaking gave in and fainted.

The timer ended just as Quijote's points emptied out.

Brendan took that time to realized he'd worked up a sweat, frenziedly giving Milotic commands and hoping beyond hope he would have been able to pull that off. He dropped to his knees, a sense of fulfillment, pride, and overwhelming relief flooding him.

Waking up, Milotic slithered out of the water to comfort her trainer.

"What an incredible triple claim to victory! Why, I don't think we've seen a match this decisively in one coordinator's favor since… since… Oh, gosh, since Wallace was titled Top Coordinator in Hoenn! Truly, a student who learned from his master! Let's give them a hand, folks!"

* * *

As Brendan shakily walked back down the stairs to the coordinator lounge, he was greeted with a blushing Ciara. She twiddled her fingers together and looked at him barely over them. Her short, purple hair acted almost as a shield.

"B-Brendan… D-Did you win that… F-For my sake? D-Dawn told me w-what you said, um, earlier… Oh, gosh, I may be thinking about it too much… B-But, I want to thank you… If, um, it was for me… W-What you said at the start…? W-We heard it a little back here… Um, don't worry, though, the audience didn't, so-"

Cutting her off, Brendan took one of Ciara's trembling hands in his own before squeezing it. "Don't worry about it." He winked before walking off.

Overwhelmed, Ciara's knees buckled a bit at the contact from a stranger. Larkspur was ready to jump the gun, but Dawn knew what would happen, so she hip checked him to catch Ciara herself. Holding the embarrassed girl, Dawn looked over at Kenny.

He looked conflicted and perhaps a bit jealous. Poor boy couldn't win, it seemed.

"Wow… She really is shy," Larkspur noted, extremely blunt for now.

"H-He w-went too far for my s-sake… I-I hate being a bother… F-First you and Ash, now him… I don't want to be weak… What if Kenny thinks I'm weak?" Ciara whispered the last part so softly only Dawn heard her.

"He would have shown off anyway," Larkspur answered, not letting Dawn get a word in edgewise. "But, hey, did you see my Farfetch'd?! We were totally cool. We shownd that Golduck who was boss!"

"Yeah, but you didn't have nearly as much control over the match as my Alakazam did!" Kenny bragged, putting a hand atop the shorter boy's head. He ruffled Larkspur's hair before casting a smile down at Ciara.

Dawn, knowing Ciara couldn't see Dawn's expressions as they were behind the purple haired girl's head, raised a brow at Kenny. That kind of bragging was extremely transparent. He was just trying to get Ciara's attention back.

"Oh yeah?!" Larkspur growled. "Wait until you see my next pokemon! We'll blow you out of the water."

Kenny put his hands on his hips. "You'd think that, wouldn't you, little flower?"

"... Little Flower?!"

Dawn sighed. "There he goes again, giving people weird nicknames…"

"Oh? Do you think Kenny would give me a nickname, Dawn?"

Helping the girl up, Dawn shook her head. "Let's go get some lunch during the intermission… But, no. You don't want any of Kenny's nicknames, Ciara…"

Dawn stopped in her footsteps, turning back to face Kenny. "And, you'd better keep your guard up if you want to win this. If it comes down to it, you'll still have me to deal with!" The blue-haired girl flashed a smile brimming with confidence, tossing one of her long blue locks with a flick of her wrist.

"I'll worry about that when it comes around." Kenny grinned, folding his arms across his chest. It didn't hurt to posture himself again and steal some of their thunder. "Just make sure to make it to the finals, and give me a reason to worry!"

"Well, we're all already in the top four." The girl's vision shifted between Kenny, Lakspur, and the retreating image of Brendan. They'd be up against each other soon, and there was no way around it. "One more round, and I'll make that a promise!"

"Um… D-Dawn? Maybe you could make a point of that later?" Ciara tugged on the girl's pink vest. The competitive spirit was nice and all, but right now, it was all just a bit much for the younger girl.

As if on cue, a loud rumble could be heard, leavin Dawn's face scarlet. "That sounds like a good idea…! It wouldn't help to enter the next round on an empty stomach, would it?" Dawn reasoned with a nervous chuckle, folding her arms behind her. "Alright, we'll catch up with you guys later!"

With that farewell, she turned to lead Ciara. "Come on, let's go find Ash! Arceus knows he'll be starving after all this."


	52. Hello, My Friend, My Rival

The intermission heading into the semi-finals of the battle round was a bit longer than the others. Lunch was being served all around the outer walkways and on the avenue leading up to the stadium hosting the Wallace Cup. Conscious of the fact that being late would disqualify them from their next matches, Kenny, Larkspur, and Dawn all insisted that they dine in with one of the vendors catering at the event itself.

So, that was how they found themselves on the top floor of the building, all sharing a circular picnic table under the shade of a big parasol.

"Your Vulpix is really well trained," Larkspur said between sucking tea from his plastic straw.

Ciara nodded graciously. "Leafeon isn't riling her up, so it's easy."

True enough, Vulpix and Leafeon were darting around with Ash's Pikachu and Riolu, playing tag. Both Dawn and Kenny's Empoleons were, unfortunately, too large to play with the more agile pokemon on the roof. They kept each other company instead, speaking in short squawks.

"I still can't believe Piplup finally evolved," Kenny muttered. "What happened?"

Scooping up a bit of ketchup with a fry, Dawn answered. "Well, first, he wanted to protect me as he was. He was afraid he'd change his personality when he evolved, you know? Then, he was just afraid of change. Ash and Brock leaving bothered him. He was still kind of a baby when I got him. We were all family to him. It was scary. He didn't want to change, to keep moving on with life. He wanted things the way they were." Looking proudly over to her starter, she noticed him and Kenny's Empoleon comparing crowns. "He changed a little when he evolved… He's a bit more mature, but he's more trusting and hopeful, too. He's not as defensive."

"You talk about him like he's your baby," Larkspur pointed out.

Thinking about it, Dawn kind of laughed. "I… I guess he kind of is!" She brushed back her hair. "Who was your starter, Larkspur?"

"Leafeon, but I got her as she is from my older brother. He wanted an Umbreon, actually." Larkspur seemed to shrink into himself. "He… got an egg from her and then left her at home. She was really miserable… So, I took her with me. She perked up after that." He shrugged.

"That's so sweet!" Ciara enthused. "Wait… Older brother… Leafeon… Say, your older brother isn't Brahma Kamal, is he?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"So, you're Larkspur Kamal. It's nice to finally know your last name!" Ciara said. "... Shame about your brother. I wonder why I didn't recognize Leafeon… I was there when he bred her."

"My brother kept items on her to improve breeding chances. Maybe that's it?"

"Maybe." Ciara then turned to Kenny and Ash. "So, who were your starters?"

"Piplup, like Dawn!" Kenny quickly said. "We're from the same region. I started almost two years ahead of ole Dee Dee, though!"

"Do not call me that!" Dawn snapped.

"Right… Sorry, sorry. … Say, why did you start late?"

"Well, you were kind of rude. You said I'd lag behind, so I told Mom I wanted to wait a few months to prove to you I could race ahead! … But, then I twisted my ankle practicing with Glameow… Then, I caught a cold visiting Lake Verity. After that, I found out too late that Professor Rowan had already promised the starters… It ended up being a year and a half before I could actually get a starter!"

"Why didn't your mom just give you an egg to hatch during that time?"

"None of her pokemon ever laid any. Umbreon's actually a rescue and he was fixed when Mom got him. Her Kangaskhan only has the one kid and won't let it leave. Glameow just never found anyone."

"Geez, I thought I had bad luck starting off," Ash muttered.

"Hm? What happened with you?" Ciara asked.

"I started off a few months late, too. But, Professor Oak promised me that the next time it was time to send kids off, I'd have a starter! … But, it was a non-traditional one: Pikachu!"

Upon hearing his name, the rodent bound over, landing on Ash's shoulder. "Cha~!"

"That's right, buddy! I was only a few months from being eleven when I got him, but Professor Oak made good on his promise."

"I guess Vulpix is your starter, Ciara?" Dawn inquired gently.

"Yes!" She smiled meekly. "She was actually hatched about a year before I was able to leave, but Mama and Papa wanted me to have her. So, instead of making money off such a rare pokemon, they saved her for me. We love each other, and whenever I see her I feel my parents' love, too."

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Dawn cooed. "... So, that's why it bothered you so much when Quijote…"

She nodded. "Right."

Kenny stood up. "Well, Quijote got what was coming to him. I just wish I could have done it. I guess I'll give Brendan a good battle as a thank you."

"What makes you think you're gonna battle Brendan?" Dawn asked as they all walked back towards the stadium's lower floors.

"Well, I'm either battling him, you, or Larkspur. One in three isn't bad guessing chances."

* * *

After returning from lunch, the crowd was a bit lulled. Demure and surprisingly hushed, they allowed Lilian to introduce the participants of their first match without interruption. "First up are two of our foreign competitors: Dawn and Brendan! Beginning the semi-finals is our tried and tested student of Wallace and another rising star! While only one of them can win the match, I'm sure both have already won our hearts!"

As the crowd gave a well-intentioned but slightly lazy round of applause at Lilian's words, Kenny sulked backstage. He watched on the screen as Dawn and Brendan both stood across from each other on the battlegrounds. He had desperately wanted to battle them both, but now he'd have to wonder which he preferred the chance to battle.

"I-I know I shouldn't root against Brendan since he was nice to me… But, I can't help but want to cheer for Dawn, you know?" Ciara said from where she sat beside Kenny, unknowing sharing the same feelings.

"... I guess we'll just have to hope they both do their absolute best," Kenny decided to answer. The match would figure things out for them.

Dawn stood on one end of the pool, eyeing her seasoned opponent on the other side. A smirk picked up on the corners of her lips, an antsy finger tapping on the metallic surface of the minimized pokeball in her palm. To say she was excited to face Brendan was an understatement.

Brendan stood confident with a hand on his hip, ignoring the few infatuated fans hollering his names over the otherwise quiet stadium. Clearly, the tension of the final few battles had infected the crowd, as well as the contestants. That was fine with him. Against a former winner of the Wallace Cup like Dawn, he'd need a clear head. He tightly clutched his ace's pokeball as well.

"The clock has started! Let both of our esteemed coordinators begin!"

"Alright! Let's give them a great show, Empoleon… Spotlight!"

His pokeball released from Dawn's grip in a winded up toss, Empoleon burst from his small home with enthusiastic showmanship, showing off his glistening wings and crown that profited from the generous sunlight befalling the stadium. "Pol!" He squawked, landing with ease.

"Let's dazzle them, Sawmpert!" Brendan lobbed his pokeball, next.

The bulky Mudfish pokemon appeared next, materializing on the closest platform.

Sizing each other up as their trainers assessed their competition, a subtle posturing match began between Empoleon and Swampert. While the steel type flexed his claws, the water type flexed his muscles. As the Sinnoh native snapped his beak, the Hoenn starter spread a bistro table sized paw.

Dawn, meanwhile, reached an unfortunate conclusion: Empoleon could not out speed Swampert on land. However, that wasn't an issue. He was a water type, after all. "Empoleon, hit the surf!"

"Swampert, you heard the lady: we're taking this to the water!" Brendan yelled out after.

While Empoleon dived into the water with sublime grace, barely disrupting upon entry, Swampert splashed into action. The difference in approach was already setting a tone for the match.

"You wanna copy us, huh? Alright! Let's see who's got the harder head, then! Empoleon, use Headbutt!"

"You know that, too?" Brendan asked before laughing. "Swampert, you use Headbutt, too!"

Obeying their trainers, the two water types swam in opposite directions. They were building up speed. As they turned back around, preparing to charge the other, they began breach the surface. And, they did. Like Sharpedo going after Seel, they rocketed out of the water. Swampert's twin headfins framed around Empoleon's golden crown. The loud noise, not unlike two rocks being thrown at each other, echoed around the arena. Neither moved back. That was the scary part for Empoleon. He'd really given it his all in that, but Swampert had held his own, anyway!

After the stalemate Headbutt, both water types fell back into the surf, eyes locked onto each other all the while.

"What a magnificent start to the match!" Lilian narrated. "Though Swampert's a little more bulky than Empoleon, the tenacious steel type is giving it his all! What'll happen if this match goes long range?!"

"Only one way to find out," Brendan muttered. He threw out a hand, commanding Swampert with authority and certainty. "Use Whirlpool!"

Dawn's eyes widened. That was her signature move for Empoleon! They could handle this, she knew it! "Alright, Empoleon, we're gonna counter spin against that with Drill Peck!"

As Swampert began twisting the pool into a ferocious eddy, it warped into a raging vortex. The roar of it was so loud that it drowned out all other noise in the stadium. As it approached the submerged penguin, he braced himself. His beak began to glow. As he felt it suck him in, he allowed himself to go straight for the bottom of it. Once there, he used Drill Peck.

Shifting and shaking like a building struck by a strong wind, the Whirlpool began to falter. Then, it failed! The waters calmed and Empoleon surfaced for air before giving a victorious caw to Dawn.

"Empo!"

"Good job, Empoleon!" she praised.

"Here I'd have thought we'd have the advantage on the water," the Hoenn native mused. After all, there was much more of it in Hoenn then in Sinnoh. "If she's this used to it, we're just gonna have to get Empoleon out of it. Sweep him away with Muddy Water, Swampert!"

Empoleon watched with wide, shocked eyes as the water around Swampert turned murky. Soon, it was completely brown, shrouded in ichor and muck. The water began to rock. The slurry began to rise and wrap around him. He found himself captured by the tide and rocked. The water was too obscured for him to orient himself. Bracing against an end he couldn't predict, Empoleon soon found himself tumbling across the stage.

Though he righted himself and stood, the penguin found his vision severely inhibited. He tried to clear away the grime, but puddles of mud were trapped by his own face ornaments. His accuracy would suffer for this.

None the less, he and Dawn both knew they had to press on. "Empoleon, you alright?!"

"Pol," he chirped back.

Pumping both fists before spreading her legs as if she were getting into a fighting pose herself, she loudly called out her next command: "Great! Get at 'im with Ice Beam!"

Unfortunately, the Ice Beam was off target. Not only was Swampert underwater, but the attack only managed to hit the tainted pool water. The effect this had was curious, though. The water turned frigid and as Empoleon poured on the power, a sheet of ice began to form across the surface of it.

Brendan jolted in a panic as he realized Empoleon's true strength; those ranged attacks were nothing to sneeze at! "Swampert, she's freezing over the ice. You've gotta get out of there!"

Though Swampert was quick to obey and try to race the ice to get out of the pool, when he tried to breach, he instead hit a solid sheet.

"Though Brendan cost Dawn some points earlier when Swampert tossed Empoleon out of the water, this complete caging of Swampert is really biting chunks out of Brendan's points! Empoleon's turned the tide!" Lilian announced.

"Empoleon, that's great!" Dawn praised. It wasn't what she had in mind, but it worked.

Brendan gritted his teeth. This wasn't good. He quickly looked at the clock from the corner of his eye. No need to act desperate, though. There was still time. "Swampert!" he called out. "Use Mud Bomb!"

On the screens, the audience could see Swampert press his huge, webbed paws together. A sphere of dark, solid mud formed between them. As soon as he threw it, the ice sheet that had covered the pool was broken. Fissures split all along it. Some of the chunks of ice crashed into each other, further crushing them. Swampert quickly hopped out of the water, glaring at Empoleon.

The pool was thoroughly tainted now. Mud and ice swirled around in it, evidence of the two starters' battle.

"That was certainly an explosive escape," Dawn praised.

Brendan nodded. "Yeah, Mud Bomb's come in handy more times than I can count. It's one of the moves I'm most proud of."

"Really? Well, I should show you a move Empoleon's proud of, then… Steel Wing!"

Grinning with glee upon being ordered to use said move, Empoleon brandished a blue flipper. Soon, it gleamed gunmetal gray. The Steel Wing was his preferred close combat move and that was no secret. "Empooooo!" he cried out, running at Swampert as fast as his waddling gait would allow.

Though Swampert raised his paws to defend himself, he found himself knocked back over and over again by Empoleon's Steel Wings. One blow after another, Swampert was barraged by Empoleon's fury.

Brendan wouldn't stand for it, though. "Whirlpool!"

Empoleon was blasted back as the water type move expanded. Unfortunately, at this angle, on the flat stage, there was no way for him to counter it. Once again, Swampert's water type move crashed into the steel type, sending him flying across the water like a thrown stone. Eventually, he sunk beneath the waves.

Lilian was practically hopping from foot to foot. "Swampert sent Empoleon off like a bullet! That carefully crafted Whirlpool's gonna cost Dawn some points!"

Beneath the water, Empoleon glared at the wavering outline of Swampert. Dawn, meanwhile, gripped a fist tighter. "Empoleon, come at him again with Ice Beam!"

Swimming through the murky water, Empoleon was obscured from Swampert's view. However, the grime was also compromising Empoleon's vision. The result was that, as Empoleon took shots at Swampert from the water, the other water type had to try to dodge the sudden attacks. The two were leaping back and forth, trying to anticipate the other's action. While the pool had turned brown from Swampert's Muddy Water, the stage was slowly turning blue from Empoleon's Ice Beam.

It was a full on reversal of the original colors.

Tired of seeing Swampert dodging the issue, Brendan held his hand out high. "Headbutt!" The dark water was their territory! Swampert was master of the marsh!

This was their chance! Swampert would come to them! "Empoleon, use Headbutt and Drill Peck!"

Empoleon's beak began to glow blue as Swampert leaped back into the water. Before the Sinnoh starter could start his attack, Swampert caught him in the stomach. Pushed back through the water, Empoleon struggled not to cry out from the impact. Instead, he lowered his head, pinning Swampert right in the back for a critical hit with his Headbutt-backed Drill Peck. The momentum both pushed Swampert down and away with an added spin to it.

Spiraling down after being Headbutted, Swampert hit the bottom of the pool. Empoleon, on the other hand, made a break for the surface. He couldn't hold his breath for much longer!

"What's happened to Swampert, folks?" Lilian led on. "While that flashy Drill Peck upgrade earned Dawn some points, Empoleon's winded and still can't see well! He might be a sitting Farfetch'd if Swampert gets back up!"

Suddenly, a dark form surface on the water. It was Swampert…!

Or, his back anyway.

"He's fainted!" Lilian called out. "Dawn is the winner!"

The crowd erupted into cheers at the news. Dawn, meanwhile, shouted out praise to Empoleon before looking at Brendan. She gave him a thumbs up. Clearly he wasn't bothered to have lost to her as he smiled back.

* * *

The crowd was still rowdy and loud from the last climatic match, forcing Lilian to shout on her mic over the roaring audience. "I imagine it'll be tough to top that last match between Dawn and Brendan, but as they say, the show must go on! For the last battle of the semi-finals, we have Kenny, the hardened coordinator who's made quite a splash at this tournament, and Larkspur, the aspiring upstart who's made waves with his sturdy and elegant grass types! Only one of them can make it ahead to the finals, where they'll face Dawn for the coveted Aqua Ribbon! I'm sure I'm stating the obvious when I say that both of these competitors are going to give this everything they've got, and really allow their pokemon to shine! Let's give them our undivided attention!"

Larkspur walked onto the stage from behind the curtains first, a visible stiffness in his stride towards his corner. He stopped, turning his neck to gaze up at the scoreboard. Across from his face, young, meek, and crowded with messy green hair, was the bold, sharpened visage of Kenny, a smirk worn on his features in the portrait displayed. 'It had to come to this sooner or later, huh…' The coordinator fiddled with his collar, doing his best to put on a brave face.

A few whoops and claps could be heard among the crowd. An underdog always seemed to strike the compassionate chord of some, and the competitive side in others. A few calls evidencing this could be heard.

"You go, little dude!"

"Don't be scared, just try your best!"

"Knock that Sinnoh punk down a few pegs!"

A nervous chuckle and flushed cheeks followed. Swallowing back the urge to thank onlookers who would probably never hear him, Larkspur chose to focus on his approaching opponent.

The brunette took the stage with a smoother stride, flashing a grin at his younger opponent. "Hey, Lakspur! Let's give them a good show, huh?" Kenny encouraged, holding a pokeball outward.

"Y-yeah! You bet!" The youth hesitated before holding up a sphere of his own, nodding to Kenny. The show of sportsmanship left his knees feeling just a bit less shaky.

By the end of this exchange, the duo's points had filled up on screen.

"And… Begin!"

"Leafeon, I choose you!" Larkspur shouted, releasing the grass type quadruped.

"And, I'll use… Breloom! Let's show them what you've got!"

The Mushroom pokemon appeared in a flash, already adopting an offensive stance, throwing a few jabs to make a show of its fighting prowess. "Bre! Bre! Loom!"

"Okay Leafeon! Let's show them how you shine, with Sunny Day!"

"Uh-uh!" Kenny tutted, punching forward with a grin. "Mach Punch!"

Leafeon had parted its mouth halfway, ready to launch an orb of solar energy when she was intercepted by a red and green blur that had already dashed its way across the platforms spanning the pool.

Leafeon squealed as its mouth was knocked shut with an uppercut to the jaw, tumbling through the air in an ungraceful heap. The grass type stumbled across the far end of the stage, surprisingly managing to keep her footing.

Even Lilian gawked. "Were you able to catch that!? Breloom spanned the entire pool in time to knock Leafeon senseless, preventing her from lighting up the skies! To say that Breloom is well-trained is quite the understatement! That show of toughness will cost Larkspur some points."

And, sure enough, it did. It wasn't enough to make one sweat bullets, but the younger coordinator's points did chip an inch or two.

Larkspur tried to recover. "Power up with Swords Dance!"

Leafeon was eager to jump into action, prancing and turning about with vigorous swipes of the leaf atop its head. It cried in enthusiasm, adrenaline giving it such a rush that its fighting spirit and attack power gained a significant boost.

The grass type's playful, acrobatic nature was also put on display, its glowing form knocking Kenny's points down a bit.

"Oh, and Larkspur comes back by raising Leafeon's attack power! It sure looks like it's having fun, and Kenny will have to be careful getting close from now on!"

Seemingly heeding Lilian's warning, Kenny continued. "Pull back, then Energy Ball!"

Breloom shouted, firing a verdant orb of natural energy from the nearest waterborne platform.

"Leaf Blade," Larkspur countered with a shout.

Leafeon sprung forward, swinging the leaf atop her head in a glistening arc across the condensed orb of energy. Sure enough, she sliced through with ease, forcing the mass to bounce and fluctuate before exploding in a glistening burst of emerald energy and smoke.

The beautiful show of precision and beauty knocked Kenny's points down a notch.

The younger coordinator breathed a sigh of relief, only for his breath to hitch again.

"Fury Cutter!"

The fighting fungus leapt through the dispersing smoke, slicing at Leafeon with a glowing forearm.

The first blow struck, followed by a series of glistening slices that made a jagged pattern across Leafeon's body. Attacking with swordsman-like precision, Breloom retreated once more.

"Ooh, and Kenny takes advantage of the show that Larkspur made of his own Energy Ball! And, Fury Cutter leaves its mark on Leafeon. This match is like a coordinator's game of chess, and we all have the privilege of witnessing its heart-stopping results!"

With that tactical assault, Kenny gained the jump on Larkspur once more.

The green-haired greenhorn's iris' trembled. "Quick, use Sunny Day!"

Still airborne, Leafeon, much like a feline, righted itself before hitting the arena floor, skidding across the wooden support. Still sliding, the eeveelution fired a yellow orb skyward.

Sunny Day exploded over the open dum, shining down scorching rays of light.

"Leafeon finally launches its Sunny Day attack! That's a beautiful sunshine if I've ever seen one! And, way to stick the landing after such a brutal assault! I'd say that might even the score!"

"It is impressive," Kenny admitted. "But, it's not going to do us in! Fury Cutter!"

Adrenaline rushing and fighting spirit peaked, Breloom lunged at Leafeon with a vigorous swipe.

For the first time since the match begin, Larkspur grinned. "Dodge it!"

Leafeon's crouching body grew vibrant under the bright sun, each of her leafy appendages taking on an emerald shine. A similar glint in the pokemon's eyes appeared, her body quickly ducking flat under the strike, sliding beneath the confounded Breloom.

"Leaf Blade!"

Turning back towards the stumbling Breloom, Leafeon cried, swinging her blade in several swift moves. Breloom was sliced by one attack after the next, unable to recover from its mishap.

Already off-balance, Breloom was knocked forward on its face.

~It's so fast!~ Rosa marveled from her seat in Ash's lap, blinking repeatedly at the swift recovery on Leafeon's part. ~What happened!? I thought Breloom was faster!~

"It's definitely faster than before," Ash agreed, brows furrowed. "Now that the sun's out, it's like a whole new pokemon… I get it, now. Its ability must be…"

"And, Leafeon's Chlorophyll kicks in, dramatically boosting its speed, and it positively shines under the free energy source, to boot! Look at all the power and speed behind those Leaf Blades!"

"Synthesis!" Larkspur cried out, hoping to ride the momentum.

With Breloom down, Leafeon bathed in the sun's healing properties, her scratches beginning to fade.

With several bright moves in succession, Larkspur gained a significant lead. Kenny's points dipped just below half after several drops in a row. The chestnut-haired trainer grimaced. "For a rookie, he's not bad at all. I'm gonna have to close the deal quick."

Those thoughts weren't his alone. Gentle fingers drummed against dark jean shorts, deep blue eyes fixated on the screen displayed in the locker rooms. "He's doing great for such a bad match-up. Kenny might not make it to the finals if he doesn't get his act together."

Dawn's brows furrowed. It wasn't as if she had anything against Larkspur; he was a really nice kid, and pretty good for his experience level. But, the thought of missing out on facing Kenny in the finals wasn't one she was loving. "Usually, he holds a situation together better than this."

Great minds thought alike, it seemed. Kenny tightened a fist, moving on to his next order. "Pull yourself together, Breloom! You're tougher than this. Lock on to Leafeon's movements with Mind Reader!"

Breloom's eyes narrowed, each of them glowing blue. Leafeon's intentions could be felt, as could its growing fear. Despite what the scoreboard told, they had it right where they wanted it.

"Energy Ball!"

The Mushroom pokemon held his arms outward, conjuring a growing, crackling orb of light.

Larkspur stammered, calling out to Leafeon. "J-jump, and dodge that!"

Already trembling, Leafeon jumped high above ground.

"Bingo," Kenny muttered, watching Breloom fire the blast.

Just as the cunning fighting type had planned, Larkspur's haste had guaranteed his success. The airborne Leafeon was unable to defend against the incoming Energy Ball, squealing as it exploded.

"Ooh, looks like Kenny and Breloom exploited the fear they created with Mind Reader! That break in composure is going to cost Larkspur some points!"

Kenny furrowed his brows. "Fury Cutter, again! Let's wrap this up!"

Breloom hopped towards the falling Leafeon once more, leaning forward in a relentless dash that climaxed in striking Leafeon right across its belly. Breloom continued, juggling the other grass type with one pursuit after the next.

"Leafeon…!" Larkspur gawked, searching for any commands to give. But, he was stumped.

"Now, finish it!" Kenny threw both arms outward.

Breloom obeyed, swinging both forearms across Leafeon in a cross formation. Finished with its assault, it landed with ease.

Leafeon fell unconscious.

"With that impressive combination, Leafeon is unable to battle, which means that Kenny moves on to the finals!" Lillian shouted into her mic. "In this case, brains and brawn won out over beauty. Let's give both of our competitors a big hand for putting on such a great show!"

The crowd roared in applause as both coordinators returned their pokemon, each retreating from the fanfare.

* * *

The crowd was thunderous with applause and screams. Lilian's voice was barely heard over the clamor. "We bring you our final match: Dawn against Kenny! These two have gone through the gambit, as you've all witnessed! It's all leading down to this! It can only end in absolute victory, a spectacular grab at the Wallace Cup!"

Standing across from each other, Dawn and Kenny grinned. This was it! They'd both dreamed of this as children, hadn't they? In their own ways, at least. To perform on stage with their pokemon in front of this crowd was beatific, almost. Truly, this would test them both! Twinleaf Town would perform for all of Kanto! These childhood friends turn coordinating rivals would prove to each other what they were made of!

"Skarmory, prepare for action!" Kenny commanded, releasing his new catch.

The steel bodied bird took wing. Each flap was accompanied by metallic whirring that bordered on sounding organic. The iron skinned raptor looked every bit as intimidating as intended.

However, while Kenny's silver vulture dazzled the crowd, Dawn was soon to overtake that awe with her own white-winged owl.

"Togekiss, Spotlight!"

Flying much more quietly, barely above a whisper with each delicate flap, Togekiss took wing as well. The softest hoot escaped her beak. "Toge." Motherly as ever, she looked upon her opponent with compassion. However, she would not let Dawn down! Though Skarmory was much more sleek and fierce looking, Togekiss was loyal to the core! Princess Salvia's royal aviary had not raised her to be a pushover, either!

The buzzer for the timer sounded. "Let the match begin!" Lilian shouted.

A finger thrust out from an arm held high, Kenny boldly spoke the first move of the match into motion. "Skarmory, use Spikes!"

Spreading its silver and crimson pseudo-feathers apart, the bird flapped once, twice, and thrice. Twinkling, tiny clusters of agitating spikes were flung across the stage. Some sank below the water, but the rest laid a terrible trap on stage.

"There. Now, we're playing stamina! No resting, Togekiss!" Kenny announced aloud.

Dawn nodded. That was fine. There were few pokemon who could remain aloft as long as she could. Togekiss wasn't the fastest, but she was sturdy as they came for fliers! "If you want us to keep up, try to stay ahead! Togekiss, use Sky Attack!"

Glowing white, Togekiss began building up the energy for her gutsy move.

"I've always been ahead!" he taunted. "Steel Wing!"

Flanking Togekiss before jostling her in the air, a long, brilliant white glow covered Skarmory's wing as he attacked and left its mark on his opponent. The super effective move earned an utterance of pain from Togekiss. However, she would not relent! Instead, she gave chase to her opponent, finally using Sky Attack.

Glowing white herself, she rammed the steel type from behind, sending him tumbling mid-air.

Skarmory caught himself before he hit the water, however.

"Early in the match, but we're being treated to another avian showdown! With danger lurking below, how long can these two remain in the air?!" Lilian, like the crowd, was genuinely curious. Two flying types usually meant a match of who would wrestle the other down to the ground first. Skarmory, with his superior speed, seemed to have the upper hand!

This was reflected in points, with Dawn having lost just a bit more than Kenny.

"Night Slash!"

Skarmory turned on a dime upon hearing the command, shooting at Togekiss with a shriek. Deep purple trailed from his metallic wings.

"Aura Sphere!" Dawn countered.

The motherly dove raised both of her wings, pouring a collection of spiritual energy into a teal sphere, lobbing the ball towards her approaching opponent. "Toge!"

Skarmory struck at the orb, dark-tinted wings struggling against the Aura Sphere.

The sphere crashed through Skarmory's defenses, exploding in a flash of blue and violet.

Skarmory fell from the smoke, wavering before regaining balance.

"Oooh, and Aura Sphere wins out over Night Slash! What a beautiful explosion, too!"

Kenny's bar dropped to around three quarters.

"I should've guessed," Kenny quipped, grinning despite his position. "If that's not enough, then we'll have to kick things up a notch… Skarmory, use Autotomize!"

Skarmory cried out, his entire body lighting up. Every metal segment of his body shifted and gleamed, loosening just enough to allow the pokemon more mobility.

"Great, now, Steel Wing!"

The avian took off again, flying by Togekiss as little more than a gray blur. Coated wings slashed across Togekiss, downing the vulnerable fairy type.

"What speed! Skarmory's Autotomize shows off the true beauty and efficiency of steel types!"

Meanwhile, Togekiss was in a downward spiral towards the pool, where explosive spikes lay dormant.

"Togekiss…!" Dawn gasped, her eyes following her companion to the traps that lay below. "I have to do something about those spikes… If Togekiss falls into those, we're in trouble."

The spikes, though, set the lightbulb off. Brows knit, Dawn threw a palm forward. "Clear out those spikes, Togekiss, with Fire Blast!"

Mere feet from the sabotaged platform, Togekiss fired off a spreading bath of flames that roared over the waters. Water sizzled and boiled, steam rose, and metallic mines were burnt to a crisp.

The vibrant red and yellow flames kept the bow-winged Togekiss hovering above the platform, to boot. Whistling, she finally pulled up, spiraling into her usual jovial acrobatics.

"Beautiful! Dawn's Togekiss halted her fall with Fire Blast! The flames billowed with beauty, and roasted away Skarmory's hazards, to boot! The duo put an end to their troubles in a perfect combination of quick thinking and dazzling firepower! That's going to put Kenny in a tight spot!"

"Fire Blast… So, that's the move that Dawn was hiding from us! You did it again,"Ash marveled, with glowing eyes and a hand to his chin. "It looks like she took a page out of our book, too," he remarked to Pikachu. "That was just like when Infernape used Flare Blitz to get rid of Toxic Spikes in our battle with Paul! Who would've thought she'd take advantage of that!?"

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu chirped, beady eyes glowing. Dawn was really something else!

While Kenny had pushed back into the lead with his previous combination, Dawn shot forward again, with the former's points resting at around two thirds. Dawn's were, once again, a bit higher.

"I'm impressed, Dee… Dawn," Kenny corrected himself. "You really caught me off-guard. But you're just putting off my victory!" He rested a palm on his hip again, pointing forward. "Autotomize again, and then, Night Slash!"

Steel Wing was preferable, but repeating the same combination wouldn't benefit anyone in a contest. Skarmory adjusted his body once more, speeding by Togekiss in a eerily dark streak.

A pitch-black explosion followed, dropping Togekiss from the debris.

"What a terrifying assault! Skarmory really isn't letting Togekiss take it easy!"

Dawn's points now matched Kenny's.

Dawn could feel her heart race and her fist clench just a bit too tight. 'He's not making this win easy… Every time I push ahead, he puts us right back where we started." Fitting of a true rival, though. Dawn smiled widely at the notion. Her focus returned to the match. "Bring it down with Aura Sphere!"

Togekiss turned the dive into a graceful spin, curving up towards the sunny skies once more. Raising both feathery wings, she conjured another Aura Sphere, tossing it at Skarmory.

"Dodge by going underwater, and be quick about it!" Kenny ordered. Having a steel type underwater would be quite detrimental, weighing them down with moisture. But from what he'd heard of Aura Sphere, disrupting its chase would be the only way to truly lose it.

Skarmory shot towards the pool, quickly descending out of the crowd's first-hand view thanks to his marvelous speed. Having the eerie foreboding feeling that something was chasing his tail, he circled through the waters. Surely, he'd be able to lose that feeble blast, that way.

Aura Sphere followed, splashing into the pool afterward. It was on the life force's tail, that much was clear. The churning currents and rushing water that trailed Skarmory, though, threw the Aura Sphere for a loop. Tossed and churned, the orb of light fizzled and dispersed in a pitiful conclusion.

"Ooh, that's got to sting. Aura Sphere is known for its tenacity in chasing down an opponent, but Skarmory put that powerful fighting type move through the wringer! Tough luck for Dawn and Togekiss."

Dawn was fortunate that her fighting spirit didn't drop in line with her points. Her eyes scanned the waters, where Skarmory dwelled. If she could just draw it out, she could make Kenny and Skarmory appear less than graceful…

Come to think of it… Not too long ago, she'd seen another instance of the same sort of tactic, hadn't she? Misty's boasting about roasting Croconaw out of the water came to mind, pulling Dawn's lips up into a smirk. She raised a hand, throwing it downward. "Togekiss, use Fire Blast on the water!"

Intent on winning this match for her trainer, Togekiss circled down, launching a flaming star from her mouth.

It collided with the water, forming a beautiful, steaming red star, unfolding on the surface like a flower that rippled and boiled the water below it. Cheers and hollers echoed throughout the stadium at the sight.

Skarmory, however, wasn't so enamored. Squawking in pain below the water, he coughed after swallowing enough water to disturb him. He'd been under long enough, he decided, rapidly surfacing to huff and dry his feathers just above the pool. Arceus, that'd been hot.

It certainly wasn't a graceful return.

The full-on humiliation brought Kenny's points down to around a third, with Dawn leading by a small margin.

"Ooh, and Skarmory was yanked out of the water with that beautiful Fire Blast! This puts Kenny in a pinch, but looking at these two coordinators, how this match will end is anyone's guess! While Skarmory's taken damage, the attacks on Togekiss have left the Jubilee pokemon tired!"

Kenny snorted, a cocky smirk on his maturing features. "I'm not gonna lie, Dawn. You've got me in a tough spot here. You've come a long way since…"

Memories of sobbing and sparkling hair came to mind, but Dawn's returned gaze shoved those out. Even if he was no longer pursuing her… She'd grown into a fine, polished coordinator. She deserved more respect than that. "...Since we had our first contest battle. Hate to tell you, though, I'm the one walking away with the Aqua Ribbon, here! Skarmory, Autotomize, then Steel Wing!"

Skarmory shifted gears once more, zipping at Togekiss in a crimson and silver blur.

Dawn's shoulders - and blood pressure - relaxed when Kenny avoided any degrading remarks. "We'll see. Dodge it, togekiss!"

Well aware of Skarmory's dexterity, Togekiss swerved upward, one wing dipping to swerve her out of the former's path. Chills ran down her spine when the winds passed by her, but the relief of avoiding Skarmory's first strike washed over. She hovered, beady eyes peeled for Skarmory.

The other avian squawked, flanking Togekiss with a vicious, explosive Steel Wing.

The impact sent her soaring sky-high, her body eerily still.

"Ooh, that one had to hurt! Togekiss tried her best, but she just wasn't fast enough!"

"We're not out yet," Dawn insisted, but her frown betrayed her. "Aura Sphere!"

"Toge…!" The fairy type whistled as an elegant wing was raised, forming another teal orb. "Kiss!" She cried, launching the attack with ferocity that was rare for a pokemon with her demeanor.

"Dodge it, Skarmory!" Kenny ordered.

Skarmory's superior speed bore fruit. He ducked under the pitch, swooping out of Aura Sphere's path. The attack shot on, its momentum dunking it into the pool.

"That didn't work last time, and it's not working now," Kenny boasted. "Night Slash!"

Haughty and eager to close the deal, Skarmory took off with violet-laced feathers.

Dawn, meanwhile, didn't utter a command one way or the other.

Kenny squinted at her silence. To ignore a potential finishing blow with barely more than a minute left on the clock… It was awfully suspicious.

A break in the pool's calm drift sent his heart pounding a few beats faster.

"Skarmory-!"

Before the warning could finish leaving Kenny's lips, the errant Aura Sphere crashed into the flying pokemon's underside, interrupting the coordinator with a squeal and a booming explosion.

Watching the ashy Skarmory descent from the smoke, Kenny exhaled. "You sneaky little… You planned that out, didn't you!"

All the smugness in the world had gathered on Dawn's face, a cheek-to-cheek smile and closed lids saying it all. She dramatically flicked her blue locks in response. "You've caught me red-handed. I had a bit of inspiration from someone I know."

"Who…" Kenny started, the lightbulb flickering only moments after, his eyes turning to the crowd. He had no idea where that teal, spiky-haired hothead was sitting, but Dawn didn't need to elaborate for him to get the idea. The guy could be a bit thick-headed, but when it came to battles, he was a whiz.

No wonder he and Dawn clicked so well together.

"Achoo!" Ash jolted, rubbing his nose from amongst the crowd. "Either I caught a cold somehow, or someone's talking about me… But man, Pikachu, did you see that Aura Sphere!? It was just like what I did to stop Team Rocket back in the forest! Dawn did it perfectly!" He gushed, starry-eyed and fists clenched.

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu gushed, waving both paws above his head. Way to play it cool, Dawn!

Still startled from her trainer's sudden sneeze, Rosa shook her head before looking back to the field. ~That Aura Sphere was awesome! Kenny didn't know what hit him!~

"There's just one minute on the clock left! Both coordinators better make this time count!"

That announcement brought both friends, and their onlookers, out of their thoughts and banter.

"That's just what we'll do! Night Slash, one more time!" Kenny commanded with a grin.

As soon as Skarmory regained its balance and began moving, Dawn called out. "Endure it!"

Togekiss didn't have a choice. By time Dawn's words reached her, she was already feeling the pressure. Quite literally. She coughed and huffed, trying to retain her composure.

Skarmory had already long passed her by, doing boastful loops around the pool to show off his incredible agility. By now, Dawn's considerable lead was shrinking. Neither could afford to lose many more points!

"I've got 'er now," Kenny assured himself. "Now, finish it! Steel Wing!"

Skarmory swooped back around, silver sparkles trailing his body. It admittedly looked like he was leaving behind stardust.

It was quickly approaching, and Dawn was smirking from ear to ear. Waiting a few precious moments longer, she took her initiative with one terrifying call. "Fire Blast!"

Togekiss spread her wings, blooming a roaring pattern of fire. Right before Skarmory's terrified eyes.

Nearly losing his footing in a panic, Kenny called out. "Pull back! Outrun it!"

The attack was too wide to simply swerve past at this distance. Skarmory turned on its tail instead, zipping away from Togekiss and his encroaching predator. He could feel the residual heat snapping at his tail-feathers.

"Now, let's really make that Fire Blast shine!" Dawn ordered, one hand held near her heart, the other dramatically outstretched.

Togekiss fanned its wings once more, her whole body budding with a white glow.

Kenny, meanwhile, was too glued to his fleeing pokemon's fate to notice or even hear Dawn. By now, Skarmory and the Fire Blast were nearing the end of the pool. "Pull up, now!"

Skarmory frantically turned his nose up to ascend, his brassy heart jumping when he just barely avoided the worst of the heat.

While one pokemon fled from the Fire Blast, another approached it. Togekiss had taken off, her angelic form swooping into the eye of the flames. The pressure behind her latest attack shoved the center aside, allowing Togekiss to pass through a fanning ring of fire.

"Check that out! While Skarmory wouldn't be caught dead entering that Fire Blast, Togekiss dove into it head-on! Using what looks like Sky Attack, she's blown right through it!"

"Sky Attack!?" Kenny echoed in apprehension, quite a few moments too late.

Just as the maneuver was apparently composed, it unfolded without a hitch. Togekiss had passed through the fading Fire Blast, coating herself in the more persistent flames. The heat clung to her white shining aura, creating something not too unlike the image of a phoenix around Togekiss.

"Let's see how you like Sky Phoenix!" Dawn declared with pride, pointing upward. "Togekiss?"

"Toge!" She cried, swerving up after passing through her very own target. With all of her momentum and all of Kenny's confusion, she had little trouble catching up with Skarmory, striking it with her radiant, flaming body.

The fire and Sky Attack's veil dispersed upon impact, creating a quick, but impressive afterimage before fading away before the stadium's eyes.

Togekiss made a quick departure herself, gently circling the air above the pool to recuperate.

"...And we're out of time! Just in time for Togekiss to finish her beautiful counter-attack, too. It's been an amazing effort by both competitors, but only one could come out on top!" Lillian dramatized, turning her attention to the scoreboard. "Which makes our winner… Dawn!"

With Kenny's points barely above zero, his image disappeared from the screen to make room for Dawn's face, which took up the center of the screen, and "WINNER" spelled out in large, golden letters.

"It really came down to the wire, and Kenny's quick and sturdy Skarmory put Dawn through the wringer. But that last minute strategy on Dawn's part sealed it all! What an amazing show!"

Deafening shouts and whistles from the crowd nearly drowned Lillian's voice out, even with the stadium's speakers in her favor. Fans of both coordinators alike shouted out in appreciation of the heart-throbbing match. What an exciting conclusion!

Ash whistled through two fingers between his lips, pumping his fist in support of his girlfriend and her pokemon. "Woo-hoo! Alright, Dawn! Way to take it home!" He cheered, absolutely rowdy over the match. That combination'd really caught his eye, too!

"Pika-Pikachu!"

~Yay, Dawn!~

Ciara shrunk in her seat, a pair of fingers tapping at her arm. "Kenny really did his best, too…" Moments afterward, she flushed, straightening up stiffly in her seat. "B-but I'm happy for Dawn, too! She was amazing! I-I-"

Ash silenced the fretting girl with a hand on her shoulder, flashing a smile. "Take it easy. It's tough rooting for two people you like when they're up against each other. We've all been there."

The girl curtly nodded, returning her eyes to the stage.

Awestruck in the face of her victory, Dawn stood speechless in a heart-stomping stupor. That was, until she watched a tired Togekiss hover back down towards her platform. "...Ah! Togekiss! You were wonderful!"

She sprinted to the landing pokemon, throwing her arms around her. "You really pushed your limits out there, didn't you? Thank you so much. That Sky Phoenix was just perfect, too!"

"Toge-Toge~" The Jubilee pokemon chimed, embracing her trainer with her large wings. She was on her last legs, right now, but helping her trainer achieve victory was more than satisfying!

After this, she'd need a nice, long nap.

Whether it was by coincidence or intuition, Dawn held out Togekiss' pokeball. "You ought to have a nice, long rest. Thanks again, Togekiss." With that, the pokemon was absorbed in a red flash.

"Thank you, Skarmory," Kenny recalled his exhausted, toasted pokemon. He took a long deep breath, soaking in the initial disappointment. "All the way to Kanto, just to lose, huh…" He scowled, looking across the pool to his blue-haired rival. He couldn't help but smile.

"You really earned this one, Dawn."

"A wonderful back-and-forth between both coordinators! I was on the edge of my seat!" announced, over his microphone, beginning the traditional judges' review.

"Beautiful, and remarkable!" added his predictable commentary.

"Both Togekiss and Skarmory looked healthy and glistening, and showed wonderful composure through a tough, trying battle. It's very easy to see that both Dawn and Kenny raised them well!" Suzie added, with her breeding expertise.

With the three main judges having said their piece, Lillian took over. "Now, Wallace will say a few words for this cups' victor!"

A short, organized scramble brought an elevated stand to Dawn's end of the stage, where she stood proudly amongst her pokemon. Absol and Clefairy stood on either side of her, with Pachirisu before her. Too large for the platform, Empoleon and Togekiss stood beside it on each end. The former didn't seem incredibly happy about this, but hey, he was still in the spotlight.

With Lillian and the three judges standing by, Wallace approached the Twinleaf native for a second time. "Dawn, once again, I would like to say 'bravo!' You and your pokemon both showed a great deal of composure and creativity, making you fitting two-time winners. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that it puts a smile on my face to've seen you grow so much as a coordinator. For all of your hard work in bringing out your pokemon's beauty, I'd like to present to you the Aqua Ribbon, once more!"

Just as was custom the last time around, the beautiful, coiling Milotic beside the Master Coordinator let loose a miniscule iteration of Aqua Ring to gently carry the ribbon towards Dawn.

The girl ceremoniously accepted it into her hands, her smile pressing all the way across her flushed cheeks. "Thank you, so much! It's been an honor to compete in this event again, and I had a great time with my pokemon! It's a great event to meet tons of talented coordinators, no matter what region it's held in!"

"Chi-pa!"

"Clefa~!"

"Sol."

"Kiss!"

"Empol!"

Dressed as elegantly and flamboyantly as usual, Wallace raised his hands toward the sky. "Very well said. I've greatly enjoyed the techniques and passion exhibited not just by Dawn, but Kenny, and every other coordinator here, as well! I truly hope that this event has taught everyone to forge a deeper and more brilliant bond with their pokemon! I pray that soon, we'll all meet again!"

Milotic took her cue, pointing her head towards the sunny sky, only to fire a roaring violet flash out of her mouth that climbed the skies all the way to the top of the dome. The head and wings of a dragon emerged from the brilliant burst, exploding far above the stadium. Multicolored sparkles rained down onto the crowd, earning thunderous applause.

* * *

After allowing everyone to get their pokemon healed and put away supplies, an after party of sorts was held. The vendors catered and soft music was played over the speakers. Children and pokemon alike dived into the once again clean pool.

Behind the stage, Brendan stood by his teacher, hands in his pockets and shoulders up by his ears.

"You got angry on stage," Wallace chided, swirling a red, plastic cup of something that was orange but decidedly not orange juice. "That was inappropriate. What was that about?"

Leaning against the railing surrounding the party zone, Brendan lifted the clip to hide a frown. "I was trying to defend my new friends." Speaking of them, he looked over to where Ciara was standing across the pool, all alone with Kenny.

Wringing her hands together, Ciara walked beside her crush. "Y-you did really good today. Even if you didn't win, it was so impressive! S-Second place is really cool."

"You think?" Kenny asked, genuinely flattered. He chuckled. "Thanks."

Another pair of eyes was on the couple. Seated at the most decorated table among all of them, Dawn cooed over her childhood friend and her new fire loving friend.

"Aw," she purred. "They're so cute! Aren't they, Ash?"

The teen was stuffing his face with cake and sandwiches. "Phffoo?"

"Ciara and Kenny?" Dawn asked, raising a brow.

"Oh! Yeah, they are!" he agreed after swallowing. "Speakin' of familiar faces…"

"Yo! Dawn!"

Turning around, she spotted the speaker: Maddox. Furrowing her brows, she forcefully dug her fork into her slice of cake. "What do you want?"

"To congratulate ya," he said simply. He clicked his tongue and gave her a quick finger gun. "Ya did great out there! Lookin' forward to our next battle!"

Just as quickly as he'd walked over, he left.

"... That was strange," she muttered. "Thanks!" she yelled. "That was so unusual for him, wasn't it?!"

"Maybe he respects you now." Ash shrugged before moving onto the cookies, only to realize Empoleon and Pikachu had gobbled all of them down. "Guys, really?!" He looked over to his cup… Only to see Rosa had emptied it. "That was my third plate… I guess we're done here."

As he got up, he spotted Suzie by the bar. "Hey, Dawn! C'mon! I want you to meet Suzie before we go!"

"The breeder?" Dawn asked. "You know her?"

Ash nodded. "Oh yeah!"

Getting up, she and the rest of the party followed Ash over.

"Hey, Suzie!" Ash yelled aloud, waving to the green-haired woman.

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu chattered, greeting her, as well.

"Hm? Ash!?" The judge turned, brows raising high when she spotted the familiar face. "I had no idea you were watching the cup! And I'm certain I didn't see you among the competitors…"

She blinked, spotting the yellow mouse. He looked comparatively smaller on Ash's shoulder, now that he was practically her height. "Oh, hello, Pikachu!" Suzie reached to scratch behind his ear with the expertise of a seasoned breeder. "I hope Ash has taken to petting and treating you with care, like I instructed?"

"Cha~!" Pikachu cooed, happily craning his neck for the gentle hand. Ash sure had!

The raven-haired trainer chuckled. "The one and only. It's great to see you, again!" How long had it been, now? A couple of years? "I wasn't competing. I was here watching the winner!" With that, Ash jerked a finger over towards the blue-haired coordinator with a grin.

"Oh, Dawn! Congratulations!" Suzie gushed, clasping her hands together in excitement. "Your battles and your appeal were all very enjoyable. You've raised such elegant pokemon!"

"Thank you! We try our best!" Dawn replied with a small bow. "I've heard of your work! You're very talented!"

"You're too kind," Suzie's lips curved upward. "If Ash is with you, he'll have to bring you to my boutique in Celadon, sometime! ...Oops, I guess that leaves you feeling a little obligated, doesn't it?" She meekly admitted, cupping a few fingers over her mouth with a nervous chuckle.

"We actually passed through Celadon a while ago," Dawn recalled. "...Ash, you should've told me you knew a boutique in the area!" She pouted, just a bit disappointed in her boyfriend.

"Look, we were really busy…" Ash stammered, waving his hands in front of him after taking a small step backwards. "...But next time we're in the area, we'll swing on by! It's no big deal, really."

"That sounds like fun," Suzie agreed, beaming at the two trainers. "We'll have to catch up, too, Ash. Until then, I guess I should leave you two to celebrate! Lillian did say you were a two-time winner.

"She did, didn't she?" Dawn echoed, failing to hide a proud, cheeky smile at the fact. "Well, alright. We'll see you again!" She waved as she grabbed Ash's hand, tugging him off.

"H-hey!" Ash yelled, stumbling along with Dawn. He turned to wave as he was pulled along, and Pikachu did the same. "Sounds good! Bye!"

"Pika-Pika!"

Still holding his hand, the two stood across the pool, slightly secluded by the curtains of the stage and the approaching twilight. In the pool itself, Kenny's Empoleon surfed Ciara's shiny Vulpix safely across.

"Empo…" the water type whined.

Dawn looked to Ash before smiling. "Aw, we can stay a little while longer. Why don't you guys go play in the pool?"

Whooping with glee, Empoleon quickly scooped up Rosa. It'd been a while since he'd been able to surf with her! Pikachu began to hop after them, but the burst of a pokeball caught his attention. He looked back to see that Dawn had released Buneary. His ears stood erect as she moved beside him.

He smiled. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to go swimming with her. "Pika!"

"Buneary!" The normal type cooed, her paws pressed together coupled with quite a bashful smile and rosy cheeks.

Both lagomorphs dove into the pool with much more subtle splashes.

With that, Dawn and Ash were alone again.

"Oh!" Ash suddenly muttered before bending down a bit, giving her a peck on the cheek. He then let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her waist. "I never gave you a real congrats! I'm super proud of you!"

Blushing furiously, Dawn hid her scorching face in her hands. A moment's silence calmed her, and she rested her head against the side of his chest. "Is this how we're gonna celebrate from now on…?"

"Hm?" He cocked his head before chuckling. "Well, I wouldn't mind it!"

Our heroes enjoyed each other's embrace in the radiant red light of evening, vaguely aware of Kenny trying to cheer on his own Empoleon in a race between the two steel birds. Rosa and Vulpix, meanwhile, let out little yips to encourage their own friend to hurry towards victory. The Wallace Cup might have come to an end, but the fun was just beginning. New friends and progress could only make their adventure better!


	53. Blaze of Glory

**Good to see you all again! Now, it's time for the next gym battle! As always, feedback is appreciated!**

* * *

On the docks of Cinnabar Island, our heroes and their friends were set up to part ways once more. With the Wallace Cup finished, their journeys had to continue. After all, it'd be a shame if Dawn won the Aqua Ribbon only to not enter the Grand Festival.

Standing tall before Ciara, Brendan shrugged his bag up higher on his shoulder. "Ciara, please do your best. I'll be cheering you on at the Grand Festival, okay?"

Posture still uncertain, she cocked her head. "W-Won't you be there?"

Scratching the back of his head, Brendan laughed. "Wallace has me on a strict training regime right now. I'm too busy to properly try for another ribbon cup, but I'll take a break to come cheer you on."

Ciara beamed at his words. Beside her, Kenny looked a bit miffed.

"You should really focus on your studies," he said. "I'll be there to support Ciara. Don't worry."

"Besides, we should all be supporting you!" Larkspur chirped. "I wish I had a cool mentor like you, Brendan! You were the coolest out there on the stage."

"Hey, I'm the one who won it!" Dawn complained.

"... Right! Then, Dawn, will you be my mentor?" Larkspur asked.

Blinking in surprise, she hummed in thought. "... If I win the Grand Festival, I'll think about it more seriously, okay?" Actually, her mother tutored people in coordinating, so this was a step closer to her dream, wasn't it?

"Great!" the young boy enthused.

"I hate to break this up, but Dawn, our boat's going to leave soon if we don't hurry up and board." Ash gestured to their waiting vessel.

"One minute!" Dawn pleaded. She turned to Kenny, then. "... Are you going to keep going down this path?"

Realizing what she meant, he nodded. "I won't turn back to where I was. I'll walk side by side with people instead of insisting I've got to run ahead of them."

"Good," she said with a smile. "I've always wanted you to be a proper rival to me."

Confused but happy the two were getting along, Ciara spoke up. "Where are you and Ash headed?"

"I'm gonna challenge Blaine," the trainer clarified.

"Oh, wow! He's so fiery! Good luck!" She was practically swooning.

Kenny tilted his head and put his hands on his hips. "You really like fire types and users, huh?"

"They're the best!" she answered.

"... Tell you what: once we see Ash and Dawn off, why don't you help me catch my own fire type before I go back to Johto?"

"Definitely!"

Touched by the moment between the two, Dawn turned to Ash. "Alright, we can go now. Bye, guys!" She stopped in her tracks suddenly, turning back to the violet-haired girl. "Oh, Ciara! Good luck on your ribbons! I'll see you at the Grand Festival," she added with a wink.

"O-of course!" Ciara beamed, her fingers linking together. "I'll meet you there!"

"See you!" Ash said as well, before pulling Dawn along to board the boat.

"Pika-Pika!"

* * *

Relaxing on the white plastic chairs set on the small porch outside of the Pokemon Center, Dawn took short sips of orange juice. "It's so good to be back!" she cooed. She breathed in deeply of the warm, salty air.

Slouching in his chair, Ash watched intently as Dawn drained her drink. "C'mon, Dawn. We need to hurry! Lance said Blaine's gym is in the Seafoam caves and that'll take all day to get through!" he whined.

"You're lookin' for Blaine's gym?" asked an old man, dressed in leather fringe and tie dye. The Pokemon Center doors closed behind him.

Shocked by the quiet approach of the stranger, Empoleon squawked.

"Uh, yeah, we are," Ash answered. He looked towards Pikachu, who shrugged. The guy was quiet, but not fishy. He seemed more like an old hippie than a real threat.

"Well, little dudes, here's a riddle for ya. I think it'll help. Alrighty… How far can a Vulpix run into a pecha berry patch?" Satisfied with himself, the man started walking off. "The answer's groovy. Peace out."

Making a face at the riddle, Ash gestured at the retreating figure. "What the hell does that mean?! How big's the berry patch?! I don't have a Vulpix; how am I supposed to know how far they can run?!"

Putting down her cup, Dawn looked over to Ash. "Halfway."

"... What?" Ash barked.

"It can only run in halfway. After that, it's running out."

Opening and shutting his mouth before shaking his head, Ash crossed his arms. "How did you know that?!"

Smiling proudly, the coordinator answered. "Riddles are just clever poems! My mom got me a book with some when I first got into the poetry man!"

Shrugging at her surprising but useful skill, Ash sunk into his chair again. "That doesn't really help us, though… Oh! Yes it does!" Ash quickly began shrugging on his backpack and scooping up Pikachu. "I was looking at a map of the island last night to see where the gym might be, and there's an entrance to the Seafoam Caves near a pecha berry grove! If we go there, we should go half-way through the caves to find Blaine's gym, right?!"

Getting ready just as quickly, Dawn nodded her head. "Makes sense! Empoleon, we're going!"

"Empo!"

After a short walk, the trainers reached the pecha berry patch. Dawn was taking in the scenery and admiring how healthy and huge the fruit were when she noticed Empoleon gorging himself on them.

"Hey, leave some for everyone else!"

The water type quickly pointed at Ash and Pikachu.

Having been ratted out by the mama's boy of the team, Ash and Pikachu stopped in the middle of their own feast. The duo hastily wiped pink pulp from their lips to hide their crimes.

Sighing, Dawn put her hands on her hips. "I guess it can't hurt… Let's still hurry to the cave."

"Of course!" Ash agreed. "We gotta keep up our energy, though!"

A brief walk through the patch, our heroes looked into the mouth of a cave which sloped into a small hill and down, deep into the ground.

"It's cold," Ash complained. Blaine couldn't pick a normal location, could he?

Dawn shrugged. "It's not that bad. It's kind of a relief. The weather's nice here, but I get hot too easy."

Putting a hand on his hip, Ash sighed. "You only think that because you're from Sinnoh."

"No need to worry, if you need to cuddle for warmth, I won't say no," she teased instead of properly replying.

Blushing, Ash charged into the cave. "What with this playful mood all the sudden?!"

Poking her tongue out, Dawn followed him into the caves. "You started the teasing back when you doubted my riddle skills."

As they walked through the caverns, the group found themselves entertained by Empoleon's clear pleasure with the frigid air. He even made himself doubly useful by taking them with easy navigation across particularly slippery parts of the paths! Pikachu, meanwhile, lit the way by giving off slight electric charges.

"This should be it!" Ash announced once they reached a branching of trails. "I think we're almost at the middle. One of these paths will take us to-"

"The gym." Stepping out from the dark of the caves, the old man from before threw the party a peace sign. "Greetings, brothers and sister. I see you rocked my riddle. Far out."

"I bet you're here to give us another hint," Dawn suggested. She looked eager to solve it.

The old man nodded. "If you can solve this one, I'll take you right to Blaine myself."

"You will?!" Ash enthusiastically asked. He turned to Dawn before bowing a bit to her. "I'm leaving it up to you!"

"No need to worry! I won't let you down!"

"Alright, sister, here's your riddle: A man rode in on Tuesday and two days later he left on Tuesday. How so?" Content with his stumbling block, the man sat down and rested on the ground.

Jaw dropping, Ash looked to Pikachu, then Empoleon, and finally Dawn. "We can figure this out together! Um, let's see… Ah, I know! Celebi helped him use time travel! … No? Okay, uh, five day weekend! Weekends don't count for shipping, so maybe…!"

Interrupting Ash's frantic guesses, Dawn declared her answer. "He was riding a Ponyta named Tuesday."

"It was just a nicknamed Ponyta?!" Ash snapped.

Smirking, the old man stood up. "Right on."

Yanking under his beard and tossing off his glasses, the disguise the man wore fell away. Under it all was none other than Blaine!

"Well! Aren't you a clever girl?" he said, praising Dawn loudly. Tapping his cane against the cave floors, he then turned to chide Ash. "Kid, you still suck at riddles."

"I can kick butt plenty fine," he grumbled. "It's fine! I don't have to solve your riddles to get a badge myself! I just gotta win!"

Chuckling, the old man began walking down the centermost cave. "Well, why don't you show me what you've got, huh? Been waiting on you. Lance sent word that you got confused about where I was. Told me you've gotten good and strong. I wanna see how cool you've gotten, kid."

* * *

Soon enough, Ash and Blaine stood across from one another at far ends of a cavern, Pikachu accompanying Ash on his shoulder. The frosty corridor made Ash and Pikachu shiver. Though, few icicles hung from this part of the caves. Perhaps the routine matches Blaine held had done away with the most extreme signs of the cold climate.

Meanwhile, Dawn, along with Empoleon, stood comfortably off to the side halfway through the room, and an official referee stood far opposite of Dawn. He was decked in a zip-up jacket, likely worn for the sudden shifts between hot and cold. He probably wasn't paid enough for this.

Nonetheless, he did his job. "This gym battle between Ash from Pallet Town, and Blaine the Gym Leader, will now begin! Each trainer will use three pokemon. The first to have all of their pokemon faint, or the first to surrender will lose the match! No time limit… Begin!"

"My first pokemon will be… Rhyperior! Go!" Growing old and feeble, Blaine pitched the pokeball with a bit less dexterity than he had in the past. All the same, the pokeball opened.

"Rhy!" The gargantuan rock type appeared on Blaine's side of the cavern.

"Rhyperior, huh… So, it evolved!" Ash smirked, gripping a pokeball from his belt. "I thought I'd be seeing you… Which is why I brought along Primeape! I choose you!"

"Pri! Pri!" The Pig Monkey pokemon burst from his ball, hopping from one foot to the other.

"You may not be good at riddles, but at least this time you came prepared! Color me impressed." Blaine sneered, clenching his feeble fist as he called his first order. "Rhyperior, Rock Blast!"

"Dodge that, and go in for Power-up Punch!" Ash shouted.

The pokemon put his onyx, stony hands forward, firing off a barrage of boulders.

Primeape sprinted towards his larger opponent, leaping past and hurdling over one stone after the next. When he saw the opportunity, he hopped on top of one of the stones, bounding towards Rhyperior.

He landed in front of his opponent, a fiery glowing fist at the ready.

"Fury Attack!" Blaine ordered.

The attacking Primeape was forced to abandon his punch when a remarkably sharp horn came his way, ready to jab him. He snorted, just barely stepping out of its path.

A flurry of stabs from the large pokemon's skull forced Primeape to put his footwork to the test. Each time the horn came, he slipped to the side, each time avoiding it by mere inches.

Ash's heart was already beginning to gain a pace. He smiled nonetheless. "Grab the horn, then Close Combat!"

Ducking under another thrust by Rhyperior, Primeape grabbed the sharp horn on its dull end, holding on tight as he was yanked into the air. He put his tenacity to use, squealing as he pummeled Rhyperior's skulls with angry kicks, stopping at nothing to pound on his opponent.

Rhyperior groaned in pain, unable to stop the kicks and punches to his head.

Blaine grimaced. "Shake him off and use Megahorn!"

Grunting in undignified fury, Rhyperior bucked his head, launching Primeape off of his horn and above. Now, he made a perfect target. "Perior!" He roared, slamming his shining spike into Primeape's gut.

The Pig Monkey appropriately squealed, the breath knocked out of him as he tumbled across the cavern floor.

"Primeape! Are you alright!?" Ash called out, leaning forward with a clenched fist.

"Pri… Primeape!" The sturdy fighting type affirmed, pushing himself to his feet.

"Good." Ash let out a breath of relief. "Now, Power-up Punch!"

Primeape sprinted forward once more, brandishing a glowing fist.

"Rock Wrecker!" Blaine called out.

"Rhy-Rhy-Rhy… Perior!" The Drill pokemon summoned a huge boulder, firing it.

Primeape's squinted eyes went wide, his strength channeled towards stopping the oncoming gargantuan stone. He squealed as he was pressed to the hurling object, completely unable to stop it in its tracks. Struggling to gain any sort of hold, he screeched as the rock exploded.

"Crap, that's bad…" Ash looked on with wide eyes, sweat dripping down his cheek. "That's the most powerful rock type attack…" He remembered it quite well from his match with Palmer.

Dawn's eyes flicked from the dust cloud to Rhyperior, his breathing and heaving becoming quite apparent. The girl blinked, the sight serving her memory. "That's right! Rock Wrecker is powerful, but it needs recharge time, like Hyper Beam!" She clutched a hand over her chest.

If only Ash could figure that out.

Alas, it took quite a bit for Primeape to stumble out of the rubble, dusting himself off.

"Rhyperior's up and at it again," Ash noted with a grimace. "So much for that."

"You didn't think we'd let you take advantage of that?" Blaine scoffed at the younger trainer before him. "Now, your Primeape is easy prey! Rhyperior, Take Down, now!"

The huge, burly Drill pokemon sprinted towards Primeape, ready to crash into it with all of its weight.

"Don't underestimate my pokemon," Ash countered. "Primeape, Low Sweep!"

Primeape bounded forward on crouched legs, grunting as he kicked forward, crashing his padded foot into Rhyperior's rocky, bulky leg. "Pri…!" He grunted, putting his weight into the kick.

"Perior!" The rock type wailed in pain, stopping in his tracks to support himself on one knee.

"Ah! Rhyperior!" Blaine shouted, his face twisting at the turn in events.

"I told you not to underestimate them," Ash repeated, sliding his index finger over his nose.

Blaine grimaced. "Megahorn!"

"Rhy!" The pokemon growled, his horn glowing silver. He stepped forward, only to grunt and falter in his footing.

"I knew that'd slow him down. Now's your chance, Primeape! Close Combat!"

Primeape had been waiting for this. He eagerly sprung at the ailing pokemon, pummeling him with a series of punches and kicks to the face and chest, quickly overwhelming him. Seeing that Rhyperior was weary, he finished his combination with a kick to Rhyperior's chest with both legs.

The Drill pokemon groaned, sliding far back across the battlefield. It huffed, its eyes filled with fury centered on Primeape.

"It's still fighting? Seriously!?" Ash gawked at the resilient pokemon. "This'll be tougher than I thought."

"The plates on its body make it very durable," Dawn recounted. "I read about it in school once."

Blaine only laughed. "Surely, you didn't think you'd break through a fully grown rock type that easily?"

Wrinkled features creased into a frown, however, tired, sunglass-covered eyes focusing on Blaine's own pokemon. _'That kid's got me in quite a predicament. Rhyperior's no longer going to be able to fight head-to-head in this condition. He's no longer the snot-nosed greenhorn he used to be.'_ It was hard not to enjoy the challenge before him. With that in mind, he smirked.

"Use Rock Blast!"

Meanwhile, Ash was along a similar train of thought. "If this keeps up, he'll have to use Rock Wrecker again… Primeape's not strong enough to take that on." A grimace that showed quickly flipped into a smirk. "...Not yet, anyway! Primeape! Take those on with Power-up Punch!"

As a multitude of boulder flew towards the Pig Monkey, he bounded forward, slamming a fiery fist into the first of several stones. The rock crumbled, and Primeape's adrenaline rushed.

"To the right!" Ash ordered.

That one probably would have missed him, but he took care to smash both glowing fists over it regardless, crumbling it. He jumped forward again, turning to crush another boulder with the back of his fist.

His body took on an orange glow after every strike, steam expelling from his nostrils.

Ash grinned, and Blaine had broken out in a sweat.

"That clever, snot-nosed kid…" Blaine grunted, tightening a fist. "Rock Wrecker!"

"Rhyperior!" The desperate giant channeled all of his roaring might into a huge jagged rock. Forced to dig his weighted tail into the ground in lieu of his hurt leg, he struggled not to recoil when the blast was fired.

"Power-up Punch, again!" Ash cried out, punching forward, himself.

"Pri, Pri!" The fighting type squealed, vaulting forward to slam his fist into the boulder. He grunted, continuing to shove his shaking fist into the rock. Cracks and hair lines began to run through the large mass, soon enough, it all split in two. The fuzzy fighter shot through.

"One more time!" Ash called with a grin, punching into the air.

Landing on all fours before the heaving Rhyperior, Primeape sprung up, slamming a fist into Rhyperior's jaw.

The Drill pokemon was actually, for once, launched into the air, falling helplessly on his back.

Noting the swirls in its eyes, the referee raised a hand. "Rhyperior is unable to battle! Primeape is the winner!"

Blaine exhaled, returning his Rhyperior. "Very impressive, Ash. You're worlds ahead of the trainer that first challenged me for the Volcano Badge. This may be a great match yet." With that in mind, he grabbed his second pokeball. "...But, don't get too cocky! Next, you'll have to face my Ninetales!"

"Niiine!" The lithe, blonde beauty cried, sitting comfortably across from Primeape. Her cluster of tails wagged and swerved about, a very clear threat. Approaching her would be dangerous.

Huffing through his flattened nose, Primeape carefully toed the battlefield like the prize fighter he was, carefully eyeing Ninetales. At a critical moment like this, he had to be careful.

"Let's wrap this round up, Ninetales. Heat Wave!" Blaine ordered.

Ninetales cried, spewing from her mouth a horribly hot gust, engulfing the field.

Ash, meanwhile, grinned. "We're prepared for this! Primeape, Overheat!"

"Pri-Pri-pri!" Primeape cried, launching an explosive inferno from his nostrils. The bath of flames collided with the heated air, forcing the flames to rise and burst. A wall of fire rose between the two pokemon, as well as their trainers.

"Now, Primeape! Let's settle this in one go!" Ash declared, thrusting an open hand forward.

"Ape!" The Pig Monkey leapt forward, bounding through an opening in the flames.

"Close Combat!"

Primeape cleared the flames to close in on Ninetales, furious fists ready.

"Psychic!"

"What!?" Ash's eager expression fell apart, his brows furrowing.

Ninetales' ruby eyes centered on Primeape, surrounding him in a blue glow.

He was suspended in mid-air, flailing unceremoniously in an attempt to break free.

A toss of Ninetales' head flung Primeape at a cavern wall. A loud crash made Ash cringe.

Primeape slid down to the ground, swirls in his eyes.

"Primeape is unable to battle! The winner is Ninetales!"

"Thanks for giving it your all," Ash spoke aloud as he returned the fighting type. "I didn't know what he had in store for us, but you did your best." Clipping the ball back to his belt, he tossed a second pokeball. "Up next is… Floatzel! I choose you!"

Floatzel appeared in a flash, his arms crossed over his chest. "Float!"

"Go, go, Floatzel!" Dawn cheered with glee, pumping her fists. Not pom-poms, but close enough.

"Back with the type advantages, eh? Let's hope that goes better for you than last time." Blaine smirked to himself. As condescending as he came off, he was eager. "Ninetales, Heat Wave!"

Ninetales repeated her first move, firing another torrent of heat.

"Break through with Aqua Jet!" Ash ordered.

Floatzel launched at Ninetales, wethering the firestorm with his watery veil.

Most of the distance was closed before the opposing forces burst, surrounding the field in warm steam.

"Ice Punch!" Ash called, punching forward.

Floatzel overheard the command just as he landed, stepping forward to throw a frosty right hook.

Ninetales crouched under the punch, pouncing forward as a blow was thrown at her head. She slid under the weasel as he threw the second punch, throwing her opponent off-balance.

"Behind you!" Ash warned.

Gritting his teeth, Floatzel turned back, throwing several more jabs. "Float! Zel!"

Ninetales' slender form allowed her to sidestep a few more, finally leaping atop a rock.

"Holy cow, she's fast," Ash admitted, sweat dripping down his cheek.

"She sure is. Ninetales has been a part of my team for a very long time, now! She's just about as well-trained as a pokemon can get. I'd worry she'll get frail soon, but Ninetales live for a thousand years." Blaine boasted.

"A thousand years!?" Ash parroted, gawking. "I knew they lived long, but holy hell…"

"I've read legends about that," Dawn added. "I never knew they were true!"

"Indeed, you're working against many years of experience. Ninetales, Solarbeam!"

The fire type howled, craning her neck to gather whatever faint solar particles had gathered in the arena.

"Now's our chance," Ash encouraged. "Ice Punch, and make it quick!"

"Floatzel!" Already growing frustrated, Floatzel jumped at ninetales, a cold limb ready.

"Now! Fire it at the ground!"

Ninetales threw her head down, firing the beam of light downward. It wasn't quite as potent as one would expect in broad daylight, but the shockwave billowed all the same.

"Float…!" Floatzel grunted, blown back by the attack's force. He skidded backwards.

"Psychic!"

Floatzel was surrounded in a glow, screeching as he was flung back towards the wall.

Ash grit his teeth, shaking his fists. "Use your flotation ring to protect yourself!"

The startled water type inhaled, inflating his yellow ring in the knick of time. The blow was softened, and he landed on his hind legs, canines bared at the pesky Ninetales.

"Impressive," Blaine complimented. But this gave them their opportunity. "Sunny Day!"

"Nine~!" The Fox pokemon fired off a blinding orb towards the cavern ceiling. It burst with heat, shining down harshly upon the battlefield. For such a dark climate, it was a little unwelcome.

"Man, that's bright," Ash winced, pulling his cap further down over his eyes.

"And, that's not at all," Blaine taunted. "My fire type moves are twice as powerful, now! You better have Burn Heal!"

Ash swallowed. "This isn't gonna be easy, huh."

Blaine only answered with his next command. "Solarbeam!"

Ninetales quickly summoned energy from the orb above, firing a blinding beam.

"Dodge that!" Ash ordered.

His heart racing, Floatzel darted to the side, shrinking the distance between himself and Ninetales.

"Hydro Pump!"

The Sea Weasel spit out a torrent of water, striking Ninetales head-on.

"Nine!" The pokemon cried as it was launched above ground, tumbling before landing with grace.

Ash growled. "Sunny Day really watered that down." Any other time, he'd be proud of that pun.

"Out of the frying pan, eh, Ash?" Blaine sneered. "Heat Wave!"

Ninetales fired another hot gust, this time aided by the hot climate.

Even Ash was beginning to feel sweaty in these normally freezing chambers. He tugged at his gloves. If this was bad for him, then surely, Floatzel was hurting. "Block it with Counter Shield!"

Feeling his fur frizz and heat, Floatzel needn't been told twice. "Zel!" He flipped onto his back, summoning a torrent of water spiraling around his body.

Even as it was summoned, though, the cannons dispersed into mist, sweeping Floatzel away.

"It didn't work!?" Ash looked on in horror, watching the shield vanish. "It's way too hot for that water… At this rate, any water's gonna turn into steam before it can do anything." His eyes narrowed.

Meanwhile, Dawn was tugging at her pink jacket, none too happy that it was sticking to her shoulders. "And, just when we'd found some good Sinnoh weather… My hair's going to frizz from this!"

"Floatzel, Ice Aqua Jet! Keep on spinning and keep on icing!" Ash punched both fists forward.

"Ice Aqua what, now?" Blaine cocked an eyebrow. "What's he up to?"

"Float!" The water type spun, shooting off towards Ninetales. His fists both shone with icy, sky blue energy, leaving swirling trails of frost as the Sea Weasel spun. The Aqua Jet became an icy corkscrew, catching dispersing mist each time it strayed. Even under the punishing sun, the Aqua Jet retained its shape.

"What!? Sunny Day isn't stealing its thunder!" Blaine gawked at the combination move.

"You're darn right!" Ash grinned, holding a fist across his chest before pointing forward. "Go, Floatzel!"

Crossing the battlefield with outrageous speed, Floatzel crashed into Ninetales. "Float!"

Ninetales cried, knocked from her comfortable perch by the powerful jet.

"Solarbeam, now!" Blaine countered.

"Ice Punch!" Ash quickly added on.

"Nine~!" Ninetales bared her canines, quickly gathering a bright light.

Turning out of his Aqua Jet, Floatzel landed in a crouch, swinging his fist above. "Float-zel!"

A streak of chilling pain collided with Ninetales' jaw, knocking her head upward. The Solarbeam fired though, regardless, its sun-fueled might spraying across the rocky cave ceiling above.

A booming rumble caused the hearts of everyone present to jump, followed by one rocky chunk of debris after another dropping down. Ninetales shrieked, leaping several bounds out of harm's way.

"Slick move, kid. Dirty, but very resourceful!" Blaine praised, smiling widely. "Ninetales, Heat Wave!"

"Controlling the battlefield is what we do best!" Ash boasted. "Crouch behind the rocks!"

The water type quickly slipped below a row of boulders, his back to the icy rock.

Heat Wave cascaded over the field once more, hot as ever. This time, though, it missed its target.

Ash blinked, his dark hues glimmering with revelation. "I've got it."

Blaine's glasses glimmered over, a snow-white brow raised. "Hm?"

Ash's face showed that familiar gleam of mischief. He raised an arm, pointing an open hand towards the stalactites. "Floatzel! Let's try using Sonic Boom, right at the ceiling above Ninetales!"

Floatzel's eyes narrowed, his trainer's orders heard. "Float!" He quickly turned to whip his two tails, firing one powerful soundwave before a second swerve fired another. "Zel! Zel!"

The barrage of shock waves pummeled the ceiling from one end to the next, triggering loud, dusty explosions that basically amounted to a Rock Slide attack on Ninetales' turf.

"Ninetales, dodge that!" Blaine stammered, beginning to panic.

It didn't help that Sunny Day's glow was already beginning to slip away.

"Nine! Nine!" The slender creature hopped from one spot to the next, frantically dodging a hail of boulders that had just barely left her untouched. She huffed, giving her tails an undignified swish.

"Now the heat's gone away," Ash noted, relieved for himself as much as he was the battle. A smirk spread from cheek to cheek as he reared back, punching back forward. "Aqua Jet!"

Floatzel took off again, boosted forward by the misty propulsion.

"We're not making it that easy," Blaine asserted. "Ninetales, Psychic, now!"

"Tales!" The weary fire type howled, surrounding the multitude of boulders with a bright light. Sure enough, under her will, they rose, flinging themselves violently at the approaching target.

"Dodge that!" Ash ordered, throwing a hand to the side.

"Float!" Floatzel rolled and turned, weaving up, down, and beside the assault with precision.

As soon as he passed through the storm, the rocks turned tail, shooting back towards the retreating Sea Weasel. At this rate, there'd be no escape! They'd just keep chasing him. Ash clenched a fist, a mischievous thought tugging at the corner of his lip. "Get behind Ninetales!"

"Zel!" Only meters from the mythical Fox, Floatzel tumbled, swerving around before skidding to a halt.

It was only then, when the boulders were staring Ninetales right in the eye, that Blaine caught on to Ash's ruise. Breaking out in a sweat, he shouted to his prized veteran. "Ninetales, dodge that!"

The blonde fox panicked. She made one quick bound before the next, but it was no use. A boulder struck her in the side, crumbling upon impact in tandem with her own shriek.

"That's our chance!" Ash announced, clenching both fists at his side. "Hydro Pump!"

Turning on his paws, Floatzel huffed up his water supply before firing the jet. "Zel!"

The powerful spray struck Ninetales in the stomach, carrying her into the air before allowing her to tumble off across the battlefield. The impact left her body limp, ruby eyes turning to swirls.

By now, Ash and Floatzel alike were breathing heavily, grinning at the exhilarating outcome.

"Ninetales is unable to battle! Floatzel is the winner!" The referee raised a hand, wiping sweat from his brow with the other.

Ninetales was swallowed by a red flash, retreating to the pokeball in Blaine's palm. "Bravo. Not many challengers face the wrath of my senior fire types, and even less overcome the heat. Lance wasn't full of hot air when he went on about you!"

"Well, you know me. I strike when the iron's hot!" Ash grinned, brows raised in cheesy self-satisfaction.

"I know I should appreciate wordplay, but they're going to give me a heatstroke," Dawn deadpanned.

"It's the one kind this kid ain't half-bad at," Blaine admitted as he tossed his next pokeball. "But, this next pokemon is really gonna scorch you! Magmortar, let's show them!"

The Blast pokemon towered over Floatzel, leering down at the Sea Weasel. "Mortar!"

"Hey, whaddya know, Magmar evolved!" Ash was just about ready to explode with excitement! He did bring the right team, after all. "I knew we'd be facing you again… Floatzel! You ready!?"

"Floatzel!" The weary pokemon flexed, eager to keep pushing his limits.

"Then, use Hydro Pump!"

Floatzel threw his head forward, firing another powerful jet.

"Lava Plume!" Blaine countered.

"Mag…" The burly fire type pointed his arm cannon forward, spewing forth hot magma.

The two attacks met center-stage, but the result could not be drawn up to type. The instant the Hydro Pump touched the hot projectile, it evaporated into steam. Floatzel only barely avoided it.

"Man, that's hot," Ash marveled, his fingers trembling. He couldn't even imagine Floatzel getting hit with that. Naturally, it was his responsibility to make sure he didn't. "Sonic Boom!"

Floatzel was sweating bullets himself, but he wasn't out yet. Several more shockwaves were fired.

"Those things are real pesky," Blaine complained. "Blow them away with Fire Punch!"

"Mag!" Magmortar punched forward with clawed, burning hands. The snapping and crackling flames emanating from him collided with the Sonic Booms, obliterating them with ease.

Ash leaned forward, gritting his teeth. "This is bad… Aqua Jet!"

"Float!" The Sea Weasel cried, firing off towards the Blast pokemon with ferocity.

"Catch it, with Strength!" Blaine ordered.

The Blast pokemon held his arms wide open, swallowing the pain of the collision with his chest. Without hesitation, he snagged his arms around the water type, squeezing him without mercy.

Floatzel struggled and squirmed, growling through gnashed teeth.

"Magmortar, Thunderbolt!"

"Mag… Mortar!" The fire type boomed, lighting the dim cavern with a golden, terrifying current of electricity that coursed through the two pokemon. Ash, Dawn, and their pokemon had to watch on in horror as Floatzel was roasted,unable to move. His cry of pain could hardly be heard.

He probably preferred it that way.

Magmortar loosened his grip, tossing the weasel back towards Ash. Floatzel was unconscious.

"Floatzel is unable to battle! Magmortar wins!"

"Floatzel..." Ash stared on, perhaps a bit too long. _'I knew Magmortar was powerful, but maybe Floatzel was in over his head.'_ Sure, he was tired, but all of that power… He'd need the big guns. "You did your best, thanks." Recalling the water type, he grinned. "Magmortar, I've got a surprise for you. There's someone who's been waiting to see you!" He drew back an arm, winding up before tossing his third and last pokeball. "I choose you… Charizard!"

The dual-colored sphere spun, exploding to give birth to the image of the large, fiery lizard. The Flame pokemon dug his talons into the cave floor, batting his wings once or twice before greeting the battlefield with a booming roar. He spotted Magmortar, and his flame-tipped tail began to swish.

Meanwhile, the flames atop Magmortar's head began to rage. "Mortar…" The giant growled, taking cautious steps to the left and right, sizing up his old opponent. It wasn't hard to tell that the lizard was even more formidable than he had been during their last bout. This was thrilling.

"You could cut the tension in the air with a knife," Dawn observed. Even her heart was racing.

"It looks like Magmortar remembers your Charizard. Not to mention, raring for a fight. I just hope that this time, you have some command of your pokemon. I'd hate to see you throw the match." Blaine taunted, spitting his words from his grinning mouth.

"That stuff's long gone," Ash answered as he toyed with his cap. "Charizard and I are a team. And, together, we're going to beat you guys at your best!" He pumped a closed fist. "Bring it!"

"Very well, Ash. Magmortar, Lava Plume!"

The Blast pokemon linked his arms forward, firing a large mass of lava.

"Counter with Dragon Pulse!" Ash called, pulling a hand back only to throw it forward.

"Roagh!" Charizard craned his neck before firing, launching a violet beam of energy.

The scalding liquid and the blast collided, creating a volatile fusion that exploded immediately.

Removing his cap to fan himself with the headgear, Ash huffed in the wake of the expulsion of heat. "Charizard's lucky he's a fire type… I can feel that all the way over here!"

"I hope you're not done already. A few more Lava Plumes, Magmortar!"

"Mag!" It aimed both cannons at Charizard, firing one blast of magma after the next.

"Dodge it!" Ash ordered with a wave of his hand. "Then, use Slash!"

Charizard was quick to take off, swerving past a first shot with a tilt of his wings. Maneuvering around a few scorching projectiles, the Flame pokemon quickly closed the distance between the two. He followed his approach with a drawn back arm, brandishing shining, elongated claws.

"Counter with Fire Punch!" Blaine ordered.

"Mor!" Magmortar dug his feet into the ground, pulling a blazing fist back.

Both titans struck forward at the same time, striking one another across the face.

Magmortar bled, and Charizard's jaw was scorched.

"Good job," Ash praised. "Now, another Slash Attack!"

"Too obvious," Blaine decried. "Hold onto Charizard with Strength!"

The second slash of Charizard's claws were stopped with an iron grip. To add insult to injury, the first arm that had struck the Blast pokemon was clutched tight, leaving the Flame pokemon struggling to free himself. He bore his canines, pulling away from Magmortar.

And, with good reason. Having a bad feeling where this was going, Ash shouted. "Charizard, get out of there, and make it fast!" How the hell did he fall into that trap so easily?

"Too late. Thunderbolt!"

Charizard tugged and pulled, but he wasn't freed from the wrath of the blinding golden flash that consumed him. Electric charges ran through his every vein and bone, prompting a roar of pain.

"Now, get rid of 'em!" Blaine ordered in succession.

Magmortar quickly complied, twisting his body before roughly tossing Charizard.

"Another Thunderbolt!"

A surge of electricity was fired from Magmortar's arm cannon.

"Climb up high, and use Fire Spin!" Ash ordered, raising a hand before pointing it forward.

Pain was taken in stride, and Charizard shot upward, barely avoiding the static that snapped at his tail. Huffing in indignance, the pseudo-dragon swung his tail about in a spiral. The residual flames circled below him and continued downward, capturing Magmortar in a pillar of fire.

"I thought you'd know better than that, Ash." Blaine scoffed. "You don't really think that kind of heat is going to put Magmortar out of commission? Even before he evolved, he was capable of sleeping in lava! You're going to have to do better."

"Was already planning on it," Ash answered through a mischievous grin. "Add in Dragon Pulse!"

Charizard cried out again, spitting out a second wave of draconian energy. This time, it went unhindered, spiraling into the roaring Fire Spin. The pillar of red and orange practically doubled in size, surrounded in blue, pink, and violet, assaulting Magmortar with inflamed draconian energy.

The Blast pokemon's shout of pain was hardly audible over the twister.

"I call that one Dragon Spin!" Ash declared with pride, flipping his cap backwards on his head.

"So powerful, and it's gorgeous, too!" Dawn marveled, fingers clasped.

...Was Ash borrowing her simplistic move-dubbing style?

"Real menacing strategy you've got there," Blaine admitted through a grimace. "Even for Magmortar, that looks pretty deadly. Get out of there, and use Fire Punch!"

The Dragon Spin burst in the middle, parted by a leaping Magmortar, ashened with burns from the combination attack. Unrelenting in his fury still, the fire type closed the distance between himself and Charizard, he threw a fiery punch at his rival, followed by one blow after the next.

"Dodge that!" Ash warned.

Charizard stepped backward in the meantime, his head swerving to slip past every punch thrown his way. Soon, though, he found himself cornered, with only solid wall behind him.

He wouldn't be able to dodge the next attack.

Ash clenched a fist, punching it across his chest. "Dragon Tail!"

The Flame pokemon pivoted on his foot, swinging his huge, glowing tail around, striking Magmortar with a brutal whiplash to the chest. The heavy pokemon was sent reeling.

"Strength! Grab him!"

Just as he'd been thrown from the cave wall, Magmortar grasped Charizard's swinging tail, yanking him along for the ride. With a cocky, competitive sneer, Magmortar took the Flame pokemon down with him. "Mag," he boasted, swinging the other fire type with a grunt.

Charizard cried out as he was thrown aside, breath knocked from him brutally as his spine collided with yet another rocky wall behind him. He was swiftly embedded in a crater.

"Charizard! Hang in there! You can handle more than this," Ash insisted, leaning forward enough to worry about falling over. The trainer wiped sweat from his forehead. This was a much tougher trial than the first time around. That was saying a lot.

"Don't let them rest. Lava Plume!" Blaine quickly dragged Ash from his thoughts.

Skidding across the earthy floor, Magmortar aimed his cannon once more. "Mortar!"

"You've gotta get out of there, quick!" The raven-haired trainer warned.

Thin, but muscular arms tore from their rocky prison, forcing Charizard out of the wall he'd been embedded in. He lurched forward, tilting and skidding just shy of the hunk of lava that splashed into the crater he'd just escaped. He could hear the frosty stone behind him sizzle. But admitting fear was never on Charizard's agenda. He didn't look back, soaring into the shallow height that the cavern allowed.

None too soon, as several more shots fired his way.

He swept under one, just barely flapping above another, only to spin past a fourth shot.

By time he'd turned, all he could see was red heat.

"Charizard!"

A glowering, explosive bubble of liquid heat drew the attention of everyone present, completely swallowing Charizard. The last Lava Plume had hit its mark, and even the far-off Dawn and Empoleon were uncomfortably hot under the results.

"Charizard's so powerful, and even he's struggling here…" Dawn marveled, brows furrowed in distress and awe. She clenched a fist, her free hand brushing sweaty bangs off of her cheek. Normally, that would bother her. "Can anyone even beat Magmortar, at this rate?"

"Empol…" The Emperor pokemon behind her stared into the blindingly bright mess of red and yellow hues. His claws clutched, eyes narrowed. Even the pokemon who had inspired him to evolve was being dominated, despite his best efforts.

While Dawn and Empoleon fretted in doubt, and Ash in worry, only one train of thought dwelled inside the bubble of heat.

Humiliation.

No matter what was thrown at that damnably powerful and valiant lava-dweller, it kept coming back for more. The lava licking at his skin, no matter how resistant it might be, attested to that. Irritation grew in the heart of the Flame pokemon as the assault continuously reminded him of his failure. Irritation turned to hot-blooded rage.

The mass of lava exploded, hazardously flying in every direction under the duress of a teal explosion from its core. Even the blast, though, was deafened by a booming roar.

"Charizard!?" Ash stared in wide-eyed awe, adjusting his cap with the palm of his hand.

The Flame pokemon was on display for all eyes to see, anxiously flapping his wings that were cloaked in a bright, crackling veil.

"...I get it now," Ash grinned, beaming on with pride, copper pools appearing in his hues. "You really wanna win, don't you." His pokemon shared his drive. There were few things more rewarding than that. "Alright, Charizard! Let's show them what you can do! Dragon Rush!"

"Groar!" Chazriard bellowed, firing across the field like a vengeful Moltres, surrounded by the bright blue image of a dragon's head. The false jaws opened wide, ready to swallow Magmortar.

The Blast pokemon braced itself.

Just as the jaws shut, Charizard smashed into Magmortar with all of his prideful might. Greeted by a groan of pain, the Flame pokemon circled back above, the glowing image around him fading. He spit out an ember, declaring victory in his own words.

"You really wanted that move," Ash recalled aloud. "A match like this with a rival was just what you needed, huh?" He couldn't be more proud as a trainer. "But, it's not over yet! Dragon Pulse!"

Swerving back around, Charizard fired another purple blast at his downed opponent.

"Lava Plume!" Blaine swiftly ordered.

Bruised and scorched, Magmortar raised an arm to fire another round of lava. "Mag!"

The two bursts collided, and Ash grinned. "Finish it, with Fire Spin!"

A toss of Charizard's head launched another spiral of fire, coiling into the Dragon Pulse. A corkscrew of cool colored flames drove through, blasting Magmortar with explosive might.

"Mortar!" A painful moan could be heard from within the smoke.

"Magmortar…!" Blaine's jaw had dropped. How had this been turned on him so fast?

The smoke soon withered and dispersed, showing Magmortar to be flat on his back.

An exhausted, scorched Charizard hovered lower, landing to huff and spit out flames.

The referee peered over the felled giant. "Magmortar is out! Which means the victors are Charizard, and the challenger, Ash, from Pallet Town!" The man declared, raising a hand high.

"Ahaha! Alright, Charizard!" Ash sprinted onto the field, occasionally leaping out of the path of lava that hadn't yet cooled.

"Ash!" Dawn called out in caution, her eyes glassing over in worry. "I better not have to carry you out of here missing a foot!"

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing!" The teen laughed in joy, throwing an arm around the weary Charizard. "This time, we won the battle together. And, you picked up on that move!"

"Pika-Pikachu!" Pikachu climbed from Ash's shoulder to their companion's, giving him a pat on the neck, for lack of a better option. Charizard had put up such a great fight!

"Groar!" Charizard growled in joy, raising a fist to pump against Ash's own.

"Bravo! What a thrilling battle, Ash." Blaine clapped his hands, walking across the field, hazards and all, to meet with the accomplished teen. "Lance was right. You really know how to turn on the heat. I'm also satisfied to see that your bond with your Charizard has improved. Your command of that battle made it worth the wait!"

"Ahah! Thanks, Blaine!" Ash rubbed the back of his head with his free hand, sporting a bashful grin. "We worked really hard to get this strong. Now, we're one step closer to being ready to win the Indigo League! Right, guys?" He turned his head towards his companions.

"Pi-Pikachu!"

"Roarh!"

"So, that was the reason behind your challenge? Well, I'll be expecting to see you win. Don't disappoint me." The elderly but still spirited man demanded. "If you can handle the wrath of fire types like you did today, there's no excuse for losing that tournament."

"Ash, that was amazing! You too, Charizard!" Dawn gushed, carefully toeing past the heated patches of rock to approach her companion. "What an incredible battle! And, that combination… What a great inspiration for contests! Watching that was worth the awful heat."

"Thanks, Dawn! Training with you helped a lot, y'know." Flushing red in the face, though after nearly being overheated it was hard to tell, Ash brushed his index finger over his nose.

"And, you, young lady. Your riddling skills give me hope for your generation. Stay sharp!"

"Oh, I will. There are few things more beautiful than poetry and riddles!" Dawn enthused.

"Good… Now, I'm guessing you're dying to get out of this gym? I know that the extremes of hot and cold aren't ideal for most young trainers."

"Hey, I've proved myself in the heat _and_ cold!" Ash insisted, jerking a thumb towards himself… But, he shrank in stature when he noticed that he was starting to work up a cold sweat. "...But getting outta here works, too."

"Don't give yourself a stroke," Blaine teased. "I'll show you the way back out."

"Can we maybe take a break in the first ice we come across," Dawn pleaded with her hands pressed together.

Beside her, Empoleon mimicked her actions.

The gym leader laughed. "Sure, sure! I don't see what'll hurt!"

* * *

Later, with our heroes safely back in the Pokemon Center, Dawn relaxed on a couch in front of a fan while Ash watched television. The Pokemon Center lounge was quite relaxed this evening. Most of the visitors were probably off enjoying the sunset or watching the sea pokemon play in the water.

"-Thank you for the weather update, Tom! Now, here's an update on local festivities and competitions! In Lavender Town, a small remembrance ceremony will be held in honor of those who lost their lives on the St. Anne-"

Recalling that particular misadventure, Ash was almost ready to change the channel which the next event flashed on the screen.

"There's already a big audience buying up tickets to the Saffron City Contest! With all the businessmen in the city, rumor has it that some will be watching to try and recruit coordinators to cameo in commercials for their businesses! This is already on top of Silph Co. preparing some demonstrations of their new technology for the public soon! Representatives insist that what they have up their sleeves will revolutionize pokemon battles! Stay tuned through the next few days to learn more!"

Dawn practically cooed upon seeing it. "Ash, I know it's a little out of the way, but let's go there!"

"Of course!" he agreed, happy to take his mind off the sunken ship. "You just can't go cheering for some company, okay? I need you to support me."

Giggling, the girl sat up. "You know I wouldn't do that."

"Good. Then, it's settled. Besides, I wanna see what the deal is with Silph Co. Revolutionizing pokemon battles… That sounds pretty damn exciting!"

"We'll have to check that out once we get there," Dawn chirped. "When, we'll head off on the next boat to Vermillion City! It won't be hard to get to Saffron from there!"

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Ash agreed with a grin.


	54. Hostile Takeover

**Hope you enjoy, everyone! As always, feedback is greatly appreciated!**

* * *

A light, soft drizzle poured outside of the Pokemon Center as our heroes returned from getting their room in order. After speaking to the Nurse Joy at the front desk to get their room key, they had found out the Saffron Contest wouldn't be for another two days. That left them with this evening and tomorrow to do what they wished.

Of course, they would do some training, but Saffron had many sights to see. Dawn wanted to get in a little shopping, too.

Walking side by side under an extra large umbrella held up by Empoleon, they enjoyed the surprisingly cool evening. The weather certainly had been warming up lately. They were headed into the last half of spring, though.

"I think you could use some new shoes," Dawn confessed. "The same kind, if you want, but you're so rough on them. I mean, I'm rough on mine, too, but they're rubber all over. You can't tell!"

Not too terribly eager to get dragged into the mall he knew very well was in Saffron, Ash wildly grasped for something else to do. "Uh… What about Silph Co.?" he asked. "Don't you wanna see what that's about?"

Cocking her head, Dawn thought about it. "I would like to know… I've heard they make technical machines! Maybe they've got some new ones?"

"Why don't we go see? I know the ones we bought back on Cinnabar were great!"

"Alright, let's head there!"

* * *

After walking a bit, the rain finally let up. By then, though, it was already a well into the evening. The street lights were on. All the same, Dawn was cooing as she read the signs.

"'An invention even greater than the Silph Scope'," she read aloud. "'A treasure so good that rare candies will be rendered obsolete'!" Dawn continued. She looked to Ash. "It's that good?! Rare candies are so luxurious… I've never even had one! Only people with very high level Shuckle get them!" she complained.

"I don't think that's how they're made," Ash muttered.

"Then how are they made?" Dawn inquired.

Ash paused. "... The same way a rage candy bar is made…"

"And, how is that?"

He crossed his arms, averting his eyes from the bluenette.

Pikachu shook his head at his trainer's antics.

"If they said it's impressive, it's got to be impressive!" Dawn whined.

"Let's just go in and see!" Ash suggested. He quickly walked up the few steps elevating the Silph Co. office from the rest of the sidewalk.

Dawn and Empoleon joined him and Pikachu in the surprisingly empty lobby. The only person there was a single tour guide. She kept glancing, out of the corner of her eye, at the wall partition to her right.

"G-Good evening, children! How can I help you?"

"We're here for the tour!" Dawn chirped.

The guide clearly stiffened up. "I'm sorry, but we aren't offering any more tours today." She paused. "Actually, I don't know when we'll be offering tours again. Here, why don't I walk you out? I ought to lock the door."

"Oh, no need to worry," Dawn said, disappointed. "We'll see ourselves out."

"No, I insist!" the tour guide said, her heels tapping against the tile floor as she walked towards Ash and Dawn.

"I've been thrown out enough to tell when it's about to happen. C'mon, let's beat it," Ash muttered.

He, Pikachu, and Empoleon quickly exited the building. Dawn did the same, though she paused ever so briefly after exiting. She could have almost sworn that, half-hidden by the glare thrown on the glass windows and doors thanks to the street lights, she could see the guide gazing intensely at Dawn.

Unnerved, the girl sprinted to catch up. "Wait for me!"

* * *

"What a bummer," Ash complained, sinking into a sofa into the lobby of Saffron's pokemon center. "I really wanted to see what the big change in battling was gonna be. Guess we'll just be in for the night, after all." The teen pouted, folding his arms behind his head.

Even if they wanted to go shopping, it was getting a little late, anyway.

"I guess I could spend the night planning contest maneuvers," Dawn figured, pacing around the tiled form with a small notepad and a pen tapping against it in hand. With nothing to do, she was growing a little restless… Maybe Ash was starting to rub off on her.

Before the duo and their pokemon could sink more comfortably into their quiet routines, a blaring tune from across the lobby grabbed their attention, drawing the group's eyes to the television stationed on the wall of the center.

"We're in with a breaking news bulletin!" A reporter spoke up, stiffly shuffling her papers with furrowed brows. "Saffron's own Silph Company, home to many exceptional advancements in technology, has been wrapped up in a hostile takeover! Details are still coming in, but the culprit is believed to be Team Rocket."

"What!?" Ash's fists clenched, teeth gnashing together.

The large, red "R" emblem was shown behind the reporter. "Local police have are in a stand-off with agents outside of the building, and we've had no luck contacting anyone on the inside. Team Rocket's demands, so far, are unclear. Our local Officer Jenny has advised residents to stay calm, stay put, and keep clear of the scene."

"Like hell," Ash muttered, putting his cap back atop his head, setting it straight.

Dawn needn't even ask what was running through the trainer's mind. "I know what you're thinking, Ash… But, you heard them. There's no way we'd even get in. The police already tried." As much as she really wanted to put those creeps in their place… the memories of Fuschia still made her cringe. "I don't think we'd be helpful just storming in."

"We can't just sit here," Ash countered, slinging his backpack over his shoulders. "Right, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted, a paw thumping his chest. They had to do something!

Dawn exhaled. "There probably are a lot of people in trouble, and pokemon, too… We have to do something." Who died and made them the evil team babysitters?

"Knew you'd come around." Ash stood after Pikachu had boarded his shoulder. "We'll find way!"

"You bet," Dawn agreed, calling back Empoleon. "I'd love to have you out, buddy, but we can't afford to stand out."

"Now, hold on a second!" Nurse Joy shouted, slamming her hands down on the counter. "You heard that reporter. No one's supposed to go near the area, let alone get involved! I wouldn't be doing my job if I let you two walk out that door."

"Sorry, ma'am, but I can't just sit here." Ash frowned, nervously adjusting his cap. He bowed his head before turning the headgear backwards. "Don't worry, we'll be fine!"

"Pika!"

Dawn followed soon after, bowing similarly to the nurse. "No need to worry. We know what we're doing!"

Before the coral-haired nurse could get out another word, the three had slipped through the glass sliding door. She exhaled, a hand held over her chest. "Oh, Mew… Trainers always get ahead of themselves past a certain age." In this situation, she was helpless, really.

She could only hope that the police would handle this.

* * *

By time they'd passed the Pokemon Center, Ash had broken out into a sprint. "Is it just me, or does it feel like they're up to more than usual!?" Glaring at the approaching building, Ash bared his canines. "I'm really getting sick of 'em, walking around like they own the ground they walk on."

"Come to think of it… That receptionist was acting awfully strange. Do you think she was trying to keep us out of trouble!?" Dawn huffed, doing her best to keep up with Ash. Her eyes grew wide at her own revelation. "Maybe once we left, she managed to call the police!?"

"Pika-Pika…" Pikachu bore a large frown, his cheeks crackling. The poor woman must've been terrified. Being at their mercy must've been no fun at all. They'd do something about this!

"If she did, they'll be fine. One way or another!" If Officer Jenny couldn't figure it out, she'd have help.

When the crime scene came into view, though, the group skidded to a halt.

"Once again, it's an order! Let everyone inside out of the building. Be reasonable, and you might not see life behind bars!" Tightly gripping a megaphone, Officer Jenny shouted to the offending agents blockading Silph Co. An Arcanine bore its sharp fangs, stepping forward with a growl.

"Ahaha! In ya dreams, Officah Killjoy! Team Rocket's callin' da shots around here!" An upright, two-foot tall Meowth cackled, pulling down an eyelid to mock the authority figure.

Around him stood a duo of young adults, a woman with long, scarlet hair, and a man with lavender. Each stood with a confident hand on their hips, and a Magneton and a Wobuffet beside them.

"Then you've given me no choice! Arcanine, Flamethrower!" Jenny ordered.

"Arrr!" The Legendary pokemon howled, shooting off a hot stream of flames.

"Wobbufet, take care of that!" Jessie countered, a smirk on her cherry-red lips.

"Wobbu-Wobbu!" The Patient pokemon flung himself in the fire's path with glee, his body glistening with a multicolored coat. Flamethrower crashed into the Mirror Coat, forcing the blue pokemon to contort before bouncing the flames back.

"Agh!" Jenny quickly shrunk to guard herself from the flames, scowling in frustration.

James's lip quivered, the red rose in his hand trembling. The outright success they were having in repelling the cops… "Can you believe it, Jessie? The boss trusted _us_ to stay on guard, and we're not letting him down!" The thought alone was enough to make the man sob into his glove. "I've always wanted to escape failure…!"

Jessie groaned, reaching over to yank James by the ear. "Pull yourself together! We can't go looking soft in front of the cops. Besides, we'll have plenty of time to celebrate our success once he gets what he came here for!"

"O-of course!" The softer man sniffled, turning back towards Jenny and the surrounding cluster of cop cars. He wore a haughty grin, pointing forward. "Now, Magneton! Metal Sound attack!"

"Ton…!" The Magnet pokemon screeched, exuding horrible, ear-splitting sound waves upon the scene. Jenny was forced to shield her ears, and Arcanine whined in irritation. The windows on the cop cars even began to crack.

"Team Rocket…!" Ash hissed. "Why, those rotten… Let's get 'em, Pikachu!"

"Pika!"

Just as he lurched forward, a hand yanked his jacket, holding him in place. Naturally, it was Dawn's.

"Hold on, Ash. Believe me, I want to get at them as much as you do, but you heard the news. We wouldn't be allowed near there! Besides…" She put a hand to her chin, her eyes scanning the scene. "We might find out a lot more by sneaking in… If we could just find a way to get around them."

"I guess you're right," Ash admitted begrudgingly, folding his arms over his chest. "But how?"

"Extremespeed!" Jenny could be overheard.

Arcanine stampeded towards the steps in a blur, ready to crash into Magneton.

"Zap Cannon," James countered with a hand forward.

The three heads of Magneton spun, hissing as a crackling orb was fired.

An booming explosion followed, burying the scene in smoke and ashes.

"Now's our chance," Dawn insisted, pulling again on Ash's collar. "We can get into the alley!"

"Good idea, Dawn," Ash praised. "C'mon!"

The duo rushed down the street, making their way into the ashened clouds.

"Pikachu, mind lighting things up for us?"

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded, his cheeks crackling. Golden flashes guided the group through the debris. Spotting a corner to the building, he perked up, pointing forward. "Pika-Pikachu!"

"Good eye, Pikachu!" Dawn praised. "There's got to be an alleyway there… Come on, Ash!"

"On it!" He turned on his heel to run past the corner, only skidding to a halt when the smoke faded. He coughed and hacked into his sleeves, eyes tearing from the smoke. He reached to wipe them with his glove.

As it turned out, that wasn't a very good idea. "Crap, that stings." He blinked his now red eyes.

"Here," Dawn reached into her pocket, pulling out a handkerchief to hand to Ash.

"Thanks." He took the cloth, gently rubbing his eyes with it. "How'd you know to have that on you?" He reached up to use the clean side to rub Pikachu's eyes, as well.

"Chuuu," Pikachu purred, using his stubby arms to rub his face clean.

"I came prepared!" Dawn declared proudly with a raised finger. "I'm sure you know that practicing appeals can get pretty messy, especially with moves like Smokescreen. If we weren't in such a rush, I would've brought eye drops…"

"I'll be fine," Ash assured. "Now, let's find a way in!"

"There's a window!" Dawn pointed to the side of the large structure, where a glass window closed off what looked to be a dark and dingy supply room. "I told you we'd find our way!"

Pikachu was suddenly passed to Dawn while Ash adjusted his cap, securing it on his head.

Stepping forward, Ash put his hands on the window pane. "I'll go in first." Pushing it in, he was relieved to see it was unlocked. The question was if the space would be big enough for him to go through. Heaving himself up and then through the small window, he found that once he got his shoulders through, the rest was relatively easy.

Landing on his hands before gently letting himself down and tumbling through, he spoke back.

"Hey, it's clear! Send Pikachu through and then I'll help you!"

"Okay!"

Poking his head through the window, Pikachu was pleased to see the room really was closed off. Filled with cleaning supplies but otherwise harmless, this was an ideal entry point. They could gather their thoughts.

"Here I come," Dawn announced as her head poked over the window sill. Soon, she was crawling through.

Ash held his hands out to catch her…

But, she wasn't budging.

"...I'm stuck!" she whimpered, realizing that, while her top went through easily, her bottom wasn't having it.

"Are you kidding me?!" he hissed in a whisper. "C'mere!" Tugging on his girlfriend's arms, he tried to bring her on through.

"Ow! Be gentle!"

"What's even stuck?! You're not that big!"

While the two were struggling to get all the way in, the closet door opened.

"Hey! We've already been chided for messing around in-... the…"

Looking behind them, Dawn and Ash spotted a female grunt with a flashlight. Beside her, a Zubat fluttered.

"... Ah… Ah! Intruders!" she shouted, making an attempt to dart out of the closet.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Ash snapped, letting go of Dawn to grab the grunt and pull her into the closet. He kicked the door shut as he did so.

Meanwhile, Pikachu sparked in anger as the Zubat attempted to rescue its trainer.

"Ah!" the grunt screamed. "Lemme go, lemme go, lemme go!"

Finally falling through, Dawn rubbed her shoulder before standing. "What're we gonna do with her?! She's getting loud."

"...! I've got an idea. Pikachu, Iron Tail!"

"Pika-chu!" Jumping up, whirling, and knocking the little bat down, he put a decisive end to that battle.

"Great!" Standing up and letting the girl go, Ash stood against the door while she sniveled. "Dawn, c'mere."

"Hm?" She walked over.

Once there, Ash whispered into her ear while the grunt looked on in fear.

"Is that what you and Bertha were doing that night?!"

He nodded. "Hehe, yeah, sorry!"

Shaking her head, Dawn walked over to the grunt. "Ash, we're gonna talk about this later… But, you, grunt!"

"P-Please don't hurt me!"

"I won't! … If you've got a spare set of clothes."

Blushing, the grunt looked to the side. "A-Actually, I've just got on a pair of shorts and a tank top on under this. T-The material chaffs…"

"Ugh, really?" Dawn whined.

"Dawn!" Ash quickly reminded.

"Fine, fine. Alright, look, if you give me that uniform and leave through the window, we'll let you go. Is that a deal?"

The grunt hesitated.

"If you don't agree, we'll tie you up with a rope a smidgen on the tight side and leave you here for the police to find," Dawn said in a deadpan.

"F-Fine! But, he has to turn around!" the grunt squealed.

"Deal!" Ash agreed before turning to face the door with his arms crossed. Pikachu mimicked him, giving the girls their privacy.

After some brief fluttering of clothes and the clatter of the grunt grabbing her Zubat before leaving, it grew quiet.

"Houndoom, come on out!"

Assuming that meant it was fine for him to turn around, Ash found himself taken back by the sight of Dawn in the uniform. With her characteristic bangs tucked away into the hat and her long hair gone, she could easily blend in with the others!

Nodding in approval with his shock, she explained. "No one on Team Rocket has an Empoleon, but I've seen a few Houndour around! Houndoom works, doesn't he?"

Barking happily, the dark type wagged his tail at Ash.

He scratched the dark type's chin. "You're gonna help us out a lot, aren't ya, buddy?" Turning back to Dawn, Ash spoke again. "I can't go with you, so why don't we split up? I'll take out Rosa. We'll sense out for you every few minutes so we can both search for clues. If you find anything, try to get excited. We'll meet up."

Ash frowned. "... Buddy, you're really bright. Here, get in my backpack."

Frowning, but in no place to disagree, Pikachu waddled over and tucked himself into Ash's backpack. Meanwhile, the Riolu was released.

"Hey, Rosa!"

Taking a quick survey of her surroundings, the fighting type didn't even take time to greet Dawn back. _~Again?!~_ she whined.

"Yeah… I'm sorry," Ash apologized.

"Well, let's get going," Dawn said as Ash opened the door.

"You take the right. I'm sensing some more people that way. I'll take the left."

"Got it!"

With that, the two departed.

* * *

Keeping to the shadows and pressing one shoulder to the wall at almost all times, Ash found that the hairs on the back of his neck stood with his heightened awareness while a light sweat was working up along his brow from constantly using his aura sensing abilities. Similarly, from her perch on his shoulder, Rosa's feelers were wiggling almost non-stop.

Within Ash's bag, though, Pikachu grew cramped and discontented. When could he go ahead and get out?

"Alright, first group," Ash muttered as he picked up on the aura signatures of strangers. "I'm clocking in three. How about you, Rose?"

"Rio," she yipped quietly in agreement.

Crouching down down at the corner of the passage, Ash tried to figure out how exactly he was going to handle three at once. He could fight them, sure, but they'd call for help, no doubt.

Instead, he looked above him. The hall light! Forming a very small bundle of aura, he launched it towards the fixture. It shattered almost quietly and then suddenly the hall was taken over by darkness.

"What the heck was that?" called one of the grunts.

Backing off into the darkness he'd created, Ash was suddenly extremely grateful for Riley's training. Closing his eyes and relying on his abilities, he tapped occasionally along the hallway to lure them in further.

"Sounds like a lost Rattata," one of the grunts grumbled. "One of you go get it before it chews up every wire in the place."

"... Me? I don't wanna!"

"Scared of the dark?"

As one of the three walked into Ash's waiting trap, the trainer supposed they really should have been more afraid. Still, he waited. It was only when the grunt was right in front of him, blind in the darkness but clicking his tongue for a Rattata that wasn't there that Ash struck.

One swift punch did it. Connecting against the grunt's chin, the poor guy went down easy. Ash carefully caught him, not trying to hurt the underling more than necessary.

"... Was that a smacking noise?"

"Y'think it maybe used Fake Out on him?"

"Can Rattata learn Fake Out?"

"Well, if it can, it can only use it once. I'll go drag the big idiot out. You go ahead with the patrol."

As the first grunt walked away, the second stepped into Ash's darkness.

"Here, y'little rascal. You aren't supposed to use moves on us, y'know. We're your masters."

Once again, the darkness was on Ash's side. Aided by aura detection, he delivered another swift blow to the grunt. With a strangled cry, this one went down as well.

Shaking his fist after, Ash walked down to the end of the hall.

"Alright Rose… Four halls meet here. I know which way they came, but where did our guy go?"

 _~To… The left!~_ she conveyed.

Walking briskly down the hall, Ash soon saw the grunt before him.

Without turning around, the grunt spoke. "You got him, I guess? … Hey, why aren't you-"

Another slug took down the final grunt.

"Pikapi…" Pikachu complained from within the bag.

Rosa giggled. _~It is like Power Up Punch!~_

"Yeah, yeah, but my knuckles are gonna be cracked by the end of this," he grumbled. "Oh! Hey! An elevator!"

Walking over, Ash supposed this was what they were all headed to. He could just use this and meet up with Dawn on the second floor!

However, Ash found that the buttons didn't respond to him. Furrowing his brows, he looked back at the grunt. Did they have a card key on them or something? As he walked back over, he spotted something more revealing.

"Dammit… They had walkie talkies. I can't call for an elevator." Shaking his head, he looked around. "Let's keep looking. We may find a stairway. Dawn's looking, too."

* * *

Meanwhile, shortly after exiting the closet, Dawn ran smack into a pair of other grunts.

"What'd you scream for?!" one of them demanded.

"Yeah, did you see someone?!" the other asked.

Scrambling for an excuse, Dawn held her hands up. "O-Oh, no!"

"Then, what'd you yell for?!"

"Um… I… Got spooked by a Rattata," she weakly replied. "Yeah, that's why I got out my Houndoom. I didn't want it to Bite me, so I scared it off."

Grunting, the underling put his hands on his hips. "I've heard of girls who were afraid of bugs, but Rattata? What kind of grunt are you?"

The other shrugged his shoulder. "Zubat are more popular among girls. That's probably why."

"Well, why don't we keep this between us?" Dawn pressed.

"Sure, it's not worth bringing up."

"The uppers sure wouldn't care."

"Great!" Dawn sighed in relief.

"C'mon," one of the grunts said. "We're gonna see who's gonna relieve the others on reading duty."

"Reading duty?" Dawn echoed, but followed the two boys all the same.

"Yeah, you know they told us they couldn't afford to bring in the scanners or any big tech this mission. We'd have to be real discrete." He huffed. "We convinced the boss to come, but before the scientists snuck in, that witch of a woman called the police!"

"What a coward! We weren't doin' nothin' to her!" the other grunt snarled. "Anyways, because we can't just download the information, we're all remembering it. If we all know, it won't matter if we get split up… Or, caught." He shook his head. "But, I ain't gettin' caught!"

"Me neither!" the other grunt insisted. "Aight, shortie, we're here! Maybe we'll all get reading duty together? Or, we'll relieve someone on patrol…"

Standing among a small group of grunts, Dawn noticed that her Houndoom was the only fully evolved pokemon there. That was, of course, aside from the overseer who was speaking to the group.

The woman, dressed differently from the grunts only in that her uniform was white rather than black, adjusted her glasses. "The boss is still negotiating with the president of Silph Co. As such, floor eleven is absolutely vital to guard. Elevator service is still strictly forbidden. You all will continue to memorize pokeball data so that we may improve our Rocketballs. Now, if…" she paused. "Hm. You there, in the back with the Houndoom."

Had she been caught already?! Dawn nervously nodded. "Yes?"

"You'll be on patrol duty."

While Dawn resisted sighing in relief, the two boys beside her snickered.

"Don't get spooked," one muttered.

"As for the rest of you, break's over. Return to reading duty."

As the crowd parted, Dawn decided to take a gamble.

"Um, miss?" she asked, walking over. "Where should I patrol? If the elevators aren't working, I should stay on this floor, right? But, if it's another, how do I get there?"

The superior narrowed her eyes. "... You're very pretty but very dull. Who have you been brown nosing to get that Houndoom?" There was a pause. "Don't get ahead of yourself. One of the admins or executives may have given you a spare Houndoom, but I doubt they'd give you a lift key. Only competent grunts need apply." She furrowed her brows. "Now, hurry along your patrols before you're less than competent or useful."

"Right," Dawn meekly said, though her pride was crying out for her to attack the woman. Who was she speaking to as if they were stupid?! Sure, Dawn had played dumb to get information, but it still grated on her nerves!

Still, she had to keep up the act. "Houndoom, let's go find some sneaks, okay? I want to be praised again!" Running off, she figured it was time to finally find Ash.

* * *

"There… Sorry, Pikachu." Ash shut a door behind him as Pikachu sprung from the green backpack, gasping for breath. Sure, he had air, but man, was that sack cramped.

"Piiii," Pikachu purred as he shook his body out, spare electricity crackling off as he let off a good bit of movement that the knapsack had denied him. It was nice to be active again, even if only for a minute. He couldn't wait to get to the bottom of this, he was ready to get out of this joint.

"This floor looks kinda empty. Maybe nothing important's going on here." Ash reached to wipe some sweat from his forehead, stretching his back out. Getting a minute away from the action was nice. The room seemed to be air conditioned, judging by the hairs standing up on the back of his neck, and the scent of cheap air freshener passing the group. A few desks with ordinary-looking computers were scattered around. "Must be a bunch of regular old offices around here. Figures that Team Rocket'd leave it alone."

A wooden creak sent a chill down the trio's spines, all six eyes flicking toward the other side of the room. Each tensed, ready to leap at the next agent to pop out and bust them.

Meanwhile, all they heard was a strained gasp.

"Who's there!?" Ash barked, scrambling to his feet. If their plans got spoiled by one rotten…

"P-please… I didn't mean to get caught up in this," a feeble, vaguely masculine voice cracked. Slinking up from behind the desk was a trembling man, looking to be in his thirties, with a white-collar outfit complete with glasses and a buzz cut. "I'm just an office guy, please-"

"Hey, it's fine," Ash interrupted, raising a hand in a weak attempt to reassure the hostage. "You can calm down, I'm not one of them." Even as he denied hostility, his fist tightened. Too much so, probably. "We came here to kick those creeps out and help out whoever's trapped in here."

"Pika-Pika!" Ash's companion asserted in tandem, climbing up his trainer's back to sit atop his shoulder, raising a paw to attest to their peaceful message.

"Rio!" The pup joined them, punching a fist in the air. These jerks popped up way too often!

The worker slid down against the wall, letting out a pained breath of relief. "Thank Mew… I thought I was done for. Look, kid, that's noble of you, but you'll get yourself killed! I can't even get out of here. I… I tried to sneak out, but the elevator's busted! Going down the stairs is way too risky. Run into just one of those thugs, and-"

"Pull yourself together," Ash interrupted, doing his best to use a calming voice. He was used to looking out for startled pokemon, but humans even older than him… He wasn't particularly used to it. "Don't worry. I've dealt with these guys plenty. Soon as I get to the bottom of this, you guys'll be good to go. There may be a lot of 'em, but it's not everyday they meet a trainer like me!" Or Dawn, for that matter. Arceus, he hoped she was doing alright.

"Thank you," the man swallowed, beginning to calm down. "You're a lifesaver. Just be careful, huh? Is there anything I can do?"

"Unless ya know something, not really," the trainer admitted. "But hey, don't sweat it. I wish I could get you out of here now, but havin' someone else with me would bring on more attention." Already feeling guilty, he yanked up his backpack, rummaging through it before pulling out a sandwich coiled up in plastic wrap. He tossed it to the anxious worker. "You might be in here a lil' while longer, so it's the least I can do."

"Pika-Pikachu!" The electric mouse waddled over to the man, patting him with his tail. Rumors said that Pikachu were good at soothing people, right? Or maybe one of his kind had just said that to play the species up. In any case, it didn't hurt to try.

This day'd been hell… But maybe there was hope of him walking out of here alive, after all. "Thanks, kid. You've got a good heart in you. I'll be rooting for you three."

"You can count on us!" Ash pumped a fist, flashing a confident smirk at the man. "Hey, Rosa, could ya check out the rest of the floor? I think it's about time we get out of here."

Mew forbid any other hostages were suffering under this operation.

 _~Roger!~_ The Emanation pokemon yipped. She let her gray lids fall shut, each nerve bundle on the sides of her head levitating as a paw was pressed to the floor.

A low hum came from the pup, mono-colored blueprints growing outward in her mind. Things seemed relatively quiet and uneventful in the general area… At least for a moment. Her heart began to pick up paces when a great deal of activity began to emanate from down the hall. A lot of signals…

Way too many auras. Erratic, racing pulses that turned a hum into a high-pitched whine. Her eyelids clenched painfully tight, nerve bundles standing straight up. Anxiety thrived… Enough to cause the pokemon's eyes to shoot open, a high-pitched anxious howl alerting Ash and Pikachu alike.

"Hey, hey, Rosa!" Ash rushed to the Emanation pokemon, scooping her into his arms. He lightly stroked the trembling pokemon's ears, brows knit downward. He bit his lip, doing his best to keep his breathing steady. Extra stress was the last thing the pokemon needed. "It's fine, it's fine… No need to worry. It's just us, over here."

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu fretted, rushing over on all fours to pat the pokemon's rather slim back.

"W-what's wrong with her?" The man present stammered, having nearly spit bread out of his mouth. He'd managed to swallow. "Did they do something!?"

Ash shook his head. "She's really sensitive to a lot going on at once. Especially if other people are making her anxious… Or pokemon. There's gotta be a lot of one of 'em gathered somewhere."

 _~S-scared…~_ The fighting type whimpered. _~Not good.~_

"I was worried about that… Someone's in trouble, I bet. More than just someone. We've gotta go! ...If you can handle it, right now," he froze in his tracks, peering down at the Riolu.

 _~I… I'll be fine!~_ Rosa huffed, trying to regulate her breath. If she could do this at a big contest like the Wallace Cup, she could hold herself together, here. _~We gotta help!~_ She insisted with furrowed brows, staring Ash right in the face.

"Hah, I really rubbed off on you, huh?" Ash couldn't help but smile from cheek to cheek. Was that a father's pride setting in? He'd outright raised her, after all. "Alright, let's do it! C'mon, Pikachu!"

"Pika!" Pikachu howled in agreement, running up Ash's back to slip into the main compartment of Ash's backpack. He pulled the flap halfway shut, ready to keep his eyes open for danger.

"Don't worry, buddy. Once we find the top Tauros, you'll get to beat 'em good."

"You can do it," the worker encouraged, crawling back into his hiding spot behind the desk in the corner of the room. "Everyone working for Silph Co. would be rooting for you!"

"We won't let 'em down," Ash flashed a thumbs-up as he stepped out, shutting the door behind him. Sliding up against the wall, he inched towards the center of the floor. "Alright, Rosa. Show the way!"

She huffed, pointing to the hallway to the left. _~T-There! The far door to the right!~_

"There's gotta be some people hurting… Or pokemon!" Ash growled, caution pushed to the backburner of his thoughts. He hurried down the brightly lit corridor, swerving on his heels to turn his attention to the wooden door with a faded glass window. Some looseleaf sheet of paper was blocking his view in; probably taped up at the last minute. A plate on the door read " 503 - Product Test Room."

"This it?" Ash checked with the Riolu on his shoulder.

"Rio," she nodded, still a bit shaken.

"Then let's bust it open," he grunted, jiggling the handle. He grimaced. "It's locked… C'mon!" He jammed his foot against the wall, yanking on the door with all of his might. "Gnh…! No luck. Hey, Rosa, mind helpin' me bust this thing open?"

"Rio!" The pokemon yipped, leaping at the wooden barrier to deliver a fierce kick.

The wood began to show cracks.

"Good, you're getting there… Give it another go-"

"Hey! What the hell's going on down here!? If any of you are interrupting our procedures, that'll count as insubordination! I'm sure you wouldn't want Giovanni to..." A lanky man cloaked in a white, clearly outstanding Rocket outfit and short-cut teal hair stepped out. His eyes narrowed upon the red-cloaked trainer and his pokemon. "Looks like we've got a Raticate that crawled in through the cracks. You should know what happens when you get in Team Rocket's way."

"Shoot," Ash spat, letting go of the handle to eye the Rocket. He tightened his fist.

His time sneaking around had run out.


	55. Terror at the Top

**Enjoy, everyone! Be sure to let us know what you think, if you'd like!**

* * *

Staring down the tall, lanky Rocket, Ash grit his teeth. "Why don't you guys just beat it!? No one in Silph Co. wants you here. The rest of the world doesn't, either! You're getting booted out, like it or not!"

The teal-haired man laughed. "I thought the halls seemed a little empty. So, our goons weren't just screwing off. You've got a lot of nerve for a kid your age." He grimaced, busily turning and clutching the metallic shell of a pokeball in his gloved hand. "But, it's time to stop playing hero. Interfering with Lord Giovanni's plans never ends well." The man jerked a downward-turned thumb across his pale throat, making his threat quite clear.

"And, crossing paths with Archer won't do you much better." The aforementioned pokeball was tossed with that introduction through. It burst to summon a Tyranitar, who gnashed its sharp fangs. A long, armored tail pounded against the carpeted floor, leaving a dent.

"I've never been scared of you guys before, and I'm not scared now! Pikachu, I choose you!"

"Pika!" Responding to his trainer's call, Pikachu bounded off of his shoulder, landing on all fours. "Pi…" He growled, sparks crackling from his red pouches, tail raised skyward.

"Tyranitar, Rock Slide! Bury that rat." Archer commanded.

"Dodge that!" Ash countered.

A small flurry of boulders was summoned, hurled towards Pikachu.

"Pika!" The mouse shouted, jumping high to land atop one of the boulders. He zipped from one to the next, slowing the momentum of each rock as he landed. He had no interest in watching Ash and Rosa get pummeled.

"Quick Attack!"

Hopping atop the highest boulder, Pikachu crouched on all fours, springing off to launch his body at Tyranitar, trailed by a silver streak. "Pika… Pikachu!"

He slammed his hide into the Armor pokemon, earning a groan of pain as it skidded back.

"That's no ordinary Pikachu," Archer noted, raising a brow. _'Maybe this is the rodent that the boss always complains about draining our funds.'_ He had to see what this thing was made of. Archer snapped his fingers. "You can take more than that. Thunderpunch!"

"Gah!" The dark type roared, lunging at Pikachu with a glowing, crackling forearm ready that was as thick as a tree trunk. Its taloned feet dug into the carpet, bearing the weight of the punch.

"Iron Tail!"

Pikachu landed atop one of the boulders, one paw supporting his twisted form. He sprung off once more, crying out as his tail took on a coat of glistening metal. "Chua… Pika!"

Hero and Rocket alike were forced to brace themselves from the impact. Winds of pure power rustled hairlines and shook paintings on the walls, and volatile sparks sprayed from the metallic coating on Pikachu's tail, as if an ironworker were welding metal with a torch.

Pikachu grunted, finally knocking Tyranitar's punch back with a turn of his hips.

"What a pistol," Archer complemented. "Those three screw-offs weren't full of hot air, after all."

It wasn't tough to guess who those three screw-offs were. Ash feigned gagging. "I can't tell you how sick I am of them. They're not getting Pikachu, and you're not either!"

"What do you take me for, a grunt? As an executive, I have much more important priorities than rat-napping. For instance, getting rid of pests like you. I won't allow you to ruin the Boss's meticulous plans!" The criminal barked, outstretching a hand. "Tyranitar, Rock Slide!"

"Repel them with Iron Tail!"

Pikachu took to the air again, batting one stone back after the next with his jagged tail.

Tyranitar groaned in irritation, bombarded by several of his own boulders.

"Impossible…" Archer began to grind his teeth. "Tyranitar, Hyper Beam!"

The gargantuan pokemon opened his fang-filled mouth wide, firing off the magma-colored ray of pure destruction.

Ash called out in return, undeterred. "Thunderbolt!" He threw a hand upward.

"Pika… Chu!" The mouse shrieked, countered with a hissing, golden bolt.

The electricity clashed with and ate through the powerful blast, splitting it right down the middle. Tyranitar gawked in terror as he was assaulted by the burst of electricity. He howled in pain.

Guarding himself with his long sleeve, Archer could feel his heart pound. _'This kid is unreal… If this goes on, my losses won't be acceptable. Lord Giovanni would give me the boot if he saw this.'_

"Screech!" He shouted from within the smoke and debris.

A weary Tyranitar howled, assaulting Pikachu with an ear-splitting sound that forced the rodent to brace himself, his ears folding back in pain.

"Pi… Pika…!" Pikachu whined, still cringing from the audial onslaught. Defenseless, he squealed as he found himself buried under a barrage of rocks from Tyranitar. Aching under the weight, he was reluctant to let consciousness slip away.

 _'Lucky shot…'_

"Ah, there's its weak spot. Quite good, wouldn't you agree?" Archer cackled.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted in horror. "I'll show you…" He reached for his belt with a growl.

The sight of another pokeball made Archer break out in a cold sweat. _'If he pulls another one, I'm done for!'_ "Tyranitar, get 'im!"

Exhausted and charred, the Tyranitar threw his tail outward with little enthusiasm.

It was still more than enough.

"Floatzel! I choose y-" That was as far as Ash got before he felt like he'd been hit by a truck. Breathless, he was sent flying into a nearby wall, gasping inaudibly in agony. The pokeball he'd prepared rolled, rolling across the floor.

 _~Papa!~_ Shuddering in horror, Rosa sprinted over towards her caretaker, ruby eyes trembling. She pawed at her trainer's pant leg, inspecting his aura for the worst. He was agitated, but nowhere near dead. Still, seeing the man who'd been such a source of strength heaped over in pain…

If he couldn't handle this, who could?

"Ah… Ah, sunnuva Beedrill, that hurts…!" Coughing and hacking to restart his breathing, Ash leaned back against the wall to ride out the pain. He wasn't sure whether his stomach or his back ached more. "That dirty…" He finally opened his eyes, a blurry, fretting Riolu coming into view.

The trainer forced a weak smile. "Hey, I'm alright… No need to worry!"

"You won't be," Archer interrupted, stepping closer to his prey. "Let's make sure you stay here for a while. I'm sure the boss'll want to have a talk with you. Tyranitar?"

The large pokemon stomped over, pulling back a fist. It began to flicker with golden sparks, ready to paralyze the young man.

"Rio!" Baring her tiny canines, the Riolu charged at Tyranitar with a paw outstretched.

She was halted with a sizzling haymaker. Thunderpunch sent her tumbling aside.

"Rosa!" Ash stretched a hand out, irises trembling.

"You really are pests. On second thought, we're best off being rid of you. Hyper Beam!"

Tyranitar eyed his prey, his jaw dropping to summon a glowing orange orb.

Ash broke out into a sweat, his fingers digging into the carpet to the point of eliciting rug burn. His face twisted in horror. "P… Pikachu…!" Someone, anyone… There wasn't anyone here to help him, was there?

His belly ached. Was this where his life was supposed to flash before his eyes?

A fearful, high-pitched voice rang through his ears. _~Papa!~_

Rosa outstretched a paw with teary eyes, her entire body overcome with a blinding light.

Ash, Archer, and even Tyranitar turned their attention towards the Emanation pokemon.

The blue, glowing form began to expand in size, tiny, stubby arms and legs sprouting into full-grown limbs. Spikes spouted on the wrists, and the tiny, rotund head grew, spouting a long snout. Tiny ears towered, and two nerve bundles beside her head turned into four.

"No way…" Horror turned to unbridled joy and pride on Ash's features. "She did it!"

The bright light dispersed, broken away by a loud, furious howl. Standing in the Riolu's place was a full-grown Lucario. Her aura feelers stood on end, scarlet eyes turned dead on Tyranitar.

Rosa roared out, springing off of her longer, stronger legs at Tyranitar. Her body twisted, a powerful padded foot smashing into the reptilian pokemon's jaw. Adrenaline pushed her on, and the kick was followed by a right hook. A flurry of punches followed that smashed into the pokemon's armored chest, knocking it senseless.

The Lucario dropped to the ground, crouching to launch herself upward. A strong uppercut smashed the Tyranitar's jaw, knocking the rattled pokemon on its back.

Before Archer could even mutter a swear, he was the object of the pokemon's unbridled gaze. "Oh, my… Now how am I go- Oof!" In an instant, any semblance of breath left his body.

Rosa had buried her fist in the villain's gut, tears streaming as she sent him tumbling across the floor.

The Aura pokemon huffed heavily, anxiety and adrenaline rushing through her veins all at once. Her grey fists trembled.

"Rosa!"

The voice was an instant temper to her outrage. Rosa's eyes darted to her slumped trainer, her lip trembling. She sprinted to the teen, leaping to throw her arms around Ash's waist.

 _~Papa…!~_ She whimpered, burying her face in his shirt. She was probably soaking it with tears. _~Papa, are you oka-~_

"You were amazing!" Ash gushed, throwing his arms tightly around the Lucario's furry form. She was pulled in for a tight hug, at least until his rib ached. He winced, pulling back to give the widest, proudest smile a trainer, or parent, could manage. "Aw, Rose… I owed you my life, back there! You were great!" His voice sounded pained, but Ash couldn't care less. "Thanks… Thanks a lot…!"

 _~I-I thought you…~_ She slowed her breathing, pulling back to prop her trainer up higher.

"I was in real trouble," Ash affirmed. "But, you came through, right in time! I can't believe you evolved… I think that was Close Combat, too! I knew you had it in you. Pikachu couldn't help me right then, but…" The lightbulb went off. "...Pikachu! Shoot, he's still under there!"

 _~Oh!~_ The Lucario yelped, sprinting over toward the pile of boulders, leaping over a few errant stones along the way. Crouching before the debris, she began tossing them to the side. Soon enough, a yellow, furry, familiar face tumbled out, landing before Rosa.

She picked her senior up, cradling him.

A high-pitched cough followed, allowing the mouse to exhale, and open his eyes in turn. "Pikachu…" Boy, did he have a headache. His blurry vision began to stabilize, beady eyes growing wide at what he saw. "Pika! Pikachu!" His ears bounced upward, a smile growing wide.

Rosa'd evolved! Pikachu patted her on her shoulders, chattering congratulations to her.

The Aura pokemon flushed red in the face in embarrassment. _~I'm just glad I could save ya both!~_

Both…? Pikachu's heart raced. "Pikapi!" He bounded off of Rosa towards his trainer, who had managed to push himself to his feet, by now. That didn't stop Pikachu from leaping into his arms.

"Aw, Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed, throwing his arms around his best friend, laughing all the while. "Man, I was worried about you… What a battle, huh?" He looked to the unconscious pokemon and trainer alike, his face twisting in disgust. "We really cut it close."

A Super Potion was fished from Ash's backpack. "Here, you've gotta be hurting from that critical hit... Sorry if it stings." He sprayed Pikachu with the restorative medicine.

Pikachu winced, shaking his fur out after the mist had set in.

"You guys're feeling alright?" Ash walked through the debris, picking up Floatzel's pokeball.

Pikachu and Rosa alike nodded.

"Good. Then we've still got work to do!" Ash furrowed his brow, his eyes scanning the trashed hallway. From countless rocks, to cracked floors and a cracked wall, to singes and ashes…

The testing room was still intact.

But, not for long.

* * *

With the plush carpet of Silph Co. quieting her steps and muting the click of Houndoom's claws, Dawn found her walk suddenly becoming eerily quiet. She wasn't sure where to actually look for a security key for the elevators, but she was certain if she ran into someone else she could get the information out of them.

That was, of course, until she heard soft crying. Houndoom, similarly, perked up, tail stiffening out behind him.

"Let's go see what it is, boy," she whispered to him.

Walking down the hall, they spotted an old man leaning against it, his face turned away from them. His shoulders were wracking softly and the whimpering noises were definitely coming from him.

"Hey!" Dawn said, reaching out to touch his shoulder. "Don't worry! Look, help's here! I won't let any of those Rocket grunts do anything to you!"

"You won't?" the old man asked, not turning around. "Why not?"

"Because, I-"

She was cut off, her hand suddenly grabbed. She yelped in surprise as the old man whirled on her. He stood much taller, now, towering over her. He grabbed at the top of his face, peeling it away.

Thankfully, another was under it, but that face did not look happy. With his free hand, the man yanked off the rest of the costume, revealing a surprisingly tight and form fitting Rocket uniform. Moving his grip from her wrist to her cheeks, the purple haired man slammed Dawn back against a wall.

"Augh!"

Houndoom snapped and barked, fire billowing at the side of his maw.

"Call your pet off!" the man snarled. "Who, exactly, do you think you are to be ordering anyone around, grunt? Huh?"

Shaking her head back and forth and grabbing at his hand, Dawn tried to escape. Instead, it only succeeded in rubbing her hat off. Her bangs fell down, though the bun she'd pinned her hair up in remained bound.

"Ah! That's it!" Letting the girl drop to the ground, Petrel cackled. "I recognize you! You're that coordinator! Artists recognize other artists, you know! Did you come to Rocket seeking glory and fame? Did you want me to do your make up!" He cackled. "If you're a new grunt, you've got to act like it, little starlet."

Sitting on her butt, Dawn rubbed her sore cheeks. "As if."

Her Houndoom stepped beside her, still growling at Petrel.

"Oh? So you're a sneak, huh?" he asked, stepping back with a dangerous glint in his eyes. He released one of his own pokemon. The Weezing lingered at his side. "Pick your answer carefully, little starlet."

She stood. "I'm here to stop you."

"Then, you were very stupid to come alone." The man smoothed his hair out, chuckling quietly. "Even if you beat me, the elevators are shut down from here. I realize it was a security flaw to have any keys down here, so you have to call up to bring an elevator down. They're all trapped in the security room, and we locked that from the inside." He cocked his head. "How's that for an insurance plan?"

It was behind a locked door? That was encouraging, Dawn thought to herself. "It doesn't matter! I'll get up those stairs! And, I'm never alone! Not when I've got my pokemon!"

"Oh!" Petrel lamented, placing a hand over his heart. "You really are a little darling! I'm going to hate to beat you up! You know, your audience really does love you! You should have just stayed on stage, though." Snapping his finger, he began his attack. "Weezing, use Smokescreen!"

Snatching her hat back up and slamming it on her head, Dawn furrowed her eyebrows upon seeing the thick cloud of black smoke settling between her and her opponent. That was, she frowned until she recalled a familiar strategy. "Houndoom, use Smog!"

The purple haze dispensed among the wasteful air.

"What is she up to…?" Petrel wondered aloud. "Oh well… Her funeral. Weezing, use Sludge."

He took the bait! Dawn pointed forward. "Houndoom, use Flamethrower!" she commanded before crouching down behind her dark type dog.

As soon as he expelled the fire from his maw, it ignited upon hitting the hazy air. It burned even more quickly through the Sludge.

Petrel, knocked back a bit by the sudden explosion, found himself laughing. "That's it, then! You're not very strong, are you?! You're just smart! Should have joined rocket, little starlet!" He adjusted his collar before glaring at where the coordinator stood back up. "Are you really ready to play with fireworks against a Rocket?! Weezing! Use Explosion!"

Both hound and girl panicked upon seeing the purple sphere rush towards them. It was beginning to glow.

"Houndoom, retreat!" she ordered.

Both she and her canine companion hastily ran away. The more the Weezing swelled, the slower it became. Unfortunately, Dawn and Houndoom didn't get far enough. It wasn't enough to hurt either of them severely, but unlike Petrel, there was no hall corner to turn around and hide behind. They were sent flying through the air, landing heavily on their sides.

Sitting up, Dawn held her aching side. "C-Crap…"

Houndoom, meanwhile, swiftly got onto his legs, growling upon seeing Petrel peak around the corner.

"Haha! You lived! For now… Well, I'm going to go! Tell you what. You can stop me or get away. The grunts heard that, you know. They'll be coming. You decide which you want, little starlet." With that, he turned back down his hallway, obscured by the smoke left from Weezing's explosion.

Looking at the fainted pokemon, Dawn gnashed her teeth. "He didn't even return it…! After Weezing gave so much of itself for him, he just left it behind…! Houndoom, use Odor Sleuth! I won't let him get away with this!"

Taking off down the hall, Houndoom was hot on Petrel's trail. Dawn followed after.

Their chase was short. At the end of a dead end hallway, Petrel casually stood.

"I figured you'd follow me. Stupid girl… The grunts are going to corner you, you know. Better get whatever satisfaction out of caging me you can, for now." The man sneered at her.

"Trust me. I will." Blue eyes blazing, Dawn held her hand out towards the Rocket superior. "Houndoom! Block off his end of the hallway with Flamethrower!"

"Houndooooooooom!" Belching out a sustained stream of flames, Houndoom sustained this flickering fire for perhaps a full minute.

Dawn watched, patiently, as Petrel began to grow dizzy and faint from the intense heat and rapidly depleting oxygen supply on his side of the fire wall. It was only when he collapsed that she spoke again.

"That's enough, Houndoom. Now he can't tell them what he saw." He was alive, she was sure, but he'd be out for a bit. "We've got other issues…" She heard the approaching thuds of a mass of grunts. "Smokescreen!"

Creating a cover of darkness, Dawn waited until they entered her escape route. Then, she snapped her fingers for Houndoom to follow and the two of them dashed away.

Quickly turning a few corners to put some distance between her and her pursuers, Dawn only stopped to take a breather in a hall that had a water fountain.

"Here, I bet you're thirsty," she said, walking over and pressing the button.

"Hou!" her pokemon gratefully yipped. He jumped onto his hind legs to lap at the stream.

Dawn took a sip after he did before looking around.

"Bingo!" she giddily said, seeing that one of the doors on the hall was clearly labeled 'SECURITY' in big, bold letters. Taking off her cap, she pulled out the hairpin that Aya had given her before smashing the cap back down. "Let's get us an elevator key, Houndoom!"

While Dawn briefly jimmied the lock, Houndoom kept careful watch, listening for any approaching feet. Just as she managed to open the door, the shuffle of feet could be heard in their direction.

"C'mon, boy!" She slipped in quickly, leaving the door open for Houndoom.

As soon as his tail slipped through and the door was shut behind them, a trio of grunts rushed by, a Raticate and Nidorino trailing behind them.

* * *

"P-please… All of the commotion has the pokemon stressed. You won't get optimal… Likely even accurate results!" A man in a white lab coat pleaded, fiddling to place a small metallic pin onto the fluffy body of a squirming Flareon. He jerked his head back, just barely avoiding a spit of flames.

"Shut up and do as yer told," a man dressed in a Team Rocket outfit and cap spat, looking over a clipboard. "Unless you want us to take over. Ol' Fido here wouldn't like that, would he?

Another Rocket leaned over, whispering to the first. "But, we don't know the first thing about these gadgets… If they don't do it, we couldn't make heads or tails of this mess."

The first jabbed the second with his elbow. "Shaddup, don't let them know that."

"I-I'm very sorry… I don't want to work under these conditions any more than you do." The scientist implored to the Flame pokemon with begging eyes. He managed to clip the small gadget into the pokemon's fur.

Flareon howled in protest still, kicking free to isolate itself upon its tabletop, its fur quilling as a threat to the humans enclosing upon its personal space. Flames were moments from leaving its throat.

A loud booming explosion ripped through the room, shattering planks spraying across the floor in the wake of a spreading cloud of smoke. A teal flash of light dispersed, clearing the air.

Standing in the now empty doorway was a raven-haired teenager, accompanied by a Pikachu and a Lucario. The latter stood closest of all, a raised paw lowering to her side.

"Alright, break it up!" The trainer barked. "What's going on in… What the!?"

Ash's eyes flicked across the exposed room. A couple of startled Rockets and unwilling scientists were scattered around, and a shuddering Flareon sat on an examining table in the center of the room. A few cages lined the walls, occupied by a few pokemon. Namely a Growlithe, a Jolteon, a Mankey, and a Machop. Each shrunk into their enclosures at the commotion.

A treadmill and a punching bag were stationed in the back of the room, along with several computers.

Ash felt like he wanted to vomit. "So, this is what you were freaking out about… Those pokemon must be terrified!" Baring his sharp canines, Ash threw a hand back towards what was left of the door. "Alright, you guys better beat it, if you know what's good for you!"

"Hey, kid! Why don't ya mind your own business!" One of the grunts barked.

"Before we, the Rocket Brothers, make ya!" All four gangsters drew their pokeballs.

"Pikachu, Rosa, get 'em!" Ash commanded, throwing a hand out.

"Pika!"

Pikachu launched off of Ash's shoulder, springing onto the table that Flareon occupied before launching at the first Grunt to speak, surrounded in a silver gleam. He smashed into the man's abdomen, knocking the wind out of him. Hopping onto his falling cranium, he jumped at the next.

Gasping in horror, the bumbling man anxiously juggled his pokeball in an attempt to get his act together. "Hold still, ya lil' ra- ah!" Before he could finish his sentence, a tiny yellow foot had slammed into his face, knocking the dazed man onto his rear.

Rosa wasn't far behind, closing the distance between herself and the closest man before he could so much as toss a ball. His foot was kicked out from under him, sending him falling right into her fist.

"Hypno! Confusion!"

The Aura pokemon froze, finding her body restricted in a telekinetic hold. Her gaze shifted to the fourth man, who had succeeded in releasing the formidable psychic type. His leering eyes emitted a blue glow, holding the vulnerable fighting type in place.

Crouching in fright atop the table, Flareon whined. If there was any chance to break free, it was now. "Flare!" It howled, spitting a flurry of hot embers at Hypno. Naturally, it'd used Ember.

"Hyp!" The psychic type yelped in surprise, hopping erratically to escape the heap.

"Great work, Flareon!" Ash praised. "Now's your chance, Rosa! Power-up Punch!"

The Lucario let out a gasp of relief, feeling control of her body return. She gnashed her canines, leaping at the terrified Hypno. A shining fist slammed into its gut, sending it flying into the last Rocket.

Trainer and pokemon alike slid down the wall.

"Good job, guys." Ash commended, implicitly declaring this fight over. "Now, let those pokemon go!"

"O-of course!" One of the eggheads who'd clung to one of the computers stammered. "We do our best to give pokemon humane treatment in our experiments… Our hand was forced!"

"We'll give them their space right away." The other agreed, pulling a key out of his pocket. "We're so sorry, Flareon. We owe all of you an apology." He approached the cages, unlocking each in succession.

Several of the pokemon growled and hissed, still retreating from the men.

"They've gotta be scared, right now." Ash grimaced, swallowing back tears. "They're better off away from a place like this after everything that's happened." Damn that Team Rocket.

"O-of course… What should we do with them, now?" After all, it was pretty clear who had the right to make decisions for a pokemon's sake, now. How demoralizing this all was.

"Keep 'em safe here, for now. This job's not done yet." Ash advised, walking towards the hallway with Pikachu on his shoulder and Rosa accompanying him. "The police'll be here… Huh?"

His brows furrowed. The trashed hallway seemed somewhat empty. "Tyranitar's gone…"

He swallowed. That could only mean…

Before he could think further, he was shoved aside.

 _~Papa!~_ Rosa had promptly taken his place, raising an Aura Sphere as fast as her arms allowed.

It only barely held off the flames that snapped at her vulnerable metallic spikes.

"Rosa!" Ash gasped, regaining his composure to see what was before him. A steady, deadly stream of Flamethrower assaulted his pokemon, spewing from the mouth of a Houndoom.

Accompanied by the hellhound was none other than Proton. He scoffed. "That's twice you've gotten lucky with that flea-ridden mutt. Well, it'll be the last!"

"You rotten… Rosa, hang in there! Push back!"

The Aura pokemon growled, securing her footing. This heat was becoming unbearable. With a push, she launched the Aura Sphere into the oncoming flames, forcing them towards the center of the hallway.

The two attacks exploded.

"You're a real pain in the ass," Ash barked. "This time, we're done playing around!"

Pikachu bounded forward on all fours, standing beside Rosa. His cheeks crackled.

"Rosa, Aura Sphere! Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash pulled a hand back before throwing it outward.

The two pokemon attacked in tandem. The Lucario winded up before tossing a one-armed Aura Sphere, while Pikachu fired a crackling Thunderbolt. The teal blast and golden bolts twisted together, forming a radiant blast that crashed into Houndoom.

"Now's our chance!" Ash announced, sprinting into the smoky aftermath. "C'mon!"

"Pika-Pika!"

Pikachu joined his trainer atop his shoulder, and Rosa sprinted alongside him. They took off, not daring to look behind them. If Archer was giving chase, that would lower their coordination and give him the edge he needed to catch up. If he was not, then this was their chance to get away.

After rounding a few corners, it seemed as if their luck was running out. In the middle of the hall stood a Houndoom!

… However, this one had peculiar horns. They were curved and heavy looking.

"Hey, that's Dawn Houndoom! And, there's Dawn!" Ash pointed out with glee as the girl rounded the corner.

"Ssh!" she warned. "Not so loud! I've been spotted! They know intruders are here!" she warned. "...Hey! Did Rosa evolve?!"

"Yeah, she did!" Ash answered, patting the fighting type on the shoulder. "We kinda raised the alarm, too…"

"Well, congrats, Rosa!" Dawn reached into her pocket then, producing a small card. "No need to worry! We're getting out of here! I heard from one of them that the boss is on the eleventh floor! This key can take us up!"

Nodding, Ash let out a sigh of relief. "Great! I'm ready to take down the boss. I'm tired of fighting small fry."

"C'mon! I saw an elevator while I was trying to find you. If we take a left at the end of this hallway, we'll be fine!"

With that, our heroes made their way to the elevator and off the ground floor.

* * *

"I assure you, this is in your best interest." A hand pressed against a desk made of solid oak. "Of course, cooperating with Team Rocket _always_ is. You'd be passing up quite the rich opportunity to turn us away." A tall, broad-shouldered man in a pinned black suit lectured, cat-like eyes locking on to the portly, mustached man that sat behind the desk. The portly man was shuddering.

But, when it came to these encounters, what else was new?

The smaller of the two fiddled with his collar, his bushy brows furrowing at the 'offer.' "You say that like you're giving us a choice."

"Please, President. I'm hurt. You're behaving like our presence is a punishment. We could provide funds, more than you could ever dream of, to see this project through. Team Rocket is no bunch of panhandling upstarts. We have the influence, the power, to make your dreams a reality!"

"I didn't start this company just to sell my soul!" The President sputtered. He reached for the golden plaque standing upon his desk reading 'President Silph,' adjusting it in a feeble attempt to retain his authority. "I've heard of your exploits. I have no reason to believe you wouldn't abuse our inventions! I'll be damned if you take something meant to revolutionize the lives of trainers and pokemon, only to turn it against them for your own gain! I have no reason to trust your intentions."

Giovanni exhaled. He slammed his opposite hand on the wooden surface, forcing its various stationary pens and photographs to clatter and jerk. The space between Silph's face and his own was reduced to inches at best. "So feeble and short-sighted… But, that's why I'm here."

Glaring into the eyes of a pale, sweating businessman through his thick-rimmed glasses, Giovanni continued. "Trusting such influence, such power to ordinary trainers… Children! You don't see that as an utter waste?" Spitting his words, he retreated from the flinching man to walk towards the window that offered him the night skyline of Saffron City. "Our vision is greater. We're organized… We can bring out the full potential of man and its dominion over pokemon!"

The team leader's monologue was interrupted by the sound of a swinging door, turning the eyes of Giovanni, Silph, and a Rocket standing in the corner towards the intrusion.

Ash stood in the doorway, grimacing at the scene. Pikachu sat atop his shoulder, and beside him was Dawn, still dressed up in her Team Rocket outfit, only her blue hues distinguishing her, then.

"There you are!" Ash snapped at the man, stepping into the spacious office room. "Giovanni… Why don't ya save yourself some time and get out of here!?"

"And, leave this company alone!" Dawn added, her navy brows furrowed.

"Ah, there you are… Ash, was it? I was wondering when I'd get to meet you, face to face." A smirk tugged at Giovanni's aging face. He walked toward the President's desk once more, his arms folded behind his back. "And, you… I don't know you. A rogue grunt, perhaps?" He tutted with a shake of his head. "We'll have to tighten are disciplinary introductions, it seems."

Dawn's eye twitched. "That coming from a shady, no-good crook who has to sneak in to get what he wants…" Who was he to ridicule her for not being recognized!?

Giovanni chuckled. "Quite a tongue you've got on you… If you hadn't turned on us, you might've had potential. As for you," he turned his gaze towards Ash. "I don't believe we've ever met, face to face. I'm sure you know me by reputation?"

Ash swallowed, quickly averting his eyes from the crime lord. _'I forgot, Mewtwo erased his memory… Last thing I wanna do is get 'im suspicious about that.'_ He turned his attention back to the man. "I-I've heard things! A lot more than I needed to, if you ask me. You don't even know how much trouble your goons've caused us!"

"You don't even want to get me started on how much money we've lost from their escapades chasing after your rat," Giovanni spat. His own brow was starting to twitch. Alas, he gained his composure. "But, speaking of that, I'm actually glad you showed up. For such a thorn in my side… You're an interesting case. As is your Pikachu. But, I'll warn you… Meddling with my agents is one thing, but stepping in on my personal business is a dangerous affair. My aspirations are greater than your narrow mind can understand. You're in over your head."

"Oh yeah, taking people's pokemon's a real genius idea," Ash drawled mockingly, rolling his eyes. "I'm sick of you guys and what you do to pokemon! Taking 'em away from their trainers and homes, just to rake in some dough. Who do you think you are!?"

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu barked, his fangs bared and electricity dancing along his cheeks. If he had to be thrown in a glass container one more time because these guys couldn't keep their hands to themselves…

"You're still missing the point… But, that's to be expected from a child your age. It's time I put you in your place for your meddling. Besides, I'd like to see what your Pikachu can do. Persian?"

A feral hiss could be heard, coming from the large feline that had made itself at home on the President's couch. It sprung down to the floor, stalking its way forward to stand opposite of Ash. Fixating on the mouse with tiny, beady eyes, it licked its lips. It was chow time.

"You want, a fight, you've got one!" Ash shouted, pointing forward. "Pikachu, I choose you!"

"Pika!" Pikachu sprung off of Ash's shoulders, landing on all fours. He growled, raising his jagged tail upward. He had no plans to go down to a game of cat and mouse. Nature was about to be given the middle finger.

"Oh, and you," Giovanni eyed Dawn. "I hope I don't see you butting in. This won't turn out to be a fair fight," he threatened with a gesture to the man standing off to the side of the room.

Wearing a full Team Rocket outfit in black, the man sported wild, thick turquoise bangs, and a shady sneer that told one that you really wouldn't want to run into him in a dark alley.

Dawn grimaced. So much for getting a chance to teach them a lesson. "Fine. Ash'll take care of you, anyway!" It wasn't like he needed any help.

"Good. But just to be safe…" Giovanni snapped his fingers.

A hand that was fished into Proton's pocket slipped out, and a click of his finger alerted the group.

Pikachu howled, his body skidding off to the side.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried, baring his teeth at the Rocket. "What the hell did you do to Pikachu!?"

"Pikachu…" The mouse exhaled, shaking his head. He was surprised to find himself standing.

"Are you hurt, buddy?" The trainer turned his attention on Pikachu, eyes threatening to drop tears.

"Pika," the electric type shook his head. There was a slightly irritating itch, but surprisingly, he wasn't in any pain. Thank Arceus, he wasn't.

"Your Pikachu will be just fine," Giovanni assured, keeping a silky calmness that nearly made Ash sick. "I was just testing out one of Silph Co.'s marvelous new inventions… I believe it was patented as the ' _Level Limiter?'_ "

Pikachu, meanwhile, was busy trying to gnaw the device off. He was having no luck.

"It's designed to suppress a pokemon's strength, speed, abilities… All-around level of experience. Their level, if you will."

President Silph massaged his temples. "That technology was designed to be a tool to trainers and their pokemon… To allow trainers of vastly different experience to enjoy the sport of battling with one another. For Gym Leaders to use their favorites against challengers, no matter their level of experience! Not for sabotage." He utterly cringed at the thought.

"And, that's why I told you you're not seeing the big picture… Rogue criminals could be neutered in their attempts to use pokemon for chaos. Opposition to Team Rocket would kneel at our feet… Yet, you're utterly wasting it on sport." Giovanni grimaced. Always so stubborn.

"Unfortunately, that was only a prototype. It's only able to cap your Pikachu's potential by ten percent of his full might. But, I couldn't risk the outcome of this battle… Not after I've seen what it's capable of." He eyed the indignant Pikachu, who glared daggers at him as he spoke. He showed the faintest sign of a grin. "A mere Pikachu, matching a Latios, of all things, in might. A thing of beauty; it's too bad that it's wasted on a stubborn trainer like you. I would've loved to have it fighting on the side of Team Rocket."

"Pikachu-Pika!" Pikachu howled, his face twisting in disgust. _'I'd never abandon Ash for you!'_

"You're not getting Pikachu, and even now, Pikachu could beat you!" Ash argued. "Right?"

"Pikachu!" Golden bolts thrashed around Pikachu's body once again. No doubt about it.

"Then, let's go! Quick Attack!" Ash shouted, throwing an open hand forward.

"Pika…! Chu!" Pikachu cried, sprinting towards the feline. A bright glow followed him.

"Fake-out," Giovanni calmly countered.

Persian eagerly lunged at Pikachu, hovering over the electric type with a twisted grin.

Pikachu skidded to a halt, eyes doubling at what he'd gotten himself into. By the time his battle knowledge had triumphed over fight or flight response, it was too late. Persian had halted long enough to throw Pikachu off, violently swatting him aside like a pesky Weedle.

"Power Gem," Giovanni continued as he watched Pikachu skid along the carpet.

Persian howled, throwing his head about as a scarlet blast from the gem on his forehead.

"Pikachu!" Ash called in worry, watching the blast sweep towards Pikachu.

An explosion followed, leaving a scowl on Ash's face. He threw a hand out. "Iron Tail!"

"Shadow Claw!"

"Chua…!" Pikachu cried as he launched out of the smoke, his tail coating itself in a gleaming metallic layer.

Persian sprung at his prey once again, looming over with a paw coated in ghastly energy.

"Pika!"

Pikachu's tail crashed into Persian's claws, forcing each pokemon's weight against the other. Pikachu gritted his teeth, and Persian snarled in irritation. Try as he may, though, against the Electric Mouse's iron-clad extremity, Persian suffered.

"Chu!" Pikachu batted the cat off with a turn of his hips, landing on all fours.

"Good job, Pikachu! Now, Quick Attack!"

"Pikaaa!" Pikachu sprung at the ailing Persian, swiftly crashing into its side.

Ash grinned, adjusting his backward-turned cap. "Follow that up with Thunderbolt!"

"Dodge that," Giovanni commanded.

Doing as told, the recovering Persian sprung out of the blast's path with cat-like prowess. Only a charred path was left in Pikachu's wake. Meanwhile, the Classy Cat pokemon landed atop the lavender couch, taking the opportunity to clean its paws. "Mrow," it purred, leering down at Pikachu with a condescending gaze. A mouse could never topple a cat. Especially the top cat.

"You got lucky," Ash remarked. "Another Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu's eyes narrowed, an indignant pout forming from the cat's haughty disposition. That thing had a lot of nerve… He'd teach him to look down on mice! At least, a good Thunderbolt would.

"Power Gem!" Giovanni ordered in return. As expected, Ash wasn't making this easy on him.

The golden, crackling bolt collided with the elemental blast of energy, cooperating to form a booming explosion in the middle of the President's office.

Smoke dispersed, and the head of Silph Co. buried his face in his desk, hiding from the debris.

"Pikachu really does seem slower… Weaker, too. He should have this in the bag, already." Ash grimaced. Way to spit on all of their hard work, Giovanni. As if everything else weren't bad enough.

"No need to worry," Dawn chimed in. "Even now, he's more than tough enough!"

"Dawn's right," Ash agreed, holding up both of his fists. "Pikachu, let's show 'em!"

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed, shaking the disruptive soot out of his fur.

"Take 'em down with just one shot! Volt Tackle!" Ash commanded.

"Pika-Pika-Pika-Pika… Pika!" Working with very limited space, and innocent bystanders in mind, Pikachu didn't take his time. He shot at Persian in one confident leap, his entire body bursting with a yellow electric aura. He left the air around him smelling like ozone.

"What brave words," the Rocket boss taunted. "Foul Play!"

The crackling mouse was growing closer by the millisecond. Hell if he'd let himself get fried. Acting on his cat-like reflexes, Persian pivoted on his four feet, sidestepping Pikachu.

But, not without snagging Pikachu's tail between his teeth.

Naturally, Pikachu squealed.

Tossing his head around, Persian thrashed the still glowing feast of a pokemon round and about, appropriately dizzying his opponent before letting go, flinging Pikachu behind him.

Retaining his momentum and shine, Pikachu crashed into the wall like an earth-drawn comet. A snapping explosion followed as he piled through the wall, leaving him buried in the building's inner structure.

The decorative lamp hanging from the ceiling swung and shook, its lights flickering. Several incandescent lights within the ceiling blinked as well, fading to leave a partially shaded office.

"Pikachu!" Ash gasped, his face twisting in worry.

"And, there's the naiveté of a young trainer. You think charging head-on into everything will just 'bring us down,' don't you?" Giovanni lectured sardonically. "In the end, it'll be your undoing."

"You..." The Pallet native growled. It was hard to find words for his contempt.

"Pika…" A familiar, high-pitched voice groaned. Crawling his way out of the wreckage, Pikachu forced himself onto his hind legs. "Pika!" He cried, staring down Persian. He was peppered with burns and a few bruises, but he stood defiantly, all the same. This 'chu wasn't out yet!

Persian growled in annoyance, casually leaping down from his perch to corner Pikachu. _'Yer really starting to piss me off, mouse.'_ He sneered, licking his lips.

 _'_ _That makes two of us,'_ Pikachu spat, his tail swerving.

"I'm really starting to worry about Pikachu," Dawn muttered, a fist held to her chest. "It's almost like you guys haven't gone through that training at all!" What a slap in the face that had to be.

"Nah," Ash dismissed, a smile finally picking up. "We're not going at full steam, but Pikachu's a lot more sturdy than he used to be. I can tell, he still wants to keep fighting… He'd never give up! And, hey, if he's still standing, that just shows how much stronger we got, right?" He sported a cocky grin, brushing his index finger over his nose. "We're still gonna finish this!"

"I'm nearly spilling tears," Giovanni dropped in, laced with sarcasm. "Can you back up that confidence?"

"We can," Ash argued. "Pikachu, Iron Tail!"

"Chua… Pika!" Pikachu lunged at the feline, intent on regaining the upper hand.

"Apparently, you can't learn from your mistakes. Foul Play!"

Persian eagerly backed up, snapping down on Pikachu's iron-clad tail.

"Guess again," Ash countered, sporting a mischievous grin. "Thunderbolt!"

Persian panicked, eager to spit his meal right back out. But, he was a moment too late.

Pikachu unleashed countless volts into the howling Persian, lighting up the dimmed room. Once he felt the cat's grip grow weak, he bore a triumphant smile, yanking his tail back before swatting Persian with his initial strike. The predator had been humbled, laying weak in the corner of the room.

The Classy Cat pokemon eyed Pikachu with what could only be described as hate.

"So, this is what it's like to experience its power in person." Giovanni spoke through gnashing teeth, his fingernails digging into his palms. How humiliating. "Even while weakened… I'm curious what makes it so outstanding. Power Gem, Persian!"

The feline snarled, the gem on his forehead glowing.

"It's all the hard work we've put in!" Ash shouted back. "Show 'em, Pikachu! Volt Tackle!"

"Pika!" His companion shouted in return, sprinting at Persian with the aid of an electrified aura.

He crashed into the wave that Power Gem had thrown in his path, frantically pushing forward.

The sight of Pikachu's Volt Tackle pressing against a beam of energy… Pikachu pushing on with all of his might. It was awfully similar to the struggle against Tobias.

Ash's eyes narrowed. "This time, we'll win!"

"Pika, Pika, Pika, Pika, Pika, Pika…" Pikachu chanted in succession, sprinting into the heart of Power Gem. If only he had a bit more firepower… But, he didn't need it! He lunged at the source.

"Pika!"

Pikachu smashed into Persian's gem, errant flashes of gold and red thundering from the corner of the room. An ear-ringing explosion blasted through the office, clouding the room with dust and smoke.

Following the initial heat was, surprisingly, a cool breeze. The smoke began to billow away, revealing a complete absence of a wall where the two pokemon had clashed. Saffron's skyline could be seen, along with the few faint stars in the sky. Fortunate enough, now that electricity had died out for the entire top floor.

Persian, meanwhile, was buried in the inner workings of the wall. Giovanni saw this, grimaced, and returned the bested cat.

"Well," the infuriated man said, barely withholding a fury so strong his knuckles were white, "you did it. You beat me. I hope you're not expecting us to just give up now."

"That'd be nice," Ash hissed.

Pikachu bounded back over to Ash's side, dust and debris covering his coat, but otherwise, no worse for the wear.

Out of breath and looking extremely pissed, Archer rounded the corner, standing behind Dawn and Ash, effectively blocking them into the room. "Lord Giovanni, intruders have-... You!" he snarled. He looked around. "You made a mess up here, too! Lord Giovanni, we have to-!"

Raising a hand, the older man cut him off. "It's no use. The officers no doubt saw this explosion. They'll need time, but it's doubtful that we have long until they get flying types and try this entrance as well." Looking below, he noticed that the swarm of Arcanine and Growlithe were closer to the entrance than ever before. "I don't think they can hold off the main entrance much longer, either." He looked to Archer. "Call a helicopter. We're leaving. Tell the grunts to flee if they can."

Archer reluctantly glared at Dawn and Ash before darting away.

"As for you two…" the leader grumbled. "You're treading on very thin ice. While I would love nothing more than to leave you to Proton, actual murder tends to incite the police a little more than robbery and invasion do. Consider this your only warning. Team Rocket will rise and I'm certain your strengths will only continue to grow, but consider doing what the other sportsmen do: stay out of our way." Turning to Proton, Giovanni nodded. "I'm going to wait on the roof. Dismiss the front entrance defense."

Proton clicked his tongue before picking up a communicator at his hip. "Jessie, James, the mission's over. Retreat. Your seats're reserved on the third helicopter. Don't be late." With that, even Proton walked out of the door.

"Should we stop them?" Dawn quietly asked.

As Ash held Pikachu gently in his arms, he looked out of the opening they'd created. Where the battle below was once going on, a haze of purple smoke was now covering the area. Jessie had certainly picked up an affinity for those escape aiding items.

"No," he answered. "We did what we came to do. Team Rocket's leaving."

"And, I'm very grateful for it," President Silph finally said. "I couldn't ask you to chase them down now that you've chased them out of here."

The three stood alone in the president's office as the occasional sound of boots scurrying by passed. While it killed Ash and Dawn to ignore the elite Rocket agents running away, they knew that they outnumbered the two of them and that their desperation would only make the battling all the more fierce and dangerous. They had already seen how dirty the low-lives could fight.

"Sorry for breaking your building," Ash said with a laugh. It was so quiet and awkward now that he couldn't help but speak.

The man shook his head. "It's not even a concern. Knowing my employees and the pokemon that work with us can finally be safe again is my real concern. Team Rocket is gone now and between insurance and business profit, there's more than enough funds to fix whatever's broken." He seemed to have an epiphany. "Oh, speaking of business, could I interest you in our two newest technologies? You already saw the prototype of the first. The level limiter might be fun for you both if you train with large teams." He paused. "Well, actually, I'm sorry my dear, but I'm not sure if I trust a newly reformed Rocket grunt with this technology…"

Remembering that she was still in inform, Dawn looked down before waving his concerns off. "Oh, haha! No! I kinda took this off a grunt to sneak in! I'm really a coordinator!"

"Oh, well then, yes! What are your names? I want to let you have a level limiter and the new version of the experience sharer when they're ready!"

"Experience sharer?" Ash echoed.

Dawn clasped her hands together. "I've only heard of really rich and important breeders getting their hands on those!" She looked to Ash. "You put the device on one pokemon, and when it's in your party to witness a battle, it understands so much more about what's going on that it kind of passively learns!"

The president nodded. "Well, this one works differently! To put it simply, instead of putting this one on the pokemon you want to learn, you put it on the one you want to teach! All of the pokemon registered to the same trainer as the one using it while in the user's party will learn!"

Ash let out a low whistle. "Well, that'd make raising new pokemon a lot easier… Maybe too easy."

"Well, still. Maybe one day if you need it, it'll be useful. At least leave me your trainer information so I can have a package delivered to you at a Pokemon Center one day."

"Right!" both agreed before walking over to the president's desk. They'd just write their information down for easy reference.

"... Oh, yeah. President Silph…"

"Yes, Ash, my boy?"

"Could you get this thing off Pikachu?"

* * *

Leaping before the humans as they all walked down the stairs, it was clear that Pikachu was enjoying his returned strength. Behind him, Ash, Dawn, and President Silph were likewise taking a breather.

"If my ribs weren't killing me, I'd be jumping for joy!" the coordinator announced.

"Huh? You got roughed up, too?" Ash asked. He rubbed his own side. "That Archer jerk sent his Tyranitar after me…"

Dawn looked over her shoulder. "Whoa, really?! That purple haired guy had his Weezing use explosion…"

"That's what that shaking was earlier," Silph exclaimed. "Well, that'll need to be fixed, too…"

"Sorry!" Dawn said with a laugh.

Just as they touched down on the fifth floor, Dawn was tackled from the side.

"Pikaka!"

"Dawn!"

"Oh my!"

Pikachu, Ash, and President Silph were all quick to converge on the one holding Dawn down, who was… Officer Jenny?!

Un-holstering her pistol, the officer aimed at both of the men briefly before coming to recognize them. "President Silph? … Hey, aren't you that Ash kid?"

"I am! Please, get off that girl, she's not a Rocket grunt!" President Silph insisted.

Ash cocked a brow. "How do you know my name?"

Raising off of Dawn, the officer snatched the girl's hat off. "Ah, then that's Dawn." Crossing her arms, the officer cocked her head. "When we broke in, it was on the news at once. We needed a head count of the hostages, so we were trying to figure out who should have been at work today and what not. The Nurse Joy who's on duty at the Pokemon Center snitched that you may have snuck inside," she narrowed her eyes at Ash and Dawn. "...Especially considering that the explosion up top had traces of electricity. Team Rocket isn't known for using electric types." She looked down to Pikachu. "Good job, small fry."

"Pika," the mouse retorted, feeling mixed about the praise yet diminutive title.

Standing up, Dawn rubbed her sides again. "Geez, glad we got all that sorted out…"

"Yeah, mostly." Putting her hands on her hips, Jenny pointed towards the stairs. "We're clearing the building." On cue, a few other officers exited the other rooms they'd been checking. "This floor's clear! Head up. As for you three, you need to leave. Now. I'll escort you."

Deciding not to fight it, all three went along with her orders. President Silph, in particular, looked relieved to have a police escort.

"You know," Jenny began as they made their way down the steps, "you defied an officer's order. That's obstruction of the law, probably."

Dawn and Ash exchanged a rather concerned look. Were they really about to get arrested for this? Should they try and run for it? No, they'd face their punishment…

"But, I'm gonna let you go. Besides, the two of you need to lay low. I'm surprised they let you live, honestly. The last time someone really decided to go toe to toe with the higher-ups of Team Rocket…" She shook her head. "That was over a decade ago. Just know it's probably safer for you that we act as much as we can like you two were never here."

"... Proton," Ash mumbled under his breath, the flash of the man waiting with Giovanni flashing in his mind's eye. Was that Team Rocket's attack dog?

"Anyway!" Jenny said, perking up, "If you two ever get tired of training and learned to listen a little better, you'd do excellently in law enforcement."

"It was thanks to Pikachu," Ash said, holding his arms out for the small pokemon as they all lingered in the busy lobby of Silph Co.

Several employees were waiting in the wings with shock blankets while officers were filing reports. They could see all the flash of the media outside the windows.

Dawn nodded. "I've got to praise Houndoom once we're out of here!"

Seeming to sense that the tension was over, Ash's stomach let loose a long, rumbling growl. "Sorry!" he apologized.

Smiling softly, Jenny looked to the doors. "I'll sneak you back to the Pokemon Center. The Nurse Joy is still on duty, so I'll let her know to unlock the back door. You two should probably just stay in your rooms for the rest of the night. I'll see if she can find something in the kitchens for you."

"No, don't go fretting." President Silph reached into his back pocket before producing a single bill. "Here. Let them leave this with the desk nurse and order what they want. I won't have my heroes eating cold sandwiches while I go home to a comforting meal."

"Thank you!" Dawn and Ash said in unison.

"Pika!" came a resounding chirp of gratitude from Pikachu.

Taking the bill in hand, Jenny whistled. "Right. Okay, you two both need to get some shock blankets on to kinda obscure your look… Hey! Jen, can you bring me some- there you go, good girl. Here, drape it around your head so they can't see your faces. Pikachu, you gotta hide in there with… Right! Good job."

With their identities hidden, Ash and Dawn followed Officer Jenny out of the office building and into the flashing lights of the media. Though interviewers were blocked by other officers, it was still very exciting for them.

It was only when they were in the safety of the back seat of Jenny's patrol car that they calmed down.

As the streetlights passed over the tinted windows of the cruiser, Ash looked out into the empty city streets. Occasionally, he saw dark figures walking at the end of alleys. Were they wayward youths returning from some reckless party? Were they hard workers returning from an unending shift through a shortcut only someone native to the city would feel comfortable walking? Were they escaped Rocket grunts, trying to find base and lick their wounds after barely escaping apprehension?

"... I think we should change our travel plans from now on," Ash said quietly without facing Dawn.

"Are you worried?" she asked back.

Ash rested his back against the cool of the cruiser's metal seat. He gently rubbed Pikachu's back before answering. "No. I just don't think we need to take any chances."

Dawn reached over to put her hand atop Ash's. "Well, I am. I don't think we should travel at night in cities for a while."

He nodded. "Yeah… The countryside's fine, but this is their territory."

Pulling up to the back of the Pokemon Center, Nurse Joy held open the door that seemed to lead to the kitchen with a gentle, inviting smile. Ash, for one, was glad to have made it back. He understood, now, why the nurses always said they hoped the trainers would return. In battles, it was inevitable that one would get hurt. They could only hope they'd be able to heal.

For now, our heroes were safe. They could rest and fill their stomachs. Tomorrow's problems would have to wait until tomorrow.


	56. Stage: Fright

Secluded ever so slightly by a tree grove, our heroes found themselves in the Saffron City Park and training grounds. Though neither was quite ready to be particularly adventurous in the city in the evenings after last night's adventure, Dawn's contest was coming the next day, and they had to train for it. All they could do was take precautions by never straying too far from the view of other people. That way, they could maintain a low profile.

"Mamoswine, spotlight!" Dawn called, clicking open the pokeball of her team's largest member.

Both Empoleon and Pikachu chirped to greet the ice/ground type. Mamoswine, for his return greeting, trumpeted a bit before stomping on of his table sized paws.

"He looks like he's pumped up," Ash complimented.

She nodded. "He really has been, these days! I think he's eager for his chance to shine! After all, he had a really good run last time he was in a contest! Didn't you, Mamoswine?"

"Mamoooo!" he chimed, smile hidden beneath copious amounts of fur.

Nodding, Dawn clapped her hands. "We'll train some and then I'll get down to grooming you!"

"Right on! I thought I heard a familiar voice!"

Both trainers and pokemon looked over, slightly on edge, as they sought out the newest addition to their private affair. However, they relaxed upon seeing that it was just Dawn's rival, Maddox.

The man walked over, looming over Dawn. He put a hand atop her head and rubbed to and fro. "Good to see you, lil' punk!"

Slapping his hand with a grunt of anger, Dawn took a step back. "Excuse you!"

Grinning, Maddox stepped forward. He put his hand atop Dawn's hair and messed it up again. "Whatcha up to these days? I never got to tell ya congrats on the Wallace Cup win!"

Patience growing thin, Dawn curled her fist up and walloped Maddox on his bicep. "Knock that off!" Trying to brush her hair back into order with her hands, she answered, "I have a contest tomorrow."

"No way! Me, too! The one here?" Maddox asked as he punched Dawn in the shoulder.

Standing beside Mamoswine, Ash quirked a brow. "Those two have a really weird flow together. Maddox seems almost… friendly? But, man, Dawn's super pissed." He wondered if he should step in and do something, since the quarrel was coming to blows.

"Pikachu…" the mouse mumbled, leaning over from Ash's shoulder to pat Empoleon on his shoulder...

"Pol…" The water type trembled, growing worked up over the invasion of Dawn's personal space. His wings were even beginning to show a metallic glimmer.

After perhaps a solid minute of them just punching each other, Maddox finally laughed. "Aw, man, this is great, but I can't keep foolin' around like this! I gotta go train!"

"Well, bye!" Dawn snapped.

Turning around to walk away, Maddox waved over his shoulder. "Bye!"

"Goodbye!" Dawn yelled even louder.

"G'bye!" Maddox said back, also increasing his volume.

"BYE!"

"SEE YA!"

It was only once Maddox was out of her sight that Dawn genuinely gave up their inane little shouting match.

Walking over, Ash bent over a bit so he could look Dawn in the eye. "Hey, are you alright?"

Dropping to her knees in an extremely dramatic fashion, the girl whined. "He hits so hard! I'm already sore from last night!"

Empoleon was at her side at once. "Empo Empo! Empoleon!" He clenched his claws, raising a flipper to the sky. He'd get that punk!

She jerked her head around. "Mamoswine, use Ice Shard! I need some relief!"

Just as quickly as he'd gotten fired up, Empoleon had his feelings hurt. He could make ice, too!

Ash rolled his eyes as he helped her over to a bench. Mamoswine, meanwhile, walked over, creating an ice shard to leave on the bench with Dawn while she nursed her bruise. The shard he created was extremely tiny for his size, small enough to fit comfortably in Dawn's hand. She got a spare t-shirt out of her backpack to wrap it in before holding it against her shoulder.

"Ugh… What were we even doing before? Oh yeah. I need to figure out a nice set for Mamoswine. I want to use him to battle, but I know people are going to be wary after I used him against Quijote."

Sitting beside her, Ash tried to think as well. "Well, that was really cool, so it'd be a waste not to use it again." Snapping his fingers, he nodded. "Hey! Some battlers set up a combination where they'll put a pokemon to sleep just to use Wake-Up Slap on it! Why don't you break your own ice? Don't let anyone else get the points for it! That'd look cool, right?"

Dawn tilted her head. "Yeah… We could ice everything over! Hidden Power goes watery, so Blizzard could freeze it all! We could even throw some Ancient Powers in there to make up for the fact that surf won't make as big an area to freeze! Then, with the rocks and the opponent pokemon wet then frozen, we can use Freight Train style Take Down!" She let go of the ice bag and clenched her fists. "Mamoswine, what do you think?!"

The big brown pokemon nodded in agreement. "Mamo!"

She stood. "Right! Let's see… Why don't you use Ancient Power over there, first?"

Stomping his foot, Mamoswine's eyes glowed blue ever so briefly before he launched a small cluster of rocks into the middle of the clearing they'd claimed for training.

"Good job!" Dawn praised. "Now, Hidden Power on those!"

Focusing his energy on the stones, Mamoswine launched off a clear distortion in the air. It turned into water after a moment and thoroughly drenched his target.

"Good! Now! … Hm." Dawn tilted her head. "Mamoswine knows Ice Fang, Ice Shard, and Blizzard… I'm not sure which one I want to use in the contest. Ice Fang is close range, but I don't know if I want to have to get close to every opponent. Take Down already lets me do that. Ice Shard isn't very strong, either, so if I get an opponent I need to knock out to make winning easier, that won't be good. Blizzard takes a lot of energy, too!" Dawn pulled at her hair. "Augh, I don't know what to choose!"

Ash chuckled. "Yeah, that's the problem of a strong pokemon! Lots of moves don't always make it easier!" He crossed his arms. "Why don't you go through each? Let Mamoswine show you what he's good at using. Pikachu can help break apart the ice so you can compare it all!"

"That's a good idea! Empoleon, if Pikachu uses Iron Tail on the ice, you could use Steel Wing! Mamoswine, do you mind redoing everything so much?" the girl asked.

The water type flexed as well as he could. "Empo."

"Swine!"

"You've become so patient lately, Mamoswine! I'll make sure to feed you lots of poffins when I groom you!" Noticing Empoleon's jealous look, Dawn rubbed the side of his stomach. "I'll groom you, too, and feed you!" She looked over. "Pikachu, you want in on this?"

"Pika!"

"Well, that settles it!" She giggled before facing her ice type. "Let's try Blizzard first!"

Tensing up, the big ground type stirred up a mighty breeze. Frost and snow clustered into it as well as shards of ice. Ash's hat threatened to blow off his head while Dawn's hair whipped wildly around her. When the tiny snowstorm passed, however…

None of the rocks were frozen!

"It missed!" Dawn lamented.

"Empoleon!"

"Pi!"

"A complete waste!" Ash agreed.

"Mamo…"

"Ash!" Dawn chided before patting her pokemon.

"Oh, oops! Hey, I didn't mean it like that! It just takes a lot out of you, doesn't it, Mamoswine? It's no good if you put all that effort into it and it misses."

His hurt pride soothed, Mamoswine nodded in agreement.

"Right. I don't want to rely on a move that's that uncertain." She sighed. "Let's try Ice Fang, next."

Ash moved to go sit on one of the nearby benches. They'd be here quite a while if Dawn had her way. She was just a bit meticulous about these types of things.

* * *

The rest of their day at the park was dedicated to Dawn's training with Mamoswine and eventually Buneary. Now, the coordinator was behind the stage while her boyfriend waited in the audience. She felt nervous back here. It was even more pronounced than usual, though. She couldn't help but feel as if she shouldn't be performing today. After all, less than two days ago, Officer Jenny had warned them that they should keep a low profile. Should she risk making such a big show of herself so soon after their tango with Team Rocket?

On the other hand, could she deal with the regret resulting from hiding in fear?

She mulled this over as the screen projected the current appealing coordinator. Paige was on screen with her Pikachu, who had just used Double Team. The flickering illusions all turned in unison, using their Sweet Kiss move. The auditorium was filled with the pale pink and red hearts from the move.

"She's using Nuzzle again," Dawn said quietly to Buneary as they watched.

And, indeed, the Pikachu was! The Nuzzles caused the clones to flash out of existence. This left only the original on stage, surrounded by her Sweet Kiss hearts.

"Okay, Pikachu, Heart Stamp!" Paige called.

Backstage, Dawn was rather pleasantly surprised by the visuals. A hot pink glow surrounded Pikachu's heart shaped tail as she cut through the amassed floating hearts. The performance had, overall, been very cutesy while also energetic.

The blue haired coordinator nodded. "She's gotten better."

As the Pikachu user came back stage, she let out a high pitched sigh. "Excellent job, Pikachu!" Spotting Dawn, the electric blonde walked over. "Oh, hey! Miss Dawn! I didn't get to go to the Wallace Cup, but you really did great! That's not the cutesy style you usually do, but it works, too!"

Laughing, Dawn shrugged. "I try to do a little of everything. Something sweet, something spicy, something tough, something smart, but always something beautiful!" She hugged Buneary closer. "Don't we?"

"Bun-neary!" the rabbit cheered.

"Pikachu," the little mouse said as well.

"Oh, oh, oh! Speaking of tough, looks like that scary punk guy's up!" Paige complained.

Sure enough, when Dawn looked up, Maddox was slightly shadowed on the field while his Pinsir took center stage. The long, green lights fading into nothingness suggested that he had just finished a rather well executed X Scissor attack.

However, when the bug seemed to throw itself towards the ground, Dawn was confused.

"Storm Throw, huh?" she repeated, echoing what Maddox had said moments before the move was used. "It looks a little… Reckless."

"He looks a little reckless," Paige mumbled.

However, that graceless charge faded into Swords Dance. It was clear that Pinsir's exoskeleton hid a well-developed muscular system. The sheer force and energy put into each wrathful jab and teeter of Pinsir's Swords Dance was testimony to this.

Finally, the brown bug's pincers opened wide. The snapping together, though, was so loud, so violent, so devastating, that for a brief moment after, all that could be heard was silence.

"He knows how to make an impression," Dawn mumbled as he came behind the stage.

It was her turn, now. There were many coordinators after her, so she couldn't dilly-dally.

Stepping onto the stage, Dawn's mind raced. What was she doing?! There could easily be a grunt directly seeking the two of them out to keep tabs on them, and here she was giving them exactly the kind of lead they needed!

"Spotlight, Buneary!" she said despite her anxiety.

"Bun, Bun- Buneary?" Bouncing onto stage for a brief moment, Buneary turned to look back at her trainer. Was Dawn okay?

Putting on a brave face, Dawn tried to continue. "L-Let's try Ice Beam, just like how we talked about!"

As Buneary created a massive, spiraling tower in the center of the stage, Dawn's eyes darted across the crowd. Was there a Seviper in the Torchic house? Giovanni said things would only happen if they acted up again, but what was good yesterday might only count for tomorrow. Furthermore, neither she nor Ash would really back down and let Team Rocket do as they wished! Did the organization know that, though?

"Bounce!"

As her normal type bound into the air, Dawn's hands shook. She looked blankly at how high Buneary was getting. She was halfway to the ceiling and just over halfway to the top of the tower.

"Jump Kick!"

Kicking against the tower of ice to propel herself higher, Buneary shattered it in the process with the sheer force of her blow. Among shards of ice glittering like jewels, she stood out beautifully.

"Dizzy Punch!"

Turning the shards to powder, Buneary fell in herself made snow. She landed with precision on top of the bottom half of the tower, but couldn't resist looking over her shoulder at her trainer. Dawn sounded scared!

"G-Good job, Buneary!" Dawn said, drowning out the judges, not that the audience could hear her over the speaker's sound system enhanced voice. "Let's go."

As soon as the judges had given their hesitant approval, Buneary obeyed. The two hurried backstage.

As soon as they were out of the prying eyes of the audience, Dawn held her rabbit close. Was this contest a mistake? Or, was the bigger mistake living in fear?

* * *

When her face flashed up on the screen, Dawn wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed. When it placed her face on the screen next to Maddox, she grew even more anxious. Their styles conflicted so heavily that their matches were nothing short of captivating.

Still, before they both headed up there, Maddox flashed her a thumbs up. Confused, she flashed it back with a quirked brow. This guy was a mystery wrapped in an enigma.

Unable to find the energy to puzzle out Maddox right now, Dawn gripped Mamoswine's pokeball tighter before standing up to follow him onto stage. When she stood across from Maddox, she felt a sudden chill.

"Raticate, let's rock the stage!" Maddox called out, tossing out the pokeball so hard it was a wonder his arm wasn't pulled out of the socket.

Landing on stage with a clack of his long incisors, Maddox's Raticate swished its tail with vigor. Its paws stretched wide. "Rati!"

Trying to steady her nerves, Dawn tossed Mamoswine's pokeball forward. "Spotlight, Mamoswine!"

Landing with a mighty thud, Mamoswine snorted upon seeing his meager opponent. Just a Raticate? He could handle that!

However, when Lilian announced the start of the match, Maddox was much quicker to the punch.

"Hyper Fang, Raticate!"

Leaping forward, the normal type sunk his teeth into Mamoswine's fleshy pink nose. The not-so-gentle giant reared back, flinching violently upon being bitten.

"Mamoswine!" Dawn called out, already antsy. She wasn't going to have to move out of his path, was she..?

"Right on!" Maddox encouraged. "A flinch on the first try. You're the boss, Raticate! Now, use Swords Dance! This guy's a brick house, so we gotta be a bulldozer!"

"Rati!"

Twisting and turning as it leaped about, the glowing vision of a pair of swords appeared above Raticate. As it did, Dawn's points dropped.

"Ugh, this isn't good," she mumbled. Her heart was pounding for real, now. "Ancient Power! Just like we planned!"

Stomping his foot, Mamoswine sent a bevy of stones straight for Raticate.

"Uh-oh," Maddox swallowed. "Uh… Use Flame Wheel, lil' dude! Get outta there!"

The rat tucked into itself, speeding gracefully around some of the rocks. The others, however, crashed into Raticate. Just as quickly as it had turned into a flaming ball to escape danger, it was knocked swiftly onto its tail.

Dawn exhaled, clutching the Unity badge that hung around her neck. "Good! Now, Hidden Power!"

"Mamoo!" The large pokemon trumpeted, firing a flurry of orbs at the battlefield.

Misunderstanding Dawn's strategy, Maddox called out. "Don't let that nail you down!"

Powerful fangs crushed a hindering boulder that had crushed Raticate, allowing the rodent to scurry out of the path of several splashes of mysterious energy. Dawn's points dipped.

"Even after taking a hit, Raticate shows off its burning and spirit and agility!" Lillian narrated.

"Not for long," Dawn muttered to herself, her expression unshaken. "Mamoswine-"

"Keep pushin', with Double Edge!" Maddox interrupted.

Still hyper and full of vigor, Raticate sprinted on still, slamming his entire body into Mamoswine's hide, giving a full-force tackle with no regard for the damage he'd take, himself.

Mamoswine winced, his knee buckling under the pressure. Swords Dance had certainly paid off.

"Mamoswine!" Dawn's brows knit downward, and she swore she was starting to sweat under the pressure. This really wasn't going in her favor. But she had something up her sleeve. "Blizzard!"

The mammoth pokemon cried, launching a full-blown icy storm in Raticate's path.

The shallow pool of water at Raticate's feet began to expand and freeze, the ice and climbing and conquering the stones laid out by Ancientpower. Before anything could be done, a net of ice had enclosed upon Raticate. Dawn's tactic had done its job, and created a beautiful field, to boot.

Maddox, who had previously been leading by a significant margin, dropped below half.

"Absolutely beautiful! Dawn caught her opponent totally off-guard! Is this the end of Raticate's performance!? It's hard to imagine it putting up much of a fight," Lillian narrated.

Ash, meanwhile, who'd been gripping his seat with white knuckles, fell back into the chair with a heavy sigh of relief. "Dawn had me worrying there... Something felt totally wrong. But now she's back on top! She's got this round in the bag!" Maybe she'd go into the next round feeling better.

Maddox tugged at his spiked cuffs. He had other plans. "Good stuff, Dawn! Still keepin' it real. But Raticate ain't about to be held down! Rock your way out of there, with Flame Wheel!"

The frozen rodent at the center of the glacier began to stir, the ice around him visibly beginning to melt. Flames leaked through the cracks, subsequently shattering Raticate's prison.

"You go, Raticate! Run wild and real!" Maddox encouraged. A perfect way to stick it to the man.

Raticate had become a spinning ball of fire, running wild on the icy field that Mamoswine had set up. One cold block shattered and burst into embers after the next, ripping Dawn's creation asunder.

Dawn gasped, tempted to bite her nails. Maddox was turning her strategy against her!

"M-Mamoswine…! Take Down!"

In the coordinator's panic, she'd acted too late. Flame Wheel Crashed into Mamoswine's forehead, assaulting the large pokemon with flames, and Raticate's momentum, to boot.

Mamoswine collapsed under the pressure, swirls in his eyes.

Meanwhile, Dawn's score had nearly hit zero.

"Wow! Dawn started out with her usual pizzazz, but today, it just wasn't cutting it against Maddox's aggressive battling style! That means he's going on to the next round! Put your hands together for both of our contestants!" Lilian announced over a combination of gasps and cheers.

"...Thank you, Mamoswine." Dawn uttered weakly, quickly recalling her pokemon before shuffling off stage.

"Son of a gun," Ash muttered, a lightly balled fist supporting his cheek. "That was brutal."

"Pikachu…"

* * *

Relief washed over her like waves lapping at the shore. Between each crash, numbness ebbed within her. She had lost, absolutely. It wasn't even the loss that had bothered her. It was how she lost. Her own insecurities dragged her and, more importantly, her pokemon down. Looking down at Mamoswine's pokeball, Dawn clenched the empty fist.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "You did your best, big guy."

As the screen behind stage rumbled with the rowdy clashing of Maddox's Steelix against the opponent's Onix, a few younger coordinators approached Dawn. The most certain and sure of them walked with her chest out.

"Hey!" the youth belted out a bit louder than needed. "Aren't you that girl that won the Wallace Cup a few days ago?"

Assuming their intentions were good, Dawn answered kindly: "Yes. Sorry if you expected a better show today. I wasn't feeling my best."

"More like it was a fluke," a skinny little boy mumbled from behind the brazen young lady leading the group.

With the group's hunch confirmed, a portly young man spoke up as well. "I told you guys I remembered her from Sinnoh! She uses different pokemon every Wallace Cup! I bet she rents them so she can win."

"Or, someone gives them to her so she can win," the skinny boy quipped.

"I saw her modeling in Hoenn!" a nasally girl chimed in before Dawn could get a word in edgewise. "She's probably just some empty headed model."

Taken aback by the surprisingly sharp words of the foursome, Dawn visibly recoiled.

"Ugh, if you're gonna act like a bunch of brats, leave me out of it!" she quickly snapped.

Looking smug, the leader of the group stepped forward. "What are you gonna do about it?" she pressed. "You gotta rely on others, ya loser!"

Dawn's vision was filled with faded red and a teal so dark it bordered on pitch black.

"Ya know, my mom always said that people who spend their time puttin' down others are just jealous and don't have anything goin' on."

It was Ash, fists at his side. Pikachu bristled on one of the boy's shoulders. The teen towered perhaps a foot over the youths. It was clear by their sudden shift in demeanor that his superior size and physique was much more intimidating than Dawn herself had been.

"Well? How far did you guys make in the contest?" the trainer pressed. "Y'know, if you're jealous, just say so! Dawn would give you advice!"

"Ash," Dawn said quietly, touched by his defense. She reached out, putting a hand on his shoulder.

It seemed as if Ash's presence was only a temporary deterrent.

The skinny child crossed his arms. "So, what are you? Her groupie?"

The nasally girl squealed in anger. "She would get a big guy like him to rush to her aid! Pretty little airheads get everything."

"Ugh, that attitude you guys got is why you don't have any fans," Ash spat. "I've got way better taste than that, and I'm sure most people do, too."

The leader stomped her foot. "Who are you talking about, mister! You're so freakin' old and you're starting crap with kids! We're only twelve!"

"I'm fifteen!" Ash said through gritted teeth. "If you're a trainer, act like it. You ain't a baby anymore."

"Tch. Hey, pretty airhead! Why don't you get your Mankey of a boyfriend in check! He's really bringing down the classiness of this contest," the rotund boy ordered.

Those snot-nosed little… Ash balled his fists, his blood pressure flying through the roof. "I'd rather be a Mankey than smell like one!" Ash seethed, leaving very little personal space between himself and the last to speak. Pikachu made a futile effort to pull his trainer back.

Deciding that the tension was a bit too high, Dawn hooked her arm through Ash's.

"Let's go," she whispered.

Obliging, Ash threw one last dirty look over his shoulder at the gaggle of gossipy preteens. They had circled around their largest member, who was currently checking his armpits for stench.

* * *

Saffron City's skyline slowly sunk behind our heroes as the climbed the hilly, densely wooded land that lay between them and Viridian City. Ash's last gym lay just beyond the wilderness, though Dawn didn't carry the same energy she usually did in anticipation of her boyfriend's gym matches. Empoleon was clearly favoring her more than usual, as evidenced by the way he kept nuzzling his beak against her shoulder. She only returned his affections with a forced smile before drifting off into her thoughts again.

This wasn't lost on Ash or Pikachu, either. "Hey. Why don't we set up camp once we reach the top of the hill? We'll have a great view of the stars! You've got Clefairy with you right now, don't you?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, the coordinator nodded. "Yeah! Empoleon, Buneary, Mamoswine, Clefairy, Pachirisu, and Houndoom." She perked up at the thought of her team. "I still owe Houndoom a lot of snacks!"

Seeing her smile, Ash felt himself calm, as well. "Right. Well, let's keep walking."

With that, the foursome continued to walk up the hill. Upon reaching the peak, they were greeted to a magnificent sunset. For in the distance, the sun was sinking on a horizon of thick, greening trees. The distant concrete of Saffron was bathed in orange while the forest turned inky black.

Standing beside his girlfriend, Ash was relieved to see that she seemed to be enjoying it. Whatever happened today didn't seem to be bothering her anymore, but he had to know what the issue had been.

"... How ya doin'? You were off your game today," he prompted as he looked for a nice sturdy tree to put his sleeping bag under. It was getting warmer out, which meant there would do doubt be dewfall in the morning.

"... I was worried what would happen if I drew too much attention to myself," she quietly said as she laid out her sleeping bag next to Ash's. "After the other night…"

Ash frowned, beginning to clear their campsite of any fallen limbs and sticks. He held them with one arm while Pikachu and Empoleon quickly worked together with their steel type moves to make a dish in the earth. The dirt would be safer to build a fire over than the grass.

"You can't spend all your time worried about Team Rocket. I'm not gonna do that, and I'll feel shitty if you end up killing your chance at the Grand Festival over their crap."

The trainer carefully built an almost pyramid shape with the wood he'd found.

The coordinator released her Houndoom.

"Flamethrower, please."

After he lit the blaze, Ash dragged over another log, providing ample seating for all present. Empoleon and Pikachu both plopped down on the log, quietly watching as their trainers spoke. Houndoom quickly joined them, whining at the tension in the air.

"You can't blame yourself for this, Ash. I chose to be a part of it."

She dug into her bag, getting out a few pans and the folding set up to cook over. Ash, meanwhile, got out their portions and the pokechow.

"Still! Dawn, this is big! We both swore we'd win this time, together!"

"... Right. I'll just feel better if we can lay low for a little while."

Understanding, the trainer watched quietly as she began dinner.

"It'll take us a few days to reach Viridian. Think your nerves will be in check by then?"

"I think so."

She looked up when he disappeared into the darkness, only to return with more logs. Those would likely be to keep camp from getting to cold while they slept. But, considering that the trainers had an abundance of pokemon to sleep with, she didn't really see the issue. Better safe than sorry, she supposed.

"Speaking of nerves, what happened with you and those kids?" she asked.

"I just don't like bullying," he answered before sitting on the log, crossing his legs at the ankle.

Pikachu hopped over, allowing himself to be scratched under the chin. Seeing there were pets to be gotten, Houndoom mosied over as well, receiving a few between his horns.

"I was… kind of unpopular as kid. An outcast, kinda? I got bullied pretty bad." He shrugged. "I got good at taking it, and real good at dealing double what I got."

"Really?" Dawn asked, surprised somehow. "You've always seemed so cool to me! I would have never thought that."

He shrugged. "Like I said, I got good at dealing with it. It's hard to bully a guy who's real impressive, right? I already like pokemon, but if being a good trainer means everyone likes me…" He adjusted his cap. "Well, that's a pretty good bonus, isn't it?"

Dawn nodded along, silent for a moment. Her brows furrowed. "What would anyone pick on you for, anyway?" Ash always came off as incredibly sweet, if not stubborn and hot-headed.

"It's kinda stupid, now that I think about it." Ash admitted, absently tugging at his glove to keep it snug. "Word got around that my dad and grandpa were nobodies. They were both gone before I was even around, and were never heard from again. There were rumors that they ditched because they were such bad trainers that they were embarrassed to come home. Once kids picked up on that, I didn't hear the end of it. They said that, no doubt, I'd end up a loser, too!"

"Pika-Pika!?" Pikachu's cheeks inflated. He'd never even heard this story! It actually made him feel rather guilty about how he'd acted towards Ash when they'd first met.

"That's so rotten," Dawn fumed. "All because of something you couldn't help?!" Her knuckles were growing white. "When you put it that way… Maybe I shouldn't be so bothered by how famous my mom is."

"It wasn't fair, but that's what happened. I learned quick that if you were gonna make it by, you had to be twice as tough as the person out to get you… Besides, that was the time when I got to really appreciate pokemon. Whenever I'd run into them, they didn't care who I was or where I came from. They're just… Cool like that, I guess. That was when I really decided that I wanted to surround myself with them. To become the best trainer I could be, and show everyone what I'm made of!" He pumped a fist in the air, mirroring his younger self.

Catching himself in his cheesy display, Ash recovered with nervous laughter. "All things considered, I'm doing pretty well for myself! Don't you think?"

Smiling, Dawn passed Ash his plate of food. "I can't argue with that."

Seeing that their trainers were busy eating now, the pokemon turned to their bowls.

"I wasn't exactly bullied, but you know I was a cheerleader, right? After the… incident, I kinda got a reputation for being ditzy. They always said any idiot would have known not to squeeze a Plusle or a Minun." She shrugged. "I kinda compensate by overreacting when people are mean to me, I think. Like, with Paul? There was no real reason for him to remember my name, but boy, I sure got my feelings hurt." She laughed then.

"Yeah, he made me feel kinda worthless, constantly calling me pathetic and all."

"Hey, but he saw in the end, didn't he? And, I definitely see it. There's a lot of people who do," Dawn assured. "You're not pathetic at all."

By now, their meals were finished. The sun was long gone. There was only them, their pokemon, and the fire crackling in the center of camp.

"You're not stupid at all, either," Ash said back.

Quietly yet suddenly, he lifted his hand. He cupped her cheek. His dark eyes looked down into her light blue eyes and, for a brief moment, they just looked at one another.

"I'll always have your back if you always have mine," he offered.

She smiled. "That's a wonderful deal, Ash Ketchum."

Elated, the boy leaned down, briefly capturing Dawn's lips in a chaste kiss. He was still very new to romance, but he felt as if somehow they'd exchanged something romantically on the same level. It was like when they traded the pokemon that were now Floatzel and Ambipom so long ago. Though it was uncertain what the future held for them, this moment was certain and would have a lasting impression on him, he was sure.

And, if nothing else, his bond with her right now would help him with his bid for championship, just like Floatzel's presence in his team would.

So, for now, it was enough that they had each other and their goals. For that night on the lonely hilltop outside of Saffron City, Ash could think of little else he wanted except for what he already had there.


	57. The Final Test

**Thanks again for dropping in and reading, everyone! As always, we love to hear feedback and commentary from all of you. Also, feel free to check out our tumblr, another-rxad, for more of the story's artwork!**

* * *

"I know you like that brand, but it's really expensive!"

"Pol." Empoleon turned his beak up, refusing to look at his trainer in a stubborn fit as they walked. Well, Dawn walked, and he waddled.

"Farfetch'd of the Sea is pokemon friendly; that's the kind of stuff that only more seasoned coordinators can afford… Or, people with jobs." Dawn's cheek puffed out. "Tell you what; once Ash is done with gyms, we'll be able to settle for a bit. If I can commission some more designs, I'll be able to get you more chow than you'll know what to do with!" She winked.

Talk about an empty promise. All the same, the Emperor pokemon huffed, putting an end to his tantrum. He waddled on through Viridian with a strap around his neck that carried a bag of goods.

The blue-haired coordinator carried two more on each arm. "We've got all we need for a few days, now! I even got some new accessories for you and the others! It's really a shame that Kanto contests don't use pokeball seals…" They would've offered her so much more variety, too.

Before any further planning or moping could take place, a ground-shaking explosion stopped the duo in their tracks, and Dawn trembled with it, losing her footing. "What in the worl… Ah!"

She fell backwards, only to find herself suspended by the arms by Empoleon's wings.

"Thanks, Empoleon. The last thing I need is to hurt myself, now." The klutzy teen exhaled.

"Oh, was that you guys?" A familiar, deepening voice called out, obscured by a cloud of dust. The barely discernible form quickly became more visible, dusting away a cloud of dirt with swings of a red cap. Ash's face revealed itself. "Shoot, sorry about that… We got a little carried away."

"Pikachu…" Short, yellow legs waddled Pikachu up to his trainer, where he rubbed the back of his head, uttering something apologetic to Dawn and Empoleon alike. Dirt, scratches, and a few burn marks coated his normally shiny coat, and a bit of residual static danced off of his form.

"No kidding," Dawn deadpanned, righting herself. "That was just a training session?"

"Hey, we've gotta make sure we're good and ready! Right, guys?"

"Pika!"

Pikachu's cry of approval was echoed by a bellow of enthusiasm from the other combatant; Ash's Tauros, who stood at the center of the courtesy training field in the middle of the city.

"I don't think I've ever seen your Tauros," Dawn remarked, setting down her bags, for the moment. "He's gotta be tough if he can go a round with Pikachu and still be standing." If his place on the field didn't make it obvious enough, the matching burns and ruffled fur said it all.

"Oh yeah. He's always been a trooper." Ash walked over to the bull, petting his mane. Even as he did, though, the pride on his face faltered, knit brows suggesting something else. "I've gotta say, though, I'm worried. He has a lot of moves that do recoil damage, and require him getting up close. He might take a lot of punishment if he runs into a tough fight."

Going into a battle knowing that would inevitably leave a bad taste in Ash's mouth.

"If he learns a lot of moves like that, maybe it's in a Tauros' nature?" Dawn bit her lip, eyes quickly growing wide when a thought snuck up on her. She pulled out her pink Pokedex.

 **"Tauros: The Wild Bull pokemon. After heightening its will to fight by whipping itself with its three tails, it charges at full speed."**

She nodded along. "That's what I thought. It's a natural fighter."

"He's always been like that, yeah… He's gotten me out of a few big jams." He smiled fondly upon the pokemon, who still stood stationary, his tails whipping about. "...Still. You sure you're okay with that, Tauros?"

The large pokemon whipped his head with a cry, roughly stomping the ground. As if he'd cower away from a few bumps and bruises; especially during a serious battle! It'd be a stain on his macho ways if he declined!

His enthusiasm left Ash tickled, and the trainer chuckled. "Well, alright! You're the boss, Tauros! In that case… There's something I wanna try out." His expression became stern.

"Something you wanted to try? Is there some kind of new strategy you haven't let me in on, Ash Ketchum?" Dawn pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes at the teen. Since when was she left in the dark, like that?

"It's just an idea. One I got from one of your contests." Ash grinned a self-assured grin, scratching his cheek. "I had it in my mind for a while, but I never got a chance to try it." He blinked. "Which reminds me, can I borrow your Houndoom for a little?"

"You're not leaving me to haul these things around," Dawn countered, gesturing to the bags that she and Empoleon had been carrying. "I told you I'd stock us up, and I did! We'll be set for at least a few days… But, we need to get them to our room at the center, first! And, you guys are helping out."

"Right, right… I forgot, sorry!" Ash tugged at his collar, flashing an apologetic smile.

"Once we're done, you can work with Houndoom." Dawn reached down, slinging up a bag of goods to hold out to Ash.

Ash took two of the bags in a tight grip. "Sounds like a plan!"

* * *

After finishing up practice and stopping for lunch, the group decided it was finally time to make their way to the Viridian Gym.

"Man… It's been a while," Ash mumbled as they approached the building. "Glad the league got their shit together about this gym."

"Hm? What do you mean?" Dawn inquired, walking with him up to the door.

As he opened it for Dawn and Empoleon to walk through, Ash looked to Pikachu. "This gym… Was once run by Team Rocket. The former leader - it was Giovanni."

"What?!" Dawn yelped, looking at Ash incredulously. "How did that even happen?! Doesn't the league check anything here?! Volkner barely gets away with leaving his gym, never mind imagining if… if… Team Galactic ran a gym!"

Ash crossed his arms. "Look! My home region has some issues, okay? The older generation ain't so great."

"... Right. Sorry." She reached out, grabbing Ash's hand. "But, hey, when you win that championship maybe you can influence good change?"

Ash nodded. "Right. Besides, Champion Lance is in charge of two regions. He was probably so busy checking everything that he couldn't double check Giovanni. Plus, with how old that guy is, maybe he's been here for a few championship reigns!"

"That's the spirit! They can cover things up for a little while, but not forever!" Dawn cheered.

"Pika!"

"Empo!"

"Are you two here to challenge me or to go digging up ancient history?"

The group looked across the dimly lit gym. A figure with a long curtain of hair draped around them was leaning against the wall. As they got up and walked to their part of the battle field, the lights flickered on. A man in his older teens stood in a dark jacket with several patterns of cherry red, and his draping hair ending in several wayward spikes was crimson. Platinum hues eyed the duo.

"The Viridian Gym is no longer Team Rocket territory, and it never will be again! I am the new gym leader, Silver! If you're here to challenge me, then do it!" He frowned. "But, if I don't think you're up to it, I'll reject you on the spot. I don't have time for losers, but I'm not Surge."

"Tough guy," Dawn mumbled.

"But, he seems to mean well," Ash added. He did say he wasn't like Surge, after all. "I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, and I've already got the badge here! I just want a rematch for training!"

"... Right. The professor for this region said you'd come." Silver looked to the side. "It's a weird request, but… I want to do right as the gym leader. I'll accept your request and your invitation to battle. If he approved you, you better be tough!"

"Trust me, I am!" Ash retorted.

"Very well." Silver clicked a pokeball, enlarging it. "Six on six, no items, first one with a full fainted team loses." A pause. "You can substitute if you need."

"You, too," Ash said back. "We ready?"

"Yes."

Dawn quickly hurried to the side of the gym floor. She grunted, whispering to Empoleon. "They certainly got right down to it, didn't they?"

"Empoleon…"

Silver tossed a pokeball. "You're up first!"

The ball introduced the Gym Leader's first pokemon; a short, but sleek creature with dark gray fur, a crown of read feathers, and sharp claws. "Weav!" It chanted, bearing a mischievous grin.

"A Weavile… I've got just the pokemon for this. I choose you!" Ash boasted, tossing a pokeball forward.

The flash from the pokeball took the shape of a Lucario, whose paws were raised eyes focused squarely on Weavile.

"I know this is your first gym battle, Rosa, but I'm counting on you!" Ash beamed with pride, mocking several punches forward. "Let's show 'em what you've got, and win this thing!"

The Aura pokemon replied with a happy yip, punching a fist in the air. She was pumped!

"Its first gym battle?" Silver echoed, disgust quickly etching itself onto his features. "I'm not sure who should be more insulted, me or your pokemon. If you think a type advantage and beginner's luck are going to get you by, you've already lost."

Rosa recoiled at the man's harsh words. Was he saying she wasn't good enough!?

"It's not about beginner's luck. She still knows how to battle! We've worked hard to get this point in our own way… Ever since she joined my team, she's always given her all to get stronger. That goes for all of my pokemon!" Ash barked back, shaking a fist at the antagonistic leader.

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu yelled in agreement. This guy assumed a lot.

Silver's face twisted again. "I think I'm getting nauseous. Great trainers can show their bond with their pokemon through battle; they don't need to preach about it. Either prove your worth, or leave."

"Forget what he says! Both of you, show 'em what you're made of!" Dawn shouted from the sidelines.

"Empoleon!" The water type companion squawked. This guy was just asking for a Hydro Pump.

The referee standing halfway across the field sighed, cleaning his spectacles with the collar of his uniform. Why did he have to get stuck at the gym with the most antagonistic gym leader? These arguments had become pretty typical in this gym. In any case, though, they seemed to be done. He raised a hand high.

"The battle between the challenger, Ash, and the Gym Leader, Silver, will now commence! This will be a full, six-on-six battle. The first to lose all of their pokemon, or to surrender, will be the loser."

"A full battle in a gym? I've never even heard of that…" Dawn's brows furrowed.

"Begin!"

"Go, Rosa! Power-up Punch!"

The Lucario sprinted at Weavile, a glowing fist ready.

"Ice Shard!" Silver countered.

Weavile quickly conjured a chunk of ice, flinging it overhead at its opponent.

Before Rosa could alter her path, she was struck, swallowed in a frosty mist.

"That move's always fast…" Ash lamented. "Don't give up! Close Combat!"

The biped launched out of the mist with a scratchy cry, throwing a furious punch at Weavile.

"Deflect it, with Night Slash!" Silver ordered.

"Weav!" The dark type's claws all took on a violet glow, a pivoting slash crashing one set into the Aura pokemon's paw, deflecting it. Weavile continued, aiming a second slash at Rosa's slim midsection.

A second punch denied Weavile that satisfaction, and Rosa continued, spinning around to deliver a roundhouse kick. Both arms crossed, the pair of glowing makeshift sabers only barely fending it off.

Rosa pushed on with several more jabs, gradually forcing Weavile back towards Silver's end. An uppercut broke Weavile's guard, knocking the pokemon silly. Several more punches and a kick left it helpless, prompting the Lucario to grab its arm, spinning before tossing it across the field like a rag doll.

Dust shrouded Weavile, who struggled to push itself to its feet. That had been painful, to say the least.

"Great job! We've got 'em on the ropes now," Ash praised.

"Icy Wind!"

"Vile!" The dark type swept its arms across its body, discharging a frosty chill that swept across the field.

Even protected by her fur, Rosa shuddered, hugging her arms to her body. Bits of frost even hugged to her coat.

"That move's a pain… But we've still got this. One more Close Combat!"

The Aura pokemon growled, lunging at Weavile once more. A right hook came first, followed by a roundhouse kick that followed the momentum. Fancy footwork allowed several more quick kicks, followed by a strike of her tail.

None of these hit their mark. Weavile hopped, ducked, and swerved, handily dodging every one of the Lucario's attacks.

"Shoot… Right, Icy Wind's slowed her down. Another Close Combat, Rosa! And watch its aura! Don't let its movements get away from you!"

The frustrated fighting type huffed, the aura feelers on the back of her head levitated, a blue glint passing through her hues. A howl preceded another barrage of punches and kicks.

The first few punches sorely missed their target. A nagging chill was slowing down her movements, and Weavile in general were no slouches when it came to speed. The pokemon was chattering mocking commentary as it swerved.

Rosa growled, swinging around for another kick. Weavile leaned to the left, avoiding injury.

Her eyes narrowed, and her foot pivoted. Watching Weavile swerve, Rosa threw a solid punch where its head was about to dip.

"Weav…!" If it could, the crafty pokemon would break into a sweat, awkwardly shuffling back. That was too close.

Silver's eyes arrowed. "Low Sweep!"

A devious grin returned to the Sharp Claw pokemon's face. It dove forward, slamming a foot brutally into Rosa's shin.

A loud squeal prepared Ash for the worst, his eyes growing wide. "Low Sweep!?"

A quick shuffle for his Pokedex answered him. **"Low Sweep: A fighting type attack. It injures a pokemon's leg, hindering its movement. Consequently, their speed is reduced."**

"That's… Not good." Ash grimaced.

"It's your fault." Silver interrupted. "Neither of you kept your guard up, using a move that makes your pokemon so vulnerable." He was harsh, but he was doing his job.

Ash growled. _'He's right… We haven't been using that move long, and Infernape's more experienced with it than she is. I should've known she'd be more vulnerable.'_ So much for being at the top of his game.

Meanwhile, Ash's thoughts had left him wide open. "Ice Shard!"

Rosa tried to pivot and swerve out of harm's way. A nagging pain kept her grounded, though, allowing her to be blown back by the dull impact of Ice Shard. Even resisting the move, she whimpered.

"Rosa…!" Ash swallowed. "Can ya keep fighting?"

The Aura pokemon barked back, struggling to right herself. She was conscious not to alert the strangers to her telepathy, so an exclamation would have to do.

"Now, ya know how tough gym battles are. But I know you've got it in you!" With that encouragement, Ash turned his thoughts to the current predicament. _'She won't be able to move around a lot like this...'_ "Aura Sphere!"

The Lucario didn't argue, drawing back her paws to charge a sphere. It was launched at Weavile.

"Ice Shard!"

Weavile countered by flinging another chunk of ice at the oncoming sphere.

The burst of energy powered through the ice, _exploding_ violently.

"They know they're not gonna win out with that move." Ash's eyes narrowed, searching for Rosa amongst the haze.

He could barely make out her shape, so he let his eyes fall shut. Her aura stood out much more brilliantly. This sixth sense offered a lot more clarity than plain old eyesight. A sudden blur of life zipping past Rosa tipped him off, and a spike in her anxiety told him that his hunch wasn't wrong.

"Low Sweep!" Strike three. Ash wasn't imagining things.

"Rosa, jump! And Power-up Punch, behind you!"

The fog and her condition left her disoriented, but a sudden chilling feeling told her that her opponent was close. Fortunately, Ash was paying attention, and just in time. Rosa sprung off of her good leg, narrowly avoiding Weavile's foot. Her fist lit up and her body twisted, a right hook thrown with a roar.

"Block it, with Night Slash!" Even if Silver couldn't see the fray, he could well enough guess this out.

"Weav… ile!" The Sharp Claw pokemon grunted, roughly slamming a shadow-laced claw into Rosa's fist.

Ordinarily, a fighting type overpowering a dark type with respective moves would be an easy bet. With Rosa airborne, sluggish, and having launched off of only one foot, weight and momentum didn't favor her.

Weavile bared a mischievous grin, bucking Rosa off with a swing of his arm. But his assault didn't end there. Several thorough slices across Rosa's body followed, purple streaks crossing her one after another.

The fighting type cried, landing on one knee. She snarled.

"Shoot… I was sure that would work… Huh?" Ash stared at his Lucario, raising a brow.

The Aura pokemon was, appropriately, enveloped in an ethereal blue aura, growling in what came off as justified indignation. Standing upright, she barked a challenge at Weavile, her vitality seemingly restored.

"What the…" Ash withdrew his Pokedex again.

 **"Lucario's hidden ability: Justified. When a pokemon is struck by a dark type move, their attack power increases."**

"I never knew about that one… Alright, Rosa!" Ash cheered.

Silver raised his brows at the Aura pokemon. "That ability isn't typical of any Lucario I've ever heard of. Yours must be a rarity." Still, all the same… She'd been hit with several Night Slashes, and her typing heavily resisted the move, so he'd hurt his chances more than he'd helped them. His eyes narrowed. "Ice Shard, now!"

Weavile chucked yet another shard at its opponent.

Rosa didn't budge, raising an arm across her chest. When the large hunk of ice drew near, she swatted her paw aside, shattering into shards and dust.

"That attack won't work anymore," Ash boasted. "We've got you, now!"

"Icy Wind, now!"

"Aura Sphere, and make it double!"

Rosa held both paws outward, conjuring a blue orb on each end. She growled, lobbing each of them forward.

Weavile was moments from firing another gust, but the incoming pincer attack made it panic. An instinctive Night Slash struck out on either side of it, crashing into each Aura Sphere that encroached upon it. Its arms trembled.

The trap overcame its victim, announcing its victory with a bright, thunderous explosion.

It didn't take long for the referee to scout out the result. "Weavile is unable to battle! Lucario wins!"

As Silver switched out his unconscious Weavile, Ash took that time to recall Rosa.

"Good job, girl. Take a break for a bit, huh?" Ash suggested. He had a feeling she'd be useful again later and didn't want to use her up quite yet.

"Good call," Silver said calmly, frustrated at his old companion Weavile being bested by what was obviously a child prancing around in an adult's body. That Lucario was tough, yes, and he was not ashamed of being beaten by her power, but something about the idea of a child besting him made him curious about how she was raised. "Alakazam." No formal greeting marked the psychic type's entrance.

"Alakazam, huh? Torterra, I choose you!" Ash announced as he threw his pokeball over an imaginary home plate.

Landing with a heavy thud, Torterra roared in greeting. "Tooooor!"

"Alright, buddy, let's start off quick! Use Energy Ball!"

"Tor!" With a belch, Torterra sent off a jiggly, brilliant green sphere of ultra-dense grass-type energy at Alakazam.

"Psychic; just bat it away." Silver cross his arms after his order.

With a lifting of its spoon, the golden pokemon grabbed ahold of Torterra's attack before lobbing it back at the sender.

"Well, crap. Okay, big guy: eat it!"

When the ball of energy came close to him once more, the Torterra chomped down on it. The ball burst in a magnificent shower of green sparkles. An excited shudder shook through the ground type's body. He felt stronger for having consumed that.

"Good job! Well, let's try Leaf Storm!" Ash instructed. While Alakazam could grab a big, solid, single blast attack like Energy Ball, how would it fare against something that had a multitude of tiny targets?

Sure enough, the flurry of greenery which snaked out from Torterra's flora rushed at Alakazam like a river. It washed over the psychic type, drowning him in cuts and pummeling him with the force of a hundred small batterings. Individually, each leaf was no more significance than a drop of water. But, of course, that was why the name of this move was Leaf Storm; a few drops of water was child's play - a thousands were trouble.

Arms still crossed, Silver seemed as if he were restraining himself. "Use Recover."

Closing his bruised hands together, Alakazam began the healing moves processed. His eyes fell shut and a white glow surrounded him.

"Figures," Ash lamented. "Rock Climb!"

"Reflect!" Silver quickly barked.

The impact was spectacular. A glorious trail of torn and twisted earth was dug up behind Torterra. The soiled soil was only stopped at the glittering pink shield Alakazam had erected. Though its psychically projected defense had protected him from the brunt of Torterra's force and caused his opponent to crash into said defense, the mental connection between the Reflect and Alakazam sent the psychic type sprawling back at impact, anyway.

The pain was all in his head, but that didn't lessen it much.

"Plant 'em with Psychic!" Silver commanded.

Not yet able to rise back to his feet, Alakazam lifted his spoon to channel his powers. Lifting Torterra, the psychic type pushed Torterra back - back ground the dug up earth, through the artificial knolls it had placed in the gym on its rampage with Rock Climb and finally skidding across the gym floor itself. It was only when Torterra reached the end of the agreed upon fighting ring that Alakazam relented.

Silver was brutal, but he tried to play by the rules, as did his pokemon.

"Talk about gaining ground," Ash muttered. "Energy Ball, again!"

"You should know better than this!" Silver quickly reprised. "Focus Blast!"

Now on his feet again, Alakazam fired off his attack. It met with Torterra's in a fiery explosion. Once the smoke bloomed out, Torterra burst through it.

"Oh, I do! Crunch!" Ash grinned. The cover had worked! And, better still, Torterra had anticipated his orders. They were truly in sync!

Latching onto the psychic type, Torterra tossed him with minimal effort. After all, the grass type was far larger than his opponent. Torterra continued to bite, looking down his beak at his opponent who now lay on his back.

Alakazam grabbed his once again bruised arm, a faint pink glow around his body marking the lingering effects of Reflect. While not as pronounced as before, it had still had defensive qualities to speak of.

"Focus Blast! He can't get away!"

The attack went off like a gun. Torterra shied back, eyes dazed and reaching vainly with his forepaws to rub at his face.

"Huh? What's going on?!" Grabbing his Pokedex, Ash quickly read off the entry. "... Lowers special defense?! Well, that ain't good."

"For you," Silver quickly responded. "Now, Psychic!"

Grabbing hold of the still writhing grass type with a telekinetic grip, Alakazam quickly turned Torterra upside down in the air. Though the ground type's legs flailed, it was of no good. Alakazam slammed the creature down, and that was all there was of Torterra's participation in this match.

"He fainted…," Ash grumbled. "Torterra, you did great! You can't help it about being upside down! Return!"

"Poor Torterra… He had such a strong start, too." Dawn lamented.

The tortoise was recalled, and another pokeball was tossed. "Kingler, I choose you!"

"Ku-kii!" The crustacean grunted, stepping from one side to the next on his multitude of legs. He even snapped his hefty claws at Alakazam, telling the PSI pokemon that he meant business.

"Let's go! Crabhammer!"

Not much one for running, Kingler sprung off of his surprisingly powerful legs, wielding his huge pincer like a hammer. If he had anything to say about it, Alakazam was getting clobbered.

"Focus Blast!" Silver countered.

Alakazam pointed its spoons forward, flinging a teal orb of energy at Kingler.

"Ki?" The crab's eyes widened. Not looking to get blasted, he swung his limb forward, smashing the Focus Blast with a brutal use of Crabhammer. He didn't deal damage, but he avoided it.

"Good thinking, Kingler!" Ash praised. He eyed the scene before him. _'Now, Kingler's a lot closer… If we keep this up, then we'll corner 'em.'_ He pointed forward. "Now, use Stomp!"

Kingler landed, only to spring forward again, one of his feet reared, ready to, well, stomp.

"Hold it, with Psychic!" Silver ordered.

"Alakazam," the psychic type chanted, his eyes glazing over with a blue glow.

"Ku-ki!?" Kingler stammered, suddenly finding himself suspended, wrapped in a bright light of his own. Try as he might to flail, he could barely move a muscle! He was trapped.

"Stay calm, Kingler!" Ash encouraged, not wanting his pokemon to panic. The trainer's black brows furrowed. "We may not be able to move, but we can still attack! Blizzard, now!"

The crustacean's spined maw opened wide, spewing out a freezing flurry that embraced the other end of the field.

"Ala… Kazam…!" The PSI pokemon whimpered in agony, shivering on the spot. He groaned, both of his hands dropping to hug to his body. The intelligent fighter's focus had been broken.

And thus, Kingler was released.

"Now's our chance! Stomp, Kingler!"

Only a short distance from Alakazam now, Kingler lunged. "Ku… Ki!" He roared, brutally slamming a foot into Alakazam's chest.

"Kazam…!" The pokemon wailed, holding its side after skidding backward.

Digging his thumb into his palm, Silver suddenly shouted. "Recover!"

The psychic type was completely enveloped in a familiar glow.

"Alakazam really seems hurt," Ash noted, narrowing his eyes at the pokemon and its trainer alike. "He didn't take that hit as well as the others. Silver freaked out, there, too."

The light bulb went off. _'Reflect must be gone!'_ Smirking, Ash called out. "Crabhammer!"

Still restoring its strength, Alakazam was helpless to stop the giant, oncoming pincer.

Alakazam was hammered, instantly sent flying into the wall behind Silver.

This call wasn't a difficult one to make. "Alakazam is unable to battle! Kingler wins!"

"Quick thinking," was all Silver had to say as he recalled Alakazam. "But your fun stops here… Feraligatr! It's your turn!" With passion surfacing that hadn't yet been present, Silver called his next pokemon.

The large, blue gator appeared, entering with a loud, feral roar. He hunched over, tiny, beady eyes narrowing upon Kingler. He gnashed his teeth, making an early show of intimidating it.

Its strength was obvious, but hell if he'd turn tail at the first sight of a challenger. "Ki!" The water type croaked back in defiance. He made a point of quickly snapping both of his claws.

"That one's different… It's gotta be his strongest. Maybe even his first," Ash observed. Silver's apathy had disappeared for just a moment when calling it. "Then we'll just pull out all the stops!"

"Do what you want," the leader taunted.

"You asked for it! Kingler, Stomp!"

Already close, Kingler kicked off, slamming his foot into Feraligatr's side.

"Counter, with Slash!"

Reeling from the kick, but still raring to go, Feraligatr snarled, striking Kingler with a beautiful swipe of his claws.

Kingler was launched back, skidding on its four legs across the dirty field. He croaked, feeling the small series of indents across his armored hide. That'd definitely stung.

"Follow up, with Aqua Tail!" The redhead continued.

Feraligatr threw its hefty weight around, stomping a taloned foot down. He roared, pointing his tail at Kingler. A sweeping cyclone of water fired towards the crustacean.

"I know Kingler likes the water, but that's not how he'd order it," Ash remarked, frowning at the assault. An idea came, though, and his smile returned. "Blizzard!"

Staring into the eye of the storm, Kingler hurried to unleash frozen hell.

The coming spiral was subsequently frozen, latching to Feraligatr all the way up to its hips.

"Gatr!?" The water type croaked, doing his best to shake the miniature glacier free.

"Ahaha! I think Kingler'll have that water on the rocks!" The trainer blustered, one hand on his hip, the other gripping the brim of his cap.

Pikachu, who stood behind his trainer, groaned in his own language. Only Ash.

Dawn, on the other hand, giggled. "Well, he knows how to keep the mood light."

Silver's eye twitched. Was he being insulted? "How about you save your jokes for the stage, and battle?"

"Suit yourself!" Ash shrugged. "Kingler, Hyper Beam!"

"Kuu-ki!" Kingler cried, firing a blazing orange beam from his larger claw.

Try as he may to escape, Feraligatr was grounded by the heavy icy adornment. He cried out, blasted by the powerful Hyper Beam that'd come his way.

Smoke and icy dust scattered from the blast, backed by a powerful gust.

When the debris cleared, Feraligatr stood. He winced in pain, marked with some ash and scratches. But the blast had scattered the ice, once again freeing the bulky water type.

Silver, surprisingly, sneered. "Aqua Tail, again!"

"We're just gonna do this over!" Ash warned… but he quickly caught his weakness. Hyper Beam left Kingler huffing and grounded. Unable to move about, he was pulverized by Aqua Tail, swept up in its twisting current. "Ki…!" He groaned, washed up like a beached crab.

"...So much for that," Ash mumbled, swallowing his pride. "You alright, Kingler!?"

"Kiii!" The crab roared back, crawling back into range of Feraligatr. He wasn't done.

"I knew it," Ash boasted. He punched forward. "Now, Crabhammer!"

Kingler lunged, swinging his mighty claw at Feraligatr.

"Crunch!"

"What!?" Ash recoiled.

The hefty pair of jaws snapped down.

Kingler cried, startled by his predicament. His closed pincer was trapped between Feraligatr's many sharp teeth, snapped shut. Try as he may to pull away, he found himself stuck.

"Too predictable," Silver tutted. "A Kingler's greatest weapon is its larger pincer. Anyone could've' guessed that you'd use its Crabhammer as a finishing move… Feraligatr, Slash!"

Kingler was only released when a swipe of his opponent's arm struck, sending him skidding.

He winced from the strike of Feraligatr's sharp claws.

"Now, finish this. Hyper Beam!"

Feraligatr's large jaws parted again, showing off a glowing orb.

It quickly turned to a destructive blast, pulverizing Kingler.

The smoke quickly cleared, revealing an ashen, unconscious crab.

The referee raised his hand. "Kingler is unable to battle! Feraligatr wins!"

"You did your best!" Ash shouted as encouragement to the orange water type. "Return!" After putting away Kingler, he released another pokemon. "Tauros, I choose you!"

Bursting out of the beam of light. Tauros landed heavily on all four hooves. This Tauros was arguably the toughest bull out of Ash's massive herd of the beasts. With a thick mane of shaggy brown hair and a trio of furiously whipping tails, he looked impressive…

To everyone except Feraligatr, who thought the normal type looked like prey. The blue beast licked his lips with its thin, pink tongue. He was still too tired to move yet after using the Hyper Beam, but as soon as he regained his strength, he'd sink his teeth into Tauros.

"Tauros! Use Take Down!" Ash ordered. They couldn't waste any time.

Charging forward, Tauros knocked Feraligatr down and onto its back. Though the impact was enough to leave a bruise on the normal type's shoulder, the satisfaction of starting the match by putting his opponent down made up for it.

"Hope that was worth it," Silver said quietly, keeping himself in check and gracefully restrained. "Feraligatr, use Crunch."

Hissing, the reptile clamored across the gym floor towards the bull.

"Wild Charge!"

Tossing his head, Tauros began stomping towards Feraligatr. The two met in a hurricane of blows. Feraligatr's massive jaws snapped at the air and at Tauros's legs. Tauros struck the floor and Feraligatr. Sparks danced among after images of dark energy. The electric attack was more painful to Feraligatr, but as the two parted, Ash noticed Tauros was panting so heavily that drool trickled from his muzzle.

"You're fighting a losing battle," Silver said. "You haven't used a move yet that doesn't have recoil damage. Crunch impedes on a pokemon's ability to handle damage from future attacks."

"If it's a losing battle, there's no need to hold back!" Ash barked back. "Wild Charge!" He could only hope that the natural hardiness of Tauros's species would outweigh the damage being done. The one was, after all, exceptional.

"Again? … Crunch."

The two met again in the middle of the field. As Tauros kicked out with crackling, golden hooves, Feraligatr lunged. The massive water type latched onto Tauros's mane. Then, it began shaking. As Tauros pawed out furiously to try and free itself of this critical hit, Ash realized the danger here.

"Fissure!" Ash yelled.

Silver's eyes widened and he dropped his posture, preparing for the coming catastrophe.

The shaking started at the middle of the gym. Overhead, the lights flickered and swung lightly back and forth. Dawn dropped onto her butt, having been taken off guard. Empoleon found himself in a similar situation, except on his stomach. Ash, however, with the move's effects, glaring across the field to see what happened.

Too close to escape, Feraligatr's mouth opened in shock within the first few seconds of the move. In that brief amount of time, Tauros managed to get atop the water type, pinning it down to take the full force of the Fissure.

When the gym stopped shaking, it was clear to see the swirls in Feraligatr's eyes. Beyond that, no damage had been done.

Silver clicked Feraligatr's pokeball, returning the brute. "I was hasty. You've only got one move as a surprise left, though."

Ash grinned. "Trust me, it'll be a big surprise."

The quaking soon settled, and Tauros stepped on, letting out a snort.

The referee huffed, finally managing to steady himself. His teeth had rattled far more than he'd like, but he ignored it to adjust his disheveled glasses, all the same. "Feraligatr is unable to battle! Tauros wins!"

The redheaded gym leader held out a pokeball, recalling Feraligatr. "Thanks for battling." Turning his head up to gaze at Ash, his brow twitched. "Count yourself lucky that it worked."

"Thanks, Tauros! You did a great job." Ash called out, pumping a fist for his hardy pokemon. His hand dropped, though, when the pokemon's panting was apparent. "That must've been tough on ya… Sorry." He frowned, adjusting his cap. "Do you still wanna go on?"

He felt sore in at least several places, but if he weren't built to take punishment, he wouldn't be a Tauros. The adrenaline rush of downing a formidable opponent didn't hurt, either. Stomping his hooves against the already fractured gym floor, Tauros cried in enthusiasm.

"Great," Ash voiced his relief. His smile returned. "Then, let's keep going!"

Three down, and three to go.


	58. Down to Earth

**And now, Ash's battle with the final Gym Leader continues! As always, feedback is very much appreciated! We hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Gloved fists clenched, a pair of dark eyes intently watching the stern leader across the room. The other young man drew a pokeball, which was enough to tell Ash that the match was about to continue. The ball was tossed, then.

A flash of light shot out of the sphere, splitting into three different entities that hung close to one another. Spinning about, they were revealed to be three Magnemite, naturally drawn to one another. Their magnets and screws spun about in line with a metallic, grating cry. "Magne-ton~!"

"A Magneton… And if it's anything like the rest of his team, it's not gonna be a pushover." Ash narrowed his eyes at his next opponent. "Fissure won't do anything, either…" Then, there was the issue of Tauros. Could he make it?

"Tauros! Never give up until the end! You've got this!" After all, a pokemon fed off their trainers' confidence.

The pokemon cried out in response, pawing the gym floor. Steam shot out of his nostrils. He was ready to continue.

"You're asking a lot of your pokemon," Silver critiqued.

The challenger adjusted his cap. "I don't doubt he can deliver."

"... It'd pay to question things a little. Magneton, Thunderbolt!"

Immediately after Silver gave the order, the three part body of Magneton split and whirled once more. A crackle of electricity jumped from its segmented form, crisping Tauros with the burning scene of ozone flooding the gym's stale air. Tauros knelt one knee, pain coursing through every nerve at this electrically charged blow.

"Tauros!" Ash called out once the attack ended.

"Ros…"

"Good… Alright, we gotta get rid of that big hunk of metal. Just gotta see what it's made of. Take Down!"

"Dodge it!" Silver barked.

As Tauros charged at Magneton, it leaped through the air. Though its form was perfect-head tucked and muscles coiled but not rigid, legs curled to avoid breakage, tails posed just so as to aid in its aim-it missed. Magneton had exploited its ability to split and let Tauros slip right through the empty air where all three pieces of it used to sit together!

As Tauros landed with surprising grace, Ash's jaw dropped.

"... That's cheating!"

"Nothing a pokemon can naturally do is cheating," Silver quickly replied, automatic and almost as if he had memorized the line. He pointed at Ash directly. "Unless you want to talk about the time your Pikachu redirected an electric attack with his tail."

"How do you even know about that?!" Ash demanded.

The gym leader stuffed his hands in his pockets. "That battle of yours against Surge a few years ago ended up making into the initiation materials I had to review when I first took over as gym leader here. So," Silver half-hissed, "if that's a legal move, this is a legal move."

As grunted, not willing to argue that point.

"Now, Magneton: Flash Cannon!"

While Tauros was still lingering at the metal creature as cattle are wont to do with strange metal fixtures, the sudden burst of metal energy blasted the normal type in his face.

"Hey!" Ash shouted, not arguing but making it clear he didn't like when they switched so quickly from talking to battling. "C'mon, Tauros! Ya can't stay still around this guy!"

"Ros!" the bull agreed, thundering across the gym to put a bit of distance between himself and their opponents. He'd stay at least at a lope to assure Magneton wouldn't be able to aim at him easily.

Seeing that Silver didn't look discouraged by this, Ash clenched his fist. He supposed it was time. "Like we practiced, Tauros; use Fire Blast on the ground!"

The bull belched up a blossom of flame. It expanded out, cloaking the thick fur along his hide and mane. The beast was on fire!

Dawn's eyes bulged. "That's why he wanted to borrow Houndoom!" she gasped. Though she didn't doubt Ash, she couldn't help but glance worrying look over the flaming bull. "Tauros doesn't have the Flash Fire ability, though… His fur isn't gonna resist those flames… This isn't like he's got the same battle armor Houndoom had. He's walking around burning…!"

Noticing the same but decidedly less concern, Silver crinkled his nose. "How fucking desperate. Magneton, use Lock-On and Gyro Ball!"

"Take Down!" Ash ordered in response.

Though Magneton got a clear shot at Tauros, the fire veil greatly reduced the metallic move's might… Though, at the same time, it injured Tauros. It was somewhat of a stalemate. Magneton reeled from Tauros's Take Down, but Tauros was burning out rather quickly.

This didn't sit well with Silver. "Thunderbolt!"

Ash watched with cautious worry as the move came towards Tauros… Only to get lost in the flames! The fire was plasma as much as the lightning was (not that Ash knew that) and the two confused one another. Though the fire was still hurting him, Thunderbolt had done no additional damage!

"What a trade off…" Ash muttered under his breath. "Fire Blast on Magneton!"

All too eager to share his misery with his opponent, Tauros stomped a hoof as he shot off a concentrated burst of fire. Magneton, however, merely split up and avoided the attack.

"Lock-On!" Silver ordered once more. "Then, use Gyro Ball!"

"I know this game," Ash said with a grin. "Take Down!"

"Split!" Silver called.

"What?!"

Ash watched in horror as Tauros sailed right through the individual Magneton pieces. All three, however, turned to their opponent before he even landed, firing off their own little Gyro Balls. Individually, they might not have hurt, but as they all came together, they each exploded upon impact!

When the dust settled, Ash caught sight of the still smouldering bull, flipped onto his side. Magneton pulled itself back together.

"Return!" he quickly called, sparing Tauros anymore pain. "You did great, buddy. You're the macho-est man here," he assured, knowing very well how Tauros prided himself on his ability to take blows. "We're not done yet," Ash insisted, tossing a pokeball. "It's your turn, Pidgeot!"

"Pidgooo!" The huge, feather-crested bird cried, beating its gigantic wings to hover above the field.

"Desperation, already?" Silver squinted. "Thunderbolt!"

Magneton's three segments spun about, launching a bright bolt. Time to clip the bird's feathers.

"Think what you want," Ash brushed off, throwing a hand upward. "Dodge, with Aerial Ace!"

Pidgeot sped forward, barrelling along in horizontal spins. A dipped wing dodged Thunderbolt completely.

Shrieking its grating shriek, Magneton panicked, quickly splitting into three when the large avian sped on through. The brunt of Aerial Ace was avoided, but each individual magnet was sent spinning from the following gust.

"It's no slouch," Silver noted under his breath. "Lock-on, then Gyro Ball!"

Rearranging themselves, the heads of Magneton came together, each of their eyes glowing red. They eyed their moving opponent, trying to properly place a target.

"If that works, we're in trouble… Let's put a stop to that, Pidgeot! Hurricane!" Ash commanded.

"Djot!" Pidgeot squawked, rapidly beating her wings to conjure winds worthy of a storm.

Silver was forced to widen his stance to keep himself steady, his red hair whipping around in the gusts.

"Ton…!" His pokemon, meanwhile, was tossed and spun about in the hurricane, far too dizzy to take aim.

"Got 'em," Ash muttered, a smirk picking up on his face. He threw a hand forward. "Brave Bird!"

"Pidgooo!" Pidgeot cried, shooting forward like an arrow. A blue, flaming glow surrounded her.

Silver grimaced. "Magneton, Flash Cannon!"

The three segments pulled close together, launching a blinding silver burst at Pidgeot.

Brave Bird collided with Flash Cannon, sending teal and silver sparks every which way. Pidgeot's beak and hide began to push on, blue overcoming gray one foot at a time. Magneton shuddered and struggled, but to no use.

Pidgeot smashed into Magneton, the resulting explosion booming through the room.

Ash, Dawn, Silver, and the referee were all forced to guard their eyes.

The three scuffed and scratched heads of Maneton tumbled out of the smoke and across the floor. Clinking along the ground, they lay like scrapped parts of a machine.

"Great job, Pidgeot!" Ash praised, then turning his attention to Silver. "Your Magneton's tricky, but with all that splitting up, it'll never be able to take attacks head-on like that!"

The Gym Leader's brow twitched, and a hand slid into his pocket. "Most challengers aren't around long enough to figure that out… Magneton!"  
The three cyclopian magnets began to stir and spin, rushing to regroup.

"Heat Wave!" Ash ordered.

Shaking off the little recoil she'd endured, Pidgeot flapped her wings.

A sweltering wave of hot air blasted Silver's end of the battlefield.

Magneton fell motionless, swirls in each of its three eyes.

"Return," Silver droned, recalling the pokemon in a red flash. "Well, you're not as dumb as you came off… And your Pidgeot's powerful. But will that be enough?" A fifth pokeball was tossed.

The pokeball opened, and a flash of light only became a violet stream that poured into the gym floor. A shadow slipped along the battleground, shooting up below where Pidgeot hovered.

"Gar!" The shadow cackled, taking its stocky form.

Startled, Pidgeot squawked.

"A Gengar… Alright! We'll show you!"

"Pidgeot!" The avian squawked, its feathers ruffled and pride injured. It'd pay for that dirty trick.

Unfortunately for Ash and Pidgeot, though, all Gengar had was dirty tricks!

"Mean Look!" Silver ordered. For this to work, he needed that bird to not go flying off anywhere or swapping out.

The whole gym seemed to darken for a moment. Even the lights flickered, briefly shorting out all together. In that moment, Gengar's eyes and mouth gleamed a ghastly red. It sent chills down Pidgeot's spine, but ignited a proud fire in her heart. It would not flee from this beast! Not now, not ever!

Noting the change in posture from where Pidgeot flew above the gym floor, Ash gripped his fist tighter. He would let Pidgeot make use of that energy. This worked out fine, after all! Pidgeot's moves could all touch ghosts! "Aerial Ace!"

"Confuse Ray!" Silver shouted.

Ash frowned. That was why Silver hadn't wanted Pidgeot to be able to run away. Though Pidgeot flew through the beam of glittering lights and struck Gengar down, it was evident with the way Pidgeot stumbled on the floor after that it was now confused.

They'd have to press on, anyway. "Hurricane!"

Trying to obey, Pidgeot haphazardly flapped its wings. Though the stirred air didn't hurt the bird, it completely missed Gengar. Pidgeot was too disoriented!

"Perfect," Silver said, the closest he'd come all match to sounding genuinely pleased. "Dark Pulse!"

"Pidgeot's too woozy to avoid that… Heat Wave!" Maybe the attacks would nullify each other. Ash had to hope they would for Pidgeot's sake.

With that, Gengar released a ring of dark energy. Pidgeot flapped its wings, a wall of shimmering, superheated air headed for Gengar. The two attacks met. The black particles of the Dark Pulse warped and tore as the heat wrecked them. Soon, an explosion happened.

"Even if it's confused, your Pidgeot listens," Silver praised. "I wonder how long it'll last. Sludge Bomb!"

Even before the smoke had cleared, a splash could be heard. When the obscurity finally left the air, Pidgeot could be seen drenched in purple liquid. Judging from the way it shivered, that was all the proof Ash needed to know it was poisoned.

"Pidgeot!" he called out. He gritted his teeth. "Pidgeot is my friend. I won't waste that friendship! Not ever again! Brave Bird!"

Loyal to a fault, Pidgeot flapped its wings once more and lifted into the air. Glaring at the floating spectre before it, the bird of prey let out a magnificent caw before flying at its opponent. A blue aura took over the bird, cloaking it in strength.

But, at the last possible moment, Gengar fell, floating down and out of Pidgeot's path. The bird, unable to stop itself for lack of coordination, hit the gym wall and fell down.

"Pidgeot!" Ash yelled, running over without haste.

"Oh, no," Dawn mumbled, eyes wide. "Ash… Ash, is Pidgeot…!"

"Pidgeot's fine! No neck injuries!" Ash assured.

Silver seemed bothered by this event. "Shit, I've never seen anyone let a confused pokemon use Brave Bird… that's reckless…" Still, he looked at the hard, unforgiving walls of the gym. "... I may get some padding installed."

"That'd probably be a good idea," Ash said solemnly as he stroked Pidgeot's feathers. The bird was fine, just in need of a good healing.

At least Silver wasn't an actual monster, just a hard ass.

"Return, and rest," Ash said quietly.

Silver crossed his arms. "I won't count this as a foul or anything for leaving your position on the field."

"Thanks. Alright, no more slipping up…" Ash grimaced, clipping Pidgeot's pokeball back to his belt. The walked back to his position. "From here on out, let's stay focused!" He looked down to his companion on the ground, whose eyes were glued to Gengar. A hint of a smile perked up on Ash's lips. He knew how to handle this, now.

"Pikachu, I choose you!" Ash chanted his familiar, favorite phrase, pointing forward.

Music to his pointy, black-tipped ears. "Pika-Pika!" PIkachu chanted with glee, sprinting forward onto the battlefield opposite of Gengar. He stood on all fours, ears raised and alert. No mistakes.

"I'll hold you to your word," Silver drawled, his red ridges lowering.

...Were they not being taken seriously? Ash reached for the brim of his cap, quickly flipping it backwards. "We won't disappoint you! Pikachu, let's go all-out, with Thunderbolt!"

"Pika… Chu!" Pikachu shrieked, launching a golden bolt at Gengar.

The mischievous ghoul shrieked, his stubby arms flailing in fright. That was an attack that he wasn't looking to get fried by. He panicked, quickly vanishing from Thunderbolt's path.

The attack left a victimless explosion in its wake.

Ash's eyes darted around. "We're not getting played again… Pikachu, behind you! Iron Tail!"

Still airborne, Pikachu felt a chill run down his spine from the cold presence that hovered behind him. Gravity saved him from panic, and he landed on his steel-coated tail. Pressing off it like a springboard, the mouse launched back at his opponent, and he spun his body around.  
"Chua… Pika!"

Iron Tail slapped Gengar silly, sending the stout ghoul soaring.  
"Sludge Bomb." Silver ordered, not missing a beat.

Still soaring, Gengar belched a sickening orb of filth at Pikachu.

"We're not falling for that again! Iron Tail!" Ash insisted, punching across his chest.

Pikachu landed on one of his feet, spinning like a ballerina with his momentum's aid. He swung around, Iron Tail smashing into the Sludge Bomb that was inches from hitting him.

The toxic filth broke and splattered, leaving Pikachu unharmed.

"We've got 'em on the ropes," Ash insisted, punching upward. "Thunderbolt!"

Thoroughly enjoying himself, Pikachu jumped sky-high, firing off another flash of lightning.

"Block it, with Dark Pulse!"

Gengar twirled without care, throwing his ghoulish hands forward to fire a series of rings.  
One purple blast after the next crashed into Thunderbolt, and each shattered in a failed attempt to guard Gengar. Thunderbolt got increasingly closer, throwing off sparks with every derailed burst.  
Gengar teetered and stumbled, his grin turning upside down. "Gen-Gen-Gen… Gar!" He struggled to toss the Dark Pulse downward, flinging Thunderbolt at the ground with it.  
A booming crash crowded the field in smoke, where Pikachu was forced to land. His ears perked, beady eyes darting left and right for a sign of the ghost type.  
"Stay alert, Pikachu!" Ash warned. Just where was it...?

"Sludge Bomb."

Pikachu jolted, stumbling backwards when a large shadow overlooked him.

Gengar chortled, towering over Pikachu with a hunk of sludge held over his head. "Gar!"

"Cha!" Pikachu squealed, recoiling at the sick feeling of toxic goo slapping into his forehead. He stumbled forward in an uncomfortable stagger, wiping the sludge off of his fur. "Chu…"

"Crap," Ash cursed, spotting the blue streak on Pikachu's face. "He's poisoned, too…"

"I thought you said no more mistakes. Are you going to take this seriously, or are you just going to let this match fall apart?" Silver scowled, resting a hand on his hip.

"You shut up," Ash snapped, pointing forward. "We're still winning this match! Pikachu, Quick Attack!"

"Pika…" The mouse growled, shaking his head to clear his mind. "Cha! Pika-Pika-Pika-Pika…!" Pikachu chanted, sprinting towards Gengar.

The gym leader blinked, his mouth hanging open. "So, you're giving up?"

Dawn's brows furrowed. "I think he's lost his cool again…"

The grin on Ash's face said otherwise. "Pikachu, Thunder!"

Just now skidding through Gengar's translucent form, Pikachu bore a smirk mirroring his trainer's. Crossing his arms across his body, he gathered electricity before unleashing a blinding golden flash of lightning from his tail. "Pika… Chu!"  
Thunder tore through the gym floor, almost instantly eclipsing Gengar.

"Gah!"

Each contestant, the referee, and Dawn had guarded their eyes, slowly re-adjusting to the light. When their full vision returned, Pikachu stood triumphant, and Gengar laid charred and unconscious.

Pikachu, meanwhile, recoiled from the nip of poison.

"Gengar is unable to battle! The winner is Pikachu!"

"Told you I still had it," Ash boasted.

Dawn blinked. "That should be a good thing, but something doesn't feel right..." Her blue hues narrowed upon Ash. "He should feel good right now, but…" She'd caught a glimpse of her boyfriend exhaling heavily. The way his face glistened under the arena's spotlight tipped her off that he was sweating. "He's fought his way out of tougher spots than this. Get'em, Ash!"

"Don't worry, I will!" He assured, flashing a thumbs up to Dawn. "Right, Pikachu?"

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu barked in agreement. Poison be damned.

"Clever," the leader was forced to admit. He tossed his final pokeball. "Go, Nidoking!"

"Nido!" The hulking poison type growled, stomping a foot into the gym floor. His horn gleamed under the hot spotlights hanging from the gym ceiling.

"Shoot… Our electric attacks won't work here." Ash huffed. "Then we'll just have to-"

"Venoshock!"

A barrage of purple goo was fired from Nidoking's mouth, bombarding Pikachu.

"Cha!" Pikachu squealed, stumbling back. A burning sensation overcame his nerves, the poison's effect on his body sapping his strength at a much greater rate. "Chu…"

"Pikachu!" Ash gasped, quickly drawing his pokedex.

"Venoshock: A poison type attack. The user drenches the target in a special poisonous liquid. Its power is doubled if the target is poisoned."

"That figures… He probably planned this. Well, then, we'll just have to finish this, now! Quick Attack!"

Pikachu did his best to shake his fur free of the gunk. "Pika…" He growled, steadying himself on all fours. With a shout, he launched off of the ground, the floor below him crumbling.

"We'll see how far those guts get you. Brick Break!"

By the time Nidoking had pulled back a hefty arm, a silver streak was right in his face.

"Pika!" Pikachu roared, smashing past Nidoking in an explosive collision that made a Giga Impact look feeble. He soared well out of Nidoking's range before he could even think to counterattack. The poison type was knocked flat on his rear from the impact.

"Now that's the kind of power I'd expect from Pikachu!" Dawn exclaimed with satisfaction, her hands balled up into fists. "If they can just keep this up, they've got it!"

That was a big if. At least in the eyes of the Gym Leader. "Earth Power!"  
Still grounded in a humiliating fashion, the embarrassed biped slammed a fist into the ground.  
Fissures leaking golden rays surged through the floor, closing in on Pikachu.

"Dodge, with another Quick Attack!"

Just as he landed, Pikachu skidded to change directions, launching just out of Earth Power's range. The golden eruption from within the gym floor narrowly missed the tip of his tail.

"Poison Tail!" Silver threw a hand outward.  
Though his armored physique would suggest otherwise, Nidoking was nimble on its feet. With strong legs built like a lagomorph's, the poison type lunged at Pikachu, his long, spined tail whipping around like a wrecking ball, coated in a toxic purple glow.

"Counter that, with Iron Tail!" Ash threw an arm out, as if he was guiding Pikachu's attacks.

"Chua… Pika!" Pikachu struck out, slamming his dwarfed, but sturdy tail into Nidoking's. The larger pokemon was beginning to falter under his might, before Pikachu writhed and cringed.

"Pika…!" Huffing, Pikachu pushed his weight downward once more, launching himself out of range, successfully parrying Nidoking's attack.

Even so, his discolored cheeks were a dead give-away.

"The poison's getting in the way," Ash mumbled. His brows trembled. "He can't put out his full power like that."

Like a Weedle, fresh and vulnerable to be picked off by a Fearow. "Venoshock!"

Grinning a predatory grin, Nidoking belched more toxic sludge towards the suspended mouse.  
"Not happening! Pikachu, Thunder!"

"Pika!" Pikachu shrieked, unleashing his full fury upon the gunk.

Molten hunks of neutralized goo rained down upon Nidoking, prompting a roar of agony.

"Keep up the offensive! Iron Tail!" Ash cried, punching upward.

Pikachu sprung off of his hind legs, assaulting the hurting Nidoking. "Chua...!"

Intrusive venom surged, and yet another squeal of pain followed.

"Counter, with Brick Break!"

Thirsty for vengeance, Nidoking howled, slamming a glowing arm into Brick Break. His canines gnashed, a grin struggling to form as he pushed all of his weight against Pikachu. His limbs trembled and buckled, but Pikachu was making no headway.

The mouse was squinting, fangs bared. His limbs lacked focus. He was vulnerable.

When Ash focused in on the clash, his hands fell weak, irises trembling. Nidoking was hoisting up a second glowing limb, prompting familiar flashbacks of the exact same scenario that'd been Pikachu's downfall. Electivire had been replaced with Nidoking, but his fate was the same.

Ash panicked. "Pikachu, pull back!"  
A mighty roar overwhelmed Ash's voice, and a free fist smashed into Pikachu's gut.  
The mouse was launched skyward.

"Pikachu, hang in there! Pull back!" Ash cupped his hands around his mouth, calling in desperation.

"Now, Earth Power!"

"Nido!" Nidoking followed on his momentum, slamming a fist into the gym floor.

Golden slivers ran through the ground, following Pikachu's path.

The realization left Ash in a cold sweat.

Pikachu was inches from landing. A geyser of elemental energy burst from below his body, blasting him skyward without mercy.

"Pikachu!" Ash fretted, stepping back several feet with his arms held outward.

Much like a football, Pikachu fell into his arms, curled into his chest with care.

Swirls in his eyes left Ash with less than optimistic prospects.

Adjusting the rims of his glasses, the referee raised a flag. "Pikachu is unable to battle!"

"Poor Pikachu… He didn't get a chance to battle the way he'd want to." Dawn frowned, brushing a blue lock from her face. "Ash can't be happy about that…"

"This match isn't done yet!" Ash declared, gripping his last pokeball.

"Rosa, you're up again!" Ash tossed the sphere, letting the Aura pokemon free.  
Still bruised and ruffled up, the biped adjusted her stance, both paws raised.

"I know you've already put in work, but this is the last round! With your help, we can still do this!" Ash encouraged, flashing a smile and a thumbs-up as his companion.

A bark of acknowledgement came from the Aura pokemon, who raised a paw in tandem. ~I-I'll try!~

"If it can win in that condition," Silver added. "I won't hold my breath."

"You'll see!" Ash barked back, punching forward. "Rosa, Power-up Punch!"

The Lucario sprinted towards Nidoking, a glowing paw ready.

"Poison Tail!"

Nidoking pivoted, swinging his gargantuan tail around, slamming it into the Lucario's chest.

A coughing yelp was forced from Rosa's abdomen as she was knocked back, skidding across the battlefield. A paw supporting her kept her from collapsing.

"That poison won't work on her… But that still look like it hurt." Ash's brows furrowed. "This isn't over! Close Combat!"

A squeaky growl marked the Lucario's determination, the Aura pokemon pushing herself to her feet. Leaning forward, she sprinted towards her opponent without a hint of doubt, arms held outward. A punch was readied, prompting Nidoking to raise his guard.

The feint was followed by a stern foot to the stomach, hindering Nidoking. Several swift jabs to the face followed, rounded off with a kick to the chest and a smack of her tail to the jaw.

"You've got this, Rosa!" Dawn cheered, pumping her fists.

"Empol!"

Silver grimaced. "Brick Break!"

Positively boiling with indignance, Nidoking swung a haymaker, prompting a loud squeal that followed the Lucario halfway across the field. That had to have been a critical hit.

"Rosa!" Ash panicked, leaning forward. "Are you alright?"  
A struggled bark denied Ash's fears, the stubborn pup pushing herself to her feat. Ruby hues narrowed upon Nidoking. 'Papa's counting on me… I've just gotta win this!'

"It's too dangerous, getting close…" Ash mused. "Aura Sphere, now!"

The Lucario pivoted stationing her paws at her side. A pinpoint of light grew into a large sphere, positively glowing. It was reared back before finally being tossed forward.

There was no chance of dodging that. Silver wasn't naive. "Block it!"

Stomping its feet into the ground, Nidoking crossed his arms over his body.

A booming teal explosion rocked the field, throwing smoke and dust every which way.

Ash was forced to guard himself with one arm, the other cradling Pikachu. "C'mon…"

The debris cleared quickly. Nidoking held his position, arms trembling. He groaned. Collapsing onto one knee.  
"I think we've got this!" Ash breathed a sigh of relief.

"Premature." The red-headed gym leader scoffed. "Stay steady! Earth Power!"

Barely supporting himself, Nidoking drove a fist into the rubble below him.

"Dodge that!" Ash warned, his heart racing.

Rosa crouched, ready to spring out of harm's way. A sharp pain interrupted, though, bringing the Aura pokemon to her knees. The scuff the earlier Low Sleep had left was taking its toll.

Before anything else could be considered, a booming yellow explosion consumed her.

"Shoot… Rosa!"

The dust scattered, revealing a downed Lucario, her eyes turned to swirls.

The referee raised a damning hand, once more. "Lucario is unable to battle! Which means the challenger, Ash, has lost all six of his pokemon, making Silver, the Gym Leader, the winner!"

Worn out sneakers trudged Ash onto the battlefield, where he knelt to cradle his companion.

The Lucario stirred, then winced. ~...Sorry, Papa. I tried…~

"Hey, you've got nothin' to be sorry about. You gave your all, out there. Just rest for now, alright?" Ash smiled as long as he could be seen, returning his pokemon in a flash of light. He swallowed.

"You're strong," a familiar voice grabbed Ash's attention. From the other end of the battlefield, Silver addressed him. "...And you've got talent as a trainer. You might've even been able to win this."

He paused.

"But you're reckless. You have to know your pokemon's weaknesses if you want to use their strengths." Tauros, Torterra, and Kingler came to mind. "Sometimes, you're unpredictable, but others, you let your guard down and make an obvious move. Don't forget, your opponents can be as inventive as you are."

The leader returned Nidoking, walking towards the back of the gym. "When you understand that, come back again. It'd be stupid to let that strength go to waste."

"...Yeah." Ash managed to spit out in a fluster. He stood, holding Pikachu securely. "I will!"

The shuffling of boots caught his attention, and he looked up to see Dawn beside him.

She let a hand fall on his shoulder. "Sorry about that… But it was still a great match!"

"Yeah, I guess it was…" Ash whistled, bringing up a gloved hand to squeeze hers. He let go afterwards, walking off towards the exit.

Pausing briefly to wait for Empoleon, Dawn jogged ahead to catch up. Her brows furrowed.

"Hold on. You're not going to let this bring you down on yourself again, are you?"  
"Not this time," Ash denied. He forced a smile. "Keeping a crummy attitude won't help me or my pokemon. I'm just kinda bummed. I went in there, thinking I had everything figured out. That I totally knew my pokemon… I guess I made an ass out of myself, huh?"

"I thought you said you weren't going to get down on yourself." Dawn narrowed her eyes.

"I'm fine," Ash insisted, walking out the double doors. "It's just a good thing I lost now. Next time, I'll get it right. That's the only way I'm gonna win the league. I'll learn from my screw-ups!"

"Now, that's a relief." Dawn bore a relieved smile. "That's the Ash that I fell for, you know."

"If you're trying to egg me on, you're headin' in the right direction."

"Well, if it works!"

_

The room and everything in it was white save for the grunts seated quietly within it. Cubicle boxes kept up the illusion of privacy as row after row of underlings watched anxiously and quietly screens within their own cubicles. Each screen flashed in low resolution feeds. The desaturated video feed came from various closed-circuits the organization had hacked into it.  
However, the invaded privacies of the people of Kanto was of minor concern compared to the full color flashing screen at the front of the little almost-office. These were the Kanto objectives of the surveillance sector.

Various faces flashed by, dozens of objectives with different sins against Team Rocket flagging them as worth of the organization's ire. Some were young, foolish thugs who thought themselves fit to have stolen from Rocket grunts. Those blithe bandits made it away on the day of their transgression with what ill-gotten gains Team Rocket had originally possessed, but those who maintained the coffers for Team Rocket kept their tallies immaculately. Narry a pokeball or potion could disappear and not be noticed by them. And, so, the faces of stray, wayward youths were plastered on the objectives screen.

This was not to say Team Rocket only concerned themselves with small fry. Objectives of greater importance also flashed upon the screen. Numbers signified everyone had transgressed against Lord Giovanni's great ambitions and the degree to which their sins stank so hideously in his nostrils. Overly ambitious detectives who had not been properly warned by their departments flashed in higher importance than those wayward thugs. Higher still were rogue grunts, fools who believed they could throw away their intended use by Team Rocket. Beyond that were businessmen who failed to repay Team Rocket for the services such an elite, illustrious organization had rendered. Then, finally, ranking highest were those who had intentionally made themselves active enemies of Team Rocket.

Among these transgressors, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town's warm smile rested. Of course, Dawn's face flashes as well, but given that she had a much briefer encounter history with the organization, she was spared some of the vitriol reserved for the pride of Pallet.

Of course, grunt #4257 had not expected to net any large catches. But, luckily for him, he was tasked with monitoring the CCTV hacks for the western-most Kanto gyms. Black and white footage from the Pewter Gym as well as Viridian. While Forrest practiced in his gym, blissfully unaware of the fact he was being watched, a more interesting scene played out in Silver's gym.

The grunt's eyes zeroed in on Ash's distinct silhouette. As the battle between him and Silver played out on the small screen, he double checked the smaller reference pictures left in his cubicle for ease of identification.

"S-Supervisor!" he suddenly called out, standing up. "Supervisor!"

Walking briskly, the supervisor's tight skirt constrained her pace and surprisingly business-like bun bounced behind her head. "What did you find?"

"Objective #1." Of course, he had only spotted Ash. Dawn was out of sight of the cameras, safely on the side lines.

The supervisor checked the screens before gulping. "Right. Relief!"

Upon hearing this command, a new grunt scurried into the cubicle, taking over screen monitoring for grunt #4257.

Opening the binder she kept tucked under one arm, the supervisor began furiously writing. "Here. Take this paper and go directly to the boss's office with this. Do not stop to speak to anyone. This will let him see for himself what is going on. Hurry! They won't battle forever!"

"Y-Yes, ma'am!"

Rushing out of the Kanto observational room, the grunt briskly walked out of the entire observational wing. The administrative wing wasn't so far away when the boy was jogging to get there. After all, Giovanni wanted to be right by his spies, no matter if they were seated behind a screen or preparing for covert missions.

That said, he was also a well-protected man.

Stopping before a pair of high ranked, intimidating looking guards, 4257 gulped at the sight of their Skarmory and Scizor.

"What is your business?" snapped one of the brutish duo.

"Here," the grunt whimpered. He passed them the paper his supervisor had signed.

The other looked over the slip and recognized the woman's hand writing. "You may pass."  
With that, the two stepped aside.

One last barrier stood before the grunt, though. His secretary sat silently at her computer, cutting her eyes at the sight of the grunt approaching her.

"Papers," she barked before she could even be bothered to let him speak.

"H-Here."

She looked over it briefly before clicking a button on her desk. "Lord Giovanni."

"I am in the middle of a debriefing, Matori. What is it?"

"Objective number one has been-"

He didn't let her finish. "Come in."

Standing up, Matori gestured for the grunt to follow her. The door into Giovanni's office opened automatically. In the dimly lit room, perhaps a dozen screens flickered with looping videos. They were all of the agent standing before Giovanni currently.

4257 suddenly remembered who this woman was. She was one of the spies from back during the Celadon Game Corner fiasco. She had posed as a cleaning lady in the weeks before the raid to get important information and easy access to the team. She had also been present during the night of the raid, though she avoided arrest by posing as a poor victim, all still in her maid's uniform. It was under this disguise that she had even been able to free high ranking agents who had also attended the raid from the clutches of the police.

She had proved herself a valuable asset to the team. No doubt, Giovanni was praising her for such and discussing what rewards she might get. After all, Lord Giovanni was a shrewd business man, but he knew an employee always worked best with positive motivation…

"I do apologize that I must cut our meeting short. I will discuss your next mission with you after this meeting. You may go ahead to the handling wing to select your newest team addition. You have certainly earned it," he said, voice smooth as oil.

Once the spy walked out, the mood changed.

"Did you really spot the boy?" the boss demanded.

"Yes, my lord," the grunt said quietly while Matori passed Giovanni the slip of paper.

The man quickly entered the code the supervisor had written down onto his computer. Behind them, all the screens began to show the feed from the Viridian gym. Silently, Giovanni turned to watch them. The very end of it displayed. The Lucario's defeat at the hands of Silver's Nidoking somehow brought out a smirk from the gang leader.

He chuckled, even. "Well, his Pikachu must have recovered from the level limiter if he's up against Silver so soon. Matori, make a note of that and send the information to the research department. We didn't get a chance to find out the rebound time from those, unfortunately."

While his secretary scratched down that note, Giovanni turned back around, looking over at his computer. "... Matori, tell the financial administrator to be in my office in thirty minutes to discuss our options for dealing with objective one.

"It will be done, my lord."  
"... A-Aren't you going to send a black bag squad?" 4257 suddenly blurted out, unable to stop himself in his confusion. As soon as he said it, though, he slapped a hand over his mouth and looked fearfully up at his leader.

"... You've got very good eyes, so I'll forgive you this time if your mouth isn't worth anything."

Returning from perhaps a nap or perhaps a meal, Giovanni's Persian chose now to make an entrance. Scaring the grunt out of his wits, the luxurious normal type brushed against the interloper before making his way to rest atop the space on Giovanni's desk that was genuinely reserved for him to lounge upon. As Giovanni's first line of personal defense, the desk was made extra large to afford him a good view point of the whole room.

The fact that the cat immediately unsheathed his claws in a blatant intimidation attempt wasn't lost on the grunt.

"T-Thank you, my lord…"

"I'll explain it to you. Everything has a cost, grunt. Right now, I want to know what's worth more of my time and money: trying to train a vine to grow away from my garden or just pulling it up by the roots. If I train it, I don't have to get down and make sure I pull it up right. But, if I pull it, I'll never have to artificially influence its path. I've just got to know: what's the likelihood I won't uproot it right? What's the cost of getting it a trellis? Once I know that, I can decide. After all, grunt, black bag squads are expensive. Their pokemon are extremely valuable. I can't just send them haphazardly into the field where they might be taken away from us. Those agents are difficult to replace if arrested, too. Furthermore, every time we kill someone, the police forget for five minutes that they don't actually like dealing with us. I like to let them pretend we're scared of them, because they usually stop giving chase at city limits if we keep up appearances."

"... That's brilliant, my lord."

"See? There it is again. You're observant, grunt. I'll have use for you yet if you keep it up." Grabbing a slip of paper from his own desk, Giovanni prepared to write. "Now," he said, watching Ash leave the gym from the corner of his eye, "what was your number? I've got a small recommendation I would like to give you as a thanks. We may be opening a new observation room soon, and you might make a good supervisor."

While the wheels began turning for a future conflict between our heroes and Team Rocket, grunt #4257 was on cloud nine. Giovanni might be considering him for supervisor of the future Unova observational room?! "Thank you, my lord! I am four-two-five-seven!"


	59. The Rending

**Author's warning: This chapter will include a number of dark themes, including kidnapping, drug use, and realistic fears. While it still falls within the site's rating system, we thought it best to include this, in case any readers have sensibilities that are offended by this. If this is okay with you, we hope you enjoy our latest chapter.**

* * *

After stopping by the Pokemon Center to get his team healed, Ash found that he was starving. Though the two spent a brief moment arguing over where to have dinner - Ash insisted on a barbeque place he'd seen on the walk back while Dawn wanted to try out a double battle outdoor cafe - they eventually settled on Dawn's choice. She was just the slightest big smug over the whole affair, walking briskly in front of Ash with a bounce in her step and her chin in the air. Though Ash tried to sulk, he really couldn't stay mad. She looked cute when she was confident like that and she had assured him the food would be delicious.

Besides, they'd be battling. After today's battle with Silver, he could use one to wind down.

"Oh, look at it!" Dawn cooed, leaning against the white fence surrounding a huge field.

Perhaps a dozen picnic tables were set under strung lights and now closed umbrellas. Each table was right by a battling field. Low hedges provided a sense of privacy to each field, though openings led to each one. The whole lot only boasted one small building that was probably the kitchen. Another was probably the bathrooms. Two sets of couples were currently battling while another four were just dining. Another was waiting on a bench just outside the fence.

"Huh… Not bad. Kinda… What's the word? Feels like somebody's backyard. Homey? I guess?" Ash answered.

"Are you here to dine?" one of the couple asked, spotting Ash and Dawn.

The woman beside him scoffed. She tossed her long pink hair. "Of course they're here to dine. Why else would they be here, Coal?"

The man breathed deeply before looking at the woman. "Aurora… I was just tryna be polite."

"Well, why don't you just handle the situation." Getting up and walking over, the woman held out her hand to Dawn. "Okay, so, to eat here, you have to pair up in four. Double battles, yeah? You two wanna pair up with us?" Looking over her shoulder, Aurora glared at Coal. "See? That easy?"

The dark red haired man shuffled after Aurora, not speaking. The Clefairy trailing him looked sorry for him.

Ash and Dawn exchanged a glance, much in the same manner Pikachu and Empoleon looked at each other. The two humans then shrugged.

Dawn shook Aurora's hand. "We'd love to!"

"Perfect!" Aurora chimed.

Just in time, the waitress walked over. "You four here to dine?"

"Yep!" all four answered, raising their hands with enthusiasm.

"Alright, then follow me. We'll prepare the appetizers. Why don't you four occupy yourselves with a battle before then? There's healing items near the table. Take them as you need them, but you don't have to knock each other out, either!" the waitress explained as she led them to their table.

Being left alone, the four looked between each other.

"Uh… Us against you?" Ash offered.

Aurora nodded. "Sounds good." She reached into her bag, clicking a pokeball. "Walrein, let's go!"

"Waaaaal!" the huge ice type chimed, flopping onto the ground.

"Whoa," Dawn tutted. "That's a big guy… Empoleon, why don't you join in, too?"

"Empo!"

"Well, if Dawn's using Empoleon, I choose Pikachu!" Ash enthusiastically said.

Coal shrugged. "Clefairy, guess it's us."

With all four pokemon posed and ready for battle, it was time to declare the rules.

"Let's see… If we don't have to have a regular battle… Why don't we just decide… If you're hit, you're out!" Aurora offered.

"Works for me," Ash agreed. "Dawn?"

"Yep!"

Coal shot a glance at Aurora. "... I dunno…"

She glared at him.

"Fine."

"Great! Now, Walrein, use Powder Snow!" Aurora ordered, pointing a hand forward.

"I've got it!" Dawn called. "Empoleon, use Bubble Beam!"

The two attacks met in the middle, neutralizing the each other.

"Nice! Pikachu, use Agility and then Quick Attack!" Ash ordered.

"Clefairy, use Telekinesis," Coal ordered, raising a hand.

Pikachu was dashing forward but suddenly felt a psychic hold pulling on him. Though he was able to resist it, it slowed him down greatly! He was an easier target now!

"Ugh, we're supposed to hit them, Coal!" Aurora snapped.

"We're holding him down for you," the man retorted.

"I gotta do everything. Walrein, use Brine!"

Dawn's eyes widened. "Empoleon, Ice Beam under Pikachu!"

A sheet of ice formed under the rodent just as Brine burst up. Pikachu trembled on the sheet as it began to tremble and break. He leaped from piece to piece, safely jumping away from Walrein's intended strike.

"Great save!" Ash praised. He raised his hand.

Dawn clapped her own against his. "We're a great team!"

"Does Clefairy know any hitting moves?!" Aurora chided.

"..." Coal looked off.

"Ugh! Fine, it's just us, Walrein! Use Body Slam!"

As the huge beast began lumbering towards Pikachu and Empoleon, Dawn and Ash exchanged a look and then nodded.

"Empoleon, use Ice Beam on the ground!"

"Pikachu, Iron Tail!"

Though Walrein had been just about to leap into the air, the sudden appearance of ice under his flippers took him off guard. Rushing forward, Pikachu spun and slapped his opponent, sending the other beast flying.

"One down!" Dawn noted.

"One to go!" Ash responded.

Aurora crossed her arms. "Ugh! Whatever. Have fun figuring it out yourself, Coal!"

"Clefairy, use Sing!" he ordered, trying to ignore Aurora.

Pikachu, still under the hold of Clefairy's Telekinesis, could not cover his ears quick enough to avoid the musical melody like Empoleon.

"Aw, man… There goes Pikachu," Ash lamented. "Can you finish this up, Dawn?"

"You laid great ground work, Ash. I can handle it!" the coordinator said. "Now, Empoleon, use Steel Wing!"

Rushing forward, Empoleon had little trouble sending Clefairy rolling back and away.

Ash walked forward, picking up his Pikachu. "Great job, buddy! C'mere, I'll get the medicine to wake you up!"

While the boy darted off to the table, Dawn patted and praised Empoleon. However, she was also witness to another event. After walking off a bit to collect her Walrein who'd been flung back quite a distance by Ash's impressive Pikachu, Aurora called Coal over. Reluctantly, the man picked up his Clefairy and slunk over to her. By his posture alone, it was clear she was berating him.

Dawn watched this with a certain sense of awkward pity forming in the pity of her stomach for Coal. Why was Aurora so hard on him? In the same breath, though, it didn't seem as if Coal were being very open and honest with his girlfriend.

Suddenly, Dawn was extremely grateful for Ash.

"Your appetizers are here!" the waitress cheerfully yelled, alerting all four trainers to the meal waiting for them.

"Great! I'm starved!" Ash cheered.

The group rushed to the table. The pokemon busied themselves with the berries provided to whet their appetites.

Dawn giggled as Ash shoved one potato skin into his mouth after barely finishing the other.

"Be careful or you'll choke!" she playfully chided.

Mirroring Ash's enthusiastic manner of eating, Coal tore into the fried goods, biting chunks out of the one held in each hand.

"Coal!" Aurora hissed. "Don't be a pig!"

The man lowered both pieces before putting them back down on his plate, appetite lost.

Dawn quirked her brows. "There's plenty, isn't there?" she suggested.

"It's the principle," Aurora snapped. "Don't you know what I mean? Boys can just be so… piggy."

Crossing his arms, Ash looked to Dawn. Did he have to put up with this while he was eating? Really?

Seeing Ash's displeasure, she put a hand on his arm, giving him a pleading look. She wanted to go, too, but somehow she didn't feel right abandoning Coal, especially when a bad departure would probably wind up worse for him.

"I don't really think it's good to go throwing around blanket statements," Dawn said gently, testing the waters.

"Mm… Maybe you're right." She crossed her arms. "I just think if you eat a lot, you should pull your own weight."

At this jab, Coal crossed his arms and looked off.

Ash suddenly realized why Dawn didn't want to just leave. Poor guy. She really didn't respect him.

"... Well, why don't we have another battle?" Ash offered. "While we're waiting for the real food! Uh, how about a contest style double battle? Do… you guys know about contests?"

Aurora's eyes glimmered. "Oh, do I!" she enthused.

"That works," Coal meekly responded.

After shuffling out of their chairs, the group were set up for another round of battles.

This time, Aurora took initiative. "Walrein, use Powder Snow!"

"Waaal!"

Clapping his flippers together, the behemoth created a flurry of soft, beautiful snow to dust the ground. Pikachu and Empoleon both hunkered down from the nippy wind, finding the cold seeped into their joints. They weren't as limber as they were before.

"Clefairy, use Telekinesis!" Coal ordered, holding a hand out.

Suddenly, Pikachu and Empoleon were lifted up, circling each other in the air.

"Clefaaaairy, Clefairy!" the little pink pokemon sang.

"Well, this isn't a good start," Ash mumbled. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on Walrein!"

"Ash!" Dawn chided. "Contest battle!" Shaking her head, she commanded Empoleon. "Ice Beam!"

"Oh, right! … Oops."

Still, Dawn managed to salvage appearances. Pikachu's Thunderbolt led the assault on Walrein, with Ice Beam following shortly after. The initial blow was close to knocking Walrein out. After all, Ash was quite the experienced trainer and Pikachu had been with him all the while! Dawn and Empoleon, too, were exceptional. It was no wonder after a back-to-back series of blows from the two of them that the poor creature was unconscious.

But, the aftermath of the attacks was beautiful. A shallow pool of glass, ice, and melted snow pooled around Walrein.

"Not bad," Dawn tutted.

"When we work together, we're great!" Ash agreed.

Aurora grunted before returning Walrein. "Coal… Figure it out."

With the two opponent pokemon still in his Clefairy's grasp, he had quite a bit of figuring out to do, indeed. "Ugh… Sing!"

"Clefaaaaaa~" the fairy type called, a heart on his chest as he belted out the melody.

Naturally, as neither Pikachu nor Empoleon could avoid the attack, one of them was going to get hit. Pikachu was the victim this time.

"Well, it's your show for a bit," Ash said before laughing good naturedly.

Dawn winked at Ash. "I'll try to dazzle you, then. Empoleon, Steel Wing!"

Twisting and writhing, Empoleon eventually broke out of the grip of Clefairy's Telekinesis. Rushing across the ground, the partial steel type smacked the fairy one good time, sending him skidding.

"Nightmare!" Coal ordered, a hand thrown out.

While Ash's Pikachu writhed from where he'd flopped on the ground after Clefairy's concentration for Telekinesis was broken, a magnificent purple bloom of fears and frights blossomed above the little yellow pokemon.

"Whoa! Cool!" Dawn praised. "But, we can do better! Empoleon, Ice Beam a path and then use Drill Peck!"

Slicking down a path straight for Clefairy, Empoleon whirled down to the pink creature. The impact was devastating and impressive.

Coal was a little upset about the loss, but he picked Clefairy up with a smile. "That was fun! I've never seen anyone combine moves like that! I might try mixing Telekinesis with Nightmare… It's gotta look cool, like your Thunderbolt-Ice Beam combo, right?" he asked.

Ash picked up Pikachu while Dawn scratched Empoleon beneath his beak.

"Combination moves are always a showstopper!" Dawn agreed.

"They're handy in regular battles, too," Ash admitted.

The good mood was broken by Aurora. "Are you gonna ignore what just happened?!" the girl snapped. "Coal, we lost two for two! You've got that moon stone, so I don't know why you don't just evolve your Clefairy!"

Dawn and Ash fell silent, feeling awkward in the middle of a lover's quarrel.

Tensing, Coal gripped his Clefairy more tightly. "Clefairy doesn't want to evolve, Aurora! B-Besides, we're always carrying the weight of the team! So… So… You should shut up!"

There was absolute silence.

"... Fine. You scared off the waitress, by the way. Dinner's waiting for us." Turning her nose up, Aurora walked over to the table.

Coal, Ash, and Dawn followed begrudgingly. The dinner that followed was uncomfortable. After a bit, Dawn asked Ash if he'd join her in a quick walk around the garden. All too happy to escape this situation, he agreed.

As the two walked around the garden, Dawn sighed.

"Ash, we gotta do something."

"Not really," he said quietly. "We could leave."

Crossing her arms, Dawn looked up at Ash. "We gotta help."

"... Ugh! Fine. But, I'm not dealing with Aurora."

"That's fine," she agreed. "You talk to Coal."

As the two walked back to the table, Aurora and Coal were trying to select a dessert.

Snatching a peach sorbet, Aurora quickly ate a spoonful before pointing it at Coal as he tried to indulge in his tiramisu. "Ugh, see! We could have split something! Now, I gotta finish this whole thing or it's gonna be a problem."

Coal tried to ignore her, digging his form into the dessert.

"... Hey, can I get that lava brownie?" Ash asked, throwing a grimace in Dawn's direction. She owed him for this.

After Ash took his dessert, the man walked over to Coal. "Hey, man, mind if I sit by you?"

"... Sure."

Daw nodded. If Aurora was eating a sorbet, she could walk and eat that! Dawn looked at the dessert cart. "Hm… I'll have the pudding cup!" Taking the glass in hand, Dawn turned to Aurora. "Hey, girl! Wanna walk and talk?"

"Ugh, sure. Happy to get away from this loser."

Wincing at the insult, Dawn fell into step with Aurora.

* * *

"So, what's up with you and Aurora, dude?" Ash asked around a mouthful of fudge. "She's always ragging on you."

Coal sighed, his shoulders drooping. "She doesn't have any faith in me… She doesn't even treat me like we're on the same level half the time."

"You ought to tell her that. She shouldn't be talkin' to you like that."

A comfortable silence fell between the two men after that. Coal seemed comforted by Ash agreeing.

"... You know, it's not cool that you point out how weak Aurora's pokemon are. I mean, like, her Walrein isn't as strong as your Clefairy, but saying that probably made her all defensive."

"... You think she's defensive?"

Ash shrugged. "Maybe? People act mean when they're scared." He took another bite. "Or, embarrassed."

* * *

Meanwhile, Aurora was busy spilling her heart out to Dawn. "I just, I just can't rely on him, Dawn! Like… He's just not a take charge kind of guy! There's no romantic spark!"

"You could just tell him what you want," Dawn said, somehow not feeling very sympathetic towards Aurora. After all, Dawn had done the confessing - wasn't it okay to just say what you wanted? "Honesty is the best policy."

"Maybe. But, like… Shouldn't he just know to be romantic with me!? Doesn't he love me?!"

Dawn cocked her head. "He's not a mind reader."

"That's true…"

"Plus, you shouldn't rely on Coal like that. You're your own person. Take care of yourself! You don't see me rely on Ash for everything! Plus, that's a lot of pressure on him."

"That's one way to look at it," Aurora agreed, licking another spoonful of her sorbet.

* * *

As Dawn and Aurora walked back to the table, Ash and Coal were looking over the check. Dashing over, Dawn snatched the small booklet holding it.

"Nope!" she said in a playful tone, winking at Ash. "You covered our last date! My turn!"

"You could just ask for it," Ash half-whined. "It's rude to snatch, ya know."

"Aw. I'm so sorry," she mocked with a smile.

The two burst out laughing while Dawn took out some bills. Aurora and Coal both watched this in shock. Aurora made eye contact with the man before looking down. Coal sighed before putting the money down for their meal.

Still, Ash's words from earlier rung over again in Coal's head. He spoke up.

"Hey, Aurora, you were really passionate earlier, when we were battling."

The girl's head popped up, looking shocked. "Thank you! … My Walrein isn't as strong as your Clefairy, but, um… You shouldn't have to defend us all the time, haha. Sorry for expecting that."

Standing up, Coal walked over to her. "I don't mind being reliable, but I do want your respect."

Straightening her back and holding her chin up, Aurora humphed. "Well, I can respect you if you listen to my requests every now and then."

"What do you want?"

"I'd like to go on a romantic walk, now," Aurora tutted.

Coal grinned. "I can do that. Clefairy, c'mon! We're headed out."

Coal and Aurora held hands, walking away from the eatery.

Ash and Dawn let out a sigh of relief.

"So, uh, do you want to go for a romantic walk?" Ash asked.

Dawn laughed. "Uh, no! Those two wiped me out. I want to go back to the Pokemon Center and go to bed!"

Ash fist pumped. "I was hoping you'd say that! After all the battling today, I'm wiped." He looked over his shoulder. "Pikachu, Empoleon! C'mon! We're headed back!" Ash stood. "Early to bed, early to train!"

"Is that all you're gonna do tomorrow…?"

"Don't worry, I won't train out in public!" Ash promised, with Dawn's fears in mind.

* * *

The group had, indeed, crashed after a grueling day of battles and drama. Comfortably dozing the night away, Ash, Dawn, and their pokemon woke refreshed and their drives renewed. A quick breakfast in the Pokemon Center fueled them for the day before they headed out.

"See? This is out far enough. We're in the clear!" Ash jerked a thumb to a duty old battlefield bordering the west end of Viridian City. Weeds had prodded through the large patch of dirt, and the fields' spray painted borders had faded and decayed, for the most part.

It might've been a little depressing, if it didn't suit their purpose so well. No one to interrupt or heckle the group during their hard work.

"Perfect!" Dawn clasped her hands together. "Then, let's get to work!"

"You've got it," Ash agreed, turning to his box on the field before tossing a pokeball. "You're up first, Rosa!"

The Lucario appeared in a flash, peering about the battlefield. _~W-we're training, now!?_

"You guessed it," Ash answered. "We're going to make sure we're all ready for Silver, next time!"

The Lucario's shoulders sloped, her ears drooping. _~I'm sorry I lost… I tried my hardest! Weavile was tough, but we figured it out, but I was so tired! Nidoking just hit so hard, and… and…~_

"Pika!" Pikachu interrupted, sprinting over to his taller, bluer companion. He turned, patting her with his lightning bolt tail. "Pikachu!" It was okay! She'd done her best, and that was what mattered.

"Pikachu's right," Ash agreed with his partner's sentiments. He was grateful that the mouse took the initiative to calm the Lucario's nerves. "We all lose, sometimes. You don't have to feel bad about it! The only thing you can do is work harder, so you'll win next time."

"Right! No guts, no glory!" Dawn agreed.

At that point, a flash emitted from her belt, taking the form of Empoleon.

"Speaking of glory…"

"Empol!" The penguin squawked, waddling over to the Luacrio, resting his wings on his hips before raising one of them high. Big bro would teach her to be tough and confident! Just follow his lead!

Warmth swelled up in the furry fighter's heart. All of this support… She felt like she would burst! A whine slowly rising in pitch climaxed in a loud bark and a paw thrown in the air. _~YEAH! I'll whoop all their butts! With big bro,~_ her gaze turned to Pikachu. Then Empoleon. _~...And bigger bro! And Papa, and Momma Dawn, I'll be unstoppable!~_

Dawn couldn't help but hold a hand to her heart. Now, she was an honorary Momma!? In that case… "Well, then, let's get to work! I'm sure Empoleon could help you out; you're both steel types! Maybe you could learn a move from him, somehow!"

It wasn't as if she could pick up Steel Wing… But, maybe there was something else!

"Empol!" The water type declared. He was up to the task!

 _~Y-yeah! Let's go!~_ Rosa lunged at her larger peer, a fist reared.

Needless to say, sparks flew.

* * *

Probably twenty minutes had passed, now, but it'd felt like hours. Both Rosa and Empoleon still stood, each covered in small scratches. Both huffed, growing weary.

The Lucario let out a frustrated yip, striking the earthy floor below her. _~This is… this is too hard!~_

"Empol!" Empoleon instructed, raising his wing… His very sore wing. It'd been battered by one too many Power-up Punches. All the same, he poured his focus into it, and it shimmered. All he had to do was focus on the metals that now clad his bones! Naturally, the power would flow to his limbs!

 _~Like… Like this?~_ The Lucario grunted, pouring her power into her fist. Instead, a glimmering orange flame surrounded it.

"That's still Power-up Punch,"Ash corrected. They were getting a good exercise out of this, at the very least. But, they weren't making much progress, with new moves.

"I had to teach Pikachu Iron Tail from scratch," he recalled. "Maybe he could help."

"Empoleon!" A dissenting voice squawked. He could still do this! "Pol." He held out his wing, once more. If she could just focus on making her skin more dense…

 _~I can take it!~_ Rosa protested, stubborn as ever. She sprinted towards her larger opponent, growling as her focus poured into her paw. If she could just use Metal Claw… Just a bit more focus…!

Her paw began to glow, and she jumped at the water type.

Empoleon beamed. This was it! That had to be Metal Claw, or Bullet Punch! Now, he'd just have to…!

A teal explosion interrupted the avian's thoughts, rocking the field with thick smoke.

Empoleon flew out of the aftermath, skidding straight out of bounds, unconscious.

Dawn was flabbergasted. "Was… Was that some kind of new move!?"

"I think it was just Aura Sphere," Ash reluctantly relayed. "Maybe she's not ready yet… She's only been a Lucario for around a week… Hell, she's only been around for a few months, now. Taking on moves from a new type can't be easy." Much the same way, he figured, that learning to hone his supernatural senses when he was used to using his eyes and ears.

"Empoleon…! Talk about luck," Dawn deadpanned, running over to check on her companion.

 _~O-oops…~_ The Lucario stuttered, fidgeting with her paws. That hadn't been the plan.

"Hey, screw-ups happen. He'll be alright. But, you put up a pretty great fight!" Ash praised, walking towards his pokemon, intending to give a congratulatory pat.

His praise was interrupted by a surge of pain in his back.

"Ah!"

"Pika!"

A spinning, glowing sphere had knocked Ash and Pikachu to the ground, leaving both hissing in pain.

"Ah… What the hell was that!?" Ash groaned, rubbing the back of his head.

"Pikachu… Pika!?" Pikachu squeaked, finding himself surrounded by transparent screens. A metallic floor closed under him, and he found himself lifting from the ground.

A small cage had begun to levitate, suspended by a Magneton's pull.

"Oww…" Ash finally sat up, turning to get a look behind him. His face twisted in disgust.

A round of haughty laughter came from three distinct voices. Jessie, James, and Meowth stood at the edge of the field, their hands on their hips.

"Can't we ever catch a break!?" Ash snarled. The sight of Pikachu in one of their traps wasn't something he'd seen in ages. But, he would've settled for never seeing it again.

"C'mon, Empoleon… We might need your help here." Dawn cradled her starter pokemon, waving a hand in front of his face. So much for staying out of trouble.

"'Fraid not, Twoipy!" Meowth cackled. "This time, we gotcha right where we want ya's!"

"You wish," Ash spat, pushing himself to his feet. "Rosa, Aura Sphere!"

The Lucario snarled, pulling a paw behind her head. _~I-I'll show you!~_

A teal sphere of energy was lobbed at the small band of crooks.

"It's not going to be that easy, this time, brat!" Jessie boasted, swiftly tossing a pokeball. "Mirror Coat!"

A flash put Wobbuffet in Aura Sphere's path. "Wobbu!"

The blue pokemon's skin shimmered with a rainbow guard, his body recoiling when the sphere crashed into him. "Fet!" He cried, throwing his body back out. Aura Sphere was bounced back.

Before the Lucario could defend herself, she was struck, caught up in an earth-rattling explosion.

The debris soon cleared, and the Lucario was struggling to stand. Between this and her training with Empoleon, she was exhausted. _~O-ow….~_

James was all too eager to throw his hat into the ring. "Magneton, Thunder Wave!"

The steel type spun about, launching a flickering current towards the Lucario. "Ton!"

Suddenly numbed by the electric shock, Rosa howled, finding herself unable to move.

"This is bad… Return, Empoleon!" Dawn recalled her starter with his pokeball, tossing another. "We need your help, Quilava!"

"Lava!" The pokemon cried, sending a glare towards Team Rocket. Couldn't they just buzz off!?

Jessie only chuckled. "I have to hand it to you, Twerpette. You did us a big favor, wearing Lucario down for us. It makes our jobs much, much easier." The scarlet-haired Rocket pulled out what looked to be a gas mask, strapping it over her face.

James and Meowth did the same. The lavender-haired man let out a muffled chuckle, holding a rose between his fingers. "We'd love to catch up, but we'll have to get back to you!" A flick of his wrist flung the flower towards the ground, where the stem stuck. A black, noxious gas began to spew from the rose.

"You wish!" Ash hissed, reaching for a pokeball. "You're not getting Pika… chu…!" With every word, though, the teen felt his strength leaving him. His eyes became irritated, and his mind foggy.

Overhearing Ash's coughing fit from within, Dawn gasped. "Hang on, Ash!" She sprinted forward, using her hand to cover her nose and mouth, with Quilava hot on her trail. The thick smog was disorienting, though, leaving her to snag her foot, falling on her face.

A squeak from below her told her that she'd tripped over Rosa. "S-sorry…!" Tried as she may to right herself, though, the coordinator felt dizzy. Her legs felt like jelly, and failed to support her.

After what felt like several foggy minutes, the noxious gas began to disperse. Dawn blinked the tears out of her eyes, her head turning every which way for a sign of her allies or enemies. Even in her light-headed state, she was sure she saw nothing… Not Jessie, James, Meowth, or Wobbuffet. Nor did she see…

"Ash!? Pikachu!?" Dawn sat up, her heart beginning to pound. No matter where she looked, she was alone, save for Rosa and Quilava. Had they even taken Ash, himself, before!?

"This is all my fault… I shouldn't've entered that stupid contest!" Dawn dug her nails into the dirt, her strength beginning to return to her. She swallowed, looking to the disoriented pokemon beside her. "Quilava… Help Rosa up, please?"

"Lav," the pokemon responded, scurrying to the Lucario's side.

The coordinator clenched a fist, her tear-stained eyes turning toward the mid-morning sky. "Ash, and Pikachu… I swear, I'll rescue you guys!"

Wherever they were.

* * *

He ached.

That was his first sensation upon waking, spinning and disoriented, a white ceiling passing before his eyes. Body relaxed, he tried to recollect where he was. He tried to shift in what he assumed was the hardest bed on earth, but found his wrists and ankles were bound. Lifting his head in horror, he recalled exactly what happened.

His immediate response was to scream.

"Pikachu! Dawn! Rosa! Empoleon!"

His reward was a swift smack to the jaw.

"Be quiet!"

Chest heaving, Ash looked with wild eyes to the Rocket grunt wheeling him into what might have passed for a very disturbed doctor's office. It was painfully metallic and white and stank of bleach.

He felt parched and hot, yet somehow the metal gurney he was bound to felt as if it were freezing him. He looked up, trying to figure out where he was, still. Was this the secret base of Team Rocket?

What he spotted, instead, made his blood boil. With their backs to him, the trio of Team Rocket he knew, and had once upon a time thought as almost friendly enemies, were speaking to a person cloaked in white. Their demeanor was calm, calculated, and almost cruel, very stiff and certain. Their stature and way of carrying themselves dwarfed the grunts around them. However it was, they were important and they knew it.

As the person spotted Ash, his heart sped up. Silver! It was -

Not Silver. Very similar to him, though. Unnervingly so, really; Ash tried to swallow spit he didn't have as the woman with red hair looked him over.

Until now, he'd been too disoriented to really hear what they were saying. Even though her lips were moving and sound was coming out, Ash couldn't yet recognize what she was saying. Now, however, he did.

It wasn't meant for him.

"Excellent job," she said, speaking to Jessie, James, and Meowth, though she didn't look at them. "You're dismissed. I'll take over from here. The research facility is perfectly suited to handling such… volatile projects."

Ash furrowed his brows when she roughly grabbed his jaw.

"But, you won't give me trouble, will you?"

He would have spat at her if he had the spit for it. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Jessie and James looking at him with something like pity. Were they hesitating to leave? He gripped his hands into fists. How dare they act concerned now that they'd already delivered him into the Luxray's den?! He felt betrayed in that moment, but he didn't quite know why. Perhaps the brief moments when they'd worked together didn't mean anything to the trio.

"I said you were dismissed," the woman repeated.

The group left, then. Ash watched them leave, chest on fire with rage.

Letting go of Ash's face, the woman wiped her hand on her skirt. "He's to be taken to our maximum security cell. He won't eat or drink until he can be observed by a researcher."

The grunts nodded. "Yes, Miss Ariana."

Ash's nostrils flared, but he tried to remain calm as the gurney was pushed once more. He flexed his muscles and twisted his hands, but found miserably that he was bound too tight to do anything. However, there was still the option of aura!

As he tried to focus despite the still lingering, dizzying effects of his elongated exposure to the gas earlier, the grunts opened his cell door.

"Don't forget to give him the shot," one said.

Ash's eyes flicked to the one who spoke. Shot?! What were they going to give him?!

As he turned his head away, he felt a sudden, sharp, pricking pain. "Augh!" he groaned, whipping his head around to look at the grunt who'd jabbed him. Ash began to struggle wildly, lifting his chest and hips and head all in a vain attempt to free himself. He felt the gurney behind to shake and buck a bit…! But, then his body began to not respond to him. He felt himself growing numb. Soon, he could not even move at all, save blinking.

"What a relief," one of them said. "We'd've been up shit creek if we lost this important research project."

Unable to resist, Ash watched miserably as the grunts unbound his now useless hands. He couldn't even gather up aura. Picking him up as if he were less a person and more a carcass, they moved him with all the dignity one might move a sack of potatoes. As he was dragged into the cell, he wondered why they wanted to study him.

Uncomfortably positioned, Ash was powerless to do anything about it right now. They bound his wrist once more, barely far enough from the wall that he could imagine himself facing away from it if he could move.

He watched motionlessly as the grunts checked his wrist cuffs and then locked him into the cell.

"Pikachu…" Ash mumbled, finally regaining control of his mouth. The name barely came out as a whisper.

The grunt heard it, though. He looked strangely at Ash before snapping his fingers in realization. "Hey, kid! No worries. Your li'l mouse is gonna be studied for Team Rocket's glory, too!" He tilted his head. "I ain't ever heard of no li'l critter from such a common species ever bein' this important, before, so that's gotta be somethin' to be proud of!" The grunt chuckled, completely unaware of why Ash was truly upset. "You're prized, too! Look, you've got your own private cell and everything."

Furious but unable to move, Ash gritted his teeth again. Was Pikachu trapped like this, as well?! "Pikachu…!" he mumbled. His head was foggy. Were the drugs reacting to each other badly? "Pikachu…"

Suddenly, he recalled a flash of blue. "... Dawn…" She was with them. Was she coming to save him?

No, she absolutely was. He shouldn't doubt her. It was just a matter of time. If they hadn't mentioned her, she wasn't here. And, if she wasn't here, she was coming for him. All he had to do was wait.

But, how he loathed waiting.

* * *

Sweat drenched her. Dawn finished another lap around Viridian City. She doubled over, hands on her knees and her tongue lolling. Togekiss, who had been flying above them all, keeping an eye out for hide or hair of Ash or Pikachu, landed beside her trainer, cooing softly in worry. Houndoom, meanwhile, continued to sniff around, failing to pick up the noxious odor of Team Rocket. Finally, Rosa put a hand on Dawn's shoulder, though her eyes darted to the side as her aura feelers wiggled a bit. She could not detect her father's aura.

But, this was a huge city. The buildings could hide so much from Togekiss's eyes. Team Rocket's scent was old and abundant in this city, and Jessie, James, and Meowth had apparently meandered around quite a bit before approaching Ash and Dawn, as their odor was too thick for Houndoom to make heads or tails of the direction this long after the fact. And, with so many people around, Rosa became too overwhelmed if she felt out further than the immediate area.

But, the longer they went without him, the more panicked she became.

Finally, Dawn collapsed to her knees, ignoring the fact she was now sitting in a dirty alley. They'd spent two hours looking for him all over the city and there were no results. She didn't know what to do. Raising her hands up, she began to sniffle.

"Oh… Arceus… No… No…" She looked over her shoulder, eyes watering. "Rosa…! I'm so sorry, I don't know what to do!"

Her own feelings at their breaking point, Rosa hugged Dawn, crying. _~Momma Dawn… What're we gonna do?! I want Papa!~_

Unable to bear seeing the girls so upset, Togekiss hopped over, wrapping them both in her wings. For a moment, all three stayed like that, hugging it out.

It was only interrupted by Houndoom's wet, warm nose poking Dawn's shoulder. When she looked up, he pointed to the end of the alley. She caught sight of the haunches of an Arcanine walking by. It had to be with an Officer Jenny.

Wiping away her tears and hiccuping one last time, Dawn stood up. She offered a hand to Rosa. "It's finally time to go to the police, I guess…" she mumbled. "Togekiss, Houndoom, thank you so much for your help. We'll find Ash. For now, return."

The two disappeared in a flash of red light. Dawn looked down at Empoleon's pokeball and considered releasing him. However, he'd been completely inconsolable when he discovered that he hadn't been able to rescue Ash and Pikachu because he'd been knocked out.

Dawn would have considered returning Rosa considering how bad she felt, but Ash had her pokeball. Instead, she offered her hand to the pup.

"Let's walk together."

Smiling, Rosa took Dawn's hand in her paw and followed. Though the day was very overwhelming, having Dawn's hand to hold felt nice. Rosa felt the most safe with Ash, but Dawn made her feel safe, too. She knew the coordinator would bring her papa back to her.

Soon enough, they entered the police station. Dawn approached the front desk.

"How can I help you?" the officer asked without lifting her head.

"I want to file a missing person's report," Dawn said, voice sounding tired and strained.

"When did you last see the person and under what circumstances?"

"Uh… Two, maybe three hours ago? At the battle fields behind the Pokemon Center." She looked down. "Team Rocket kidnapped him then, and -"

The officer looked up, interrupting Dawn. "How many?"

Caught off guard, but keeping up, Dawn blurted out an answer. "Two people."

The Jenny looked relieved. "They weren't black bagged. If it had been a group of five, then… We'd be looking for a body." The officer nodded. "What's their name? Trainer or no?"

"Ash Ketchum, and yes, a trainer."

"That's all I need, then." The officer typed away on her computer. "You trainers tend to go missing on routes pretty often, so we update your data all the time when you check into leagues or contests or even visit Pokemon Centers." She frowned. "This kind of search and rescue is different."

Nodding, the woman looked up at Dawn. "I've got a rough idea of where to look. Rocket grunts seen fleeing the city have a tendency to go either westward or northward out of town." She looked to the side before picking up a radio. "I, ah, can't leave my desk right now. I'm on duty. And, it'll take a while before anyone can begin the search for someone who we know is alive. However… If you were to stumble upon something, I would be completely justified in coming to your aid."

Realizing what the woman meant, Dawn gratefully took the small handheld radio. "Thank you."

The Jenny nodded. "Just press and give me some info. I'll come running."

* * *

Hours passed, again. Dawn found herself on the edge of the Viridian Forest, slightly west to the main part of it. She knew there was no use going into it. She'd been there with Ash and there hadn't been a sign of a hidden Rocket hideout. Furthermore, Samurai would have been the first to warn them if there was. He knew the forest well. But, to the west of the forest, there were mountains and eventually a path which would lead to Victory Road. Or, so the Pokemon Center's map had said when she checked it in a hurry before leaving some time ago.

But, that had been several hours ago, and Dawn had been carefully trying to get a hint of whether going northwest rather than purely west or purely north had been the best idea.

Once again, Togekiss and Houndoom had helped Dawn and Rosa comb the land. As such, everyone's energy was running low.

When Togekiss landed heavily in the twilight, Dawn knew it was time to call it a night.

"Thanks. Sorry," she said gently, petting the white bird's head. "You and Houndoom need a rest. Return." With those two put away, Dawn released Absol. She did a mental tally. Empoleon, Mamoswine, and Quilava were still fresh. She didn't want to exhaust all of them, especially when she didn't know what might lie ahead.

Sensing Dawn's worry, Rosa touched the girl's arm. _~We've got to keep going. For Papa.~_ She yawned.

"It's getting dark. If we want to help Ash, we have to have our energy." She looked to Absol. "Hey, do you mind keeping guard while we sleep for a few hours?"

The pokemon shook its head once.

"Thank you." Dawn gratefully unraveled her sleeping bag, laying it out flat so she and Rosa could both fit on it.

Both girls laid down, back to back, slightly secluded under the branches of a tall pine tree. Absol, meanwhile, sat down near them, peering into the darkness. Quietly, the pokemon felt disappointed in itself. Perhaps if it had been around to sense the danger Ash had been in, it could have prevented it.

* * *

If it was night time, Pikachu didn't know it. Bristling, he pressed his back further against the far wall of his rubber coated cage as the garish white fluorescent lights of the room he'd been stuck in endlessly glowed. His heart was hammering within his tiny rib cage. His fur was brushed in all the wrong directions and a thin lather of sweat had been worked up in it. As the rubber coated hand reached for him, he finally snapped, biting at it.

Disappointment and fear sank into him as he realized there was a thick glove beneath the rubber one. Snatched by his scruff, Pikachu squealed as the scientist dragged him out of the cage.

Though the lab was decorated with a few, scarce scorch marks, an unimpressed looking Marowak rested on a seat in the corner. She watched Pikachu passively, shaded eyes lingering on him in an unspoken threat. One step out of line and she'd club him for sure.

"You shouldn't struggle!" the scientist grumbled as Pikachu wiggled in his grasp. Pressing the pokemon against the rubber top of the observation table, the scientist pressed a needle into the Pokemon.

"Chu!" Pikachu whimpered, movement slowing until all he could do was twitch a leg and then move languidly.

Barely able to move his ears, the yellow pokemon tried to follow the movements of the scientist.

"Good boy," the scientist said, patting Pikachu.

The mouse wanted to coil away. Instead, he was greeted with a gritty piece of paper swapping across his cheek.

While Pikachu tried to nurse his stinging cheek, the scientist put the sample in a bag.

He tossed it into a bin labeled 'observation.' "Your cheek pouch cells will tell us great things!" He grabbed a metal prod connected to a long, insulated wire. Then, he roughly squeezed Pikachu's cheeks, testing his electric reflex while pressing the device against said cheek.

The output was measured. Pikachu wanted to struggle away from the pain of having his cheek pouch squeezed so roughly, but he wasn't coordinated enough with the drugs in his system.

The scientist clicked his tongue. "Well, that may definitely be a part of it. That was the sudden spike in electric output. Your cells might be super efficient!" He laughed. "After some food and a nap, we'll see how you do fighting on camera - especially since you seem so spirited."

Pikachu didn't want to fight for these people. He didn't want to battle at all right now. He wanted Ash. "Pikapi…" the mouse whimpered as he was picked up once more, returned to his cage.

* * *

He hadn't slept well, by any means. Nothing could be recalled but a few blurred unpleasant feelings, but if nothing else, at least his thoughts weren't coherent enough to allow him to worry and fret. The only reason consciousness even returned at all was the unwelcome feeling of a shoe pressing against his cheek.

The urge to lash out with blows was there, but neither his mind nor body was capable. He settled for shrugging off the sole, glaring at what appeared to be a pair of grunts. He didn't recognize their faces. Grimy creeps.

With that thought, Ash struggles shrug up a shoulder to rub his dirtied cheek against his collar. It's only then that he realizes just how sweaty and disgusting he feels. Not to mention, overheated. _'I wanna bath,'_ he whines without a word. On the other hand, though, he cringed at the thought of getting any assistant. He didn't want one if these sleazes had to help him.

"Hey, guy," one of the grunts interrupted Ash's thoughts, holding a spoon and a pail. "Feedin' time. We can't have ya running wild, so we gotta spoonfeed ya. Wouldn't want ya collapsing or keeling over on us." His duties were giving him the creeps. But orders were orders.

"Don't get too jolly," the other added. "We can't give you too much. Don't want you gettin' wild on us."

"Man, and I forgot to write you a thank you card," Ash spat back.

"Bein' a wiseass isn't gonna keep you from starvin'. Zip it." The young man clad in black reluctantly crouches, scooping up a mucky spoonful that was held up to the captive.

Ash used the little strength he had to swerve and turn his head, refusing whatever junk the crooks had stewed up for him. The thought of taking sustenance from them alone was enough to give him a stomach ache. Like he'd swallow his pride and eat right out of their hands!

...Then again, his pride was the only thing left to swallow. His gut was empty, and he was pretty sure that he was beginning to tremble from hunger. He was pretty sure he hadn't eaten in hours, at least.

"Knock it off, already!" The nameless grunt barked, jabbing the spoon in his face.

It felt cold and unpleasant. But Ash was out of options. He glared daggers at both, parting his lips to take a spoonful.

He instantly regretted it.

The 'food,' if you could call it that, was sickening. Probably too greasy for even him to handle, and practically cold. Ash's face twisted in disgust, and he spat the drivel in the grunt's face. "Eugh… The heck is in that!?" Foggy and furious, his first impulse was to headbutt the bucket that was barely in the man's grip, now.

It was knocked to the floor, and livid exclamations were Ash's reward. The grunt fell back, revolted as he wiped the slob from his own face. "The hell's the matter with you!? Ech!"

The other grimaced, jolting forward to kick Ash in the side. "Hey, watch it!"

Another jolt of pain knocks the teen on his side, but he squirms and struggles. "Man, when I get my hands on you guys, I swear I-"

Another jolt. What had to be a needle sunk into his neck. His senses are, again, immediately dulled, his limbs becoming limp. His lids begin to droop. _'Wonder what all this junk is gonna do to me.'_ This was the third time he'd fallen weak… But, that worry gave birth to one that was far worse. Even in his sedated state, his heart began to pound.

 _'_ _Pikachu… What if they're doing the same to Pikachu!?'_ He willed his muscles to move. He willed the strength to break free and knock these guys on their rears so he could find his precious friend. _'He's gotta… doin' better… He's gotta! ...Rosa… They didn't get her, did'ey?'_

No, they hadn't said anything about her. But, it was hard not to fear the worst.

 _'_ _Shoot…. I 'ad my pokeballs…'_ That meant Team Rocket had them.

Could things get any worse?

Consciousness began to fade again, the grey room fading to black. The last image that came through his mind was a blurry reconstruction of Dawn and Empoleon. He turned his face to the floor, reluctantly falling into rest.


	60. Storming the Castle

**Thank you, to everyone who stuck through the grit of chapter 59! We guarantee you'll enjoy what follows. As always, feedback and reviews are very much appreciated.**

* * *

The pitch black of Ash's lids gave way to windows of light, slowly bringing him back to the sterile, uncomfortably bright room that held him captive. He winced, blinking to adjust to his surroundings. What time was it, even? Wherever he was being held, it was impossible to tell.

Even just out of slumber, the teen watched his hands tremble. His stomach ached from deprivation. "Urgh… so hungry…" He whined, slinking himself up against the wall. Sweat had drenched his skin, and some of the spilled food had stained his pant leg. He still felt disgusting.

But, on the other hand, his head was clear. "Looks like whatever they gave me wore off…" Even his complaints came together as coherent thoughts he could grasp, rather than fuzzy notions that slipped through his fingers.

Now, he could focus on his priority. Saving Pikachu and the others, and getting the hell out of here. "There's gotta be a way… Before anyone pops up. I've gotta reach Pikachu." Even if, by some miracle, he did break out, without his team, he'd be defenseless. Especially with the state he was in. "But, how…"

His dark brows furrowed. _'Hold on… Reaching him. I know Riley said something…'_

* * *

 _Sinnoh's horizon had swallowed the sun, delivering the region a time of rest. A rather chilly breeze brushed over Iron Island, rustling a crackling campfire that lit one of its craggy outcrops._

 _Ash had been eager to scoot closer to the fire, basking in the warmth. Pikachu sat curled up in his lap, and Rosa nestled into the mouse's fluffy hide, sound asleep. An occasional meek whistle of a snore ruffled Pikachu's yellow fur._

 _"_ _Hey… Riley?" Ash looked up from his companions, inquisitive eyes turning to his mentor, who ate a modest meal of rice and berries._

 _The navy-haired man politely swallowed before answering, quite unlike his protégé. "What is it, Ash?"_

 _"_ _You know how Rosa, you know, talks to us… Like, through our minds? What's the deal with that? It's not like she's a psychic type."_

 _"_ _Although the answer may not surprise you…" Riley failed to conceal a smile. "She's relaying her thoughts through aura."_

 _"_ _Relaying her thoughts?" Ash echoed._

"Well, we all know that pokemon can't speak our languages naturally."

 _Ash neglected to name the feline who would say otherwise._

 _"_ _But, like you've seen, aura is a measure of life. It allows a user to perceive vitality. Strength. Temperament. Movement. Even thoughts. To one with talent, like a Lucario, or latent abilities honed by practice… You, potentially… One's aura can be a window to their very being. Rosemary allowed us to see that, as some Riolu and Lucario do."_

 _Ash's mouth hung open. Pokemon were amazing. "I think I know what you're talking about. Around a year ago, we had to rescue a different Riolu, and I could see its thoughts and memories. Before I learned any of this stuff… But, you said I can do that with practice, right?"_

 _"_ _That's a great example." Knowing that Ash was well on his way warmed the guardian's heart. He nodded, laying a hand on his Lucario's shoulder. "You can… But, it's not as simple as reading minds at will. As far as I've known of our lore… It involves one opening their heart willingly. Trusting another to open that window and forge that link."_

 _"_ _That's incredible…" Ash looked back to his pokemon. Pikachu nestled into his shirt. "So, is that just with Riolu and Lucario?"_

 _"_ _That's usually the case. They're both natural channelers of the energy. Often, they're conductors of links. If they choose to, they can initiate these mental bonds. But, not every aura guardian partners with them. In these cases, they can conduct the link… It's important to remember, that even in the scheme of these great natural forces that guide us… Empathy is the key to it all. Loving and understanding one another. Seeing another's perspective."_

 _Normally, Riley's words would be a little flowery for Ash's tastes. But, he found Pikachu's round, beady eyes looking back up at him. His curved smile was contagious. "Well, I may have a lot to learn about aura, but I get that!" He gave Pikachu a playful pat on the head._

 _"_ _Cha~!" Pikachu cooed, craning his head back. If he shared trust with anyone, it was Ash!_

 _"_ _And, that's the key. Someday, I'm sure that gift will come to fruition."_

* * *

"Things were easy back then, huh…" His biggest complaint was not having home-cooked meals. Making the mistake of eyeing the slob on the floor, Ash was already counting his blessings.

"But, Pikachu probably has it worse…" His fists tightened enough to yank on his cuffs, the metal digging into his wrists. By now, they were aching. Nonetheless, Ash exhaled, his eyes falling shut. His breathing slowed to a gentle pattern, tuning out the agonizing conditions that surrounded him.

A sickening feeling quickly overwhelmed the trainer again. Feelings of fear, pain, anger… They swirled among a web of life forms. Most human, some shaped more like pokemon, here and there. Staying focused was getting increasingly difficult. The teal blobs of light began to fuzz and scatter in Ash's anger. His eyes shut painfully tight. It was a good thing Rosa wasn't here.

"For Pikachu…" His best friend had to be out there. His pride and joy. Those positive thoughts would guide him. If he knew his companion, he'd still be holding onto hope.

A small, glowing form grabbed his attention. An extremely familiar one. His focus flooded him with a feeling of disgust. But, it wasn't overwhelming. If he could just reach him…

 _~Pikachu… Pikachu, can you hear me?~_

An Oran Berry was held between two paws, nibbled at with little enthusiasm. Pikachu did his best to avoid eye contact with a nurse who occasionally lifted one of his paws or inspected his tail for injuries. The urge to let out a charge was overwhelming, but she was hardly the worst of the Rockets to handle him. If this was the worst of being prepped for their sick test battles, he'd endure until there was a way out.

A voice rang through his head that nearly made him choke on the berry. "Pikapi!?"

The mouse's sudden outburst startled his temporary caretaker. "Now, take it easy. If you're half as remarkable as your presence here suggests, you've got nothing to be afraid of."

 _~Ash!?~_ Astonished as he was, a sense of relief flooded Pikachu. He could only figure to respond with his own thoughts. However Ash reached him… He felt like he knew this. But, there was no time to dwell. There were more important matters. _~Where are you!?~_

Ash blinked. Receiving Pikachu's thoughts in a language he could understand… It was startling. His squeaky, familiar voice was constructing words in his mind. He must've been right about the opening of his heart. _~I'm cooped up in some cell, right now… But, forget that, what about you!? Are you alright, buddy?~_

Ash's tendency to cover up his own worry was nothing new to the mouse, and today was no different. He'd turned straight to Pikachu's predicament. Like he had a level head about this. But, whatever his trainer was doing, his own anguish was leaking through. A sensation of fear made his fur stand on end. The poor guy had clearly been terrified.

 _~I've… Been better.~_ He felt no need to worry his best friend further. _~I'm in okay shape… But I… I want out, Ash. I don't want any more of this. This is worse than usual!~_

The squeak his constructed voice let loose spilled tears from Ash's ducts. He swallowed. Pikachu was trying to play tough, too, but Ash knew better.

 _~We'll get you out,~_ Ash assured. He still trembled, but that much, he'd promise. Even if it was the death of him. _~I just wanna know your situation. We need a plan.~_

 _~We're both getting out,~_ Pikachu sternly reminded him. Selfless heroics were the last thing he wanted to see today. And, that was quite a feat. He noted the nurse's skeptical observation of his changing expressions. A faceless grunt coming through a door tipped him off. _~I'm… About to be sent to the pits to fight again.~_

The captive's nostrils were flaring. Those no-good, slimy…

Pikachu's thoughts began to waver, and Ash struggled to calm himself. _~...Can you escape?~_

The mouse's thoughts turned reluctantly to the pit where he'd been coaxed to battle. Surviving and winning had been a breeze. Being pitted against other innocent pokemon made his skin crawl and his little heart ache. Ash could probably feel his pain.

 _~I might. But, if I do, I need to find you.~_

Ash grimaced. _~Well, my cell…~_ His eyes darted around the room for a quick image, peering past the bars for good measure. If it was the focus of his thoughts, then maybe…

It was blurry, distorted, and poorly constructed, but bright white lights and bars made it as far as Pikachu's imagination. _~That's not a lot of help…~_

Ash whistled, leaning back against the cinderblock wall. This link was already wearing on his mind. He was beginning to get a headache. _~If you can… Just run away. Get out of there!~_

He winced at the incoming ferocity of Pikachu's thoughts.

 _~I said, we're both getting out! I'm not abandoning you, and you're not going to give yourself up! If we're leaving, we're leaving together!~_ He hated to scold Ash. But, the fury that boiled at the boy's martyrdom was hard to ignore. He loved Ash. Staying behind would hurt him just as much as being here!

Pikachu's outrage translated to guilt, for Ash. His eyes dipped towards the floor, as if he had to avoid eye contact. Riley had said to consider other perspectives… Here, he had to consider Pikachu's. _~You're right… Sorry, buddy. We're busting out of here as a team! And, we're taking the others, too!~_

Pikachu's fury ceased. He exhaled, just as he was being coaxed by the pesky man in black. _~I'll get out of this place. If you need help… I'm not out of shape.~_

He really, really didn't want to fight. But, he might not have a choice.

 _~I'll count on you, buddy… Once I can, I'll pay you back.~_

 _~I'll hold you to it.~_ With that vote of confidence, Pikachu was hurried along.

Way too many Thunderbolts were long overdue.

* * *

Shaded in the emerald light filtering between the tree leaves, Dawn and Rosa wandered around the woods west of the Viridian Forest. Dawn looked over the ground, occasionally seeing bald spots that marked where tires had scarred the earth. There were also unnaturally bare portions of the forest, trees obviously cleared to help make a path.

All of this faded into nothing as Rosa's aura feelers lifted.

 _~Papa!~_ she yelled, grabbing Dawn's hand. _~I felt Papa!~_

Dawn's heart swelled. "Ash…!" Nodding, the coordinator adjusted her backpack. "Let's go!"

Letting go of Dawn's hand, Rosa ran, sometimes dropping down onto all fours to speed the process along. Dawn did her best to keep up, though two legs were no match for four when Rosa got particularly desperate to make it there quickly.

The coordinator's brows furrowed. She hoped Ash and his pokemon were alright. They only needed to hold out for a bit longer! Help would arrive soon!

* * *

The nurse was gone. Instead, Pikachu found himself face to face again with the overzealous scientist and his indifferent Marowak.

The man was cooing as he spoke to Pikachu. The electric type pressed himself as far back into his cage as he could.

"Oh, do not be afraid, you lovely beast. Oh… How lucky am I! You are a throwback! Your electric sacs are so productive… The rate they produce electricity is just magnificent! It's just like the old, truly wild Pikachu." The man laughed. "Oh, you wouldn't know, would you? Most of the Pikachu, even in the wild… They're not feral. Pikachu got so popular with people that the domestic variant outdid the wild variant." He clicked his tongue, cocking his head. "It's a shame you don't have that characteristic white belly. Oh well. That's extremely rare. I shouldn't be picky. Your electric sacs are enough!" He rubbed his hands over each other. "Now… To see what you do against your modern brothers!"

Pikachu's ears pinned back. Against his modern brothers…? Were there other Pikachu trapped here? Fat chance that he'd compete against them.

As the scientist opened Pikachu's cage, the little electric type noticed the door handle to the observation room he was being held in turning. If he could time this just right, he could escape! He allowed the scientist to grab him, knowing the grip would be looser.

Then, lo and behold, Pikachu was out of the cage, dangling in the air as the grunt walked into the room. His tail gleamed silver and he twisted in the scientist's hand, using Iron Tail to knock himself loose. Using Quick Attack, he darted over the grunt's shoulder and into the hall before anyone could do more than react in shock.

The Marowak tried to follow, but the grunt didn't move out of its way quick enough. Pushing past the underling's legs, it only saw Pikachu round a corner.

"Don't just stand there!" the scientist shouted. "Sound the alarm, sound the alarm!"

By now, Pikachu's heart was hammering in the corner he'd rounded. He darted around another corner, knowing he had to get out of sight in the halls. He looked up, spotting an air duct. Using Quick Attack to bounce off the walls, he cut it to pieces with Iron Tail. Thankfully, his velocity knocked the metal panel into the duct, rather than allowing it to drop to the floor.

Scarcely breathing, he listened for the pitter-patter of Marowak's feet.

It never arrived. Marowak was not there to witness Pikachu's second corner turn and continued on in vain. For now, Pikachu was safe.

As the alarm siren began to blare within the compound, the mouse began walking on all four paws through the air ducts. He had to find Ash quickly.

* * *

The sirens had not yet gone off when the grunts were trying to convince Ash to eat again. It was a simple meal of bread and water. It was absolutely appetizing to Ash after having nothing to eat since yesterday's breakfast, though.

He'd been convinced to drink water, but that was strictly because they presented him with a sealed bottle. The front of his shirt was drenched with their sloppy efforts of letting him drink from it. He would not, however, eat from their hands.

So, when the alarm went off, the uneaten bread was removed from his stubborn sight.

"Ugh… That's the lockdown alarm. Wonder what happened?"

"Probably a ghost type slipping out of containment," the other grunt answered the first. He shook his head. "Kid, you should have eaten when you had the chance. Oh well."

As the duo locked Ash's cell back up, he felt a sudden sense of contentment. It was no ghost type which had escaped. It was Pikachu. Ash knew it in his heart. That was the only thing it could be. Resting his head against the wall, the trainer sighed.

"Buddy… Do what you've got to. Just don't get caught…"

* * *

By now, our heroines had stopped on the edge of a clearing, breathing heavily. Before them was a small wood cabin, even smaller than the one Samurai lived in back in the Viridian Forest.

"Is that really it, Rosa?" Dawn quietly questioned, watching the door with an untrusting glare. "It's so small… How would they keep him in there? Pikachu would have torn the place apart." Though tiny, the mouse's destructive potential was practically limitless if he could get just a few feet of running space or you didn't fully encase him in rubber or glass. A swing of his Iron Tail or a jolt of his Thunder was enough to destroy mechas, much less this tiny shack.

Rosa, however, bristled her fur at the sight of the cabin. _~Papa is in there…! Far below it! Underground…!~_

"... It's a cover up, then," Dawn mumbled, thinking of some science fiction films she'd watched when she was younger. "That's just the entrance."

As if to prove their point, a faint whining sound not unlike an alarm echoed from the cabin, muffled by wood and perhaps stories hidden from view. Unaffected by the noise, a grunt walked out of the door, looking calm and confident. His walkie-talkie still blared with new information.

"- Make sure to guard the exit. We're on lockdown. Someone else is going to go watch the catacombs. Do not leave your post."

Lockdown?! This was their only chance, then!

However, before Dawn could say a word, Rosa trembled just once. Then, she dashed forward, fist blazing with crimson fighting-type energy.

"Rio!" she snarled, jamming her fist into the gob smacked Rocket grunt. The man gripped Rosa's paw for a brief moment as he slouched over, looking ill before he passed out.

"Rosa!" Dawn chided, running out from her hiding spot to meet with the pup. "You've gotta calm down!"

 _~But… But Papa!~_ she whined, looking at Dawn with fear. She was still shaking. _~They're going on lockdown! What's that mean?! You got worried, I thought that meant that they… They…!~_

Dawn reached out and put her hands on the fighting type's shoulders. "We'll get Ash. You have to calm down, though. Listen to me, alright."

Dawn looked over at the grunt and saw he was breathing. She shook her head. "C'mon. Let's see how we get down there."

The two entered the cabin, looking over the floor. Immediately, a thick rug in the middle of the room stood out to them.

"... Well, that's a tell if I've ever seen one." Walking over to the rug, Dawn snatched a corner back. A metal trap door gleamed up at them. Dawn caught Rosa's eye. "You mind lifting that up?"

 _~Got it!~_ Rosa agreed, picking up the door with ease.

Once Dawn had jumped down, the Lucario followed after…

Jumping immediately into the line of sight of a grunt with his Drowzee.

"Intruders! Drowzee, use Hypnosis!"

Dawn gulped. "Ah, Rosa, use Detect!" Would Ash's pokemon listen to her, though?

Rosa did, to Dawn's relief. Feelers gleaming and floating, the fighting type jerked Dawn to the side when she dodged the hypnotic beam.

The grunt frowned. "Tch… That Pikachu's running loose and now we have intruders?! Great… Drowzee, use Disable!"

The Lucario flinched as she felt a tweak within her mind. She tried to think of her Detect move, but the thoughts of it were sealed.

"Rosa…!" Dawn glared at the grunt. "Fine… Let's take him out. Rosa, use Aura Sphere!"

"A fighting type move against a psychic type?!" the grunt asked with a laugh. "Are you stupid?!"

Dawn thought it over, then pursed her lips. "... I'd say I'm the opposite, honestly." She grinned.

By then, Rosa had finished charging the Aura Sphere. She launched it. It crashed into the Drowzee with a magnificent blast. Smoke clouded the air as the Drowzee was knocked back into its trainer.

That was what Dawn was banking on. With their opponents blinded by the smoke from the explosion, Rosa had the upper hand with her ability to sense aura!

"Now, use Power-Up Punch!"

Darting into the obscuring smoke, Rosa found her target with ease. A quick jab and she landed a critical hit on the Drowzee's jaw. As the smoke cleared, the trembling grunt was revealed. Dawn walked forward, glaring down at him.

"You can drop all your pokemon here and run, or you can get your butt kicked." She held out her hand. "Your choice."

"... I'm going!" he said, unbuckling his belt and putting it in Dawn's hand. He walked over to the trap door and scrambled up and out of it.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "I need to find a safe place to leave this and the walkie-talkie for Officer Jenny to find." Speaking of which, she tried to use the device. It didn't relay any signal. Dawn sighed. "I guess it's got blocking capabilities, huh? Must be why no one found this place…" She shook her head. "Empoleon, come on out!"

Eye still puffy from crying, the steel type looked fondly upon Rosa and Dawn when released, only to grow alarmed at their surroundings.

"We're in a Team Rocket base," she clarified, bringing the water type up to speed. "Empoleon, we're going to face some trouble. Rosa's going to lead us to Ash, but I need you to bring up the rear for safety. Can you keep us safe?"

Clanging his steel flippers against one another, the starter cooed. "Empo!" He'd protect them until the very end!

"Great! Now, Rosa, lead us to Ash!"

* * *

Pikachu didn't know whether he was in the air ducts until he heard the cries of a pokemon beneath him. Looking through the metal slits to his right, he saw the pits. Grimy, uncleaned, and stinking of the ichor of battle, the pits were everything awful about battling when done for the wrong reasons. He watched in disappointment as a Rapidash tried to battle against a Nidorina, but found itself constantly held off by ground type moves.

There were others here suffering… Surely Ash would understand if Pikachu was held back for a minute to liberate and ally with his peers.

A burst of electricity marked his grand exit from the air duct. He landed in the middle of the field, surrounding by the three current fighting pairs. He laid his eyes on the shoddy imitations of the Silph Co. level limiter prototype. He shuddered at the sight of them, but at once used Thunderbolt on the one hooked onto a Girafarig's neck.

The previously dropping, dark head of the beast lifted with joy, strength renewed. The yellow head's eyes glowed blue. It smiled gratefully at Pikachu. "Gira!"

The scientists, meanwhile, gasped. "... The Pikachu! So, it's here!"

"Koffing, use-" one began to say.

Girafarig, however, was having none of it. Using its unleashed Psychic attack, the giraffe threw the purple sphere into the wall, stunning it for a moment.

"Gira!" it challenged. The scientists were done hurting it and its friends!

Pikachu's eyes gleamed. Maybe they could make it out of here if they worked together. "Chu!" he called, frying the level limiters on the other two captive pokemon.

The Rapidash and Sandslash both gratefully sighed when they felt their true power returned.

"I knew we should have put one on him, too!" one of the Rocket geniuses growled. "Research be damned, he's a menace!"

"Don't worry! We've still got Nidorina and Gloom, and even Koffing's coming back around! We'll catch them, don't worry!" another assured.

Hearing their conspiring, Rapidash stepped forward. Stomping its hooves down, it created a mighty wall of fire with its Fire Spin attack. It was merely a diversion, though, enough to make their enemies step back and think about how to approach the fleeing pokemon.

"Dash!" the horse neighed, looking at Pikachu and Sandslash.

The two nodded at each other. While Pikachu used Iron Tail on the door locking them all into the room, Sandslash used Crush Claw. With a boom and a crash, the door was not only open, but forever ruined!

"Pika!" Pikachu called, alerting them to the fact that it was time to go. The four passed what was left of the door, and the mouse hesitated. "Pikachu… Pika-Pika!"

He was very grateful for their help, but he needed to find his friend, now. They'd have to run on ahead without him. "Pikachu!" And, they'd better find their freedom!

"Girafarig!"" "Slash, Slash." "Dash!" The trio vocalized, wishing Pikachu luck. They were in his debt. But, with that, they had to sprint down the halls, pursued by swearing scientists and their pokemon. The smoke and furor must have left them less than observant, because they were too clueless to catch Pikachu running in the opposite direction.

* * *

The droning, ear-ringing pattern of alarms was beginning to give Ash a headache. He groaned, leaning back against the wall. _'If it's still goin', then Pikachu's gotta still be on the loose... '_

There was a definite silver lining.

 _~Papa!?~_

And, things were starting to look better. The familiar raspy cry flooded Ash with relief. _~Rosa!?~_

Ash was pretty sure he heard sniffles and hiccups through their link. Waves of relief had reached him in no time at all. No doubt, she'd been terrified.

 _~Papa…! Y-you're here!~_ The Lucario was dropping full-fledged tears as she ran, ducking past a Sludge attack, only to pummel an offending Weezing with an Aura Sphere. Even in the midst of battle, her heart swelled with joy. It was a miracle to hear his voice again!

 _~D-Dawn 'n me 'n Empoleon are coming for you! Don't worry!~_

He knew it. A smile spread from ear to ear under tired, red eyes. _~I'll meet you guys… Have you felt Pikachu, yet? He's escaped wherever he was being cooped up!~_

 _~Uh-uh.~_ Rosa denied. _~I'll look!~_ The biped skidded to a halt, pressing her back up against a wall, much like she'd been taught on her first stealth mission. _~H-hold on, Dawn!~_

With the coordinator and Empoleon stopping in their tracks, the Lucario exhaled, a paw raising to slowly scan the base, up and down. Predictably, she whined and squealed, losing focus.

The pokemon's anguish made Ash's own head ache. He winced. _~I know, it's tough… Do what I did, and look for any positive feelings! Anything that feels right… Pikachu's free. You'll find him.~_

 _~O-okay…~_ The Aura pokemon complied, doing her best. A scurrying bundle of familiarity soon stood out. Her nerve bundles on the back of her head stood, and Pikachu's being became recognizable. _~H-he's farther down! One, two… Th-three floors down!~_

 _~That's a great start.~_ Ash breathed a sigh of relief. _~You've gotta be better at this stuff than me… You think you could get Dawn and Pikachu in on this, too?~_

 _~I'll try!~_ That would be something new to attempt… But, if they could save Ash and the others…

 _~P-Pikachu!~_

Creeping through yet another hallway lit by fluorescent lighting, Pikachu felt relief when he heard the familiar call. _~Rosa? You're here, too?~_ Maybe, now, Ash wouldn't be defenseless.

 _~Uh-huh… Dawn 'n big bro are with me!~_ She patted Dawn's arm, trying to coax her into the conversation. _~Right, Dawn?~_

Dawn blinked. Now, she was going to share her thoughts, too? This was too strange… But, that thought was shoved aside. _~I'm… I'm here, I think. Can you guys hear me~?_

 _~Dawn!~_ Ash could feel his lips curving into a smile. Miserable as he felt, things were getting better and better. _~I knew you guys would get here!~_

 _~We can hear you!~_ Pikachu stated the obvious. _~But, I need a way to find you guys.~_

 _~Rosa said you're three floors down from me,~_ Ash relayed.

 _~I'm on my way!~_ Pikachu promised, making a dash for the next split in the hallway. If he could just find a stairway…

 _~We'll meet up with you guys, then.~_ Dawn promised. _~Ash, do you think you could get out of your cell?~_

 _~I doubt it, but I'll try.~_ A deep breath came into Ash's lungs, and was then exhaled. He tightened a fist before opening it, making a painstaking effort to channel force into his palm. It was meant to stay tranquil and steady. But hunger and disgust made it tremble. Little more than a flicker of teal appeared in his glove. With a heavy breath, Ash slumped again.

 _~No good. I'm too weak… I haven't eaten anything, and I have no room to move.~_

Pikachu's cheeks inadvertently crackled, and Dawn's lips pursed. _~We could try to break them ourselves, but we can't risk hurting you… Especially like this. We need keys.~_

And, by now, she'd grown used to breaking and entering. _~I'm on it!~_

* * *

Dashing between Empoleon's strong, sure presence behind her and Rosa's determined, fleeing form, Dawn's heart pounded. They seemed to be on the same floor as Ash, so that was of some comfort!

What wasn't of comfort, though, was the open door at the end of the hall. The three-way break in the middle of the halls stood just before what was probably a guard station, considering the small lockers and the number of grunts lingering within it. Dawn, Rosa, and Empoleon skidded to a stop just as the grunts were moving to greet her - if one could call their cruel smiles and harsh glares a greeting.

Mind whirling, the coordinator turned to Rosa. "Go!"

 _~H-huh?~_ Rosa asked, feeling confused.

"One of us has to get to Ash! I can't find him without you. We'll hold these thugs off!" The coordinator winked. "Plus, maybe we can find the rest of Ash's team!" She frowned. "Plus… If we have to carry Ash out, we won't be able to with all of these guys running around."

 _~Carrying Papa?~_ Rosa echoed, knowing their time together was growing short.

"He couldn't use his aura, Rosa. He's probably too weak to run, too."

Was Ash really in that much danger?! Rosa nodded, taking off down the hall to the right.

"Hurry!" Dawn called after her. "I'll come with the keys later!"

"Not so fast!" one of the grunts called, releasing a Zubat to chase after the Lucario.

"Empoleon, Ice Beam!" Dawn called.

The steel type hit the little poison type with amazing accuracy, sending the grunt's pokemon down to the ground in a ball of ice.

Empoleon lifted a flipper, squawking as the grunts released their pokemon. An Electabuzz, a Golbat, a Beedrill, and a Magmar all lingered, each grimacing at the sight of the fully evolved starter.

Dawn stomped her foot and raised her fist. "Your opponent is me!" she yelled. "Start with us, before you bite off more than you can chew!"

"You want us, girly?" one of the grunts growled. "Fine. You got us. Electabuzz, use Thunder Punch!"

"Empoleon, Whirlpool!" Dawn yelled.

When Electabuzz lunged forward, it found itself swept up in the Whirlpool Empoleon had created. Standing proud and safe on the other side of the water trap, Empoleon watched his opponents puzzle out a solution. Golbat was the first to figure out that flying around the narrow base of the Whirlpool would grant safe passage, and the Beedrill followed after. Only the Magmar remained beyond the watery barrier, uninterested in risking the contact Electabuzz was already suffering.

"Just 'cause we can't see past this Whirlpool don't mean we can't battle!" a grunt yelled, voice muffled by the roaring water. "Golbat, Confuse Ray!"

"Beedrill, use Poison Sting!"

Empoleon found himself circled by two mesmerizing orbs of colored light. His vision became blurred by them. A slight pain alerted him to the fact that something had touched him, but he wasn't sure what.

Dawn frowned. "Guess they don't know much about Empoleon's typing… Works out for me," she murmured. "Empoleon, don't move but use Steel Wing!" If he didn't move, he wouldn't trip!

"Empo!" the water type yelled, swinging his flipper.

The Beedrill which had used a futile Poison Sting against him was flung back and into the Whirlpool. Being the weakest of the group, it was soon knocked out among the waves. Dawn grinned victoriously upon seeing the grunt return the pokemon. One down, three to go!

"Electabuzz, use Swift!" a grunt called.

"Right! Magmar, use Flame Burst!"

"Golbat, Astonish!"

Dawn's eyes widened. Three attacks at one time?! "Empoleon, use Ice Beam!" He wouldn't have to move if he used that, and it wouldn't matter where he aimed as long as it was forward.

Thankfully, as the Golbat came forward to use Astonish, it never got to Empoleon. A wing was clipped by Empoleon's Ice Beam, which continued on to hit the Whirlpool. The Golbat's wing was frozen, as was the huge water vortex.

This was perhaps perfect for Magmar's Flame Burst. It bounced around, hitting all on the battlefield, friend and foe alike. Electabuzz was safely trapped in the now frozen Whirlpool, so all it did was free him from the trap. Golbat, on the other hand, was engulfed in flames, unable to escape, thanks to Empoleon's ice coating its wing.

"Gooool!" it cried in anguish before fainting.

Empoleon, for his part, flinched. The fire hurt, but not too terribly. Being part water type was not a bad asset for a steel type.

However, with Electabuzz now finally free, it was able to use Swift. That knocked Empoleon onto his rear with surprise. Where had that come from?! He was too confused to make heads or tails of the situation.

"We've got 'em on the ropes!" a grunt bragged. "Electabuzz, use Thunder Punch!"

"Magmar, you use Fire Punch!"

The two pokemon ran at Empoleon. Dawn furrowed her brows. What would be best?

"Use Steel Wing!" she called, winging it.

Empoleon wildly swung, completely missing his opponents as they were not nearly close enough yet. Though he was back on its feet, he staggered upon being hit by Electabuzz's Thunder Punch.

Crackles of electricity danced down his body, but he was not paralyzed - not this time, anyway. Magmar followed up with Fire Punch, knocking the penguin back in the other direction. His feathers crisped, but did not burn.

The hits, however, served to wake him from his confusion. Mind clear, he glared down at his smaller opponents.

"Empo!" He'd crush them!

"Mag…"

"Buzz…!"

They challenged him back, welcoming him to try to beat their magnificent tag team.

"Low Kick, Electabuzz!"

"Smokescreen, Magmar!"

Suddenly, the hall was shrouded in smoke. Dawn listened in horror as Empoleon's metallic body clanged, letting her know he'd fallen. She stepped back, thinking. Then, it hit her. She knew this move! And, the grunts were idiots for using it when they had allies and she didn't!

Grinning, she spoke up. "Empoleon, use Steel Wing and spin!"

Standing, Empoleon trusted Dawn. He couldn't see anything, but he stood on his tiptoes, wings held out from him. Even in the obscuring darkness, they gleamed a silvery gray. He span and twirled, turning into a turning top of destruction. Satisfaction rattled through his flippers as he felt them hit their mark. His opponents might not be visible to him, but as he span through the hall, they'd still get hit!

"Electabbuzz, use Thunder Punch!" a grunt called.

"Fire Punch, Magmar!"

There was a pause. Dawn listened for sounds of movement. There were none. She smiled.

"Electabuzz?!"

"Magmar!"

She ran into the smoke, knowing her opponents were knocked out. She dashed towards the light of the room.

"Empoleon, use Whirlpool on those grunts!" she called.

Meeting her at the entrance, Empoleon took the grunts by surprise.

Peering into the darkness of Magmar's smoke, all they would see us Empoleon's sudden, gaping maw releasing a flood of water to rock them around the room. Pummeled by the wave, none were left conscious.

With that, the Whirlpool dissipated.

Dawn stepped into the room, grinning. "Good job Empoleon!"

"Empoleon," he cooed, proud of himself.

"Alright… See if you can break into those lockers. I'll bet anything Ash's stuff is in one of 'em. We need his pokemon and… Probably his backpack? I'll look for the right keys." Hopefully he'd forgive them for drowning his clothes. It just hadn't been avoidable.

As Dawn looked among the sleeping bodies for a set of keys and scoured the walls for labels, Empoleon hacked open the lockers. He looked among the many revealed belts and bags, suddenly wondering how many people were trapped here.

Finally, his eyes settled on three items all in one locker. It was Ash's bag and his pokeballs, as well as his hat. The penguin felt guilty. Ash really liked that hat, but now it was very wet. He picked all of them up, holding the belt, bag, and hat on one arm.

"Poleon!" he said, calling to Dawn.

She tilted her head, looking over the keys. One was for a private cell, but the others were general keys for shared cells. Ash hadn't mentioned that he was with anyone, so she grabbed the private cell key.

"Yes, Empoleon? Did you find it-" she asked, only to stop when she saw how many other pokemon and bags were within the locker. She walked over, eyes wide and throat dry. Tears welled up in the corner of her eyes. "One… Two… Four. There's four other people trapped here…" She shook her head. "We've got to give them a fighting chance, too, Empoleon," Dawn insisted.

Empoleon nodded. "Empo."

Grabbing one pokeball from each of the remaining lockers, Dawn released the first.

The pokemon took a defensive stance immediately. Dawn's heart sank. They must remember what happened just prior to being taken.

"We're not with Team Rocket!" she quickly clarified. She looked to the side. "Your trainers… I don't know where they are. There are keys right over there," she said, pointing to the wall. "Find them if you can. There's… a lot happening right now. I've got to find my friend. Good luck."

The pokemon - a Primeape, a Farfetch'd, a Golem, and a Chansey - looked among each other, seeing strangers. They then looked at their trainers' things, grabbing the appropriate pile. They had their teammates and their trainer's things. They looked to Dawn and Empoleon, deciding that this was enough. They could carry on from here.

Dawn held onto the private room key tightly. "I wish we could do more for them… But, you need a rest, Empoleon, and… I… I'm not leaving without Ash." She looked to the side. She could only do so much. She frowned. "... At least… this isn't as bad as Fuschia…"

Putting a hand on Dawn's shoulder, Empoleon cooed. "Pol…" She was doing what she could. She was only one girl.

Dawn smiled up at Empoleon. "Thank you. Now, give me that stuff. I'm going to switch you for Quilava. I'll let you see Ash once we've got him, okay?"

He nodded. "Empo…!" He wanted to see Ash very badly.

With that, Dawn slugged Ash's wet backpack over her own and clipped his pokeball-carrying belt around her waist. With nowhere else to put his hat, she begrudgingly flopped the wet cap on her own head. She returned Empoleon and released Quilava.

She nodded. "C'mon, Quilava. We've left Rosa alone for quite a while. Let's go."

* * *

He felt like a Rattata in a maze, however unhappy he was with that analogy. For an underground base, this place was surprisingly complex. But, Pikachu had finally found the stairway, and he darted up the steps as fast as his four, short limbs could take him. They'd said three floors, right…?

Now, this was one, two… Three flights! Confident he'd counted properly, Pikachu crept into the next hallway, pressing his yellow, pudgy form up against the wall. He didn't see any Rockets…

A blue blur sprinted past him, though, and grey feelers swinging from its head tipped Pikachu off. "Pika! Pika!" It probably wasn't wise to call out in here, but he just couldn't help himself. The mouse sprinted for his companion, leaping towards her.

 _~H-huh!?~_ The Lucario skidded to a halt, turning just in time to catch the mouse that dove into her arms. _~Pikachu!~_ She cooed, spinning with the mouse's momentum, hugging him tightly to her chest. Of course, mindful to avoid the spike. _~W-we found ya!~_

"Pika! Pikachu~!" Overwhelmed with joy, Pikachu nuzzled into her neck, letting loose harmless sparks. Thank Arceus she was here! "Pika-Pika…" It was wonderful to not be alone, again. He could just about cry.

In fact, he was pretty sure tears were spilling down his cheeks.

 _~I was scared… Really scared 'bout you!~_ The Lucario sobbed. She'd missed the crackling of his cheeks. She frowned, then. She hated to break up this reunion. _~B-but we gotta get to Ash. He's close!~_

"Pikapi… Pika!" As much as he wanted to continue hugging it out, Ash came first. He hopped out of her arms, telling her to lead the way. "Pikachu!"

The two-mon team sprinted on down the hallway. They were intercepted by a pair of agents guarding yet another doorway, one man and one woman. They had to be guarding the cells!

"Ey, looks like we found the rat!" The male barked, sporting a particularly devious grin. If they stopped him here, this could mean a big promotion! He was seeing dollar signs as he flung his pokeball. "This is as far as ya get!"

"And, one of the intruders," his partner pointed out. "Go, Rhydon!"

The aforementioned pokemon appeared alongside a Magneton. The former roared and the latter let out a metallic screech.

Inside the guarded area, meanwhile, Ash could just barely overhear the goings on outside. A quick survey of the immediate area allowed him to sense Rosa and Pikachu. His heart felt a lot less heavy, now. _~Pikachu, Rosa! I can't see what's goin' on, so I can't help you… But I've got faith in ya. Knock 'em on their behinds!~_

The duo acknowledged Ash's words, even if the Lucario trembled.

Pikachu hadn't missed this. "Pika Pika!" She just had to follow his lead!

 _~O-okay…!~_

"Thunder Wave, on that Lucario!"

"Rock Blast on Pikachu!"

Magnetone unleashed a modest, but stunning discharge. Rhydon, meanwhile, fired a large boulder, already preparing a second to launch.

"Pikachu!" Get rid of those rocks, he told her, sprinting out of the way of the first. Before his companion would even have a chance to respond, he dove in her path. Thunder Wave's static enveloped him… And, did absolutely nothing. He landed at Rosa's feet with ease.

But, that didn't put a stop to the hunk of rock that was hurtling towards them.

A scratchy roar accompanied a fiery Power-up Punch. Rosa's fist smashed through the projectile with only mild difficulty. Through the dust and debris, an Aura Sphere was charged, subsequently flung at Rhydon.

The rock type was in the midst of charging a third boulder when the blast struck. The booming explosion elicited a roar of pain. Despite being guarded by its own attack, it was ailing.

"Pika!" Pikachu praised the Luacrio, flinging an Electro Ball off the end of his tail.

"Magnet Burst!" The male Rocket ordered.

A silver shot of energy intercepted Electro Ball. The explosion rattled Magneton, though, still.

"Pika, Pikachu!" Pikachu addressed Rosa, gesturing his tail at Magneton. Meanwhile, he sprinted towards the dizzy Rhydon, coated by a silver glow. He used his speed to vault, swinging his tail at his adversary. "Chua… Pika!"

"Don!" Rhydon groaned in agony, knocked clean through the door guarding the cells. The metal enclosure crumbled under its weight. Unconscious, it vanished into its pokeball.

Before Magneton could think to act, a paw was held in front of all three of its bodies. Striking with vengeance, Rosa used her Power-Up Punch without holding back in the least. After using it so much, the move was absolutely devastating. It sent Magneton crashing into the ground and then bouncing up again.

"W-Well, crap!" one of the grunts yelped, returning the Magneton. "We gotta get outta here! We gotta let her know!"

With that, both grunts turned tail and ran.

With no further interruptions, Rosa and Pikachu darted to the bars outside of Ash's cell.

 _~Papa!~_ Rosa cried, putting her paws against the bars. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu pressed his paws against the bars as well, smiling.

The trainer breathed a sigh of relief. "Guys…!" He wished he was free so he could hug them.

Seeming to sense his wishes, Pikachu looked up at Rosa. "Pikapika! Pikachu!" he explained, putting his paw against the bar. He used Iron Tail against the metal, but was discouraged to see that it didn't relent. His eyes widened. What?! The doors had yielded! But, that'd been with the Sandslash's Crush Claw, too.

Rosa snorted. _~I'll help!~_

Ash shook his head. "Where's Dawn?! Does she have keys?! You'll break your paw! Pikachu's Iron Tail couldn't break this… Gah, Empoleon would be good right about now…"

Just then, the smack of rubber soles against the floor along with the pitter patter of paws approaching them could be heard. It was Dawn and Quilava!

"Heard my name!" she cheered, holding up the key. She stopped, grinning. "I even found an exit map! If we go down one floor, there's an exit out into some catacombs! I guess even bad guys gotta have fire escapes," she said. "... Thank goodness this is all going to be over, soon."

Rosa and Pikachu breathed a sigh of relief, eyes shut to relax a moment. After all this stress…

The last thing they wanted to hear was Dawn yelp and the sound of her hitting the floor.

"Augh!" she yelped. She looked over her shoulder and saw a Persian's maw inches from her face.

"Quilava!" the little fire type growled, jumping at the normal type with Flame Wheel to get it off of Dawn.

Just as Dawn was starting to get up, a foot was placed between her shoulders, pinning her down again. The black pointed sole belonged to a tall woman cloaked in white, sporting devilish scarlet bangs.

"You little bitch!" Ariana snarled, digging her heel into Dawn's back.

She cried out. "Stop! Get off me!"

 _~Momma Dawn!~_ Rosa voiced, standing and trembling again. No, not again, not more of her family hurt…!

Pikachu bristled, treading backwards with bared canines. As much as his heart willed him to help, the dimly lit halls, the cells… Even the Rocket who'd ordered he be made into a lab rat, causing pain to another person he cared about. All of these things began to make him dizzy.

His breathing accelerated, and his heart pounded with it. He wished that he could close his eyes and that this would all be gone. That they'd be back in Viridian, safe and sound, and this'd all been a bad dream.

Rather, it was more like a nightmare.

Still unable to see what was happening in the hallway beyond the bare sight of Dawn and Ariana's foot, the trainer tried to pull at his shackles. "Dawn…! Hey, Pikachu, you up to taking care of this? Soon as they're out of the way, this'll be over."

"Pika!" The mouse furiously shook his head, tears staining his cheeks. _~I'm sorry, I… I can't! All of this… It's too much. Way too much! I can't fight!~_ Pikachu exclaimed, trying his hardest to take slow, deep breaths.

"Pikachu…" His companion's anguish crashed upon Ash like a torrent smashing through a dam. His own lip began to quiver, and his heart ached. If only he could do something…!

A keychain was tossed at Rosa's feet. Both of them looked to the girl, and Pikachu's panic was dulled momentarily.

Dawn's blue eyes reflected determination as much as they did unspilled tears. "Get Ash out of here! You guys need to run, too! Rosa… I know you're scared, but you've got to help Pikachu. Ash is hungry and weak!"

"We're not leaving without you, Dawn!" Ash argued.

"No one's going anywhere!" Ariana yelled.

"I'll catch up!" Dawn insisted, finally getting enough momentum to sit up, knocking Ariana off her back and off balance. "But, I can't battle her and help you! You've gotta get out of here so I can take care of this!"

With the way Dawn was talking, it sounded like she was going to sabotage the halls. Letting out a huff in another attempt to reclaim control, Pikachu nodded. "Pikaka!" He trusted her. He'd get Ash out of here, so she could work without worry. It was the least he could do.

Content to know her time fighting was done, Rosa grabbed the keys from the floor and opened the cell door. Then, she and Pikachu rushed into the room and began to unshackle Ash.

Quilava returned to Dawn's side as Persian returned to Ariana's side. The coordinator unbuckled Ash's belt and threw it behind her along with his bag and hat.

"Dawn… You better make it out of here!" Ash snapped, worry turning to anger. He was so mad at himself for being too weak to help, and even madder at Team Rocket for putting them in this situation.

She nodded. "No need to worry." She spread her legs, taking a battling stance. "We've still gotta go to the Grand Festival and the conference! So, don't doubt me!"

With that, Ash let Rosa put his cap back on his head. The Lucario shrugged on his backpack and then put his arm over her shoulder as they started walking. Pikachu dragged the pokeball belt behind him in his teeth. Ash held the map in his spare hand. They began walking away, trusting that Dawn would keep Ariana off their backs.

"You…!" Ash snarled at the Administrator when her face came into view. The one who he'd been dumped off to. "Beat her good, Dawn."

"Oh, little girl, little girl," Ariana chided, "You're about to get the beating your mother apparently didn't know you needed. You need to learn your place!"

Though intimidated, Dawn wouldn't back down now. "Quilava, use Swift!"

"Pay Day!" Ariana called.

As Quilava's golden stars flew around, so did Persian's glittering, golden coins. Fortunately for Dawn, Quilava's Swift was stronger than Persian's Pay Day! All of the coins were tossed off their intended path while some of the stars buffeted the cat's side!

This wasn't lost on Ariana. She furrowed her brows. "Nasty Plot! Screech!"

The cream colored cat lowered its head, a wicked glint in its eye marking the plotting it was doing. From now on, any special moves it performed would no doubt be more dangerous. After that, it yowled so terribly that Dawn had to cover her ears while Quilava pinned hers back.

"Flame Wheel!" Dawn ordered. Right now, Smokescreen wouldn't do any good. Persian didn't have a give like Quilava did.

The fire starter tucked into itself, rolling towards the Persian.

"Play Rough!"

Just when contact should have been made, the Persian jumped up, dodging the attack. It landed, however, just behind Quilava and swatted the ball of fire off course, causing her to spin out. The moment the flames dissipated, Persian was atop the little fire type. It pinned Quilava on her back, a paw upon the fire type's throat.

"You're next," Ariana said dully. "Persian, finish that thing and then finish the girl."

Fear for herself and her trainer turned Quilava's blood cold as the Persian stretched its maw wide. The fear turned to bright light. She gave into it. She was evolving! She was going to grow stronger and bigger!

As the light faded, she realized something else. She was absolutely going to demolish this Persian.

"Typhlo!" she growled, now much bigger than the creature that was trying to pin her.

Dawn's eyes widened. She wanted to get out her PokeDex to check Typhlosion's new moves, but there was no time. "Uh… Get 'em!" she called instead.

Though Dawn wouldn't know it now, Typhlosion prepared to use Double Edge. The attack was purely reckless. Typhlosion sat up, Persian falling off her stomach. Before the cat could flee, Typhlosion grabbed the normal type in a mighty bear hug. Running at the wall, Typhlosion slammed into it once, twice, and thrice. Though her arms were bruised for her effort, the cat was completely knocked out for it.

"Typhloooo!" she roared, glaring at Ariana.

"Good girl, Typhlosion!" Dawn praised. Her heart swelled with pride. This was the power of the egg she'd hatched, huh?

The administrator narrowed her eyes, returning her defeated normal type. "Arbok, I've got a job for you."

Upon release, the snake immediately snarled at the overgrown badger. Typhlosion, in turn, bared her fangs. If the poison type wanted a fight, then it'd certainly get one.

"That last move hurt Typhlosion… We won't use that again until I know what it is," she whispered to herself. "Flame Wheel!" she ordered.

"Arbok, Poison Sting!" Ariana ordered.

Though Typhlosion essentially ran over Arbok in using Flame Wheel, the snake got its revenge. Once Typhlosion untucked, Arbok at once bit down upon her flank. Typhlosion roared in pain, pushing the snake off her thigh. Arbok hissed, coiling away. Typhlosion's eyes grew baggy beneath. She'd been poisoned.

"No, no, use Wrap!" Ariana ordered.

Reluctantly, Arbok raced back to Typhlosion, coiling around the fire type's body.

Dawn furrowed her brows. Typhlosion was already poisoned and now she had this creature wrapped around her. Dawn hated to do it, but they had to end this and quickly. "Typhlosion, the move you used before!"

Still able to walk, Typhlosion once again rammed into the wall. Arbok hissed in pain at the first blow. At the second, its grip became looser. At the third, it fell off of Typhlosion's body. It slithered away while Typhlosion fell over, knocked unconscious.

"Crap, I didn't guess right," Dawn muttered. Still, she was buying Ash some time to run. That was all she had to do. That, and actually defeat Ariana…

Ariana lifted her chin as Dawn returned her Typhlosion. "A bit reckless, aren't you?"

Dawn gritted her teeth. "This isn't my ideal battling situation," she snapped.

"It is mine," Ariana retorted.

"Empoleon, I need you!" Dawn yelled.

As soon as the steel type touched down, Ariana's eyes widened. "Are you kidding… Why do you have two starters?! What region are you from, again?!"

Dawn tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I'm just that good!"

"I'll show you good, girlie… Arbok, use Glare!"

Flaring its hood out, the cobra hissed at Empoleon. The penguin went stock still, an ancient and primal fear of snakes activated by the false eyes within Arbok's hood.

"Well, there went our advantage," she mumbled. With how weak Empoleon was, she'd been counting on his steel typing and mobility to carry them over. "No need to worry, he can't poison you! You can outlast him! So, use Steel Wing!"

The penguin didn't move.

"Darn it!" Dawn squealed.

Ariana grinned. "Well, that works out. Arbok, use Crunch!"

Arbok slithered over, maw wide as it bit down on the paralyzed water type. The tang of salt and metal was terrible, but it did some damage.

"Ice Beam!" Dawn yelled.

Now, that, Empoleon could do. It looked down, blasting Arbok with a burst of ice. The snake recoiled once more, hissing.

"Alright! Let's try Whirlpool!" Sure, Empoleon couldn't move or he'd risk paralysis kicking in, but there was plenty Dawn could have him do without moving!

"Wrap!" Ariana ordered.

It was a race against time. As Empoleon began to form the Whirlpool, Arbok began to wrap around the penguin. However, its tail was snatched up in the vortex. Therefore, the rest of its body was also snatched up. Both women watched in shock as both pokemon were caught up in the vortex.

"Empoleon!" Dawn cried, eyes darting to and fro as she looked for her starter.

Abruptly, the Whirlpool dissipated. Empoleon and Arbok fell in a heap. Both were unconscious. Arbok hadn't been able to handle the conditions, while Empoleon had been squeezed too much. Neither had fared well there.

"Thanks, Empoleon… Return!" Dawn recalled her starter, tossing another pokeball. "I need you, Togekiss!"

"Kiss!" The Jubilee pokemon appeared, perplexed by the narrow corridor she'd been called to fight in. It was narrow for her, at least.

Ariana called on another of her own without a word. A slimy, putrid-smelling Muk appeared. With a gravely cry of its name, it cast a predatory leer towards Togekiss.

"Air Slash, Togekiss!"

An angelic wing was twirled, conjuring a contained whirlwind that was flung at Muk.

"Minimize!" The Administrator ordered.

The pile of sludge swiftly retreated into his own slime, allowing him to safely avoid Air Slash.

"Now, Sludge Bomb!"

The shrunken poison type belched out a mass of sludge, landing a direct hit on Togekiss.

"Kiss!" The fairy type let out a sickly cry, a discolored streak across her face indicating poison. She hovered weakly above the ground, using her wings to wipe the muck from her feathers.

Dawn grimaced, running a hand through her hair. "I should've used Safeguard… Sorry, Togekiss. But, we can still protect the others!"

As a maternal figure above all else, Togekiss wouldn't think to defy Dawn's request. With a coo, she called upon a glimmering green aura that surrounded her. Ironically, the purple sickness of poison bubbled to the surface, making the pokemon wince in pain.

Togekiss' suffering brought a sick look of smugness to Arian's face. "Rock Tomb!"

"Muk!" The pokemon roared, calling several boulders to crash down upon Togekiss.

The rocks pinned the pokemon to the ground, tumbling afterward to reveal her unconscious.

"Togekiss… That was my fault. But, don't worry!" She recalled the fairy type, her eyes caught on the metallic orb with her brows knit in guilt.

A black hunk of sludge forced Dawn out of her thoughts, and only barely failed to graze her. Her heart hammering, she'd managed to swerve out of the attack's range.

"If you're going to be that sentimental, you're not going to last here." Ariana tutted.

Shame was quick to wash over Dawn when she realized her mistake. She was practically hanging herself out to dry for them! Her gaze hardened and she called her next pokemon. "Houndoom, it's your turn!"

The heavyset canine appeared, snarling at the Rocket before them. His teeth gnashed, his hunger for payback not yet sated. Anyone who put their hands on Dawn's companions would pay dearly.

"Rock Tomb!"

A second swift barrage of boulders crashed upon the fire type.

"Houndoom!" Dawn bit her lip. This wasn't in her favor. "Are you alright, in there?"

She had her answer when the canine bucked off his enclosure, letting out a whine of pain. He was standing, but that attack had done quite a bit of damage. Dawn and Ariana were both going for the jugular.

"Use Smog!" The coordinator ordered.

Houndoom didn't hesitate to spray thick, poisonous clouds at Muk.

The redhead cocked a brow. Were they getting desperate? "Muk, use-"

"Flamethrower!"

This time, a stream of fire came from Houndoom's mouth, quickly igniting the clouds.

A booming hellstorm followed that swallowed the corridor in heat.

Having ducked behind Houndoom, Dawn prepared for the worst. She winced from the heat, but felt nothing worse than that. Flash Fire had protected her. "Thank you, Houndoom."

Ariana, on the other hand, emerged with a multitude of burn marks on her outfit, and ashes smearing her visage. Her teeth were bared in a snarl. "You wretched, underhanded little…! You might've made a fine agent, in another life. Pity you won't get the chance. Muk, Sludge Bomb!"

Hearing that a second time left a bad taste in Dawn's mouth. "Houndoom, dodge that!"

"Muuuk…!" The pile of sludge groaned, opening its mouth wide, only to collapse.

"I've got better things to do with my talent! And, I'd never snub my pokemon by sinking to your level." Using pokemon to kidnap other pokemon was an insult, to say the least. "Great work, boy!"

A bark from Houndoom acknowledged Dawn's praise, and a spit of flames accompanied it.

"The sooner you learn that pokemon are tools for our benefit, the better." Ariana recalled Muk, calling on a Slowking next. "Not that you'll have the chance to absorb that."

Dawn swallowed, as if the Rocket's speech was a disgusting pill to down. Every fiber of her being was begging her to march over and beat on this slimeball personally. With a hiss and a huff, the coordinator did her best to keep herself under control. "Use Crunch."

Eager to back up his trainer and protect his friends, Houndom was eager to lunge at Slowking, chomping down on the Royal pokemon's tail. He showed no mercy, flinging his prey at the wall.

Slowpoke was embedded in the wall in a small crater, groaning in pain.

Ariana grimaced. "Disable!"

"Slow…" The pokemon's eyes gained a bright blue glow, casting a mysterious ring upon Houndoom that homed in on its skull.

The hellhound shook its head, looking rather clueless.

"Shoot," Dawn muttered. "There goes our best move… Use Smog!"

A cloud of toxins surrounded the recovering Slowking, who stumbled out of the grimy air with a bad cough. A purple streak across his face indicated poison. "Slow…" He groaned.

"Don't just stand there. Nasty Plot!" The scarlet-haired authority ordered.

Even in his sickly state, Slowking startled Dawn and Houndoom alike with a disturbing leer.

"Not the kind of face I want to run into a dark alley… But, here we are." Dawn sighed. "Flamethrower!"

"Hou!" Houndoom obeyed with stream of fire.

"Water Pulse!"

"Slowww…!" The water/psyhic hybrid raised its paws toward the ceiling, conjuring a spherical mass of water. "King!" He chanted as he flung it forward, splashing right in Flamethrower's path.

The crashing waves ate through the flame, pummeling Houndoom, to boot.

The unconscious canine was washed up at Dawn's feet, unmoving.

"You did your best… Come back!" Dawn recalled him. "Absol, I need you!"

Claws clacking on the floor, Absol's eyes gleamed with anger. Every member of Dawn's team had a heart burning to defend their trainer and her friends. Absol particularly felt a bit of guilt. She was supposed to be able to sense oncoming disaster, but her absence for the prelude to this madness had left her trainer and her trainer's adored one vulnerable.

She would definitely make up for it now, though.

"Swords Dance!" Dawn called. "We're putting an end to this!"

Ariana lifted her chin. "Water Pulse."

Absol tossed her head to and fro, after images resembling long, silvery swords fluttering through the empty air. Meanwhile, Slowking fired off another mind-numbing barrage of water. Though it soaked Absol's thick white coat, she remained resilient.

"Attagirl!" Dawn praised. "Night Slash!"

Absol rushed forward and leaped. Her long, perfect horn curved, cutting through the air with dark energy. The arc of energy blew across Slowking, knocking the Rocket pokemon onto his rear.

"Nasty Plot!" Ariana yelled. There was no way that Absol was stronger than her Slowking, type advantage be damned.

"Swords Dance!"

A brief break in the fight occurred as Slowking crossed its arms, thinking over the most effecient way to attack Absol. She skipped across the floor, a fierce dance lifting her feet above the watery floor.

Noting the water, Dawn breathed a sigh of relief. She could run away, soon. Ariana probably had two more pokemon left after Slowking, and if Dawn could leave only one left, that'd be good enough. The water was what she'd desperately been hoping for. The floor was soaked and was likely flooding down to the floor below them.

"Water Pulse!" Ariana called out once more.

Dawn grinned in relief. Did Ariana know what a favor she was doing for her enemies? "Night Slash!"

Rushing forward through the torrent, Absol held her breath. Pummeled by the wall of water but still going, she arced her head. She slashed at Slowking, finally making it fall after being hit with a crescent of dark energy.

Panting, she snarled at the knocked out pokemon. "Ab…"

"Great job, Absol!" Dawn praised. "You're doing great!"

"Don't get so excited!" Ariana snapped, seeing the relief flooding over Dawn. "You aren't free! I'm not going to let you go!" The administrator returned her Slowking and released a Vileplume. "I'll show you the true power of the leading lady of Team Rocket!"

The leading lady…?! So, was Ariana the most powerful woman within Team Rocket? That didn't matter. Dawn would make sure to beat her. Ariana may have been defending her pride, but Dawn was defending something so much more important.

"Sweet Scent!" the red haired woman called.

"Razor Wind!" Dawn called.

Absol stood motionless, concentrating on the air around her. Vileplume wiggled a bit, releasing a noxiously sweet smell from its blossom. It was like hot candy, overwhelming but almost inviting.

"Sleep Powder!"

Dawn's eyes widened. "Absol, you gotta use Razor Wind now!"

It was too late. Lulled by the scent Vileplume was letting out, Absol shook her head, trying to concentrate on activating her Razor Wind. However, the powder burst up from Vileplume's blossom, landing on Absol with ease. The dark type's eyes fluttered twice before the creature fell over, sleeping.

"Absol!" Dawn yelled.

Ariana cackled. "You had a good run, girl! Now, use Mega Drain!"

Absol did not rouse as gleaming green lights formed within her body. Vileplume began to draw them to her, stealing Absol's vitality.

"C'mon, girl, you gotta wake up!" Dawn begged.

"Acid."

Vileplume's face did not once drop from the cheery, almost plastic smile that marked it. Bowing its head, the grass type's blossom let loose a wave of poisons. The air took on a sharp, bitter smell as the chemicals leaked out.

Absol finally woke when that touched her, howling in pain. Steam rose from her at contact with it. Her claws clacked against the floor as she stepped away from the Acid. Instinctively, she finished the Razor Wind she had started using earlier.

Vileplume, finally, did squeal and whine as it was knocked upside down, wiggling and writhing to right itself. It fell on its face before standing.

"Thank goodness…" Dawn whispered. "Night Slash!"

"Mega Drain!"

Leaping over the puddle of Acid on the floor, Absol set off the dark arc of energy at Vileplume. It blasted the grass type back a bit, but the orbs of life energy began to glow within Absol and were drawn to Vileplume. Absol struggled to stand, her breathing becoming labored. By the time Vileplume finished the Mega Drain, the dark type flopped over, knocked out.

"... That's plenty! Thank you, Absol! Return!" Dawn ordered. Ariana still had one pokemon hidden, but it was time for Dawn to retreat.

"That's five," Ariana noted, a hand on her hip. "I've still got two left, Vileplume and another you haven't even seen. Why don't you give up? All we wanted was the boy. We could probably wipe your memories and give you a nice life among us. Doesn't that sound nice?"

"Why don't you take that idea and eat it!" Dawn snarled. "Mamoswine, I need you!"

Ariana and her Vileplume both stepped back, taken off guard by the sight of the giant pokemon. His massive form took up the entire hallway, blocking off Dawn from sight.

"Ancient Power!" Dawn called.

Summoning huge boulders, Mamoswine launched the rocks as accurately as he could within the tiny area. Ariana and her Vileplume both retreated yards back, fleeing from within range of the rocks. However, the hall was partially sealed off now.

"Sweet Scent!" Ariana called.

The hall was flooded with the same sickly sweet scent as before.

Dawn wasn't sure if Ariana knew what she was up to or not, but it didn't matter. It was happening. "Blizzard!" Dawn yelled.

"... What?!" Ariana yelled, eyes widening at the approaching white cloud. She crossed her arms in front of her face, feeling a chill go down to her bones as the storm hit her pokemon. When Ariana opened her eyes, snow was up to her ankles and Vileplume was knocked out. The hall itself was sheeted in ice; Slowking's Water Pulses left plenty of water for that. Some of Mamoswine's Ancient Power stones sealed off portions of the hallway. It would be difficult to get to Dawn.

And, it was then that Ariana realized Dawn was getting ready to bolt.

"No! No! Murkrow, go!" she yelled, hastily returning Vileplume to let out Murkrow.

The dark type flapped its wings, cawing at the sight of the enemies.

"Dig!" Dawn yelled.

Mamoswine obeyed, stomping both forefeet before slamming his tusks down on the floor. With a bomb, he dropped down onto the next floor. Dawn jumped down after him, landing on his back before sliding off.

"C'mon!" she yelled, leading the way in front of the ice type.

"After them!" Ariana ordered, stomach sinking now that she no longer had visuals on the girl.

Murkrow swiftly darted through the obstacles Mamoswine had left behind, flying through the hole in the floor with equal grace.

Hearing Murkrow's cawing, Dawn looked over her shoulder. "Mamoswine, Ice Fang!"

Turning around was difficult in these narrow hallways, but Mamoswine managed just barely. Murkrow could not slow down in time and was smacked down to the floor with Mamoswine's icy tusks. A layer of ice formed over the flying type's body, freezing it into place.

"Great job!" Dawn praised. "... I need to hurry, though. Return!" She could make better time if she was traveling alone.

By the time Ariana realized that Murkrow was not returning, Dawn was on the right floor to rendezvous with Ash.

* * *

Dawn shut the door to the Rocket hideout behind her, running into the dark catacombs. The soft yellow light that marked that exit soon faded among the winding, dark cavern paths. Dawn was beginning to weigh the risk of being spotted due to using her PokeDex for light with the risk of stumbling down a hole here.

Just as she was beginning to think of calling out for Ash, she was grabbed around her waist. She tensed before feeling a furry muzzle against her shoulder. "Rosa?" she asked upon feeling wetness on the muzzle.

 _~Dawn…~_ The Lucario sobbed through the mental link. _~Papa… Papa can't move!~_

Dawn's heart sank. "No. No, no, take me to him, Rosa." What had they done to Ash?

Rosa led Dawn through the darkness. She held the coordinator's hand and her aura feelers lightly glowed blue among all the black of the catacombs. Soon, the two reached the part of the catacomb halls that Ash had been laid down in. Pikachu glowed a pale yellow, electricity running through his fur to keep the area light. Ash, meanwhile, trembled when he lifted his hand to greet Dawn.

Realizing what the problem was, she sighed in relief as she knelt by his head. "Oh… Oh thank Arceus, you're just hungry." She reached out, taking his hand in her own. It made sense for him to be hungry. He was always so active, and even at the best of times, his metabolism kept a crazy pace. "I've got some food."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "G-Good… The service in this hotel s-sucks…"

Dawn smiled before reaching into her bag. Finding the food, her smile dropped. They were sandwiches. Those weren't going to be easy enough for Ash to eat, nor were they going to give him energy quickly enough for them to escape. "... You need something easier to eat. But, Rosa, you haven't eaten since that little breakfast we had this morning… Here, you take one." Dawn passed the Lucario a sandwich.

Rosa took it before immediately taking it apart. She didn't like her food touching, nor was she sure what this sandwich was made of.

"Pikachu, you want one?" Dawn offered.

The electric type shook his head. "Pika… Pipi, Pikaka."

 _~He says they gave him plenty of pokechow,~_ Rosa clarified.

Nodding, Dawn shifted around until Ash's head was propped up in her lap. It wouldn't do if he would choke eating. "Let me look for something else for you to eat," she muttered.

As she searched, Ash rolled his head so that it was facing her stomach. He sniffed. She was sweaty, but she smelled better than he did or the cell had by a long shot. She smelled like the woods above. He wanted to smell that again.

"Thank you for coming for us," he said softly.

Dawn stopped rummaging. She smiled down at Ash, playing with the little sideburns of hair poking out from under his hat. "You knew I was going to come for you. Wild Rapidashes couldn't keep us apart if you were in trouble."

She went back to looking inside the bag, pulling out the walkie talkie from the Officer Jenny and her poffin bag. She looked at the radio first. "Can you hear me now?" she asked. The feed was static filled, but it was something.

"Dawn?" the Officer Jenny replied.

"Hey. We made it to the Rocket Base," the girl replied.

"...! We're on our way!" Jenny's tone became urgent immediately.

"We already left it," Dawn quickly answered. "Listen, we're in some… Caves, maybe three hundred feet from it. Can you figure out where the signal from this is coming from?"

"Yeah," Jenny replied. "... Are you underground? You said caves?"

"Yes. There's this cabin above it, marking the entrance."

"That's plenty, Dawn. You get yourself and that boy somewhere safe. Me and the force'll be there within thirty minutes."

Putting the walkie talkie aside so that it could continue to serve as a signal to the officers, Dawn cracked open her poffin case. She paused. They were easy to digest, being very similar to bread, and were absolutely full of energy because of all the sugar.

As if reading her mind, Ash laughed. "Never thought I'd be this excited to eat pokemon food."

She smiled before breaking one in half. "You ate it in Sinnoh, didn't you?"

She pressed the half of the poffin to his lips and he ate it greedily, savoring the first good flavor he'd had in nearly two days. The girl reached into her bag for a bottle of water, helping him to drink it between halves of poffin. He went through three within ten minutes, and soon his energy had returned enough to where he could sit up.

"You want the sandwich?" Dawn offered.

"D'ya have to ask?"

He was still the same old Ash. Dawn smiled, even if now wasn't the time to make wisecracks back. "It's all yours, hot-shot." The morsel was handed over to the weary teen.

The sandwich was gripped as if it were the last piece of sustenance on Earth. That sanctity hardly held up, though, when Ash ripped it apart with his teeth. The familiar taste of lettuce, dressing, and lunchmeat made him feel less like he was far away from home.

"I hate to rush you, but we need to high-tail it out of here. It's been a few minutes, and there are only two exits. We're bound to run into some grunts if we stick around."

"Just our luck, huh?" A self-deprecating laugh followed, and Ash pushed on his hands, doing his very best to steady himself and stand. Weary legs got him that far, and he felt a burst of confidence.

That was, of course, before he began to stumble, saved from a fall by Rosa scrambling to support him. _~Papa!~_

"Guess I'm still not in the best shape, huh… You guys think you can lend me a hand?"

"We'll get you out of here." Dawn closed her bag, standing up. "Rosa, let's help him out." She slipped over to Ash's side, slinging his right arm over her shoulder. "But, it's still pretty dark…"

"Pikachu…" Ash stood again, now with both his pokemon's and his girlfriend's support. "I know you've had enough of this… But, can you lend us a hand lighting the way? There'll be no more fighting, I promise."

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed. His furrowed brows and upright posture were enough to give an affirmative without needing words. He still trembled now and then, but the worst of this was over. After all the others had done, he'd do his best to help. His cheeks crackled again, a golden glow lighting the catacombs.

With that, the group marched on, one sure step at a time. Corners were rounded, and any rise in altitude was taken with gratitude. But, the climb was growing weary.

The pitter-patter of feet, and a high-pitched chant, though, put the four on edge. Dawn and Rosa tightly clutched Ash, the aforementioned teen was already reaching for his reclaimed belt, and Pikachu took one step back after another.

"...Clefairy!" A daunting shadow that stretched over the cave walls turned out to just be a tiny, pink Clefairy. It greeted the four with a cheer, tilting its head when it wasn't met with similar enthusiasm. "...Fairy?"

"Pikaa… Pika!" Having recovered from his near-heart attack, Pikachu eased. He recognized that Clefairy!

"Fairy! Clefairy!"

"Huh?" Ash blinked, clueless. "What's goin' on?"

"Fairy-Fairy! Clefairy!"

Rosa opted to translate. _~H-he says that he's from the colony that you guys helped!~_

"No kidding… Good to see you again!" Ash felt a smile pull at his lips. Some more familiarity was extremely welcome, at this point. "But, you better get going. We got into some trouble with Team Rocket, and they're bound to escape through here, soon."

"Fairy!?" The pokemon quickly recoiled. It was distant, but he remembered the three that terrorized it. There were more of them on their way!?

"They're running scared, I bet." Dawn reassured. "But, it'd still be for the best for you guys if you steered clear."

Understanding, the pokemon nodded, its expression stern. "Fairy! Fairy!"

 _~He says thank you! He's gonna warn the other pokemon, and he'll help us get out of here for warning them!~_

"Things are finally looking up." Ash exhaled. "Thanks, Clefairy. Lead the way!"

* * *

The light at the end of the tunnel wasn't sky blue, as expected. Vibrant oranges greeted Ash, Dawn, Pikachu, and Rosa, who were bathed in the intense lights as they neared the surface. Finally, with Clefairy's directions, they emerged into open air. A warm, late day breeze passed over the four, all of which opted to collapse and rest against the side of the cavern.

The sun was setting over Kanto. Oranges and yellows were overwhelmingly bright for the maladjusted eyes that'd grown used to fluorescent lights and dingy caves. Ash was content to pull his cap down over his head. Without a word to speak, he opened his arms up to Pikachu.

The mouse, who had sat behind him, couldn't climb into his lap fast enough. Grimy clothes or not, he couldn't keep himself from nestling into the warmth of Ash's shirt. His tail curled in, allowing his trainer to wrap his arms tightly around him. He swallowed. "Pikapi…"

"Pikachu… I missed you, buddy." His lips tugged up in a smile that was bittersweet, his copper pools patient to take in his companion's yellow fur, and every colored pattern on his body. He looked for bruises and scars, but there were none. He only noticed a tiny mark on his cheek pouch.

But, Pikachu was alive. He was okay. His worst fears had been blown out of the water.

His worst fears that crept back into his thoughts, like the noxious gas that had ensnared him and made him vulnerable to begin with. The idea that Pikachu would be forced to submit to Team Rocket's wishes. The idea that he'd be whisked off to Giovanni, and that Ash would never see him again. The idea in the back of his mind that he might not've lived to reunite at all.

His breaths became haphazard, his chest tightening with them. Tears began to spill down his face, rolling from his cheeks to his jaw, and finally landing upon Pikachu's fur. His shoulders jerked up with his sobs, rising with every awful thought that'd been suppressed by his stubborn will to survive.

"Ash…" Dawn swallowed, reaching to rest her hand atop his shoulder.

He jerked back, hugging his companion tighter to his chest.

Dawn recoiled. This wasn't their ordinary world-saving crisis.

This had hit far deeper.

"Pika-Pika…" Pikachu felt salty tears drop upon his head. A chain reaction followed, his fur dampened by his own sobs. They trickled down his electric pouches, triggering static that snapped at Ash's jacket.

Neither would complain. The familiar sensation only meant that they were reunited.

Suddenly, every accidental Thunderbolt felt like a blessing.

The scene was too much for the accompanying Lucario. An overload of anguish forced the pokemon to retreat into herself with a whine, hugging her knees to her chest, her face buried in them.

Dawn bit her lip. She'd been able to save them, with help… But, there had to be more she could do to comfort them. "Rosa…" She stood from the opposite side of Ash, walking over slowly to sit between him and the Lucario. Learning her lesson from Ash, she cautiously opened her arms. "C'mere."

Puffy, red eyes peered up from the comfort of blue fur, taking in the sight of her second caretaker beside her. She sniffled before throwing herself into the coordinator's arms, burying her face in Dawn's chest with a whine. _~D-Dawn, I...! Papa 'n Pikachu, I… It's so scary!~_

"I know… I know it is." Dawn acknowledged with a whisper. She lightly rubbed the pokemon's back, her eyes flicking about. Affection wasn't difficult for her, but playing this sort of maternal role was a bit foreign. Her mother had always been a bit on the 'tough love' side. That was the last thing anyone needed. She muttered a gentle shush to the Lucario, easing her panic.

Overhearing his pokemon ease and grow quiet, Ash felt his body relax some. "I'm sorry, Pikachu…" He could feel the inquisitive eyes of his companion, and continued. "I'm sorry I got you into this… I'm sorry I insisted on egging those guys on."

"Pika!" Pikachu shrieked back, his voice hoarse.

A series of syllables told Ash enough to clear his mind and listen.

 _~and I said it at Silph, too! Everything we do, we do together! I wanted to kick them out just as much as you did! You can't just put everything on your own shoulders all the time.~_

Pikachu climbed out of Ash's grip, leaning up to lick the tears from his cheek. _~It's their fault… Not yours, or mine.~_

"Thanks... " Grateful, Ash gently stroked the fur atop Pikachu's head. "You always know just what to say." Ash smiled, however briefly, and his eyes turned upward. "I just… If they're gonna play like this… How can we stop them? I thought we could take anything they dished out… But, it gets so much worse." His hold on Pikachu tightened again. He didn't ever want to relive this.

Dawn was convinced enough that Ash had calmed some. She released Rosa to drape one arm carefully over Ash's shoulder, the other wrapping around Pikachu and his waist.

Ash instinctively nestled his face in her shoulder. Even muddied by the horrors of today, the scent of whatever hair care she used made him feel at home.

He had no words, so Dawn spoke instead. "No need to worry," came the familiar phrase.

Ash hugged around her waist. For once, he didn't want to argue that point.

Pikachu nestled between them.

"Where should we go, now?"

"I wanna go home."

"That's fine," Dawn agreed, lifting the brim of his cap to kiss his forehead. "...But, I only have one Full Restore. We can walk, or ride on Mamoswine, if you want."

Ash lightly pet Pikachu, and pulled Rosa in. He paused. "I've got Pidgeot. We can fly there, if you heal Togekiss."

"Good idea." Dawn pulled back to stand, reaching for a pokeball, tossing it.

Togekiss appeared in a slump, barely conscious. "Kiss…"

The coordinator knelt down beside the fairy. "Hey, girl. I know you're tired, but we're in a hurry… Are you okay with me using a Full Restore on you? We've got to get to Pallet Town right now."

The flying type turned her weary eyes upon Ash. He was safe? They'd rescued everyone, then. She let out a tired coo. "Toge…" She could do this. She could do a little more work today. "Togekiss," she agreed. She could rest once these young ones were safe. Ash's mother lived in Pallet Town, didn't she? They would be safe there, then.

"Thank you, Togekiss," Dawn said, spraying the bird. The potion glittered lightly as it began to heal the bird.

After a moment, she flapped her wings, standing tall. "Toge!"

"Thanks, Togekiss," Ash agreed. He turned to Rosa, then. "Sorry, girl. I gotta put you away while we fly."

Rosa's ears fell. _~... You'll take me out again soon, right?~_ she inquired.

"Once I'm sure we're safe," he assured.

She relented and then was absorbed in red light. Shortly after, Pidgeot was released. The Kanto native bird briefly greeted the fairy type, both pokemon looking each other over.

"Alright, Pidgeot. You know the way home?" he asked.

The normal type nodded its head.

Ash mounted the bird and Dawn mirrored this. With a flap of wings, the party took off into the sunset sky.

* * *

Rinsed dishes sat in the sink, cleansed after another dinner alone. The kitchen was now empty, and Delia sat on the couch in the living room, watching the evening news. Mimey sat beside her, doing his best to make heads or tails of a book in his hands.

"...In other news, yesterday, a missing person's report was filed in Viridian City! No further details will be disclosed at this time to protect the investigation, but the Viridian Police Department was willing to inform us that the victim is now allegedly out of harm's way. We'll be sure to give you further details as they come, on channel 12 Local News!"

"How awful," Delia remarked, sipping from a cup of tea. "I sure hope that the crime over there doesn't reach Pallet Town." The small village, after all, persisted to remain free of crime over its long, mundane history. That pattern changing would be a real cause for alarm.

"Mime ," the Barrier pokemon agreed, clutching at the pages he held.

Their thoughts were put on hold by a knock on the door.

"Who could be here at this time of night?" Delia blinked, standing up to approach the door.

When she turned and pulled the handle, her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. "Oh my!"

In the doorway stood Ash and Dawn, accompanied by Pikachu. But, it didn't take a second glance to discern that something was amiss. Ash looked dreadful, with dirtied clothes, puffy eyes, and a slacking gait, and smelled awful, to boot. Dawn lacked her usual energetic glow, dark rings under her eyes saying it all. Pikachu, who was held securely in Ash's arms, was dirtied with ruffled fur, and he clung to Ash's jacket in a way she'd never seen.

"What happened!?" Was all the mother could exclaim before Ash scrambled inside past her, only waiting for Dawn to follow to slam the door shut.

Heart hammering, the teen rushed to pull the curtains closed before sliding down to the floor, letting out an exasperated huff. He was trembling.

"Ash, what in the…" Delia started, stopping when her eyes met the television screen. The color drained from her face immediately. "...Oh dear. Ash, honey…"

Dawn's eyes turned between Delia and the television. The news was on. It clicked for Dawn, too. "I'll explain, Miss Ketchum. But Ash needs to cool down, right now. So does Pikachu."

The matriarch's heart had sunk into her stomach. She'd never seen Ash looking so miserable, even with the worst of fevers. Resisting her maternal instincts took about as much strength as she could muster, but she took Dawn's word. "...I'll run a bath for him. Can you stay here with him and Pikachu?"

"Of course," Dawn agreed. She approached her companion, holding a hand out. Ash took it, and she pulled him to his feet. He was escorted to the couch, where both sunk into the cushions.

"Mimey, could you heat up some leftovers for them? I'm sure they're hungry." Delia gripped the railing of the stairs painfully tight as she made her request.

"Mime!" The Barrier pokemon rushed into the kitchen, and Delia continued up the flight.

An uncomfortable silence followed. Dawn tapped her fingers on her knees. Seeing Ash in such a listless state was disturbing, on Dawn's part. "...Do you think it's okay that we're here?"

An unenthusiastic shrug was her answer. "It's the only place I can think to go."

The faint sound of running water could be heard, and Delia's heels clacked against the steps. "Your bath's ready, honey. I doubt Pikachu wants to take one, but you probably want to be together."

"Pika-Pika." A warm bath actually sounded pretty pleasant, right now.

"Thanks, Mom. C'mon, Pikachu." Ash stood, cradling his companion as he ascended.

"If Pikachu wants, I'll be happy to groom him afterwards!" Dawn chimed in.

That, surprisingly, left Pikachu with a smile. "Cha~!" A bit of pampering sounded good, right about now.

Ash and Pikachu were out of sight, and Mimey entered the room, placing a plate of roasted chicken and carrots in front of Dawn. "Mime!" He was eager to help in any way he could!

The girl's stomach growled at the sight. "I haven't eaten all day… Thank you!" She lifted the plate with care, rushing to down the food with appreciation. Still, she couldn't help but notice that the hand holding her fork was trembling. "My nerves must be catching up with me…"

She huffed, looking up to Delia after another bite. "Would it be alright if I let my pokemon outside to rest? They could probably use something to eat, too…"

The mother raised a finger to her lip in thought. "It might be better if we ask Professor Oak to do it." Especially given the circumstances. "I'll call Tracey to come get them after you fill me in."

Delia sat on the couch beside Dawn, her fingers linked in her lap. It ached to know her pride and joy had been suffering, and she was hardly comfortable not even knowing why.

"Thanks." Dawn nodded, looking up into the amber eyes of her companion's mother. She winced at the idea of relaying such an awful story right to her face. But, it was the least she could do. "It all started a week or two ago, in Saffron City…"


	61. Aftershocks

**The worst is over! For the readers who stuck through those last two chapters, we appreciate it! As always, your attention and feedback is appreciated. We hope you like what's coming up next!**

* * *

The air was ripped through his nostrils and sucked deep into his lungs as he jolted up, hair along the nape of his neck stuck to his skin with slick, chilled sweat. His chest heaved with silent cries as bitter tears welled on the brim of his bottom lashes. "Pikachu…!" Ash called out, looking around wildly before realizing where he was.

He gripped the sheets of his bed tightly as his pulse began to slow. He was home, in his own room. He looked down to see Pikachu looking up at him, a paw rested on Ash's chest. The electric type must had been asleep there and fallen off when Ash jolted up.

The trainer relaxed his tense shoulders, smiling down at his starter. "Pikachu…"

"Pikapi," the mouse squeaked back, rising onto his tiptoes to lick Ash's cheek.

Trying to distance himself from the quickly muddied dream, Ash looked over the side of his bed. There, Dawn and Empoleon were sleeping. He smiled at how Dawn had used her blanket to pad Empoleon's hard metal surfaces rather than to keep herself warm.

"Hey, Pikachu, let's take a walk, huh? I've gotta get that dream out of my head," Ash whispered.

Thankfully, the nightmare was already fleeing his memory like dirt from hands when they are washed, but the absolute terror remained in his mind and heart. It squeezed down on him with every pulse and made him feel heavy.

Pikachu nodded and led the way, hopping off the end of Ash's bed and making his way to the door. Ash followed suit, keeping his steps light to not disturb Dawn.

The moment he opened his door, however, he looked over to check if she was sleeping. She was not. Rather, she'd grabbed a boot in her half sleep, watching him with squinty eyes, holding it as if she meant to launch it.

Briefly, Ash felt very protected by his girlfriend. Quickly, however, he called out. "Don't throw it at me!" he hissed.

"... Ash?" Dawn yawned, putting the shoe down. She scratched her stomach. "What're you doin' up?"

He looked to the ground. "Bad dream. I gotta go to a different room while I clear my head."

"We're coming with you," she said with a nod. She stood up and nudged Empoleon.

The bird squawked in protest, but after realizing everyone else was awake, grew both curious and concerned, and happily followed. He wasn't letting Ash or Pikachu out of his sight again for a while.

Pikachu led the troop down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, the whole group turned to look at Ash.

"Whatcha wanna do?" Dawn asked. She flicked her eyes towards the door. It still glimmered faintly with Mr. Mime's Barrier upon it. It wasn't absolute protection but covering it and the windows with psychic energy was a bit of insurance for them. She didn't want to go out of their relatively safe haven.

Ash's mind wasn't on the outdoors. He was very content to stay inside right now, at three in the morning. He shrugged. "Uh… Cereal, I guess? And, see if there's anything cool on TV…"

Dawn nodded. She turned to Empoleon. "Will you get me and you some snacks with Ash and Pikachu? I'll find something to watch."

The water type saluted. "Empo!"

"Pi…" Pikachu chided. Delia was still sleeping, so they should be quiet.

While Dawn settled on the couch and turned the television on, quickly lowering the volume, the boys all headed into the kitchen. Ash quickly found the pokemon treats, giving the whole bag to Empoleon and Pikachu to share. He thought about it and took out a hand full, putting them in a ziplock bag. He figured Mr. Mime wouldn't appreciate all of his treats being eaten, but after the last few days, he probably wouldn't really blame Empoleon or Pikachu for being a bit piggy.

For him and Dawn, he began searching for the cereal. He made a face at the shredded wheat cereal his mother kept. His heart sank at the thought that his cereal might not be here… But, there, he saw it! A brand new box, even! He smiled as he took down the fruity goodness. "Just in case I come home, huh…?" he quietly realized.

He quickly poured himself and Dawn a bowl, dousing them both in milk before sticking a spoon in each. With that, he and the pokemon walked into the living room.

A cartoon was playing; it was a very old one, in fact. It was a Rattata and a Persian.

Ash grinned as he sat down by dawn. "Oh, man, _Tam and Jenny_! It's been ages since I've seen this."

"You like it?" Dawn asked. "I tried to find something that wouldn't upset you, but all that's really on this late is infomercials or… late night talk shows." She looked to the side. "You know… News and stuff."

Ash passed her one of the bowls as Empoleon and Pikachu settled down on the rug in front of them to eat.

"This is perfect," he assured.

Some time went by, perhaps ten minutes. The episode of _Tam and Jenny_ finished up and a show about a young boy who regularly visited Mt. Moon to see the Clefairy be had befriended began.

As it did, Ash spoke up. "Dawn," he said.

On the screen, the moon began to set over the Clefairy, the boy, and the lake they met at.

"I don't feel safe here."

The coordinator turned her head toward Ash, alarmed.

The Clefairy spoke to the boy, telling him that she needed to hide away once the sun came up.

Dawn calmed, understanding what the trainer meant. "Where do you want to go? We can go anywhere you want."

The boy in the red coat grabbed the Clefairy's hand.

Ash shrugged, looking down at the mush of his second bowl of cereal. "... I dunno."

The boy in the red coat told the Clefairy that he'd follow her down into the caves, if only they could remain friends.

At that moment, the lights flicked on. Pikachu hopped onto Ash's lap and Empoleon stood, flippers gleaming silver. Dawn was already standing, cereal bowl dropped onto the table. Ash turned quickly, fist raised.

It was just his mother, though.

Delia cocked her head, knowing too well why they were worried but somehow finding it funny that they had been so quick to stir. "I hate to eavesdrop, but when I hear someone talking in my house… Well. I can't relax either." She shrugged.

"Sorry, Mom."

"Sorry, Delia…"

"Pika Pika…"

"Leon."

"You guys having a midnight snack?" Delia asked, coming around to sit in the armchair. She crossed her legs, one pecha-berry print pajama pants leg over the other. "You and Dawn really should get away for a while. I'm glad you brought it up, actually."

"Do you know where we could go?" the coordinator inquired.

Delia shook her head. "I actually asked Professor Oak if he'd find a region with no Rocket activity for you last night. I haven't heard back yet. He wakes up at six, though, so we've got…" She looked at the wall clock. "About two hours or so left."

Ash counted on his fingers. "Well, then, we can't stay in Kanto and can't go to… Johto, Hoenn, or Sinnoh… Orange islands, neither." He huffed.

"I'm sorry, kiddo," Delia said with a sigh. "Why don't you finish sleeping? I'll clean up here and keep a home phone by me. As soon as the professor lets me know something, I'll let you know."

"Thanks, Mom."

* * *

The meeting room was surprisingly plain. A wall of the room was completely made of windows, a faint blue sheen over them suggesting that the two Drowzee positioned at either end of the room were for security as much as ambiance. Jessie and James took a pair of seats at the far end of the room while Meowth begrudgingly took a seat in Jessie's lap. Seated around them were perhaps ten other agents, some also with their partner pokemon. At the opposite end of the table from the agents gathered were the absolute pinnacle of Team Rocket-Proton, Petrel, Ariana, Archer, and Giovanni.

"All the trackers have arrived, Lord Giovanni," the secretary said from where she sat apart from the table, quietly typing up notes on her computer.

Giovanni's Persian was resting at her feet, flicking his ear once at her announcement.

"Right," Giovanni replied. He spoke in a booming voice, not yelling but still drowning out the silence in the room and leaving no space devoid of his intentions. "After yesterday's events, I have come to an executive decision: Ash Ketchum cannot be allowed to live." The boss looked to Archer, then.

Archer nodded. "This is strictly an intra-organization issue. We are issuing a bonus bounty on any Team Rocket member who brings in Ash Ketchum to us alive." He tilted his head. "A slightly lesser amount is available if he is brought in dead."

Proton slammed his fist on the table, eyes gleaming. "We need him alive! I've got a project I need him for. Can't film it if he's dead."

Petrel nodded. "Dawn the coordinator is also being sought. We're not sure if she's a rogue agent or if she's truly just Ketchum's ally."

Ariana crossed her arms. "Regardless, she was the one who came to Ash's rescue. We will frame her if Ash is brought in dead."

Meowth's blood ran cold. "Geez, the twoips really done got in over their heads…"

Jessie gripped her fist tight. "The twerp's a pain in the butt, but he and the twerpette don't deserve this…"

James twiddled his thumbs. The situation wasn't good.

Giovanni spoke again. "While the entire organization is invited to keep an eye out for the boy, those gathered in this room are being assigned certain locations to check. Half of you will be sent to Sinnoh while the rest will remain here in Kanto." Giovanni snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, slips of paper were teleported before each group. Jessie, James and Meowth held their breath as they read their assignment.

It was Pallet Town.

* * *

The sensation of dense bristles running along his scalp initially made Pikachu wince, taking a moment to calm and adjust to gentle strokes of the brush. He cooed, his fear displaced by the pleasant sensation of Dawn brushing his bright yellow fur, now free of any dirt or sweat from the night before. "Chu~"

"How's that, Pikachu? You'll be nice and stylish once you let me finish!" The coordinator chirped, winking at the Electric Mouse who sat in her lap. Nestled into the cozy living room couch of the Ketchum household, Dawn pampered Pikachu

Beside them, Ash reclined into the sofa, arms strewn over the top of the cushions, legs crossed. His blank, lost expression vanished long enough for a smile to appear on his lips, brought on by the innocent bonding between his best friend and companion beside him.

His lips purse together, and his eyes turned up towards the ceiling again. _'Pikachu's still really antsy… He didn't even want to battle, yesterday.'_ It wasn't like Ash blamed him. But, he was always the first to stand at Ash's side in the face of danger, all the way up to Giovanni, himself.

Then again, they'd both been held captive in the worst way… He was actually grateful that he'd been too drugged up to clearly remember half of it. Pikachu had been in better shape, physically… But, to react the way he did… It made Ash shudder to guess what he'd experienced.

Should they even continue their challenge, like this?

Ash swallowed. "Hey, Dawn, Pikachu… I keep thinking. With everything going on like it is… You think we should even take on the league this year? I mean, with Team Rocket, and you not wanting to battle…" He made eye contact with Pikachu, quickly averting his eyes towards the floor.

"I-I mean, not like I blame ya… I just…"

It was hard to imagine doing anything without Pikachu. The thought made him queasy.

Pikachu's ears descended. On top of all of this, upsetting Ash was definitely not on his to-do list. But, the thought of going back into combat, in that dark, dingy arena… He shuddered again.

Dawn pursed her lips. Watching either of them struggle like this, let alone both, left her perplexed. Uncomfortable, even. She returned to gently brushing Pikachu to calm him down. "You've got to remember, Ash. Our dreams aren't ripe yet. The Pokemon League'll wait for you."

Or, at least long enough for them to regroup.

"They'll be ready to be picked this summer!" Dawn insisted in all of her poetic passion, her free hand clutching the cushion below her. "But, Ash Ketchum wouldn't let them rot on the vine, just because the rain won't stop!" Blue brows furrowed tight, and she gently stroked Pikachu's fur. "And, I know Pikachu wouldn't, either."

Dawn's speech left Ash staring, a few blinks telling her that he was trying to process it. That was definitely her poetic side talking. "So… You're saying that we'll have time to sort things out before the league comes along?"

"Exactly!"

"I guess… But, if we kick the bucket before we get there, what's the point?" Ash sunk into the sofa, lowered brows barely containing black irises that averted towards the ceiling.

Even Dawn winced, then. Ash talking like this was very unlike him.

"Pikachu…" The mouse recoiled from the brush, then. If even Ash couldn't be a pillar of optimism, then things looked pretty bleak.

This just wasn't acceptable. Not to Dawn. She reached to place a hand on his shoulder. "Tell me something, Ash." She met him with her sapphire, steely gaze. "Who's going to beat them if you don't become strong enough to win the league?"

Pikachu's brush was set aside. "If. it weren't for people like you, or people like Cynthia… There'd be a lot more bad guys running around! You were always so strong, and courageous… Even in the worst situations, you gave everyone the guts to stand up to people like Cyrus, or Giovanni. You reminded me that I was strong enough to step in and help. Now, it's my turn."

Dawn's strong sentiment left Ash speechless. Had he really inspired people that much?

"I'm not sure if Kanto has a Cynthia," she started again. If it did, they sure as heck wouldn't take this sitting down. "But if the strongest people around here can't handle things like this, then you'll get stronger than them, and you can fix it!"

The Stantler-in-headlights look Ash was giving Dawn clued her in on her mistake. "Sorry. _We_ can fix it!"

Fingers that had been persistently tapping at his arms closed into a tight fist. Ash took a deep breath in, pausing before letting it out in an audible huff. Both of his hands raised to give his cheeks a light slap. "Dawn, you're right. If that's what it's gonna take, then we'll get stronger than ever! To protect the first friends I ever had…" His coal-colored eyes turned down to Pikachu. "To protect pokemon."

Watching Ash recover his blazing spirit put a smile on Dawn's face. But as soon as he recovered, she watched him slink back into the sofa.

"...We'll do that, but we need a breather. We're not ready for that, now."

"Right. We've all got some healing to do, huh?" Dawn resigned, subconsciously reaching to rub the top of Pikachu's head.

"Ash, honey!" Delia's voice rang out from the kitchen. "Could you come here, please?"

Ash sat up, his attention snatched away. "Sure thing!" Curious, he walked into the kitchen, with Dawn and Pikachu following close behind.

Delia stood towards the other end of the kitchen, a telephone connected to the wall in one hand, the other bearing a cloth that was currently being used to polish a content Empoleon's crown. "...Yes, here he is. I'll put you on speaker." The auburn-haired woman spoke, clicking a button on the phone.

"...Yes? Hello?" Professor Oak's scratchy voice could be heard from the speaker.

"Professor!" Ash blurted out.

"Ah, Ash, there you are!" A loud cough could be heard from over the phone. "I… I overheard what happened. I'm terribly sorry to hear that you went through such hardship." The usual jovial spring was missing from Samuel's voice. He sounded subdued, uncomfortable, even.

Ash's face scrunched, and no words came out.

The silence spoke volumes. The elder man continued. "I agree with your mother; it'd be wise to stay far from Kanto, if at least for a little bit… On that note, I spoke with a colleague of mine from Unova, Professor Juniper. As far as she's ever heard, there's been no reported presence of Team Rocket in the Unova region. On this short notice, it might be the safest place to recoup."

"Unova…" Ash's brows furrowed, before raising in an epiphany. "Right, you told me about that place, a while back. You said there were lots of new pokemon." It was as enticing an idea as any, right now.

"But, where would we go?" Dawn chimed in. "We don't know the first thing about that region."

"Indeed. On that note… This fiasco made it onto the news, and I got a call from someone who was concerned for you, Ash - and you, too, Dawn. I'm certain you're familiar with the Elite Four member, Bertha?"

"Bertha!?" Ash's eyes grew wide. That's right… They'd gotten into some trouble, themselves.

"She asked about you both… I was reluctant to say anything, but she had all the persistence of a ground type expert. I'm not quite sure why, but she seemed to feel responsible for your troubles… At any rate, she wanted me to let you know that she has a getaway apartment in Unova that she offered for your use in your refuge. If you come to stay by the end of the week, the building clerk will accommodate you and allow you entry."

"Seriously?" Ash blinked, and Pikachu scaled his shoulder to hear the Professor more easily. Anything that got them out of predatory clutches was fine with him, at this point.

"Yes, she insisted on it. Professor Juniper has also been gracious enough to offer covering the cost of up to three plane tickets! I wasn't quite comfortable giving out your information, given the circumstances… But she was eager to show Unovan hospitality to someone in need."

Delia placed her free hand to her heart. "We very much appreciate it… Would you like to go to Unova, Ash?"

Ash paused. This whole situation still left him rather overwhelmed. He looked between his companions for a sign. Dawn and Empoleon were difficult to read and his eyes landed on Pikachu last. The hopeful look in his face was telling. That gaze was practically begging for Ash to say yes. The stubby paws clinging tightly to his shoulders brought the point home.

He looked back to Dawn, holding a hand out. "Well, Dawn, whaddya say?"

The coordinator's hues drifted from Ash's eyes to his hand. For him to stop and ask like that… For someone as impulsive as Ash, that was unusual. A smile picked up on Dawn's lips. Ash didn't want to be alone. They'd promised to have each other's backs, barely a week ago.

"I say it's a good idea!" Dawn's hand reached forward, rising high, rather than dropping into Ash's. It was held above her head, waiting for reciprocation. She flashed a wink at Ash and Pikachu.

Delia could watch the light in Ash's eyes return, glimmering in real time, before her. A loose fist and thumb were held to her lip, brows furrowing at the scene before her.

When she heard the first laugh come from Ash she'd witnessed in months, and watched his hand meet Dawn's above their heads in an enthusiastic clap, Delia knew that Ash had brought home someone special.

A cough could be heard from over the phone. "Hello?" Oak interrupted. "Are you all still there?"

A smile had spread across Delia's lips. "If you wouldn't mind, ask Professor Juniper for two tickets as soon as possible!"

On the other end of the phone line, the Professor nodded with a murmuring of affirmation. "Right, then…" His aging fingers tapped at the keyboard in front of him, growing a tad tired of the repetitive motion. "I'll just go and notify her… Oh!" He sputtered, reclining into his seat with wide eyes. "Ahah… She's… Already arranged the flight! It'll be leaving this evening."

"Great news. Thank you, Samuel!" Delia chimed. "What would we do without you?"

"A friend in need is a friend indeed, it is said, you know!"

Samuel was prepared for the gushing that could be heard from over the phone.

"Another A-class poem from the best of the best! Thank you so much, Professor!"

A hearty chuckle came in return. "You're quite welcome. Now, I'll be looking forward to hearing from the both of you. And you, Pikachu!"

"Pol!" An indignant squawk followed.

"Oh! Is that an Empoleon I hear? Well, congratulations, Pi- er, Empoleon! I'll look forward to hearing from you, too!"

A satisfied "poleon" followed.

"Thanks, Professor!" Ash added.

A clack of the phone concluded the conversation.

"Well, that settles that… I guess we're going to Unova!" Ash announced, reaching to gently scratch under Pikachu's chin. "How's that sound, buddy?"

"Pika-cha~!" Pikachu leaned into Ash's hand, chin tilted upward. A vacation somewhere safe was just what he needed!

"We could really use the R&R…" Dawn's contentment was suddenly shattered, her face dropping. "Wait… I don't have anything packed for the beach! Or any vacation clothes… This was on such short notice…" The blue-haired girl fell into a dramatic slump.

"Most o' mine was probably too old, now," Ash muttered, his arms crossing over his chest.

Delia's arms crossed over his chest. "Hmm… Dawn, can you sew?"

Dawn blinked. That caught her off-guard. "I'm okay at it, yeah."

Delia beamed, winking at the coordinator. "Then, you stay here with Ash! I'm going to run to the store to pick up some clothes and supplies! We'll have you all ready in no time!"

* * *

The trainer flicked his eyes at length between the two women who were in the kitchen sewing together and last week's late night comedy show playing on the television. Delia was in the middle of helping Dawn accessorize some clothes. Between the time restraints and Dawn's limited skill with sewing, new clothes couldn't be made from whole cloth. Delia had gone out and gotten some comfortable but basic pieces and now Dawn was, as it were, upgrading them.

In fact, as Ash watched, Dawn was sewing on a colorful collar to a new button up shirt for Ash. Ash listened closely and heard Delia talking.

"And, it's the ultimate way you can show someone that you love them." The mother hummed softly as she ironed out the dress Dawn had already put together for herself. "You show them that you love them and they're one of a kind," she said.

Dawn nodded. "You're so right!" She smiled down at the shirt she held in her hands. "Thanks for teaching me more about sewing."

"Of course!" Delia said with a chuckle. "Can't have my future daughter-in-law clueless about these things!"

"F-Future…?!" Dawn choked out.

On that cue, Ash jumped up, storming into the dining room to try and stop whatever tirade his mom was on. "What's going on in here?" he asked, pleading with his mom to not make this weird.

Delia shrugged, Dawn's dress in one hand and the iron in the other. "Did you kids really think I wouldn't notice how close you've gotten?" She paused. "Also, Ash, ever since you were a kid, you've always been kind of…" She waved the iron back and forth. "Iffy… on other people touching you. Dawn, though? You've stuck by her side like glue." She tilted her head. "... Plus, Empoleon and Pikachu told me when I was getting them treats. All I had to do was ask!"

"Oh," Dawn said with a blush. "Well… Glad we got that squared away." She lifted the shirt to Ash, trying to focus on something else. "Can you try this on?"

"Sure!" Ash replied, shrugging off the pajama top he'd been wearing around for most of the day. His mother was still doing their laundry from the last few days, so he'd been reduced to lounging in it.

As he shrugged on the shirt, Ash turned back and forth for his mother and girlfriend. Dawn and Delia cooed in approval before Dawn gagged.

"That collar!" she lamented. She immediately turned to Delia. "I'm so sorry for wasting your material…! And, time! Ah, and you, Ash, for ruining the shirt!"

As Dawn panicked, Ash looked down at the collar. It was slightly longer on one side than the other, but if he popped it just right, no one could tell. He quietly thought it over, recalling what the girls had been talking about earlier. He smiled before putting a hand on Dawn's shoulder. A cheeky smile was put on display, accompanied by a roll of his eyes. "I'll wear it. No need to worry."

"Are you sure?!"

"If you made it for me, I'll wear it." He shrugged. "Besides, Gary used to wear his shirts like this. I'll just bring back in style, but cooler!"

Dawn laughed. "Thanks, Ash. I'll make the pajamas really comfortable and cool to make it up to you!"

Watching it all quietly, Delia tilted her head. The children were truly adorable. Ash had grown over the journey, too. He would have been more upset about this a few years ago. Still… He wasn't that mature, and she could prove it. "I knew I was right about Dawn being daughter-in-law material!"

"Mo-o-om!" Ash lamented.

Delia giggled. There it was.

* * *

The crackle of snapping twigs was only barely covered by the ruffling of leaves, bushes rustled by the cautious steps of two grown adults and a Meowth accompanying them. A heavy silence hung in the air, only broken by the occasional chatter of wild pokemon.

James' chest tightened at the familiar sight of Pallet Town at the bottom of the hill, his lavender brows knitting together. "Well, it looks like we're here…" He crouched behind a bush, rummaging through his black bag that blended with the rest of his uniform. A pair of binoculars were drawn, scanning over the entirety of Pallet Town. A slow eye-crawl over Professor Oak's ranch delayed the inevitable.

Meowth heaved a heavy sigh, absently swatting at an Oran Berry that dangled from the bush he was hiding behind. If neither of these chuckleheads were going to get the ball rolling, he supposed it had to be him. "...So, what da heck are we gonna do? I don't love the idea of da twoip havin' to sleep with da Magikarp."

"We'll just have to keep thinking," Jessie asserted. Her usual loud confidence, though, was absent today. Her eyes were obscured behind a second pair of binoculars. "I was both blessed and cursed as creative type. If we can scheme the twerp, we can scheme him out of this."

"Then show us, O wise one," James sulked. He could distinctly spot Ash's home among the hills. Why couldn't he have grown up in a more crowded area…?

"Well, if he wanted to high-tail it outta dere, dere's his chance." Meowth blinked, catching sight of what looked to be a shuttle on one of Pallet's dirt roads.

"What? Let me see!" Jessie barked, scooting over to unceremoniously rest her elbows atop Meowth's head. His whines and threats were ignored in favor of peering through the lens, zooming in on a short blue shuttle bus at a nearby corner. _'Pallet International Airport,'_ it read.

James was the next to scope in. "The airport…" A couple of passengers stepped off, going their own way. A few residents at the corner began to board, including… "...It's the twerp!"

A rough shove pushed Jessie off of Meowth, who grabbed the flipping binoculars for his own. "...And, the twerpette!"

A gloved hand shoved Meowth to the side, and Jessie reclaimed her gear. "...And, Pikachu!"

"If da twoips got half a brain between 'em, they gotta be makin' like an egg and scrammin'." Meowth deduced, his little, greedy heart slowing just a bit. Maybe there was a chance.

"And, if they don't go to Sinnoh, they'll be safe!" James followed, his eyes growing wide.

"Yeah, but…" Meowth's shoulders began to sink. "How're we gonna word it to da boss?"

"It's simple," Jessie argued, the corners of her cherry lips pulling up. "We'll just drop by, and tell the boss that the twerp isn't home! That there's no evidence of Ash Ketchum hiding in Pallet Town. It's technically true!"

"Ya gotta point… But, I still feel like this is really treadin' the line o' mutiny, here." Meowth shuddered at the thought. They wouldn't ever have to face the same fate, would they?

"Mutiny, shmutiny!" James barked, glaring into the eyes of his feline companion. If one looked closely enough, tears were beginning to build. "We may be crooks, and we may be dirty, rotten thieves! But, we still have standards!"

"If we got standards, dey're pretty low."

"Maybe so, but of all people, the twerp…" Any image of a lifeless Ash that threatened to spark James' imagination was tearfully shoved away. "...I don't think I'd be able to call myself a Rocket again."

"Well, then, it's settled!" Jessie interjected, standing tall with one hand raised high, the other over her chest. Stealth be damned. "It's our responsibility as members of Team Rocket to maintain our ability to serve the boss! If we started crossing those lines, we'd be out of work, and they'd be out of geniuses! So, turning a blind eye is the right thing to do!"

"Right!"

"Right!"

Two hands and a paw were joined in unison, followed by the stealthy patter of feet into Pallet Town.

The image of the trio was obscured by dust and exhaust kicked up by the shuttle that had just left the corner, greeting the innocents a well-timed escape.

* * *

Bare hands that were too far too used to being gloved fumbled with the cold metal of a seatbelt, making several clumsy attempts to clasp it shut. A few grunts and muttered expletives concluded in the belt finally snapping together. "Ah-ha," Ash vocalized in triumph, leaning back in his seat. "'Bout time this thing cooperated… Now, we're good to go!"

"Pikapi!" Pikachu's little nose nudged his trainer's chest, pointing his attention to the small bottle in his paws. A small container of medicine from one of the airport convenience stores.

"Oh, right. Sorry, buddy… You got a nasty headache last time we were up that high, didn't you?" Ash took the bottle from his companion's hands, unscrewing the top. A tiny pill was poured into Ash's palm, fit for a small pokemon. It was pinched between his index finger and thumb, held up to Pikachu's mouth.

"Chu," Pikachu thanked his trainer, flicking up the pill with his tongue.

"Down the hatch," the teen followed, hoisting a small bottle of water. He tipped it just enough so Pikachu could lap up droplets of pouring water, pulling it back when it started to drip.

"Brrr," Pikachu shook his face free of moisture, gulping down the medicine. "Pika!" Content and confident that he'd go without pain this time, he lovingly rubbed his cheek into Ash's chest. "Chu~"

"Aha," Ash chuckled, squirming in his seat. "Hey, that tickles!" Tickled at the sensation of his best friend's fuzzy face rubbing into his cotton button-up, Ash breathed a sigh of relief. Things were beginning to look like they were back to normal, hopefully.

"It's just a shame Empoleon was too big to sit with us," Dawn lamented, leaning a squished cheek into her palm beside the two. "When he was a Piplup, he really liked the view."

"Yeah, it is a bummer… Well, he'll get to see plenty of new sights once we touch down in Unova! For now, you're stuck with us." Ash winked, resting a hand playfully on Dawn's opposite shoulder.

"Maybe _I_ should take one of those things for a headache." Dawn stuck her tongue out. She made herself comfortable nestled into Ash's shoulder.

"Very funny." The raven-haired trainer leaned his cheek against Dawn's forehead. He began flipping through the pages of a Sky Attack Mall magazine provided by the seat in front of him.

"Hey, check it out… An Ambipom pinball machine."

A beep from the intercom rang over his thoughts on impulse purchases.

"We are cleared for takeoff. Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened and your tray tables are stowed. We hope you enjoy your overnight flight to Unova!"


	62. Catch You Later, Kanto!

Ash stretched, adjusting his cap down on his bedhead. He shrugged his backpack higher up on his shoulders as Dawn frantically brushed her hair, trying to appear presentable. The flight from Kanto to Unova had taken them from night to day, yet the date was the same as when they'd left. As such, sleeping on the plane was very disorienting. The two were refreshed from sleep, but the timezone change had taken them off guard.

"At least Sinnoh and Kanto aren't too far apart," Ash mumbled as he looked at a map posted outside of the airport.

Dawn nodded as she released Empoleon. They'd left the airport security gates, so it was fine for Dawn to have him out again. "Hey, buddy!"

"Empo!" he whined, immediately wrapping Dawn in an embrace.

Suddenly, the duo found themselves approached by strangers, particularly small children. Pikachu pressed himself against Ash's shoulder and cheek, ears flattened at the surrounding crowd.

"What kind of pokemon is that?!"

"Can I pet him?!"

"How big!"

"Where are you guys from!?"

Ash looked to Dawn, who was also rather surprised by the change of pace. They needed to get out of here; attention was bad.

"Hey, don't take pictures!" Ash insisted once he spotted a camera.

He grabbed Dawn's wrist and she grabbed Empoleon's claw. Ash quickly lead them down the street, ducking into a small store with many wares obscuring the front windows.

At the counter of the store was an older man, who only nodded and smiled upon seeing our heroes.

"Oh! A couple from Sinnoh. Normally, people from Hoenn take vacations to Unova, but please, enjoy yourselves. My store boasts the best maps and local goods. Allow yourself to live authentically as a Unovan for a while!" he said as Ash and Dawn caught their breath.

"Live authentically?" Ash echoed to Dawn.

She pursed her lips. "It's a tourist shop," she whispered.

Ash looked around. "Well… Coming in here was good, so wanna buy something to be nice?" Ash cocked his head. "Empoleon's sure using up their AC, anyway."

True enough, Empoleon was standing directly in front of the air conditioning vent in the store, a happy smile on his face.

Relenting, the coordinator sighed. "Alright… I'm gonna look for some maps. We'll need some quiet places to eat when we aren't in… Whose apartment is it, again?"

"Bertha!" Ash said with a wink. "Professor Oak sure did us a solid getting all of this arranged… Glad I could call in this favor, though."

Dawn crossed her arms. "It's the least she could do since she dragged you into a raid back in Celadon City."

"Are you still sore we just told you about that while we were at Mom's?" Ash asked.

On his shoulder, Pikachu shot Dawn a pleading glance. Was she really still mad she didn't find out about the other event until now?

Rolling her eyes, Dawn let it go. "I'm not mad… Just, well… We're partners, Ash. What I know, you know; what you know, I know. If I had known you'd done that, I would have backed out of that contest and…" Her voice trailed off.

Pikachu's ears drooped.

Ash put his hand on her shoulder. "It was gonna happen anyway. I can't let those people do that stuff. You can't either. That's why we're here. To relax. We need it."

She nodded. "You're right." With that, she walked towards the brochure aisle, perusing the selections.

Ashe grinned at Pikachu on his shoulder. "Hm… Speaking of relaxing." He took his cap off, looking down on it. He then passed it to Pikachu. "Could you put that in my bag, buddy? It's kinda… iconic. Something less obvious might work better while we're traveling."

"Pi, Pikapi!"

Ash walked over to the hats, picking up the various caps. Some were made of straw and others were made out of leather, perhaps. Finally, Ash spotted the one he knew he had to have. It was a visor with a logo of a very dated brand, probably popular back when he was a kid! He grinned, snatching it up. He looked over his shoulder. "Hey… You think Dawn'll need a hat? It's kinda hot now, and she's sorta pale… She might need to keep the sun off."

Pikachu nodded. "Pikaka Pi!" he agreed. Ash was right! Dawn might get a sunburn if they didn't watch out for her.

Ash flicked his eyes between the two wide brimmed sunhats. White or yellow… He snatched the white one up, remembering that her beanie had been the same color.

Walking over to Dawn, he grinned. "I'm ready!"

Dawn held up a small booklet as well as a few pamphlets. "I found a coupon book for a local amusement park! They've got special events on certain days and stuff! Plus, it's got local restaurants, too!" she cheered.

"... They sell coupons in books?! They sell coupons?!" Ash asked, confused.

"Don't worry about it," Dawn answered with a wave. "Let's just go check out. Empoleon! We're going!"

"Empo!"

As the steel type waddled over, our heroes approached the counter. Dawn got out her wallet to pay for their purchases, and Ash spotted something small and bright yellow behind the counter. A sticker boasting what he could only assume was a low price for such a ware drew his eye even more. Ash put his hand on the counter, interrupting Dawn's purchase. He pointed towards the instrument, eyes gleaming.

"I want it."

Dawn looked back before balking. "Can you even play a ukelele? When did you learn to play a ukelele?!"

"Good eye!" the shopkeeper cheered, putting the instrument on the counter. He grinned. "It's an oldie, from back when Caitlin joined the Elite Four here!"

"... Wait, wait, Caitlin, as in…?" Dawn inquired.

"The one from Sinnoh, the well-off lady? Yep!"

Ash let out a low whistle. "Guess everyone's making progress." The aspiring pokemon master winked at Dawn as he bought their items while she was trying to process the news still. "Let's book it, too, huh?"

"Right!" Dawn agreed. She opened the map as they began to exit the shop. "Now… Where was the apartment, again?"

* * *

The coordinator walked ahead of Ash, bouncing back and forth as she looked over the various posters outside of the theater.

"Oh my gosh, they've got a Zoroark performing here!" Dawn gushed, pulling on Ash's sleeve. "You remember that Zoroark and Zorua?" She grinned. "I wonder… is this what they meant by their homeland?! We'll have to find out if Zoroarks are native to Unova!"

Ash's heart swelled at the thought of seeing that mother and child duo again. "We did say we were gonna go see them one day… Maybe if we can find it, we'll look for them?" Ash suggested.

The girl nodded before grabbing Empoleon's flipper. "Either way, let's go see a play later, okay?" Ash might not be the musical type, but Dawn knew Empoleon could appreciate a good outfit.

Groaning, Ash let go of his girlfriend's hand and turned to Pikachu. "Why don't we see if there's something more exci- BOCCER!" Without hesitation, Ash took off, leaving Dawn and Empoleon behind.

Running down the mildly crowded sidewalk, Ash quickly approached the building. "I bet this is where the Nimbasa Legends played!" He paused. "... Oh, right, they weren't… They aren't a real team anymore."

"Pikapi," the mouse said quietly, patting Ash on the head.

Dawn finally caught up, Empoleon waddling up behind her. "Did you say soccer or boccer?"

Deciding not to explain his disappointment, Ash cheerfully responded. "It's a stadium! I bet Unova has a few boccer teams; I know Sinnoh had lots! Maybe we could catch a basketball or soccer game, even if not?"

Pressing her lips together, Dawn squinted her eyes. "Maybe."

"Maybe," Ash repeated. "Well, let's head to the apartment."

"Alright!"

After perhaps a ten minute walk, the two reached a building. After a short conversation with the lobby receptionist who recognized their names on a list the official resident had approved, they were given the spare key and allowed to go up.

Needless to say, the apartment was luxurious.

Dawn dropped her backpack off her shoulder, eyes drawn to the huge television. It was pitch black and thinner than Charizard's patience! Ash, meanwhile, walked over to the fridge and immediately grew disappointed when he saw it was empty except for a box of baking soda.

"Oh, wow, the master bedroom is super nice!" Dawn chirped as she entered it.

Empoleon had flopped onto the couch, as had Pikachu. The electric type was currently trying to figure out how to use the remote control.

"Oh, the bathroom is even nicer!" she cooed, drawing Ash's attention.

As he waltzed into the room, Dawn was practically purring on the bed, cuddling a pillow.

"Sorry, Ash, I call dibs!" she silkily said.

The trainer quirked his brows. "Well, where am I gonna sleep?"

"In the other bedroom, duh."

"Dawn."

"Hm?"

"There is no other bedroom."

The coordinator sat up, looking out of the master bedroom door. Sure enough, there was only the dining area beside the kitchen, then the living room outside of the bedroom. Her eyes bulged.

Ash flopped onto the bed, a cocky smile on his face. "So, what were you saying about dibs?"

"I-I don't wanna sleep on the floor again!" Dawn whined. "And, you don't really need to, now…!" She nervously pulled at her hair. "I don't think we can share a bed, either…"

Ash was normally quite oblivious, but when she spelled it out like that, even he understood what she meant after a moment. "... Oh! N-No! Dawn, we don't gotta… We'll just share the bed! Besides, the pokemon'll be right here!" He reached out, putting a hand over Dawn's for comfort. "No need to worry."

Dawn nodded, tightening her grip on Ash's hand. "Right."

* * *

Ash stuffed a fist in his pants pocket, looking up at the name of the diner that Dawn wanted to try. Ursaring Grill felt out of place, somehow, in the middle of the city, boasting a very backwoods aesthetic and general rustic aura.

"Smells like onions," he said bluntly.

Dawn quirked a brow. "You're not getting a kiss if you eat any."

The trainer tipped his visor, wiggling his brows. "Like you could resist."

Thinking it over, blushing, and deciding not to retort, Dawn ripped open the door to the diner and walked in. Empoleon giggled at Ash, knowing the trainer was in trouble, as he followed the coordinator in. Ash groaned before walking in as well.

"I guess we order at the counter," he supposed, spotting where the line was starting. He looked to his shoulder. "Whatcha want, buddy?"

The mouse, for his part, looked at the tables. "Cha~!" He spotted ketchup bottles - lots of them! Spicy ketchum, sweet ketchum, and even ketchup with fruits or vegetables in them. He looked to the menu, spotting a simple order of fries. "Chu! Chuchu!"

"You're gonna have some fries with your ketchup, huh?" Ash asked, not entirely joking. "Right! I'm gonna have… Oh, boy, a chili dog! And… What the heck is a corn chip pie?" He tilted his head. "It's got chili, cheese, and corn chips…" He shrugged. "Nachos, kinda?"

Dawn quirked a brow. "Doesn't really sound like nachos…" She looked to Empoleon. "Oh, hey, there's cod! Like… those things at Misty's gym, right? Want some, big guy?"

"Empoooo!" the water type trumpeted, thrilled at the idea of having more fish.

"Alright. Fish and chips for Empoleon and... What're Bouffalant? Bouffalant wings?"

The girl at the counter, who had been witness to Ash and Dawn's deliberation raised a brow. "It's a pokemon, ma'am. You know, big normal types?"

"You guys eat pokemon?!"

The clerk groaned. "No. It's just called that."

"Oh! Alright, then."

"Would you guys like any sides with this?" the girl asked.

"Sweet corn and buttermilk biscuits!" Ash quickly interjected, seeing where another waiter had brought out.

"Right," the girl said flatly.

She took the pair's payment and gave them a number.

Once they sat down, it was a short wait until their meal. Once it was at the table, the crew made short work of it…

And, immediately regretted it.

Waddling out of Ursaring Grill, Ash felt his stomach gurgle.

"Ugh, I feel like I ate a whole stick of butter…"

Dawn whined in turn. "You're telling me…! I don't mind eating big, but I don't want it to be all fat…"

"We gotta sit," Ash grunted. "I feel like I'm gonna pass out."

And, so, they did. Ash and Dawn lazily lounged on a bench in a small green grove out of the way of the sidewalk lining the city street. Pikachu laid out on his side on the bench as well, round stomach protruding out. Empoleon, similarly gorged, laid on the sidewalk at Ash and Dawn's feet.

After a moment, though, a curious gray pokemon landed atop Empoleon's crest. It cooed at the foursome.

Dawn lazily flipped out her Pokedex… But, nothing registered.

"Oh, right," Ash grunted. "We should probably update them. Soon. Maybe at a Pokemon Center?"

"Yeah, soon," Dawn agreed, quietly.

As they lazed on the bench, more pokemon came by. Many more of the little gray flying ones visited. A pokemon a bit similar to Growlithe but browner came by, along with another that looked like it but larger. A pokemon that looked like a cross between a Luxray and a Bidoof crossed by, as well.

Eventually, the swelling of our heroes' bellies went down enough that they could go home. They did, and immediately went to sleep.

* * *

Slivers of sunlight crawled through closed blinds, laying several bright streaks across the one bed in the apartment. The sheets were untidy, propped up by lumps that spanned the length of the bed. The culprits laid against an assortment of pillows, nestled together with their arms wrapped around one another. Ash and his messy bed head were nestled into Dawn's blue locks, where he slept soundly… Pardoning the occasional snore that made Dawn stir, that was.

Pikachu rested in a curled up ball atop the pile of pillows, hanging over Ash's head. Buneary had, naturally, opted to lay against him, a paw and a fluffy ear strewn over his yellow fur.

Empoleon was left with the option of laying across the couch, a wing resting over his belly that slowly rose and fell with each breath he took, and the occasional defiant squawk that, no doubt, was a product of a dream.

Rosa was curled up in the lounge chair atop a blanket, lain to provide a smoother surface for the Lucario to rest upon. She hugged a show pillow from the couch, sleeping soundly.

One lamp bathed the room in a faint golden glow; Ash and Pikachu had both appealed to have some light in the room.

Ash was the first to rouse, blinking the sleep out of his eyes before letting out a rather loud yawn. Cuddling was nice and kept him warm, but he quickly realized that it was making him stir-crazy. He carefully shimmied out of Dawn's embrace, quietly squirming free before sliding off the edge of the bed. He gratefully took the opportunity to stretch his arms and legs.

Everyone else was still sound asleep, by the looks of it… It was unlike Ash to be so quiet, but he didn't have it in him to disturb the precious scene. His eyes lingered on Dawn, even if she'd probably complain about being seen with that bedhead later.

With her and their loveable team in mind, the teen tip-toed over to the kitchen table, where a folded up map of Nimbasa sat. Ash picked up the pamphlet, unfolding it to look over the flashy, lively city. There was the musical, the stadiums, a Gym… Maybe that was worth checking out…

...And an amusement park! Now, that explained the ferris wheel. Ash's heart was beginning to race, already!

A yawn of a higher pitch brought him out of his thoughts, then, turning his attention to Dawn, who was just now stretching her arms over her head.

The coordinator rubbed her eyes, feeling groggy. "Nnn.. Ash?" She looked up through half-lidded hues. "What time is it?"

Ash peered over to the digital clock on the stove. "It's barely past four. We didn't sleep _that_ long."

Which led the trainer to rush over as quietly as possible, holding the unfolded map in front of Dawn's face. "So, y'wanna hit the amusement park? If we're on vacation, we might as well act like it!"

Dawn flinched at the map being shoved in her face. They'd just woken up and Ash was acting like he'd eaten a barrel full of sugar. "Yeah, I'm behind that… Hold on."

A lazed trudge carried Dawn to the restroom, topped off by a shriek.

Though he expected it, Ash winced.

"My hair…! Oh, it's a wreck!" Dawn whined, frantically attempting to pat down her bedhead. To her horror, another fact dawned on her. "Agh, you must've seen, too…!" How was she supposed to nap, with her boyfriend no less, if she'd be seen before she had time to get ready for the day!?

Ash's laughter could be heard from the other room. Dawn's eye twitched. "This isn't a comedy routine! Unless you plan on buying tickets, keep your eyes and your smart mouth to yourself!"

It was quickly becoming evident that they were giving their pokemon a rude awakening, when grumbles and tired, chattered complaints could be heard. Ash exhaled, leaning back onto the end of the bed. "That's not what I'm laughin' about. When ya get like that, it just feels… Normal, y'know? Like nothing bad happened at all." In a weird way, it made him feel at home.

"Not gonna lie, it's kinda cute when you do, too."

Dawn pursed her lips, her temper beginning to cool. Another glance at the mirror brought her sour expression back to life. "Thanks, but I sure don't _feel_ cute, right now."

"You look cute to me," Ash argued with a shrug. "You trust your main man, don't you?"

"Pol!"

Ash laughed again. "Your _other_ main man. Sorry, Empoleon."

Ash's persistence dusted a light shade of pink across Dawn's pale cheeks. She played off her blush with stylish bravado, waltzing over towards her older companion with wide, dramatic steps. She draped an arm over the sitting teen's shoulder. "Since when were you such a smooth talker?" She winked, before turning her eyes up towards the ceiling. "...But, you've got a point. If this is our biggest problem, we've got it pretty good, huh?"

"Mhm," Ash gleefully agreed, thrilled she shared his feelings on the matter. He also took the opportunity to wrap a sturdy arm around her waist. "I've had a little practice!"

A cough and a "Pika" interrupted the two making googly-eyes at one another. Both looked about to take in the sight of their team in their resting spots, going to painful lengths to avoid eye contact with their trainers.

Rosa, in particular, was burying her face in between her paws. _~G-gross…~_

Ash and Dawn shared similar shades of red when it became painfully evident that they'd put on a scene.

"Ahahah… Sorry," Ash coughed. "I guess we should split now, huh? Before the lines get long!" He let go of Dawn, already scrambling to slip on his shoes.

"As soon as I fix myself up," Dawn added.

Hopping on one foot as he attempted to slide a sneaker onto the opposite, Ash cocked a brow. "I thought we just talked about the hair thing."

"I can handle _you_ seeing me like this," Dawn rebutted, grabbing her hair-care products from her bag. "But, for a whole new region? Uh-uhn. Unova's going to see me at my best!"

Finally managing to secure the footwear, Ash laughed. "Works for me. You guys ready to go?"

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed. A little fun out in the sun sounded ideal, right about now! If he continued to lie around like this, he'd quickly become lazy.

"Bun-Bun!" Buneary agreed.

"Empol!"

 _~I-I wanna go!~_

"Then, it's settled! As soon as Dawn gets outta there! ... _If_ she ever gets out."

A defiant tongue was stuck out at Ash before the door to the restroom slammed shut. Her muffled voice shouted over the running water. "You can't rush perfection!"

* * *

A large, colorful Ferris wheel towered over Nimbasa's skyline, and over Ash and Dawn's heads.

"That's gotta be the biggest Ferris wheel I've ever seen," Ash remarked, wide eyes fixated on the turning carts that looked miniscule from the ground. "I kinda wanna see the view at the top."

"That sounds great," Dawn interrupted, "but look at the line! It'd take an hour to get on that thing." Dawn gestured to the crowd in front of them, lined up in a barricade that forced passersby to slip through if they wanted to move past the spinning attraction.

"Man, you're right," Ash agreed, deflated. "Bummer… Hey, there's that thing!" He pointed in another direction. "The, uh…. What's it called?"

"A carousel!" Dawn chimed. "What do you guys think?"

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed. It seemed slow and charming enough to keep him at ease.

"Empol!"

"Alright! Let's go then!" Ash cheered before leading their merry band over to the ride.

After a surprisingly short wait in a line filled mostly with young children with their parents, the occasional couples, and several children about right for the age to be beginning their journeys, our heroes made their way onto the massive ride. Decorative statues of various pokemon known the world over for their prowess as beasts of burden stood in an array of poses; some were mid-stride of a gallop and others had a leisurely walking stance.

Pikachu spotted a Rapidash and found an odd solace in it. He found the slick, smooth surface of it too difficult for him to get a hold of and instead sat on the bench behind it. Likewise, Empoleon could tell by one look that he wouldn't fit on top. Perhaps a bit jealous of the small children still able to enjoy the ride, he took a seat beside Pikachu on the bench that might have passed for a sleigh if it were properly equipped.

"Well, guess we know where we're ridin'," Ash joked. "I want this guy!" He hopped upon the back of the white and black pokemon. It looked a bit similar to Rapidash, but sported a golden saddle with a similarly colored bridle. "I dunno what it is, but it looks 'bout snazzy! Maybe it's an electric type? It's sure got some thunderbolt lookin' horns on its head."

"Maybe," Dawn supposed, sitting on the back of the Rapidash beside Ash, careful to keep both of her legs on one side. She missed her shorts and her skirt even more. She could straddle things if she was wearing those.

But, soon, the ride started and the group found that they enjoyed it. The ride wasn't exciting, but it was certainly relaxing.

After that, they browsed the park.

For a while, Dawn and Ash relaxed in the nearby shade of a small grove surrounding a splash zone. Empoleon played with the young children who shrieked and giggled at the sight of such a huge and friendly foreign pokemon.

After that, they went to the carnival booths. There, Dawn won herself a very pretty but plastic toy crown from a weight guessing game. The poor attendant had no chance! Dawn's waist was very tiny, but her legs were strong as heavy as a traveling trainer's ought to be; there was no way he could have guessed she was so much heavier than she really looked, not with her skirt so long now! The crown was given to Ash to give to Rosa later. Though she was far too timid with crowds to enjoy the park properly, Dawn knew she liked to get dolled up from the way she mooned over contests.

The next winning game was with Ash and Empoleon. The two competed as a team while Dawn and Pikachu watched. With Ash's excellent coaching and Empoleon's proud eagerness to win driving them, the duo absolutely bested their competition at a water based shooting game. The prize was a coupon for a handsomely discounted meal at a novelty restaurant at the park. The only shame was that Dawn knew all about _The Princess and the Croagunk_ while Ash hadn't the faintest clue as to what it was. She said it was a Kalosian fairytale, but that didn't mean very much to him. As long as they weren't serving Croagunks at the restaurant with the movie's theme, that was alright by him.

Finally, the shortest line awaited them. It was for a massive roller coaster, swift as the wind and high as the rolling hills south of Nimbasa.

"Oh, boy, that looks fun!" Dawn gasped. "Empoleon, do you wanna ride? Ash, Pikachu?"

"Empo!" the water type chirped, clapping his fins together. He could prove how brave he was if he didn't scream and Dawn did!

"I'd like to, yeah," Ash said, as he looked down at Pikachu. "... You could sit in my lap, buddy. It's three to a row."

The mouse, however, was keenly watching the people already on the ride. Their screams echoed in his mind, melting and muffling until he couldn't recall if they belonged to humans or if they were the distant rattling of pained pokemon he'd witnessed down in the battling pits when he was captured.

When he didn't get an answer, Ash's shoulders sagged. "We're gonna sit this one out."

"You don't have to."

Ash flinched, jerking around with Pikachu held tightly to his chest. He shuffled back from the voice that had come from behind him, turning on his heels.

No thug or criminal confronted his line of sight. Rather, a young man about a foot taller than him. The man had a gentle smile and his blue eyes were trained onto Pikachu. He smiled, cheeks slightly obscured by a messily held back ponytail of soft green hair.

"I could watch your Pikachu for you," he clarified. "It seems scared." No mind paid to Ash's paranoia, the man held out a hand, many bracelets jangling on it. "It's okay, my friend. You don't have to ride or be alone. I'll stay here with you if you want to stay."

Surprisingly, Pikachu leaned out towards the man, putting his paw out to touch the stranger's. "Pi…"

Still tending to his pounding heart, Ash blinked. "Uh, you really wanna go with him?"

Empoleon raised a flipper.

Dawn raised a brow. "Do you wanna go with that guy, too? Over going on the ride?"

Empoleon lowered his flipper.

"Pikapi Pi!"

"Well, if you're sure… Thanks, guy!" Ash passed Pikachu to the mysterious man.

With that, the three boarded the roller coaster, and Pikachu settled in the stranger's arms. His relative comfort surprised him. Being held by a stranger should have his fur standing up on the back of his neck. But a strange aura of kindness practically radiated from the man, as the latter carried Pikachu towards a bench, where he sat.

"Is this comfortable?" The man checked, allowing Pikachu to sit atop his tan shorts.

"Chu," the mouse chirped. He sat, preferring to direct his eyes away from the attraction.

"Roller coasters… They're a remarkable collection of formulas. Slopes, angles, and the mechanics that allow the cars to scale them. A beautiful work of ingenuity. If only man would devote its attention towards that type of art."

Pikachu quirked a brow. The man was rambling about… Something to do with formulas, at a mile a minute. He was having a hard time keeping up.

"But those heights and angles are overwhelming for you, aren't they? As a pokemon, you weren't born to scale and indulge in these attractions, were you? It's really not your fault."

"Pika!" Pikachu interrupted, shaking his head. "Pika-ka. Pikachu." It wasn't that he disliked rides and thrills. At least, not usually. "Chu, chu!" He'd just had a particularly awful time, lately. He wasn't up to it.

He was growing a bit unnerved again, when he noticed that the stranger's sky blue eyes were staring directly into his, with laser-like focus. The eyes squinted, then grew wide.

"Then, you've suffered. Quite a bit, if you'd avoid something you enjoy."

"Pika!?" Pikachu backed up, gawking at his company. He could understand him!?

First Ash, and now this?

"You don't need to be alarmed. Ever since I was young, I've heard the voices of pokemon. In a way no other human could, I understand them."

"Pika…." That was something Pikachu had never seen. If he was telling the truth, it was amazing!

A scowl formed, then. "Other humans… Like that boy you were with. He must be your trainer?" Did he hurt you?" He paused, just long enough for Pikachu's face to twist in offense, but short enough to cut the mouse off. "But, he seemed concerned about your happiness, enough to avoid something he wanted to accompany you. That's exceptional."

"Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu finally shrieked, standing up in the other's lap. He couldn't have been more wrong! Ash wasn't just his trainer, but his very best friend! They saw each other through everything, and what upset him was the last thing he wanted.

The volume of Pikachu's shout startled the young man. "The love you have for your trainer; it's unusual. Too unusual, I'm afraid. Will it see you through your suffering? Will you be alright?"

Pikachu winced, going to lengths to avoid eye contact. An uneasy frown spanned from cheek to rosey cheek, and a paw rubbed the back of his head; a sure sign of his trainer's mannerisms. "Pika… Pikachu." Surely, they would… They always overcame their obstacles. "Pika-Pika!" But, he's never been so terrified before! This was a new type of challenge. He'd need time.

"I understand. This world can be a remarkably cruel place, especially for you and your peers." A pale hand reached forward with caution, halting when Pikachu flinched.

Recoiling from the stranger… No, acquaintance, Pikachu exhaled. His tiny heart was beating far faster than was warranted. This guy wasn't Jessie, or James. He wasn't from Team Rocket. He seemed like quite the opposite. Like Ash, if not a bit stranger. Just a bit.

He slowly leaned in, nuzzling into the hand.

"You're a brave one. Your trainer must care for you well. Keep your chin up, and you'll find a place in our world."

"Pika… Pikachu!" The yellow mouse perked up, his lopsided ears bouncing with just a hint of optimism. Maybe this guy was right! If he kept working with Ash, anything was possible!

Judging by the speed of his breaths though, it might take a while.

"Woo-hoo! I think I'm gonna hurl…"

"You better not! I made you that shirt, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine," Ash brushed off, stumbling away from the roller coaster. Still rather dizzy, he approached Pikachu, and the stranger who'd kept him company. Ash felt a wave of relief when, indeed, the man had been honest in his intentions.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu sprung into his trainer's arms with glowing eyes, hugging tightly to his chest.

"Hey, Pikachuuu-ah!" His loose footing was toppled by the mighty mouse, knocking Ash down on his backside. "Owww… You gotta watch your strength, Pikachu. You're gonna get one of us hurt."

"Pika-Pika." Pikachu nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders. It wouldn't have happened if Ash wasn't dizzy!

The mouse's attitude earned a very dramatic pout from Ash, squinted eyes staring him down.

The two promptly burst out laughing.

Dawn rested her hands on her hips. She wanted to be embarrassed, but the scene brought her relief. "Even on vacation, you guys can't chill out, can you?"

Ash sat up, grinning at his girlfriend. "Nope!"

"Pika-chu."

A pleasant smile picked up in the corner of the young man's mouth. A subtle sensation that he didn't feel all too often. "I'm convinced your Pikachu is in good hands. I had a delightful time speaking with him."

"Speaking with him…?" Ash tilted his head. "...Oh, thanks! I owe you one for hanging around with Pikachu." He stood with Pikachu in hand. "It was nice to meet you… Uh, wait. I didn't get your name, did I?"

"My name is N," he introduced.

"N… Well, like I said, nice to meet you, N! I'm Ash, and you've met Pikachu."

"And, I'm Dawn!" The bluenette added. "And this is Empoleon!"

"Pol! Empol!"

"It's nice to meet you all." N looked between the group, his attention quickly shifting to the two pokemon present. "Pikachu and Empoleon, you seem to have remarkably kind trainers. A shame that's so rare…"

Ash and Dawn blinked, as did their pokemon.

"But, I should be going. Pikachu, thank you for keeping me company. I hope we meet again." With that, the green-haired youth turned on his heels, swiftly shuffling off.

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu promptly waved.

"Uh, yeah! I hope so too!" Ash added, saluting N. "See ya!"

"That was a little strange," Dawn quirked a brow. "But, at least Pikachu's happy. Right?"

"Pika-chu!"

The friendly encounter left Ash smiling from cheek to cheek. A belly-laugh only barely slipped through his lips. "Unova doesn't seem so bad… Hey, what do you say we catch dinner at that 'Princess and the Croagunk' place?"

"Already? I thought you said you were gonna hurl." Dawn squinted.

"That was then, and this is now! That ride worked up an appetite!"

"Pi-Pika!" He could go for something to eat, too!

"I guess I can't argue with that… Alright, let's get to it!" A finger of Dawn's was pointed forward dramatically, a hand on her hip.

"Hey, that's my pose!"

"Yeah, but as your girlfriend, I get special privileges." Dawn proudly flipped her bangs.

"You do, huh… Well, they won't help you get you there first!" With that, Ash took off.

"Ash…! You've got some nerve! I can't run in a dress, you know!" Dawn gripped the frills of the sun dress, shuffling ahead as fast as she could manage. She'd better catch up quick!


	63. Predator and Prey

**We're back with another installment! We hope to hear your thoughts, as always!**

* * *

As Dawn pulled her sun hat further down on her head, she tried out the name of the foreign pokemon again. "Pi-dove."

The little gray flying types fluttered around the streets, particularly darting around Ash as Pikachu, on his shoulder, crumbled a few slices of toast leftover from their breakfast. Empoleon wasn't as pleased to have them try to rest on his crown, but tolerated them with all the wavering patience one would expect from him.

"I'd kinda wanna catch one," Ash mused. "If I wasn't so focused on working on the team I've already got ready… Between Misdreavus and Rosa, and a few others, there's just too many newbies already needing to get beefed up. Plus, my older team members need attention, too…"

Dawn patted Ash's shoulder. "I'm sure your little army will be well ready by the time the league comes around. No need to worry!"

Ash nodded as Pikachu brushed off the crumbs from the long broken up toast off his paws.

"So, what was today's plan again? Boccer?"

"That's tonight," Dawn corrected. "We're going to go see a musical at twelve! _Belle and the Machamp_!" The coordinator clasped her hands together with glee. "I remember reading the fairytale that's based on when my old elementary school would order books on loan from the Canalave library! It's a Kalosian fairytale, but they're all so romantic and-"

In the middle of her spiel, Dawn had been knocked to the side.

"Empo!"

The water type rushed to her aid, offering his flipper to his trainer as she fretted over her sun dress being dirtied by the side walk.

"Hey!" Ash yelled, raising a fist. "Watch where you're going, jerk!"

"Pika!"

No sooner had Dawn righted herself than another figure, slimmer and more polite, slammed into her. Once again on her back, Dawn rubbed the back of her head while the figure on top of her whimpered in pain.

"Zoroark!" Dawn yelped, eyes wide as she looked at the figure on top of her. "You again!" She reached up, hugging the dark type. "Oh, Ash, Unova is the Zoroark homeland! Where's your baby?"

Panicking, the Zoroark shook free of Dawn's grasp, eyes wide in confusion. She looked between the two trainers and their pokemon, tense and fearful.

"... Dawn, I don't think that's the Zoroark from that time," he muttered. That Zoroark had been hearty and incredibly muscular. That mother was suited for battle and well trained to it. This Zoroark was muscular, yes, but the way her ribs poked through betrayed the fact that she was not the same incredibly healthy, robust creature that the other Zoroark had been.

"Pi Pika?" Pikachu asked, finally asking what the group was dying to know.

"... Roark. Zoro zoro." She bowed her head, looking pitiful with her ears flopping. "Zoroark! Zo!" She was clearly pleading as she looked up.

"Pi! Pikapi, Pikaka, Pikachu!" he demanded.

Ash, not needing his aura abilities to understand basic emotions, furrowed his brows. "She's chasing that jerk, huh?" He clenched a fist. "Well, you might not be our old friend, but we'll help you out! Let's go get her!"

As Ash ran, Pikachu clung to him and the Zoroark followed. Dawn lifted the hem of her skirt a little as she followed, lagging a bit behind with Empoleon.

"Zoroarks must be an unlucky bunch, huh?" she muttered to her starter.

* * *

"C'mon… Where'd she run off to?" Ash grunted, peering down a grimy alleyway that he swore he'd seen the mysterious figure vanish into. They'd scoured Nimbasa, heading from the bright and flashy attractions into the less prided apartment complexes, dodging the occasional pokemon that came across their path. They'd sworn they'd seen a few sentient trash bags…?

But, no devilish runaways could be found.

Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure what she'd done. But, to put a pokemon in such distress… Well, it had to be bad. The trainer grimaced, gripping the brim of his visor. He _really_ didn't want to deal with these kinds of dirtbags right now, nor was he comforted by the dark, unfamiliar streets that had become a maze for the group. The thought was actually starting to make him shake.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu's voice rang out, alerted by his trainer's shivering that rattled him atop his shoulder.

"...Sorry, buddy. This ain't what I wanted to get into."

Ash swallowed, looking back to the panting and snarling Illusion Fox that sniffed at the pavement for clues. The sickness in Ash's stomach was pushed to the backburner. "But, we've gotta help. Right?" Was Pikachu worried, too?

"Pi… Pika!" Pikachu hesitated, but agreed, nonetheless. It was the right thing to do!

"Hey, are ya feeling better now…? You think you could run again?" Ash queried, noting that the dark type was beginning to catch her breath. Zoroark could sprint like a blur, he knew that much; but apparently, it came in short bursts, in this one's case. It was no wonder she'd been eluded.

A huff followed, and the grey fox nodded along. Her nose returned to the pavement, tracing through the alleyway.

When one's panting stopped, another's followed. Dawn stumbled into step with the group, resting her hands on her knees. "Man… So much for vacation." She hadn't been prepared for this. One look at the fretting creature, though, made her feel petty for her complaints. "Any luck?"

"Not yet," Ash shook his head.

A snarl told him otherwise.

"I think she's got a scent. Come on!"

Zoroark was followed down the length of the alley, which split into two paths between buildings. Graffiti and stacked cardboard boxes were passed and ignored in a sprint down the path to the left.

A pile of stacked, battered trashcans blocked Zoroark's path. This had to be an obstruction. She'd been this way, then. That was enough incentive for her to bound over the garbage, carelessly knocking cans and grime aside in her haste.

Following not far behind, Ash stumbled to a halt. "Man, that's nasty…" He recoiled, covering his nose with a free hand. "This that creep's idea of a trap?"

"Either that, or this city's got some serious cleaning up to do…" Dawn hovered behind Ash, mimicking his disgust. "Wait… Cleaning up; that's it! Empoleon, why don't you clear the way with a Hydro Pump!?"

"Pol!" Empoleon waddled forward, proudly waving a wing to goad Ash aside. He'd handle this! With ease, in fact, as he spewed a fierce jet of water from his mouth, blasting the cans aside with ease, and piled garbage with them.

The aftermath left the alley scattered with muck.

"Good job, Empoleon!" Dawn praised, but she cringed once more. "This is still disgusting…"

"We'll just have to be careful and step through," Ash argued. "Zoroark needs us!" He cleared the garbage with careful bounds, stepping through the first before sprinting into daylight. "Come on!"

Dawn reluctantly agreed without a word, carefully stepping on any clean patch of pavement she could before hurrying along, conscious to hold her sundress high above the ground.

"Any sight of her?" Dawn queried hopefully, finally catching up with Ash. A few vacant apartments stood on what appeared to be city limits.

"None from me," Ash shook his head. "But, Zoroark is sure she's around here somewhere. Right?"

The aforementioned pokemon poked her head out of a broken window with a sullen expression. Apparently, the abandoned buildings held no sign of her. But, she was sure she'd had her scent…

"Pika…" Pikachu sprung to hang over the window sill, his ears hanging low. He'd even scurried into narrow passages and rooms, but little could be found, aside from the occasional bug type he didn't recognize. Stout, crimson bugs had taken their territory very seriously; he thanked his lucky stars that the more willing to fight Zoroark had been nearby.

"Bummer… I guess that woulda been too obvious, huh." Ash shoved his hands into his pockets, leaning against an ashy, crack-riddled brick wall. A glance to the left sparked his attention.

"Check it out." Ash squinted, peering down a path laid with moss and broken cement. Past another apartment or two laid what had to be city limits; half-finished buildings and construction projects were scattered across flattened ground.

"Maybe she's hiding out there. Whaddya think?"

"It would be harder to hide there…" Dawn mused. "But, she might be counting on Zoroark thinking that!"

"It's worth a try. Whaddya say?" Ash turned his attention to the fox perched above, and his companion alongside her.

The huge mass of red and black fur sprung from the window, making a mad dash towards her destination, springing over railings and small, purple, feline-like pokemon that hissed in return.

"Looks like we got our answer. C'mon!" A waiting arm was held out, quickly boarded by Pikachu, before Ash took off in pursuit of the Illusion Fox, and the culprit.

"We're right behind you!" Dawn asserted, hurrying along as quickly as she could manage in her summer wear. Empoleon followed.

* * *

The situation was grim as the suitable setting. Abandoned skeletons of buildings with intentions long obsolete laid vulnerable, awaiting rust, rain, and the elements. Pikachu hopped off Ash's shoulder once more as the group slowed. From the center of the construction site, many paths diverged. The electric type springed up red metal beams to seek out a higher perch.

Similarly, the Zoroark jumped atop a small pile of concrete sewer pipes. Her ears twitched as she strained for any sign of her quarry.

Dawn, Empoleon, and Ash all tensed below.

Suddenly, a click of something slender against metal caused a groaning noise. The group looked up, eyes going wide at the sight of beams falling from their long forgotten perch and straight for the group.

"Roark!" their new ally called, clasping her paws together and whirling them into the wind, setting off a Night Daze. The beams were thrust into each other, many scattering off course. One fatal beam, however, was still headed for our heroes!

Pikachu and Empoleon were no slouches, though. In the time that Zoroark had set off her Night Daze, Empoleon had readied a Steel Wing and Pikachu an Iron Tail. The little yellow mouse was diving down to divvy the beam as Empoleon bounced it back up away from his loved ones.

As the nullified threat clattered harmless on either side of a shuddering Ash and a furious Dawn, Zoroark barked in the distance. She glared at the culprit.

The woman stood atop another building's forgotten remains, a strange pokemon that looked like a mix between a Forretress and a UFO floating beside her. A better look at the culprit revealed a tall, toned woman with sickly green hair in a short cut, a long bang swept over her forehead. Shades with a Gyarados Tooth headset equipped disguised her eyes, and a dark, simplistic outfit allowed her to blend in with the dingy setting.

She flinched. In the time she considered her escape, the group had already come to the bottom of the building she was cooped up in. Even worse, that Zoroark and Pikachu would be up in moments if they could only determine that she would not come down to them!

So, she decided to bluff.

"You're so nosy! Mind your business and make like you didn't see what you saw!" she snarled.

"Fat chance!" Ash yelled back.

"Whatever you're holding onto, hand it over!" Dawn added.

The thief frowned before trying to turn tail and run.

Pikachu and the Zoroark were upon her, as she predicted.

Making greater haste in her panic, the Zoroark reached out with a swipe of her claws, slashing a long sliver in the culprit's clothes, and the entire cloth covering the package she held. A small cube of a cage was revealed, hosting a sniveling Zorua. _~Get… Get me outta here!~_

Whirling around with fear in her eyes, the thief yelled at the cub. "Be quiet! I'll shake you good if you don't… Ugh, you're worth too much to shake."

A loud, feral snarl came from Zoroark's mouth, blood red claws digging into the dirt.

"Worth too much…?" Dawn whispered. "Is she gonna sell it?!"

Ash frowned. "I've heard of breeder's fees, but… I think she's talking about selling it on the down-low. I don't think anyone really buys wild pokemon…!"

The trainer's first instinct was to jump the creep. Instead of aggression, though, he felt an odd anxiety he couldn't quite put his finger on. His breaths were quick and without rhythm.

Ash could feel Pikachu's paws digging into his shoulder, retreating as far back as the mouse could possibly crawl without falling off.

Pikachu's beady eyes closed in on the small cage, and he quickly regretted it. It wasn't long ago that he was in that spot, and what followed… His stomach was already turning before he decided to block the thought out. "Pikapi…" He uttered, giving himself a quick reminder that he was safe with his partner.

An oddly gloveless hand reached up to stroke the mouse's fur.

The woman cocked a brow. Had she intimidated the boy and his pokemon, somehow? To come as far as they had to chase her, they weren't yellow-bellied Stunfisks. But, she wouldn't look a gift-Ponyta in the mouth. A sneer crawled up her cheeks.

"If you want to turn tail and run, you still have a chance! You don't want to get creamed by Ferrothorn, do you?" She gestured to her floating pokemon, who screeched in return, shooting Ash and Pikachu a menacing glare.

It was only then that Dawn caught on to her companions' shivering. Her own hand reached to pat Ash's shoulder, her gaze fixed on the thief. "Hey, no need to worry. Dawn's got your back!"

"Yeah… I know." Ash exhaled, looking over to the coordinator. "But that's when I-"

"I mean it, this time. You know I'd never leave you hanging!"

"Right…" Ash forced a smile, turning back towards Pikachu. "Hey, buddy… I know it's a long shot, but we could use your help right now. You in?"

Ash quickly felt guilty when he watched the color drain from his best friend's face. Nary a squeak came from his mouth, surely from guilt. They made eye contact before Pikachu broke it, shrinking behind the collar of his button-up.

"Hey, sorry… You don't have to." Ash reached to gently stroke his cheek. "I'll just…" Ash slung a small, inconspicuous knapsack off his shoulder to fumble for an occupied pokeball.

A growl interrupted Ash, and a huge, dingy, scarlet mane stood in his way.

Zoroark stood on all fours, snarling through drool-tinged fangs. Her claws dug at the dirt floor of the unfinished structure, and she turned to make eye contact with the messy-haired meddler.

If he'd go to these lengths to help a strange pokemon, he was trustworthy, as far as the Illusion Fox was concerned. With her precious cub on the line, even, it wasn't as if she had a choice.

If she could, she'd tear her limb from limb.

"You're fighting with us, huh…? Thanks, Zoroark." Ash breathed a sigh of relief. Having another ally was admittedly comforting. He reached for his Pokedex to scan its moves.

 **"** **No data found."**

"Shoot," Ash whispered, folding away his 'dex. "That thing's still not updated… How am I gonna figure out what moves you have?" He frowned, resting a hand on his hip.

A lightbulb went off, then. "Hey, you know the way you battle better than I do. How about you do your thing until I figure out what you can do?"

Zoroark turned back to her newfound ally, nodding her head. While the stakes were high and there was little time to waste, it was best to keep things simple. And, it wasn't as if she didn't know how to brawl.

"It's your funeral, kid." The woman grabbed a pokeball, nearly dropping it when her headset buzzed. With a grunt, she tapped it, getting an earful of a gruff voice shouting through.

"Ay, Anima! I thought I told ya to meet me out by the slums with my Zorua! I'm not paying ya to sit on your ass!"

Anima scowled. Big city clients were so obnoxious. "I _was_ on my way, but a few kids decided to play hero. I'll be over as soon as they're out of my way. Your pokemon is healthy and secured, so try having a little patience."

"Gotta be those Snivy-huggers dressed up like knights runnin' around," the voice spat, continuing before she could respond. "Just get the job done. You got an hour before I cut back on your reward." Static on the feed told the woman that he'd hung up.

"You brats are holding me up. Out of my way!" Anima scowled, tossing a pokeball upward. A flash of light gifted her another ally in the form of a large, pink sea creature that floated alongside Ferrothorn.

"Empol!" Empoleon squawked, waddling his way over to aid Ash and Dawn. His steps were sluggish, though, held back by labored breaths. With all of that running on the way over, he was exhausted.

"Empoleon…? You're real tired, aren't you, big guy?" Dawn held out the penguin's pokeball, recalling him. "You ought to rest for now. I'll just use… Typhlosion!"

A tossed pokeball made way for the Volcano pokemon, who quickly took in her surroundings, sensing a familiar tension among her companions. If it was time to put down another crook, she was ripe for the job! A fanning of roaring flames along her back told everyone else that much.

Anima grimaced. Facing two fully evolved pokemon wasn't ideal, but she'd make do. "Ferrothorn, use Pin Missile!"

The rotating pokemon rumbled, launching a myriad of explosive needles towards Zoroark and Typhlosion.

"A bug type move… That can't be good for Zoroark," Dawn thought aloud. "Typhlosion, knock those off, with Swift!"

A glittering swarm of stars intercepted the other barrage, setting off what amounted to a wave of emerald fireworks. Were this a battle for sport, Dawn might've taken more time to appreciate the results.

Appreciative of Typhlosion's defense, Zoroark set out to return the favor. Her large form vanished, a speeding shadow zipping across the fray in her place. The dark mass then smashed into Ferrothorn.

Ash and Dawn both winced when they heard a howl of pain.

The dark type quickly recoiled, briefly holding a paw over her shoulder, where she'd been jabbed with a particularly sharp barb. Perhaps attacking a pokemon she'd never seen before wasn't the best idea.

Sympathetic, ash frowned. "Ouch… So hitting that thing head-on is gonna leave a mark. You alright, Zoroark?"

The pokemon eyed her offspring up above and nodded. It would take far more than that to deter her.

"Cool. And I think that was Feint Attack. That's one move down."

"Persistent, but not very smart," Anima muttered. "Hydro Pump, on that Typhlosion!"

The command was enough to put Dawn on alert. With furrowed brows, she hopped back, throwing a hand upward, "Typhlosion, let's use your Counter Shield, with Flamethrower!"

"Hey, you might wanna pull back," Ash warned his new ally.

The Zoroark squinted. She'd never heard of whatever this 'Counter Shield' move was. But, she crept back, nonetheless.

None too soon, as Typhlosion quickly became a spinning, roaring wall of flames, splitting Hydro Pump's jet down the middle, like a hot knife through butter. Steam rose from the impact, and flashes of heat lashed out at Jellicent and Ferrothorn. The latter recoiled, while the former was unhindered.

"What kind of…!?" Anima raised an arm to fend herself from the heat.

"That move was the work of a Pokemon Coordinator," Dawn finished for her foe, "and a little teamwork with an equally talented trainer." A wink was offered to Ash; if she could boost his spirits any, everything would be better off.

Her words left a smile on Ash's face, and he leaned forward, glaring daggers at their opponent. This was no time to enjoy one's self, but his focus was a good sign, as far as Dawn was concerned.

With that worry aside, she threw a hand forward again. "Typhlosion, Double Edge!"

The wall of flames split apart, the large badger sprinting, coated in wispy flames, before throwing herself at Jellicent in a full-body tackle. She'd flatten that squid in no time.

Much to the pokemon's dismay, and her trainer's, she passed through thin air, stumbling and skidding across the dirt floor. She'd made no contact at all.

"It didn't hit!?" Dawn's mouth gaped.

"It's gotta be a ghost type, then." Ash grimaced.

"A coordinator," the thief noted. Then, these two were foreigners. They weren't familiar with Unovan pokemon at all. She was going to use that to her advantage.

"Then, both of their pokemon are gonna be hard to hit." Normally, Ash enjoyed a challenge like this. But, all he could do was try to puzzle a way out of this dilemma.

"Punish it," Anima ordered to the spectral water type. "Hydro Pump!"

Floating and spinning about, Jellicent prepared a jet to douse Typhlosion.

Ash wasted no time, pointing towards Jellicent. "Zoroark, Feint Attack! Don't let it get Typhlosion!"

The Illusion Fox complied, seemingly disappearing from view.

Jellicent howled a ghostly moan, feeling a sudden streak of pain along its body. The same shadow that had attacked Ferrothorn had struck her.

Anima bore her teeth. "Grab it, with Wring Out!"

Gelatinous tendrils circled around Zoroark, pulling her in with a tight, unforgiving grip.

Yelping from the pressure applied to her abdomen, the fretted fox writhed and and squirmed. With her forelegs pinned to her sides, though, the struggle only bought her an irritating, mocking chant from the successful predator. She was already bracing to be swallowed whole.

"Zoroark!" Ash called, clutching his fists. The sight of a pokemon being restrained against their will was the last thing he wanted to see right now. He was having a hard time thinking his way out of this, in fact, focusing on chasing the unsavory thoughts out of his head like a pesky Beedrill.

Anima, for the first time since this chase began, bore a smile. Things were finally turning in her favor. "Now, Leech Seed, on that Typhlosion!"

A large seed was spat from the pokemon's metallic mouth, latching onto the Volcano pokemon. Digging into the latter's belly, Leech Seed spring a number of vines around Typhlosion's body.

"Typhlosion!" Dawn's brows furrowed. "We have to help Ash and Zoroark, right now. You ready?"

"Ty!" The fire type roared, even as she tried her best to rip the vines from her midsection.

"Then, let's dazzle them! Use Smokescreen!"

Typhlosion spit out a thick cloud of soot and smoke, obscuring the field in a blanket of confusion.

Zoroark coughed and hacked. How was this supposed to help!?

"You're not as bright as you think," Anima remarked. "You know your pokemon can't see mine, either, don't you?"

"You're not on the bright side, either," Dawn snapped, speaking through grit teeth. "Lucky for you, we're about to light things up! Typhlosion, use Swift!"

"On these pokemon?" The thief quirked a brow, unimpressed. How stupid was this girl?

Dawn's wordplay snapped Ash back into reality. So, that's what she was up to! "Hey, Zoroark! Close your eyes and keep 'em shut tight!"

The dark type was as confused as could be, but she obliged, opting, reluctantly, to bury her head into Jellicent's arms.

A dazzling flurry of stars shot into the smoky fray, spinning and flashing about within. Bright flashes of light within the dark and dingy clouds lit up like brilliant stars in the sky, assaulting Ferrothorn and Jellicent with blinding light.

From the outside, the earthbound imitation of a starry sky looked beautiful, to boot.

Maybe later, Dawn would have time to appreciate the irony.

In the meantime, Ash shouted into the fray. "Now's your chance! Get outta there!"

Zoroark felt the grip on her loosen, and tore free from Jellicent's grip.

Hoping for the best, Ash followed up. "Use Feint Attack!"

She hadn't even waited for his command. Tracking Jellicent's scent, Zoroark sprung at her former captor without mercy, knocking it aside. She took the opportunity to sniff her allies out and return to Ash's side.

"There ya go!" Ash blurted out, flooded with relief when he saw the ashy mane. "Good job! You too, Dawn!" A thumbs-up was raised to the girl.

Dawn winked in return. "I did say I'd have your back, remember?"

Zoroark eyed the two, perplexed. These two seemed oddly… Cooperative?

By now, the smog had cleared, leaving the group with little time to waste. Catching on, Dawn took initiative. "Now, Typhlosion, let's get rid of that Leech Seed! Use Flamethrower-!"

"Pin Missile, on Zoroark!" Anima interrupted. Letting Typhlosion run wild was fatal to Ferrothorn. If these two were the bleeding hearts they were proving themselves to be, this would buy her time.

Ferrothorn fired another array of pointed projectiles towards its mammalian foe.

"Darn it," Dawn muttered. "Use it to stop that Pin Missile!"

An unwelcome sensation ran through Typhlosion as she was sapped of her strength, but she launched the flames past her ally, burning the incoming needles to a crisp.

Zoroark guarded herself from the heat, looking towards her protector. The situation continued to baffle her. She was tempted to thank the fire type.

A call for 'Hydro Pump' prevented her, though, as a torrent pulverized Typhlosion.

The large badger shrieked, skidding backwards. The jet left her feet and lower body caked with mud. Her brilliant flames dimmed into rebellious flickers, and she replied to Jellicent with an indignant hiss.

How dare she muddy her lush coat!?

"Typhlosion!" Dawn called out in worry. "You're not hurt too bad, are you?"

The Volcano pokemon shook her head. But, that was more of a prideful answer than an honest one.

Icy blue eyes bordered by scarlet markings narrowed, glaring daggers at the floating specter who'd dared to injure her protector. After their last encounter, she really had no love for the jellyfish to begin with. A loud, feral cry grabbed its attention, and everyone else's.

And, Jellicent was met with a harsh, violent gaze. Drooling fangs were bared, and the irises within her blue orbs narrowed to barely visible slits. A dark aura, somehow, was cast from her stare.

Even as a terrifying creature itself, Jellicent shuddered, floating back towards Anima. Something told the obedient pokemon that it wasn't going to make it out of this battle unharmed. In her fright, she found herself struggling to move.

"That's Scary Face," Ash observed. "And, hell, is it…" He wouldn't want to run into this Zoroark in a dark alley.

And, what an opportunity, Dawn thought. "If you've still got it in you, Flamethrower!"

Typhlosion was eager to retaliate. Having had a moment to regain her strength, she spat a hot stream of flames towards Ferrothorn.

The worst was about to come. Anima's fingers clutched tightly around the cold steel of the handle to Zorua's cage. "Gyro Ball!"

Ferrothorn did as told and spun like a top, surrounded in a bright, steely glow. Its barbed body became little more than a living buzzsaw, slicing at the hot flames that came its way.

Much like Hydro Pump against Typhlosion's Counter Shield, her own attack was split down the middle, spraying back in her direction.

She, herself, was bathed in flames.

Awfully fortunate to be a fire type right now. And, it came with a bonus!

Leech Seed and its many sprouts were incinerated in the process.

"Tough luck," Ash barked. "You roasted your own move!"

"I'd thank you," Dawn started. "But, on the other hand, I won't."

Anima's teeth were grinding, at this point. "Scald that Zoroark!"

Jellicent struck back again, drenching Zoroark in boiling water.

Ash and Dawn, to their horror, were greeted with a loud shriek.

The Illusion Fox writhed, doing her best to shake the hot, steaming water out of her fur. A meager mist was shook free, but steam still rose from her form. Struck with a burn, she hissed.

"Zoroark!" Ash's fingers dug into his palm. What a nasty move!

"A water type move that can burn!? I've never heard of that," Dawn thought aloud.

"You don't have to take that! Feint Attack, right back!"

Fighting through that assault wasn't particularly pleasant, but one look at her cub reignited Zoroark's resolve. She sprinted forward on all fours, crossing Jellicent in the form of a black streak.

Jellicent recoiled, spinning with her momentum.

"Well, that didn't do a lot," Ash noted, disappointed.

"She's burned, remember? Doesn't that make your attacks weaker?" Dawn reminded Ash.

"Oh, right… What else could go wrong?"

"Use Hex!"

The water type raised her tentacles, and wisps of violet energy followed, gathering above her head. The eerie energy wove together, combining to form what looked to be a huge red eye .

Ash swallowed. "Me and my big mouth."

A flurry of crimson rings blasted from its iris, pulverizing Zoroark.

"It may be a ghost type move, but it's nasty to any pokemon with a status affliction," Anima boasted. "Are you ready to admit you're playing with the big girls and beat it? Or do you want me to keep hurting your pokemon?"

"You slimy, no-good… Creep!" Ash hissed, returning his attention to his ally. "Are you hanging in there, Zoroark?"

The Illusion Fox laid in a furry heap, pushing upon shuddering legs. Ghastly pain and uncomfortable heat kept her from doing much more than sitting up. Half-lidded eyes remained open, though, still stubborn.

 _'_ _Bingo,'_ Anima thought to herself. "I gave you a choice. Finish it, with Gyro Ball!"

Ferrothorn launched its large, round, spiny body, shooting for Zoroark like a deadly spinning top.

Two particularly furry forelegs were hoisted above the pokemon's head. The stubborn will to survive hadn't failed her before, and it wouldn't fail her now. A web of crimson and violet drifted about her claws, meeting their apex when they were smashed into the dirt.

"That's the move the other Zoroark used!" Dawn caught on with a gasp. "Take cover, guys!"

Typhlosion braced herself, as did Ash and Pikachu.

The impact set off a violent, ground-shaking shockwave of dark hues, blowing dust and wind every which way.

Ferrothorn screeched, rattled by the explosion enough to be upheaved into the air.

A glint appeared in Dawn's eye as she saw an opportunity. "Typhlosion, Flamethrower, now!"

The Volcano pokemon gathered her strength, launching a crimson jet of flames that struck Ferrothorn's underside. The pokemon was seared, hovering just above ground. If not for another flicker of energy sapped through Leech Seed, Ferrothorn surely would've collapsed outright.

Just what Anima'd been afraid of. She pursed her lips together. There was only way out of this she could think of.

"Ferrothorn, Self-Destruct!"

The Thorn Pod pokemon began to rumble and shine, quickly becoming a ticking time bomb.

"That's no good," Ash delivered the obvious. "Zoroark… You hangin' in there?"

A low whine was the pokemon's answer. After Night Daze, her paws had nearly gone numb, haunted by the insidious burn from Scald.

"I think we're gonna need your help here, Dawn!"

"Right!" Dawn nodded. "Typhlosion, help us out one more time, with Counter Shield!"

Typhlosion staggered in front of her ally, spinning once more into a twister of flames that surrounded both pokemon.

A loud, thunderous bang told them the blast had gone off. The shock blowing away the flames and rattling Typhlosion served as extra evidence.

An unconscious Ferrothorn was recalled in a red flash of light. Anima grimaced, backing up against the exposed steel beams that formed a net along the unfinished wall. Naturally, Jellicent survived Self-Destruct. But, so did Zoroark and Typhlosion, if only barely. The odds weren't good here.

This wasn't recognized by the poacher alone. Zoroark pushed herself up onto all fours, making one step after the next towards the captor of her child. Bloodlust shone in her glimmering teal eyes.

She was getting her baby back, and this woman was going to pay dearly.

Anima could feel her heart beginning to race. This was bad news. "Jelliecnt, Scald!"

The floating jellyfish huffed, launching another steaming wave towards her foe.

 _'_ _Not this time,'_ the fox recited in her head as she leapt aside, avoiding a scalding puddle at her feet. _'Not now'_

It was time to make a run for it. Anima held out her second pokeball. "Jellicent, return!"

The red beam of light aimed for Jellicent and shot forward.

Its target was quickly stolen, slashed aside by a strike of a trio of red claws.

Jellicent howled a ghostly howl, knocked to the earth in an unconscious heap.

"Good job!" Ash praised. Finally, this battle was over.

Anima swallowed. There went her last line of defense. The pokeball activated again.

Its stream of light was broken by Zoroark's shaggy foreleg. The Illusion Fox pinned Jellicent under her weight, casting a manic gleam at the downed foe. Her chest heaved, weighed by the anguish of her suffering young. What they did to him, she'd pay it back two-fold.

Ash's brows descended, irises growing thin when the gravity of the situation became real. "Zoroark, it's over! That's enough!"

"We already won," Dawn added. Somehow, she had the feeling that wasn't incentive enough.

Ash's face twisted in horror when claws pressed to what could pass for Jellicent's throat, if it had one at all. "Zoroark, please, stop!"

She did, if only because of the searing pain of her burn. Reminded of her status once again, she flinched.

That gave Anima all the time she needed to recall Jellicent. She backed up, feeling around desperately for a way out. A fault in the wall behind her gave her a great deal of relief. She spun, delivering a strong kick to the shoddy material.

A hole in the wall collapsed. With a quick look out, she judged that the fall would be minimal, and likely safe enough for a quick getaway. "You stupid kids… You've probably lost me a client!" Her fists trembled, nails digging into her palm.

"She's getting away!" Ash announced. "Hand over Zorua, already!"

"If you won't, we'll make you," Dawn threatened. "Typhlosion, use Swift!" She ordered, sprinting towards the cement incline that kept Anima above the rest.

A swarm of golden stars were sent flying towards the thief.

In a fright, Anima recoiled, losing her grip of the cage. She chose survival over success, leaping out the hole in the wall. She wasn't spared the wrath of Swift, knocked unceremoniously to the ground.

Meanwhile, Zorua's cage hit the cement, earning a squeak from the pokemon before it tumbled over the ledge. He yelped.

The impact never came, though; he found himself in the arms of a blue-haired girl, cradling the enclosure. He sniffled, meeting the gaze of a pair of blue eyes deeper in hue than his.

 _~Owww… Thanks.~_

For the first time in probably an hour, Dawn bore a genuine smile. "You're safe now, little guy. The witch scrammed!"

Aching in more places she knew what to do with, the poacher desperately scrambled off, leaning against the other side of a beam, for the time being. She huffed, laying back. "Talk about a screw-up…"

She was out of the group's sight and out of the group's immediate worries. The Zoroark, Ash, and Pikachu alike all rushed over to surround Dawn.

 _~Open it, open it!~_ the Zoroark pleaded, her eyes quivering. _~Please!~_

"... We don't have the key," Ash suddenly realized in horror. "It's too small for us to try to break open!"

"No need to worry!" Dawn assured, reaching into her bag. She got out her ever-present beauty supplies and there was the hairpin Aya had given her! The coordinator hummed lightly as she inserted it into the lock. Though a few sparks flew, eventually the cage yielded to Dawn's pestering. Out leaped the Zorua, straight into his mother's open arms.

Both wept openly.

 _~Mama!~_

 _~Rura…!~_

Ash helped Dawn up as the two dark types cuddled. Pikachu felt a sweetness come over him at the scene. Maybe it was Ash rubbing off on him, but moments like this were so darn cute! He couldn't stand it.

But, just as it had been sweet, it grew grim. The Zoroark fell over, moving to her side just enough to avoid crushing her cub.

 _~Mama!~_

Ash and Dawn rushed over, on either side of the dark type.

"The burn! It's still hurting her!" Dawn noticed.

Ash nodded before trying to reach down to lift the fox. She snarled in pain but resisted biting Ash. Still, she recoiled, collapsing on the cool dirt.

"I can't pick her up," Ash groaned. "What're we gonna do?!" He paused, grimacing. "Hey, so… We just met, and we're strangers… But, let's not be, okay? I'm Ash, this is Pikachu, and that's Dawn."

Confused but compliant, the Zoroark answered in turn. _~I am Meema. This is my son, Rura.~_

"Okay. Listen, Meema, you may not like this, but we can get you to help only if you let me catch you. I'll let you go right after if you want! But, it's the only way to get you to a Pokemon Center."

The dark type grew still before she sighed. _~You may catch me. Let Dawn carry my son. You've shown that I can trust you, Ash. Please do not betray me.~_

Ash got out a pokeball. "I won't, Meema. I promise." With that, he clicked the red light. He watched with a heavy heart as Rura tried not to freak out at the disappearance of his mother.

Dawn knelt down, opening her arms to the cub. "C'mere, little guy. Let's get some help for your mom. You could probably use a check up yourself!"

 _~... What's a check up?~_ he asked after getting into Dawn's grip.

* * *

Soon, the group was at the hospital. While Dawn remained in the back with the Nurse Joy who was checking up on a surprisingly feisty Rura, Ash was speaking with Professor Oak. A pokeball blipped into existence as the two spoke.

"Well, there's your Zoroark," Oak said in an absent manner. "You know, Ash, I've been thinking about what you talked to me about earlier, with Pikachu. What are you going to do?"

"I'll battle without him," Ash said as if it were the most natural conclusion.

Oak clicked his tongue. "What about when you need a full team? Like, against Silver? You told me that boy was rather intense, was he not? You need your full party."

Ash looked to the side, where Pikachu was seated with Empoleon, watching the news. Judging by the way his ears twitched, he knew they were talking about him - not that it would have changed the answer Ash gave.

"He's not leaving my side." Ash huffed. "I'll make due."

"Your bond is that strong, huh?" Oak said, almost jealous. He had grown close to some of his pokemon during his years, but never as close as Ash and Pikachu were.

Suddenly, the sparkling of an epiphany washed over him.

"Your bond!" He coughed into his hand after his sudden outburst. "Ash, would you say that, after your recent trauma, Pikachu provides emotional support to you?"

Raising a brow, Ash nodded. "Well, yeah."

"Excellent! Well, I don't know if you know or not, given you're a spry thing, but certain trainers with disabilities and other needs can get what are called support pokemon. They're a seventh member in addition to a trainer's regular party. Now, the various leagues all have different regulations and almost all require paperwork for the exception, But, I think you and Pikachu might qualify!"

The professor brought a hand under his chin, mulling it over.

"The only stipulation is that the support pokemon cannot participate in trainer battles while it has this registration given to it. It's strictly forbidden by the various storage system overseers; in your case, that would be me since you board your pokemon on my ranch." He shrugged. "Think you can keep from having to make me revoke this privilege? Just don't abuse it."

Ash's heart lifted. He turned to yell to his companion. "Hey! Buddy, that sound alright to you!"

Empoleon, who hadn't been aware of what was going on, flinched at Ash's yell. He was even more confused when Pikachu turned around to hop onto the couch's back and nodded at Ash.

"Great! Pikachu and I both agree!"

"Good, good. Well, let's see here.. I can do a system override to give you a seventh pokemon, but until I can get the documentation officialized by the Indigo League, I'm afraid you'll have to postpone participating in the conference." Oak hesitated. "I'm… Not sure if any gym leaders would be allowed to battle you in their gyms, either. Oh well. The coast is still being checked out here. It's not like you'll be seeing Silver before I can fax some paperwork to league headquarters."

Ash nodded. "Thanks, Professor Oak. This means a lot. Can you send me back my seventh member, then?"

Oak briefly looked over the newly received pokemon bench, slightly out of view of the monitor. After a moment, there was a click on his end and a short flurry of typing. Then, Ash's pokeball appeared!

"Thanks! See you!"

With that, Ash put his pokeball back on his belt and walked back to the check up room, getting a nod of permission from the nurse at the front desk. When he opened up the clinic room door, he spotted a mischievous Rura with cotton swabs sticking out of his ears and a silly look on his face. Dawn and the nurse Joy alike were laughing.

 _~Bleeeeh! Bleh bleh! I'm a big scary Sawsbuck, and it's cloud season! Bleeeh!~_

Ash couldn't help but grin as well. "What a show, Rura! But, you mind handing over that seat? I gotta let your mom get checked out."

 _~Oh!~_ the cub cooed, nodding. He leapt into Dawn's lap, quickly shaking out the cotton swabs. _~All yours!~_

The nurse shook her head, picking up the cotton swab and changing the paper cover on the patient examining table.

Ash then released Meema, who landed in a sitting position on the table, but, after realizing her friends, cub, and only one strange human were present, allowed herself to collapse onto her stomach.

"Oh, my!" Nurse Joy gasped. "What a nasty Scald-burn she has! Hold on, I've got to get a burn heal and some salve and bandages for her!" The nurse looked into the cabinets, pulling out a large bottle of water. "Here, help her drink this! I'll be right back."

Meema licked her lips at the sight of the bottled water. The special mineral water afforded only to the precious pokemon of trainers was very rare in the wild. The healing springs that produced the water were all either claimed by wild pokemon packs or equally secluded by human settlements. Meema hadn't tasted it since she was very young.

And, yet, without hesitation, Ash took the bottle, opening the cap. She expected him to take the first sip, to drink his fill, but… He offered it to her. The dark type blinded, shocked. When Ash tilted his head, she worried she had offended him and grabbed the bottle, half grateful and half greedy with the swiftness she gulped it down. Half way done downing the bottle, she stopped, guilt overwhelming her.

 _~Rura!~_ She looked at her cub. _~Rura, are you thirsty?!~_

The cub shook his head. _~No, Mama! The Dawn gave me some milk! It was in a bottle, though, I didn't drink it right out of her! It was really rich and creamy! She said it came from a Mill-tank?~_

Milk? Meema looked to Dawn, who smiled as if she felt guilty and embarrassed. What for? Oh! Dawn was rather young. Perhaps she worried that giving a cub milk might send the wrong impression if worded poorly? The dark type took another greedy gulp of her water as she looked at Ash out of the corner of her eye. Considering their cooperation earlier and the fact they commanded the other pokemon, she could only assume they were the alphas. Perhaps that was why Dawn was embarrassed. She was feeding someone else's cub in front of her mate.

Finished with the bottle, Meema dipped her head to Dawn. _~Thank you for looking after my son. Rura, come here. Don't impose on Dawn any longer.~_

 _~Okay, Mama!~_ Hopping off Dawn's lap, the little fox jumped right into his mother's hair, disappearing into it.

Soon, Nurse Joy returned and bandaged Meema. After a quick spray of the burn heal, the wounds were on their way to healing. The salve and bandages were only to make sure the healing was complete and that no marks would be left behind.

"There!" the woman said. "You, though, mister, need to start feeding your pokemon more! She's underweight." She shook her head. "I can see you're new to the region, but Zoroark are top predators. Make sure to feed her plenty of high protein pokechow, and don't skimp on it, either!"

Somehow knowing it would be useless to explain the full situation to the nurse, Ash lifted his hands. "Gotcha! Sorry, used to Ninetales! Hahaha…!"

"Good. Now, if that's all, you're all dismissed. I've got more patients to see!"

* * *

After collecting Pikachu and Empoleon, our heroes traveled back into the forests shortly outside of Nimbasa. It was here, in this secluded spot, that they felt safe having Meema out of her pokeball and Rura losing his disguise as a Piplup. This also elevated Empoleon's raging jealousy.

As Rura cuddled his mother, Dawn crossed her arms.

"Aw, I was getting used to having an arm pokemon again!"

"Empo!"

"Empoleon, get real! You'll always be my number one guy, but there's no way for me to carry you anymore! No way!"

Rolling his eyes at Dawn and Empoleon's bickering, he coughed. "Now that we're not in danger, how's about we all get to know each other for real?" He plopped on the ground, thumbing at himself. "I'm Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town! I'm a trainer and my dream is to become a pokemon master!" He whipped out his badge case, puffing out his chest. "I'm pretty darn close, too!"

Confused by the shiny metal but too grateful to Ash to retort, Meema just nodded her head as Rura played with the bauble of her hair.

Dawn joined him on the ground. "I'm Dawn of Twinleaf Town. I'm a coordinator. My dream is to create a combination of beauty and strength so magnificent it'll be remembered for ages!"

Not waiting for Pikachu, Empoleon spoke up, posing dramatically as he stood. "Empoleon! Empo Empo! Empooooleon!"

The electric type chuckled. "Pi! Pikachu-chu! Pika~!"

 _~I am Meema,~_ the Zoroark began, _~My son and I live alone. We do not have a pack.~_ She cocked her head, wanting to ask a question, but not daring to ask it, yet.

 _~M'name's Rura! I like… I… Jokes!~_

"You certainly do," Dawn agreed. She giggled. "You'd make a great contest pokemon. You need to stay with your mom, though."

Ash raised his chin. "Actually, Meema, I was going to ask, do you guys wanna stay with us? You seem to kinda be, uh, well… struggling?" He was trying his best not to be rude.

Meema's ears flopped back, embarrassed. Yet, she felt a warmth in her heart. She'd have a pack again! One that could provide well and was kind. Her son would live in safety. Even if she was an underdog here, if they treated the least of them so well that they would freely give fresh waters…! She would do well to stay.

So, on all fours, Meema bowed. After a pause, Rura mimicked his mother. _~I would happily join your pack and follow you.~_

Unsure of what was happening, but figuring it was all well, Ash nodded. "Uh, right. Say, Rura, you wanna go with me, or Dawn? You two get along well. But, it's Meema's choice, too…"

Fretting, Meema glanced down at her son. She would love to have Rura always with her, but if the leader of the pack's mate, the other leader, really wanted to have her son around and she treated him so well, she wouldn't fuss about it. Probably. If they were always together it would be fine. Right?

Rura, similarly, grew quiet.

Dawn spoke up. "We wouldn't keep you apart! When Ash is using Meema, I'll use you, Rura. Meema, do you remember that little lab place you went to?"

 _~With the grassland behind it?~_

"Yeah, that one! You'll both go there at the same time. It's safe! Ash's other pokemon are there, so you'll always be among friends!"

Meema's eyes widened. Ash led a mighty group! She was lucky. If all she had to do for this trainer was battle for him, she was getting an incredible deal! She had to fight in the wild, and for that she didn't get good things for her son or friends, or even anyone to help her lick her wounds except her poor cub.

 _~You consider me too highly!~_ Meema blurted.

Ash laughed and shook his head. "That's what we're supposed to do!"

"Well, if that's settled, let's… Oh! Here. A premier ball! Rura, do you like it? If I had a dark ball or a luxury ball, I'd offer you it, but I only ever can get pokeballs… One day, I'll put my whole team in really nice pokeballs!" she insisted.

Rura shrugged. _~Doesn't matter to me!~_

With that, Dawn tossed the pokeball at Rura. As soon as she did, panic washed over her. "... My pokeballs go to my mom's house! We've got to hurry to the pokemon center, Rura won't know where he is!"

 _~Is he okay?!~_ Meema suddenly snapped, fearful. Had they tricked her?!

With Dawn already running off and Empoleon in her wake, Ash shook his head.

"He's fine, Dawn just overreacts. We can get him back like how we got you back. But, say… You wanna stop at this place with me and Pikachu before we meet her at the pokemon center? We gotta get food."

That was all it took took to get Meema's attention. Though she longed for her cub already, she now trusted Dawn; if her cub would be waiting for her when she got back, she would happily greet him with a meal.

* * *

Meema blinked, looking down at the pile of brown, dry crumbles before her. She looked at Pikachu and Empoleon happily eating them, as well as berries and the occasional swipe off the great pile in the middle of the table where food the Zoroark distinctly recognized as human sat, piping and hot.

Was… Was she meant to eat these brown pellets? They looked like…!

Yet, she looked at Pikachu eating them. Her son sat between her and Dawn, taking portions from Dawn's own plate without worry or fear.

Between her distrust of the brown food and her growing anxiety, Meema found that she could not eat. Was it permissible for her to eat? Would her new alphas allow it? She supposed today she had earned her keep with the battle, but what about always?

"Pi," the electric mouse said, breaking her out of her internal worries. "Pikachu!"

"... Zo," she agreed. Meema did need to keep up her strength.

These brown pellets looked the least appetizing, though... And, Rura was eating his fill, so perhaps she could eat this without worry…! Or, stash part of it in her fur. He might get hungry later. Wrapping her hair around her, the dark type began putting two pellets in her hair for every one she ate. No one seemed to notice. The paranoid mother took contentment in this. Her pack was going to allow her to care for her son. She didn't know if feasts would always be this plentiful, after all.

With most of the food put away except for a few wontons, Ash spoke up. "So, Meema, Rura, you guys know what me and Dawn do. What do you guys wanna do? Are you okay battling with me, Meema? Rura's probably gonna do contests with Dawn."

Mouth filled with bone marrow from the one he'd crushed, the cub mentally spoke: _~I am gonna do contests! Dawn said you can do cool things and I like cool things! I'm gonna be the coolest!~_

Meema quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Rura wouldn't displease their new alphas. Now, onto her duties. _~If you wish for me to battle for you, I will. I will offer my strength and body to this pack.~_

She was talking funny again, Ash noted with an uncomfortable smile. "Aaaalright then. Glad we're on the same page! Now, let's get to training. First thing's first, we both need to know your moves! That means… Aw, crap! We never updated our pokedexes!"

Dawn, Pikachu, and Empoleon laughed at Ash's frustration. Rura, who didn't truly understand why they were laughing but was enjoying the company, joined in before leaping across the table, cuddling Ash's cheek. The trainer accepted the gesture, sticking his tongue out at Dawn.

Meema, meanwhile, waited while they laughed. Her new pack was strange.

But, she felt things would be better from here on out.


	64. Unova Stop!

**Good to see all you readers again! The next installment of Ash and the gang's short vacation is here, and we hope you enjoy it. There'll be a new piece of fanart for this chapter for you to check out, so take a look at our another-rxad tumblr!**

* * *

The past few days had been relaxing. Though, for our heroes, that did not necessarily mean they were spent lazily. Certainly, yes, they indulged in late morning wake ups and pleasant sight seeing. Ash even got in a chance to see his beloved boccer games and Dawn got to see her musical. The evenings were spent casually battling, or in front of the great television in their borrowed abode. Meema, in particular, was introduced to the concept of a technical machine. After some bickering and frustration on over how to make the two devices communicate, Dawn's more recent model PokeDex was able to project said technical machines on the television.

After all, as nice as this vacation to Unova was, it would end, one day. Ash and Dawn wanted to be ready for it.

But, the battles they would face when they returned to Kanto were not today's worries. Rather, today's worries were whether or not Dawn had packed enough food.

"What do you mean you don't know if you brought mayo?!" Ash asked in shock, already toting one bag of pokechow in his backpack for their less human companions.

"Well, I know I grabbed the mustard!" Dawn retorted.

Empoleon sat in front of the open refrigerator, greedily soaking in the cool air. Likewise, an exhausted Meema was basking in the bathroom, out of sight of everyone else, with the cool tiles against her and Rura's fur.

Ash impatiently tapped his foot. "Well, look, if we wanna get out to Lostlorn Forest before sunset, we gotta go there now so we can get back then!"

Dawn huffed. "Fine, fine!" Snatching the dessert cookies and poffins, she slammed them into the bag before calling out. "Alright, gang! We're headed out!"

Empoleon waddled over. Pikachu straightened up on Ash's shoulder. Meema took a form similar enough to Dawn that she could have passed for the coordinator's older sister, and Rura rested within his mother's arms, disguised as a Pikachu. With that, the party left.

* * *

The Lostlorn Forest had made for a good spot to settle. A babbling brook fed by a small, picturesque waterfall marked it out as particularly scenic. Dawn reclined, her back resting against Tauros as he laid on the grass. Ash, in turn, had his head in Dawn's lap, still grabbing handfuls of grapes to stuff in his face. Meanwhile, the rest of the pokemon on their teams laid among one another

Rura, for one, huffed, quickly growing bored. There were so many new friends around; so many different kinds that he'd never seen or even dreamed of! But, all they were doing was just _sitting there!_ Didn't any of them know how to have fun!? Or, do something besides sitting there, even!?

"Zor! Zor-Zor!" He yipped, dashing up to his mother, and the two pokemon that accompanied to her; two… birds, maybe? One had colorful head feathers, and the other was large and round, white with red and blue spots. The former was perched atop the tree branches on Torterra's back. He crouched, trying to goad them into playing with him with a wag of his tail.

They gave him kind smiles, and a chirp in greeting, but nothing else. He was too young to play with them, wasn't he?

 _"_ _Rura, mind yourself, please,"_ Meema scolded, scooping up her cub to place him in her mane. The last thing they wanted was to offend their new pack.

The Zoroark turned back to Togekiss. _"So, you said you come from royalty? What an honor."_ Almost instinctively, she bowed her head.

"Kiss!" Togekiss waved off the thought with her wing. _"It was pleasant, but I much prefer being on Dawn's team. I get to spread my wings, and explore more ways to show off my grace!"_

Meema's eyes moved from the Jubilee pokemon to her cub's trainer, who was being offered a grape by her rowdy companion lying with her. Dawn grabbed it, perhaps a bit too roughly, she imagined, when the small fruit burst. A look of horror struck her, but Ash removed his headgear, quickly shielding her dress from the resulting mess. His reflexes were certainly up to par. He even left her with what she was sure humans called a 'kiss;' she swore she heard Leader say something about making up for the grape. Their shared laughter was… Humbling. Was this the carefree life that Togekiss was so fond of? _"They don't seem to fuss or worry much, do they?"_

 _"_ _Only when it's necessary,"_ Togekiss chirped back. _"...Usually."_ Dawn's phrase 'no need to worry' seemed to be more of a suggestion than a guideline.

Rura yawned from within the seemingly endless nest of hair, quickly growing bored of listening in. Just grown-up talk. But, grown-up talk kept them busy; enough for him to wiggle his way out of the back of Meema's mane and onto the grass. _"Oof,"_ he uttered as he rolled into the grass, quickly covering his mouth with his paws. He could get caught!

But, she hadn't noticed. Breathing a sigh of relief, he crept through the tall grass, steering clear of another scolding.

"Cott!" A high voice startled him.

But, it was just a similarly frightened Cottonnee, who opted to float off to safety. Rura shrugged, crawling back towards the group. Most of them seemed happy to lie where they were… Boring. They'd probably shrug him off, too! Just a bunch of boring adults…

But, what was that!? A flicker of… Fire? A large mammalian pokemon laid in the grass, her arms folded under her chin. The gentle flicker and the back of her neck and the restless thumping of her hind leg against the ground told Rura he wasn't the only one ready to fall asleep around here.

And so, he yipped. _"Hey! Whatsyername! You wanna play, huh? C'mon!"_

Typhlosion's ear twitched. Looking over her shoulder, she spotted a red tuft of fur poking out of the tall grass, and a pair of bright blue eyes glowing through it. _"Eh? You're, uh… Our new crew member, right? Roo?"_

 _"_ _Rura,"_ he corrected with a bark. _"Sure am. But these guys are just layin' around! You look fun, so why don't we do somethin' super cool, huh?"_

 _"_ _I thought I was the only one thinking that!"_ Typhlosion huffed a breath of relief. While her size made it hard to believe, she was still one of the youngest among them. She couldn't understand how all of them just sat around so often! Where was the action; the noise!? _"I like ya, Rura.. Sure, let's liven things up around here! Let's, uh… Crud."_ The Volcano pokemon blinked. _"What can we do?"_

Rura's eyes narrowed, his ears flicking in thought. He quickly gained a mischievous grin. _"Let's playyyy… Tag!"_

The fox pounced, tapping Typhlosion on the shoulder before taking off. _"You're it!"_

 _"_ _That's the game, huh?"_ Typhlosion sat up, intently watching her new playmate. _"Alright, kid, let's see how you handle playin' with the big girls!"_ She sprung at her target, already oh-so-close to catching…

 _"_ _Pikachu!?"_ Flabbergasted, she stopped in her tracks when the electric mouse stood in her path. Oh, shoot. She was about to jump Ash's first-in-command! Either she would've flattened him, or he could've toasted her! _"Hey, I'm sorry, man, I didn't mean ta-"_

Boy, was she in for a surprise when Pikachu stuck his tongue out, blowing a raspberry at her. That wasn't like Pikachu!

 _"Hey, what gives!?"_ She huffed, embers fleeing her nostrils.

A mischievous grin was her answer. _"Gotcha~!"_ Rura's voice was heard, and 'Pikachu' was swallowed in a spiral of violet before Rura reappeared.

 _"_ _What the!? Where'd you learn a trick like that? Last I checked, you weren't a Ditto."_

 _"_ _A did-what?"_ Rura cocked his head, only to remember that he held the upper-hand here. He snickered. _"That's for me to know, and for you to NOT find out!"_ He pranced past the bushes, hopping onto a low-hanging branch. Once again, his image vanished, replaced by a small, green monkey with what looked like a bush atop his head. _"Ehehehe, catch me if you Pan~!"_

The pun on Pansage was lost on Typhlosion as she gave chase, swiping at the illusion with her paw. _"Nice try, but I know it's you!"_

That didn't stop Rura from hopping atop her head, sprinting past. _"Missed me!"_

 _"_ _Hey, watch where you're…"_ Typhlosion turned to face her playmate, when she found herself face to face with… Empoleon, now!?

Oh, if he was real, this was going to start a brawl. She crept closer, wary eyes scanning the penguin for movement.

There was none, and she dove to snatch Rura.

'Empoleon' vanished. But, Rura wasn't the only pokemon present.

Typhlosion realized this when a collection of spines dug into her belly.

"Ty!" She hissed, stumbling back in pain.

"Kuu-ki!" Kingler cried, instinctively firing off a Bubble attack that hit Typhlosion point-blank.

"Phlo!" Typhlosion cried, her back igniting in a blaze that startled Rura. "What's the big idea!? Gettin' jabbed was bad enough, but ya go and spray me!? I ain't one to take water type moves, y'know!"

Kingler groaned, rubbing his head. _"It was an accident. You're not light, you know. You should watch where you're going."_

 _"_ _That was an accident, too! And I may be big, but I'm not the one with spikes on my back! Yeesh."_

 _"_ _Hey, hey, she said it was an accident! It wasn't…"_ Rura trailed off, quietly realizing that if he went on, he'd be taking the blame. _"...It was just an accident, ya big bully! You don't have to be so mean!"_

"Hey, what's going on over there?" Ash sat up, squinting at the commotion that had quickly become the center of attention.

Picking up on the faintest sound of her cub's chatter, Meema sat up. But, she could swear, he was still… No, her mane felt oddly light. Could it have, her face would have paled in horror. _"Rura!"_

Kingler answered with an irritated gurgle. _"I wasn't born yesterday, kid… Just go back to your ma and forget this happened. But, you!"_ His gaze turned to Typhlosion. _"You're old enough to know better. Rough housing that close to a group is dangerous."_

 _"_ _But, she…! I…!"_ Rura stuttered, his ears beginning to dip. He'd bitten off something way bigger than he could chew.

 _"_ _Rura!"_ Meema hissed, hurrying over to reprimand her young. _"You shouldn't be disturbing our pack like this."_ She scooped up Rura with a scowl, turning to the conflicting parties, face hot with shame. She bowed her head. _"Please, forgive us."_

 _"_ _Don't worry yourself,"_ Kingler answered, easing himself back into a sitting position _"He's just a cub, he didn't know better."_

 _"_ _Yeah, we wouldn't be in this mess if Jumbo-Claws over here wasn't such a grump."_

 _"_ _Trust me, y'haven't seen grumpy."_

 _"_ _Well-"_

"Pidgooo!"

Pidgeot's caw brought about total silence. Only grass rustled by the breeze could be heard. _"That's enough."_

Typhlosion shrunk. _"But he-"_

Her terrifying, hawk-like gaze didn't waver.

Typhlosion relented, muttering a quiet apology to Kingler.

 _"_ _Water under the bridge,"_ Kingler cooperated. _"Still tough as nails, eh?"_ He had to admire Pidgeot's leadership. It was no wonder that she headed her own flock.

Pidgeot smiled, lightly tossing her head. Her bouquet of head feathers flipped with it. _"I've had practice."_

"Everything alright over here?" Ash stood, a hand on his hip.

 _~L-leader!~_ Meema sputtered, daring to meet his gaze.. One that she expected to be a lot more intimidating than it really was. _~My apologizes… I should've kept a closer eye on Rura.~_

Emphasis on the Zorua's named caught his attention, and he frowned, lids drooping. _~Sorry…~_

"Hey, don't sweat it," Ash smiled, crouching down to the fox, and the miniature whose head popped out of her mane. He lightly pet the side of Meema's face, and Rura's head afterward. "Fights happen sometimes when you're around someone long enough; working that out is just part of being a friend! Besides, these guys worked it out already, right?" He looked to his pokemon, and Typhlosion, with pride. "No biggie."

 _~Thank you, Leader.~_

"Hey, I told ya, you can just call me Ash."

 _~Of course, Leader.~_ Finally able to relax, she carried Rura off to her original resting spot.

An uneasy chuckle left Ash. "Ehehe…" He ran a hand through his hair. Old habits died hard…? It was enough to satisfy Ash, and he returned to lie with Dawn.

"Rura finally stopped barking," Dawn thought aloud. "Typhlosion, too." Thank goodness for that. Another fight with Empoleon could have proved disastrous here, if she'd gotten too riled up.

"Uh-huh," Ash hummed, settling back into her lap. "If it was a big event every time there was a spat, we'd have issues. They'll learn, sooner or later." He only hoped that they could both settle into the group comfortably.

Mamoswine, meanwhile, laid near Ash and Dawn, thankful for the autumn breeze. This weather beat Kanto's early summer heat any day, and the cool grass left him quite comfortable. In fact, he wasn't far from dozing off, now that the commotion had settled.

The gentle rise and fall that came with his breaths were soothing enough for Pikachu, who sat atop the mammoth's back. It gave him a nice view of the city, and didn't leave him feeling particularly crowded by his companions.

He did have company, however. Buneary had taken the liberty to hop atop Mamoswine in pursuit, sitting down conveniently next to the mouse of her dreams. After she'd heard about the calamity she'd missed, it was the least she could do to check up on the poor 'chu!

"Bun? Bun-Buneary!" She chattered. Was he feeling okay, now? Was he worried they'd show up again? She'd give them a pummeling they'd never forget, and then some! She made her point by jabbing at the air with her ears.

When Pikachu flinched, her strong ears drooped in guilt. "Bun, Buneary." She pat Pikachu's shoulder, assuring that she wouldn't startle him again. No, sir!

"Pika… Pikachu!" Pikachu smiled, waving off her guilt. He appreciated the concern, even! With that flash of anxiety quelling, he exhaled, leaning back onto his paws, enjoying the gentle rises and dips in elevation provided by Mamoswine. He felt a lot safer, knowing that he had so many good friends looking to protect him. "Pika-Pika." He could only offer her thanks. She was even being remarkably considerate; he hadn't seen one blatant advance on him from her today!

"Bun!" Of course, she'd say! She leaned forward, paws in her lap, to get a view of their companions below. Ash and Dawn were nearby… And Ash was lying in her trainer's lap! From all she'd heard, Ash had been pretty shook up, too. Dawn seemed to be doing a good job keeping her boyfriend calm… That gave the rambunctious rabbit an idea.

"Bun! Buneary!" She chirped, leaning back to sit beside Pikachu, once more. If he wanted, she could rest on her fluff! It was awfully soft, after all! "Buneary~!"

"Pika… Pikachu." A sweatdrop ran down his forehead. Well, it was progress. Maybe it couldn't hurt to indulge her; she was looking out for him right now, after all. "Pika-pi." He'd meet her halfway and lean against her, turning his eyes back towards the scenic view.

This gesture made the normal type's heart swell with joy! Here was her 'chu in shining armor, leaning right on her, and…! "Bun!" No, she thought. This was about Pikachu, right now. She'd let him be at ease, only going as far as to pat the top of his head with her ear. She breathed in the gentle autumn breeze, the scent of pine drifting by with it. Their trainers had picked quite the spot for a vacation.

She tried to ignore the stern gaze of Meema, who leered at her from below. The Unovan fox had lectured her only a few minutes ago, giving a stern warning to carefully consider before pursuing Pikachu; something about 'showing caution in pursuit of a mate.' Finding her elder's gaze difficult to ignore, she put on a wide, cheeky smile, winking down at Meema. She could handle herself just fine! In fact, she was doing rather well for herself!

The Zoroark chose to avert her gaze.

Dawn looked over to the picnic blanket. Most of the food was gone, but one particular object stood out to her.

"Hey, Ash," she started, "What'd you bring the ukelele for?"

"I was gonna play it."

"You know how to play the ukulele?"

Ash sat up, shrugging. "I played the three strings at school when I was little."

Dawn quirked a brow. "I would have taken you for a drum guy," she noted.

He grinned. "Oh, yeah, I mean, the teachers did, too. But, like, they had this kinda big, you know, for a kid, pellet drum. They let me play it once. Once."

With that, Ash got up, walking over to the ukelele. He picked it up, strumming it briefly before frowning. He looked around, seeing that there was nothing he could use as a pick and started searching. After a moment, he settled on using a particularly flat rock he found as an aid.

Then, he began to play.

"Heave ho! Heave ho! Yeah, yeah!" As Ash rocked to and fro, like the ocean, he strummed out the melody, or what he remembered of it, to this old sea shanty. "Ooooh! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Yes, yes!" Side to side he moved, movements spry and lively. "When we hear the jabbering of the Wingulls on the high sea, we know we can't give up our lives fishing on the ocean!" He grinned, looking over to his now confused team. A few of the older pokemon who had traveled with him on boats before, such as Pikachu, or those who had grown up near humans, such as Togekiss, recognized the song and joined in as Dawn did.

She giggled, excited, jumping in. "Put your back into it!" she sang loudly, rancorous and joyful. "Heave ho, heave ho!"

"Heave ho, heave ho!" Ash shouted back, dancing with Dawn.

Soon, Pikachu took the lead as the little fisherman, his companions acting as the waves behind him. The rest of the pokemon watched.

"Oh, yeah!" Ash sang once more, tossing his head with the energy of the song. He forgot the steps here, settling for looking at Togekiss as he sang. "Boss, I'm telling you, the size of this Magikarp was different! And, it's all miiiiiine!"

Soon, though the other pokemon didn't know the steps, the energy of the dance became infectious. That was natural, though. The song was meant to inspire, to be fun! They joined in, leaping into the air and forming a rhythm that mimicked the ocean well enough.

Wiggling his eyebrows, Ash looked to Dawn for this line. "Even if I row four and a half meters, I couldn't get that girl's attention."

Snorting at his teasing, Dawn danced away from Ash for now, mimicking the movements of waves with Togekiss.

"Pi-Pika!" the mouse squealed, remembering his rides on boats with Ash. The sea voyagers loved this song and were happy to share it with the young boy and his companion!

Here came the big finish! Ash stomped his feet as he really got into it, chest heaving. "A flighty Wingull chatters excitedly as it sees my bare skin, glistening in the surf!"

Together, Dawn and Ash sang with a chorus of pokemon cries: "Heave ho, heave ho! Yeah, yeah!" Even Meema and Rura got into it!

By the end of the little folk song, the group was a sweaty mess. The Pokemon laid down, some alone and some in close groups. Ash and Dawn dropped to their butts, panting.

"How do you know that song?" Dawn asked after a moment. "That's from Sinnoh." She would know. As a poetry lover, she'd learned about where that song came from!

Ash huffed, putting his forehead against hers. "Pallet Town's small, but our school's alright. That song's, like, a part of history. We played it during school festivals and stuff."

Looking up at her dark haired boyfriend, Dawn sighed. "Well… Still. Didn't know you could do that."

The traveling trainer grinned roguishly. "There's a lot you don't know about me."

"Oh yeah?" she asked.

"Yeah. Them fishin' boys ain't the only folks I know some songs from, neither." School and the boats may have taught him that song, but he knew others.

A pause.

Dawn reached up, playing with his sweaty locks. "Play me another?" she asked.

He smiled softly at her, heart melting. Truth be told, he'd never been able to resist her requests. Whether it be trying to cheer her up with ice cream or tracking down Wallace for her, Ash was a sucker for Dawn. "Alright. I think there's another that was big when I was young, back when I could play on this kinda stuff."

He drew back from her, focusing on the ukulele. He strummed a few cords, trying to mimic the melody of the song. Occasionally, the pitch would go bad. He had an ear for music and a general knack for most physical things. He wasn't a prodigy, however.

Dawn laid out on the blanket they'd dined on earlier, a smile on her face. "How come you're so good with instruments?"

"Always been good with my hands," Ash said with a shrug. He laughed. "If I wasn't gonna be a trainer and I wasn't so bad with math, I maybe coulda been a carpenter!" His voice become melodious, then, recalling parts of the lyrics then. "Hm-hm somethin' somethin' let's get drunk on the sweet wine of victory."

The entirety of their group had been lulled, truthfully. Empoleon sat with Rosa and Rura, all three bobbing their heads to and fro. Meema's ear flicked. Tauros's eyelids drooped. Pikachu's electric pouches crackled in delight.

Soon, even more guests joined the setting. Darting out from the thickets at the edge of their picnic clearing, a bashful, fluffy white pokemon stood a moment, watching the humans and strange pokemon. After a moment, it went closer, getting within the line of sight of Pikachu and Buneary. About that time, a gray bird landed on the same tree on Torterra's back that Pidgeot and Togekiss roosted in. An pink pokemon came shortly after that, hiding behind Mamoswine shyly.

A black Pachirisu-like even glided down, sniffing around the group before trying to cuddle closely to Rura. Meema immediately separated the electric type from her cub, growling quietly.

Mamoswine stood, indignant, when a trio of pokemon somewhat like Chimchar played on his back.

Ash kept strumming, though his eyes lingered on all the new pokemon. A pokemon that was clearly grass type but had a queenly appearance greeted dawn, joining the coordinator on the blanket. He enjoyed the scene, drinking it in.

Then, suddenly, he realized how dark it had gotten.

"Crap," he grumbled, "we gotta head back."

His eyes turned to the city. Barely visible beyond the trees, the city gleamed softly, like stars cast down to earth. He watched as Dawn sighed, relenting and standing. In the twilight, her hair stirred around her. The grass type looked on curiously. The pink pokemon from before approached Dawn, perhaps sensing her regret for having to leave such a beautiful area.

Ash looked over the rest of the pokemon. He admired the three monkey pokemon and their playful manner. They were near him now, reaching out to strum his ukulele.

"Here," he crouched, holding the instrument by its end. "You guys wanna play with it for a sec?"

"Sage!" "Sear!" "Pour!" The trio chattered, tugging the ukelele between one another before reluctantly settling on taking terms plucking and strumming at the strings. Off-key notes assaulted Ash's eardrums, but the trainer couldn't stop himself from smiling. The playful chatter and triumphant cries when a good note was hit stretched his lips from ear to ear, even.

"Hey, not bad! You guys're a couple of naturals, huh?" He pet each of their heads, ruffling the unique fur patterns atop their heads. Reluctantly retrieving his instrument, he stood, exhaling heavily.

"I know it's a bummer we have to leave," Dawn chimed in, holding an empty basket under her arm. "But, we had a great time while it lasted, huh? And, we got to see the skyline!"

"It's not that," Ash shook his head. "I was just thinking… Getting to be around all of these pokemon…" Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Rura reach out to a scarlet, rotund insect while his mother loomed over. "It's why I decided to go on my journey. I told you about that, remember?"

"I remember. When you said… Settle down, Mamoswine! I promise, we're leaving soon!" Dawn huffed, her cheek puffing out. He could be so restless. She returned her attention to Ash.

"You said that you spent time with pokemon when you were little, right? And, you wanted to be around them a lot more, so you'd battle with them!"

"Right." Ash's eyes turned from the glimmering lights of Nimbasa back to their large family, and the wild pokemon of Unova that joined their gathering. "I love pokemon… That's why I'm here." He swallowed, amber shimmering in his hues. "Hey, Pikachu - no, everyone!"

The merriment went quiet, and Ash's and Dawn's pokemon turned their attention to him. Pikachu, naturally, dashed over to his trainer, hopping up to board his shoulder. "Pikapi?"

"Some of you guys already know that we've had a really tough time lately… The toughest we've ever had." Ash gripped the brim of his visor, going silent when he heard his own voice crack.

"And, for a while, things still might be tough. But, we're not about to roll over! As your trainer," he looked over his crew among the crowd, "and, well, your friend," he addressed Dawn's team. "...I'm not gonna let you down. We'll only get stronger from here, so can we protect each other."

Pikachu felt compelled to nuzzle his fuzzy cheek into Ash's face, letting out something akin to a purr. A gentle hand massaging his opposite cheek pouch brought on a content squeak.

"...And, so we can look out for other pokemon. No matter what any creep has to say about that, alright? If things get tough, then we'll just get tougher! You guys with me!?"

A chorus of cheers erupted among Ash's team, and Dawn's with it.

 _~Yeah, yeah! We'll get super-strong!~_ Rosa hustled over to Ash's side, reaching to hold her trainer's hand. She felt Ash's squeeze her paw right back.

 _~You bet, you bet!~_ Rura yipped, quickly hushed by his mother. Standing out among the crowd wasn't her priority. Still, she couldn't suppress a smile. She hadn't been mistaken with Ash, after all.

"Pi…" Pikachu shuffled uncomfortably on Ash's shoulder, a bit ashamed with his silence.

"Hey, don't sweat it, bud." Ash winked, running his thumb over Pikachu's cheek pouch. "I know things are still hard on you. But, we've got all the time in the world! Till then, I've got you covered, alright?"

"Pikapi… Chu!" The mouse leaned over to lick Ash's cheek.

"Hey, that tickles! Ahaha!"

Pikachu laughed with his trainer. Sometime soon, he hoped to back Ash up, too.

* * *

Ash and Dawn navigated the halls of the apartment complex, the latter carrying the room key. Ash guided Rosa along by the paw, who'd nearly fallen asleep on the walk back. She followed Ash with half-lidded eyes, lazily opting to follow her trainer, rather than use her senses.

"Here," Dawn announced to no one in particular, sliding in the key to their temporary home. With the door unlocked, she opted to flop onto the couch, legs strewn out dramatically.

"Man, I'm beat," she whined. The singing and dancing had left her, unsurprisingly, exhausted. "That was supposed to be a rest day, but I think my joints are aching… I could really go for a massage, right about now."

"Mhm," Ash muttered, guiding Rosa to the chair in the corner of the room to slumber. It wasn't until he turned back around that he caught Dawn's gaze, her hues locked onto his.

What was she…?

Oh.

"What, ya want _my_ help? But, I wouldn't… I'm beat too, ya know!" Ash sputtered, his olive cheeks flooding with a pink tint. "And, I don't know the first thing about massages!"

"Pi! Pika," Pikachu argued. Suzie had taught Ash to massage Pikachu's cheeks, and he was a natural!

"Thanks for calling me out," Ash whispered, face scrunching. Talk about betrayal!

"Pi!" If he couldn't battle for Ash, he could still give him a shove forward now and then, for now. Considering his work done, he hopped off his trainer's shoulder onto the bed, curling up into a cozy sphere.

Spotting the _dramatic_ inner turmoil seeping onto Ash's features, Dawn struck up a deal. "Alright, if you do this for me, I'll head down and grab a snack if you get hungry in the middle of the night again. Deal?"

"...Alright, deal." Ash swallowed. The night hadn't run out of surprises yet, after all. "But, first, lemme call the Professor. Maybe he has an update on everything going on, right now." If his request hadn't gone through, he'd like to at least confirm that Oak and his mom were safe.

Hearing no argument from Dawn, Ash sat down beside her, only for her to stretch her legs out again, this time over his lap. He picked up the landline phone, dialing in the familiar number with the addendum of the extension code Delia had told him before he'd left.

Three rings could be heard before Ash was greeted with a familiar voice.

"Hello? Oak Laboratories!"

"Hey, Professor?"

"Ah, Ash! It's nice to hear from you! I was just about to have my mid-morning tea!" The authority paused. "Then, it must be rather late where you are, am I right?"

"Uh-huh," Ash hummed. "We just got home from the woods outside Nimbasa City. You should've seen all the new types of pokemon! I've never seen anything like 'em."

Oak's laughter could be heard from over the phone. "I remember telling you you'd like Unova for that very reason! Their native pokemon are almost never seen in Kanto! Is there anything you found you wanted to report on?"

"Not really," Ash shook his head, though, that couldn't be seen. "I was just checking in. Wanted to check if everything's alright over there… Nothing bad's happened since we left, right?"

"Nothing at all. Pallet Town's been as calm as ever! Though, your Tauros have been a bit unruly since you've been carrying their leader on your person."

Hearing the pinch of irritation in his superior's voice, Ash tugged at his collar. "Sorry about that! I just need him for my rematch at the Gym, and I could send him right back… Oh, that reminds me! Any news on the 'Support Pokemon' thing?"

"Actually, it came up in the mail, this morning! Ash, your request has been approved! As long as he's sitting out battles, Pikachu can remain as a seventh member of your team! And, I'm sure you'll be glad to know that you can resume your league challenge!"

"Yes!" Ash pumped a fist, grinning from ear to ear. "Thanks, Professor. It really means a lot!"

"Of course! You know this means that I'll be obligated to keep track of your matches, now… Of course, Pikachu's never inside his pokeball, so I can't quite tell whether you're abusing the privilege. But, I can hold you to your word, I'm sure!"

"Absolutely! I won't let you down!" Ash's joy turned to another thought, and his smile disappeared. "With all of that, I guess it'd be a good time to come back to Kanto, right? Our new pokemon are cozy with the group now." Sort of, anyway.

"I suppose it would be. Have you asked Dawn what she thinks?"

Oops. Scratching his cheek, he turned to his girlfriend.

"It's fine with me," she added, predicting the question before it left Ash's lips. "I may be from Sinnoh, but I'm feeling a little homesick for Kanto, right about now." Unova was fun, but life was so fast-paced in the city! She was just about ready to crash.

"...But, I wouldn't mind hearing some poetry, first!"

Ash chuckled at that addendum. "Yeah, that's fine. But, could we get a few lines from you, first?"

Obviously, that request couldn't have come from Ash. "Of course! I always write my poetry along with my tea, so you've caught me in the right mood! Just one moment…"

Ash held the phone up closer to the coordinator.

"...Ahem. Ever young and spry, the daring Butterfree will, always U-Turn home!"

"It's perfect!" Dawn cooed, clasping her fingers together. "And, very fitting!"

"Ahaha," the Professor chuckled, mirthful that his work had gone over well. "That was, indeed, the idea! I'll call Professor Juniper. Surely, she'll be able to schedule your flights in the morning!"

"Thanks, Professor. We owe you one!"

"Thank you so much!"

"Now, now. Just stay safe, and return as your spry selves! That's all I could… Oh, dear. The tea's boiling! Ciao!"

The line went dead.

"That settles that," Ash surmised, setting the phone back on the dial.

"Great! Now, remember our deal~!" Dawn sing-songed, sitting up on the sofa.

"Right," Ash swallowed. "Deal's a deal… I'm an honest man!" He sat up, turning towards Dawn, who had her back to him, now.

"Mind the hair~!" She cooed, brushing her blue mane aside.

"Sure thing, Rapunzel." He laid his hands on her shoulders, gently kneading. His eyes went to painful lengths to avoid eye contact with… The back of her head? _'Way to go, Ketchum. How're you gonna take on the league when you can't even keep your head screwed on, now?'_

"How're you feeling?"

"How'm I supposed to answer that?" the trainer's face scrunched.

"I mean about going back," Dawn answered matter-of-factly. "You're not scared or anything?"

Ash paused, putting off his thoughts with a low hum. "I'm feelin' a _little_ better now. Not a hundred percent, but I should be fine as long as we steer clear of.. Y'know."

"Yeah…" Leaning back, Dawn put a hand to her chin in thought. Within a moment, she snapped her fingers. "But, no need to worry! If anyone tries to get near you guys, I'll make 'em sorry they ever thought about it, got it?"

That was enough to make Ash laugh. "I know what you're like when you get mad… Dawn, I'll hold you to that!"

Accepting that confession with pride, Dawn flipped her bangs. "Then, it'll be smooth sailing!"

The cold, cruel world hadn't done them in, yet.


	65. Fool Me Once

**Thanks for checking in, everyone! The pace is about to pick up again, so read and enjoy! Again, we always appreciate your commentary and thoughts on the story.**

* * *

A day had gone by since the report of the Team Rocket base, not too far north of Virdian City, had graced Silver's vision on the six o'clock news. Embittered by the sight of them, the red haired teen decided to perform another sweep of the gym. It hadn't been long that he had inherited the gym. For years, it had laid empty and trainers got their eighth badge from less prestigious gyms. Many secrets still lay within it.

So, naturally, Silver did not trust the place. Monthly, he committed himself to shunning challengers and sweeping the gym for trademark hidey holes the team used and other nefarious devices left behind. He'd once found a family photo album, which he had promptly burned. Another time, financial reports that he'd turned over to the authorities out of spite for his father.

Today, though, he was putting puzzle pieces together. As a child, before he'd become the runaway ex-heir of Team Rocket, he'd been privy to their operation stylings. Perhaps this was why they didn't pursue him; that, and a morsel of his father's love, perhaps. Regardless, with this knowledge, he'd calculated the days since the absence of his most boisterous challenger yet and, found the sum of his arithmetic telling.

His gym was either bugged, or there was a spy within Viridian City itself, operating in some essential role such as a nurse. He doubted the latter very highly, so that was how Silver found himself running a metal detector-magnet combination over the floors of his gym while his various pokemon also searched the place.

The search came to a poignant, crackling end when his Gengar approached him, something shiny and old within its phantom claws.

Silver grimaced, disgust coiling in the pit of his stomach.

"Damn them!" he yelled, crushing the camera under the heel of his boots. "Lift me up! I've got to make sure the rest of the wires are out!"

The new, unpleasant feeling of guilt had washed over him, as well. There was a certain Johto native he particularly begrudged for teaching him shame. Still, as Gengar lifted him and he grabbed hold of wires, tearing them from the wall they were buried in, he felt better.

They might have made him an accomplice once more, but they never would again.

* * *

The Ketchum house was buzzing with energy, an unspoken excitement keeping Delia and Mimey buzzing about with little sign of rest. That was, aside from the occasional pause to appreciate the pleasant scents that had long since filled the house.

Delia huffed in that luxury as she turned down the flame atop the stove, a smile spreading over her full, barely aged lips. Her creation lying inside the pan smelled scrumptious! "And, it's done~!"

"Delia, please," Professor Oak huffed, who sat at the dining room table, sipping on his ritualistic cup of tea. "Surely, there's something I could do to help? I'm feeling an awful lot like a Magikarp bringing Splash to a battle."

"Oh, don't be silly! You already made the tea and brought over plenty of pokemon food!" The matriarch slid the latest finished dish onto a plate atop the counter. "But, if you're really feeling guilty, maybe you could help Mimey set the table? That's one thing I haven't had time to do!"

"I'll get right on that!" The Professor stood, approaching the counter to carry the steaming dish that Delia had just set down, and a handful of silverware with it. "Here you are, Mr. Mime." He handed the kitchenware off, turning back to the next plate. "I have to say, you've put a lot of effort into this for a meal right in the middle of the day! I might have trouble continuing my research with such a full stomach."

"Well, with all things considered…" A dip in the woman's tone was evident, her heart tightening over the same malicious thoughts that had crept on her for the past week. "...I just wanted to show Ash and his girlfriend a warm and welcome gesture waiting for them at home!"

"You know, using those two words in the same sentence still leaves me dizzy," the elder man added, setting down the last of the glasses on the kitchen table. "Ash is a bright young man in many regards, but I never thought courtship to be one of them."

"It never really has been," Delia replied, turning the oven off after pulling the last of her baked goods out of the appliance. It wasn't as if Ash had never looked at or spoken of girls fondly before. But, he'd never seemed aware enough to notice he was doing it. "Well, it just means two things; that he's growing up, and that Dawn was a good fit!"

"Achoo!"

"Ash, I better not be catching a cold!"

"Don't look at me; we were just in an airport!"

"You just sneezed two seconds ago!"

"Yeah, well I… Mom! Professor!" Spotting the two familiar faces in the kitchen, Ash quieted mid-sentence, warmth swelling in his chest. He was just now realizing how homesick he'd felt!

"Miss Ketchum!" Dawn chimed, standing beside Ash in the doorway to the kitchen. "And, Professor Oak!?"

"Ash, honey! Dawn, and Pikachu!" Delia forgot her task in the blink of an eye, rushing to meet the small group. She was moments from pulling them into a hug when Ash and Pikachu flinched.

Delia's heart sank again. "Did I startle you? Is there something on my breath?" For once, she desperately hoped that the latter was the case.

Still tense, instinctively cradling the back of Pikachu's head, Ash shook his own. "We're still kinda jumpy," he'd admit with forced laughter. "Sorry."

"Pika-chu," Pikachu apologized, bowing his head before leaping into the mother's arms.

"You poor thing," she tutted, stroking Pikachu's fur. "But, hopefully this can make up for it~!" She stepped out of her son's way, gesturing to the table behind her. "Welcome home~!"

"Aw, no way!" Ash exclaimed, his troubles instantly melting away. Set out on the table was a delicious looking lunch; several platters of omelette rice lay set out on the table, and a large plate filled with takoyaki balls laid in the middle. He'd swore his sense of smell had died and gone to heaven!

"All to greet you three after your stay away," Oak added, leaning his elbow on the back of his chair. "Your mother put in quite the effort after hearing about your return!"

"This is so nice, Miss Ketchum!" Dawn bowed her head, clumsily catching her sunhat before it hit the floor. "Ehehe…"

"You're both certainly dressed for a vacation," the elder man commented, as he got a good look at Ash and Dawn. "The button-up suits you, Ash! And, the visor."

"Oh, it's cute~!" Delia fawned, stepping over to get a closer look, this time making a slower approach to leave her son at ease. "Foreign fashion is so interesting… Oh, but it's stained!"

"Yeah, I kinda, uh…" Ash trailed off, tugging on the brim.

"If it weren't for Ash," Dawn butted in, "that stain would've been on my dress, instead!"

"Oh, what a gentleman~!" Delia teased, lightly nudging Ash with her elbow, and added a wink for good measure.

"Yeah, yeah..." Visibly flushed, Ash pulled his visor down further.

The scene gave Samuel a good-natured laugh. "Well, now, why don't we settle down and enjoy our lunch? We don't want it to get cold!"

"You don't have to tell me twice," Ash fled to his chair, only to come to a halt, much to his groaning stomach's protest. "...But, we should probably feed the pokemon, first. They haven't had anything to eat today, yet."

"Well, Samuel left lots of food for all of your pokemon, out in the yard! And, they can have a taste of our lunch, too!"

"Thanks, both of you!" Dawn clasped her hands together. After a moment, she quirked a brow. "But, there isn't enough food for all of them, is there? I'm sure Ash will eat a lot, as it is."

When Dawn looked over, Ash had looked away, whistling an oh-so-innocent tune.

"Well, there's not enough for a meal, but i'd feel bad if they didn't at least try what I've put together! And, Pikachu, of course, can have a rice omelette of his own! I laid on the ketchup extra, just for him!"

"Cha~!" Pikachu's beady eyes glimmered. She knew him so well!

"Thanks a lot, Mom." Ash stood, piling some of the takoyaki balls onto a plate. "I'd love for 'em to get a taste of the welcome party, too, since they'll be putting up a tough fight, soon."

Ash left through the back door with the morsels, and Dawn followed.

* * *

"Everybody, come on out!"

Ash and Dawn called out in unison, tossing all of their pokeballs into the air.

Their roster appeared, one after the next, spread out across the pasture that laid beside the Ketchum house's garden. While most of those present were calm and quiet, already used to Pallet Town to some degree or the other, two new members observed their surroundings.

Meema peered about, taken aback by Pallet's wide open fields. A home laid about here and there, but it was nothing like the big city, nor did it look like the dense forests they'd grown up in. It was… different.

Rura, on the other hand, wasn't so quiet. He scampered over to Dawn, tail wagging. _~Hey, where are we, huh!? This doesn't look like home at all! This is one small city you've got, here!~_

"Well, it's not really a city," Dawn chuckled at the youth's innocence. "This is Pallet Town! It's where Ash grew up, and where all of his other pokemon live!"

 _~You mean there's mooore!?~_ The Zorua blurted out, eyes competing in width with saucers.

"Sure are," Ash boasted, placing one of Delia's morsels atop every bowl of pokechow laid out for the group. "I've been on my journey a long time, so I've made friends with lots of different pokemon! Which reminds me," Ash stood, his eyes turning to his team at large. "I'm gonna need everyone's help soon. I let you guys down, with that last Gym Battle…"

An array of chattered protests were Ash's answer.

"Hey, it's fine! You guys were all great. I just slipped up a few times. But, that's alright. That's all part of being a trainer. Besides, today, we're going back to the Viridian Gym, and we're winning, this time!"

Cries of denial turned to victorious cheers, from Rosa's cheering, to Torterra's growl, to Pidgeot's shriek, to Kingler's roar, to Tauros' bellow. Pikachu even offered a modest chirp of support.

"And, we'll be rooting for you guys, all the way!" Dawn butted in with a wink. "I think I'm going to need my old cheer squad back for this one… Empoleon, Buneary? Whaddya say we root for Ash and his team, just like the old days?"

"Empol!" Empoleon squawked, pounding a wing against his puffed up chest.

"Bun! Buneary~!" Buneary hopped over to sit atop Dawn's head, raising an ear in support. Even if Pikachu wasn't up to battling, he'd certainly want to see Ash win! And, she was going to help!

 _~Ooh, ooh! I wanna cheer, too!~_ Rura yipped, hopping on all fours.

 _~Rura, please.~_ Meema approached her cub, pulling him in with her paw.

 _~Pleeeeaseee!?~_

"Of course you can!" Dawn announced, her enthusiasm quickly wavering. "...If that's alright with Meema."

"Well, whaddya say?" Ash looked to his new companion. "Can Rura join us?"

 _~If you think it's alright… I suppose.~_

 _~Woo-hoo!~_ The Illusion Fox cheered, smiling wide as could be. _~I'm gonna be the best cheerleader ever!~_

"That's the spirit! You'll get to root your mom on in her first ever gym battle!"

Meema blinked, as if she'd just recalled that fact. _~I'll do my best not to disappoint you, Leader.~_

"Hey, you could never disappoint me," Ash assured. "You won't have to worry about that, anyway; You're gonna kick some…" The trainer's eyes flicked between the Zoroark and her young cub.

"...Tail! So, why don't you guys eat up and get pumped?"

"Ash's Mom left a treat for each of you," Dawn added. "That goes for my team, too. Enjoy it, guys!"

Loud cries of enthusiasm were almost universal, and Ash and Dawn's team turned to their bowls, each suited to their size and appetite. Within seconds, the feast began.

Hands on his hips, Ash smiled at the scene. He turned to head back inside. "Now, we've gotta refuel, too!"

Before Pikachu would hitch a free ride back, though, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, and hopped down from Ash's shoulder. He approached Meema and Rura.

The latter took a small, experimental nibble at the treat atop the pile of chow. His eyes momentarily doubled in size. _~Woah! That's… Wicked! It tastes like… So much!~_ Unable to enumerate exactly what he tasted, but unable to care, he chewed on the takoyaki ball with a wagging tail.

Meema eyed the takoyaki ball, squinting before quietly nudging it towards her son.

"Pika! Pikachu?" Pikachu approached her, eyeing the food, but not daring to push it back.

Dubious, the fox stared at who she thought to be her superior. _~Have I offended a custom of yours?~_

Pikachu shook his head. "Pika-Pika!" It wasn't that! But, that was hers! Rura already had his own.

 _~I just… feel that I should earn my keep, first. And, he's a growing pup. He needs it more.~_ She eyed her young Zorua, who was tearing into the gooey mess inside the comfort food.

 _"_ _Trust me, he's going to be full by time he finishes it. If he does."_ The sauce tended to be a little bit spicy, and he wasn't exactly pacing himself. _"Give it a try? If you want it, at least."_

"..." The Zoroark eyed Pikachu, the takoyaki ball, and then Pikachu again. _~If you insist, Pikachu.~_ She reclaimed it, taking a bite. Her teal hues flickered.

 _~What is this, exactly?~_

Pikachu shrugged. _"I can never remember the name. It's a human food, made out of dough and, uh… I think Delia's said it has seafoad in it? And a little bit of vegetable."_ He'd sat in on the mother's cooking sessions quite a few times; it was fun to follow, and he often got to get sneak preview samples, or even lick the spoon!

 _~It has a kick,_ Meema observed. _~Humans are interesting.~_

Satisfied, Pikachu smiled, a glimmer in his beady eyes. _"I think you're going to like it here!"_

* * *

"Thanks again for the great food, Mom." Ash adjusted his belt, and then the familiar red cap atop his head. "It really has us fired up! There's no way we can lose that match, now!"

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Delia cooed. "Go, and make me proud! And, do come back soon!"

"As soon as we win," Ash promised, pumping a gloved fist. Wearing the jade handgear felt all too familiar, and at this point, natural. As eager as he'd been, and still was, to lay low, returning to his roots gave him an odd burst of confidence.

"...Right?" Ash turned to Dawn, realizing he hadn't thought to ask.

His companion nodded. "I've been keeping up on the latest Coordinator Monthly. The Grand Festival is a ways off, and I only need my fifth ribbon to qualify! Right now, let's focus on your match!"

"Right!" Ash grinned, turning back to Delia. "Then, it's a deal! Oh, and thanks again for the pokechow, Professor! You really came through in the clutch."

"It was my pleasure! But, if you would, you'll have to let me see your new pokemon, soon! This would be the first time I've seen a Zorua or Zoroark in person!"

"Deal?" Once more, Ash looked to Dawn.

"You can count on that! If that's really what you seek, a Zorua it'll be!" Dawn recited, a fist held proudly to her chest.

"...Ah, that was a poem! Very good, Dawn. You brought your own this time!"

"You think it was good!? Oh, thank you!" Dawn's eyes lit up like the stars in the sky. What an honor!

Letting out an amused chuckle, Ash opened the front door. "Now, let's get goin'! See you guys soon!"

"Pikaaa!" Pikachu waved from his trainer's shoulder, leaning to look in the doorway as Ash departed.

"We won't be long~!" Dawn added.

"Goodbye, honey," Delia shouted.

"And, good luck!" Oak was last.

* * *

"Well, here we are," Ash huffed, looking over the grandiose building that dwarfed him. _"Viridian Gym"_ was spelled out over the huge double doors. The trainer took a deep breath. "You ready, bud?"

Pikachu gave a hesitant nod in response. His ears drooped. "Pikapi. Pikachu?"

"Hey, don't worry. You focus on getting better, and watch us win this, alright? You can get back to battling whenever you're ready!" Ash winked, scratching under his partner's chin. With that, he looked off. "I wonder why Dawn needed to make a stop at the pokemon center. Not like she's the one battling."

"Pika." Pikachu had a guess of his own, but it was just a guess.

"Well, sitting here thinking about it won't get us any closer to winning that battle," he supposed, as he pushed the doors open. The familiar royal blue walls, etched with impressive carvings greeted him. The battlefield was empty.

Stepping into the fray, Ash cupped his hands. "Hey, Silver! I'm here for a rematch!"

Footsteps echoed through the open chamber, and the familiar redhead made his appearance. Gray hues narrowed upon the young man's gutsy challenger. Ash could already feel his heart starting to race.

"What took you so long? You don't come off like the type to wait this long for a second try. It's been over a week."

"Pika…" Pikachu's grip on Ash's shoulders tightened.

Ash could feel his companion's discomfort through his jacket, and he shifted his feet. "I, ah… I've been busy," Ash blurted out, his voice cracking in the process.

Silver's lips creased into a frown, red brows pushing downward. "You were….Then, did you have something to do with the reports of the Rocket facility being shut down?"

Ash's fist tightened instinctively, held defensively over his chest. "I did, alright!? How'd you know!?"

"Figured as much," Silver spat. Ash came off as many things, but he certainly didn't come off as villainous. All he could've done, in that case, was initiate the team's embarrassing setback. "Pitiful," he huffed.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean!?" Ash snapped, suddenly fuming. "Do you have any idea what we-"

Silver raised a hand. "I meant Team Rocket is pitiful. Still a herd of cowardly weaklings… This gym won't be entrapping anyone else, Ash."

Less furious than he was lost, Ash raised a brow at the Gym Leader. "What're you talking about?"

Silver's eyes scanned the high ceiling of the gym. "There was… Spyware in this gym, once. But, it's been dealt with."

"Then, that's how they…" Ash cursed under his breath. That's how they'd tracked him down at all. "Hey, hold on! I'm pretty sure Team Rocket used to run this place… How'd they miss a detail like that!?"

Bewilderment turned to disgust. Grimacing, Ash dug his fingers into his palms. The opposite hand cradled Pikachu. "Y'know, that's not the first time the league's put me in danger." Several of the gyms he's battled at had nearly cost him his life, now that he thought about it. Even the Indigo League did little to address how he'd shown up to his match with Ritchie.

Pikachu could feel Ash's grip tighten, and he licked Ash's hand. This was a disturbing realization.

"They've got some serious issues."

"Hm," Silver hummed in quiet agreement. "Sometimes, they prefer a messy peacetime over correcting their errors."

Ash's stomach was starting to turn, and the last thing he wanted to was lose the lunch his mother had worked so hard on. "Hey, uh, anyway… I'll be using the same team as before; with one exception. Pikachu's gonna be substituted with someone else." He only hoped he wouldn't have to explain the situation again.

Silver shook his head. Something told him that Ash wouldn't want to be pried. "That's fine. Then, you registered Pikachu as a support pokemon?" Using six pokemon, of course, would be problematic otherwise.

Ash exhaled, grateful the other trainer understood. "I did," he nodded, looking to his companion. "To tell ya the truth, we both need the support."

"You've made the right choice, considering your pokemon's needs before yours." Particularly, in his mind, considering that Pikachu appeared to be the strongest of Ash's pokemon.

"I always do," Ash protested. "I do push them, but only as hard as they want to be pushed, so they can get as strong as they can be. But, the last thing I wanna do is hurt them."

Ash's speech put a smile on Silver's face; Ash quietly found it a little unsettling, actually. "I get you, now. You're reckless, but you're not cruel. If you've learned from last time, you might beat me, now."

"Then, let's get started, and I'll prove I can!"

The tension that was beginning to flare was shattered when the doors to the gym burst open.

"I didn't miss anything, did I!?" In the blinding, afternoon light shining into the windowless gym stood Dawn, pom pom-clad hands stationed proudly on her hips. Boasting her hot pink striped cheerleader outfit, she was accompanied by Empoleon, Buneary, and Rura. The large penguin had parted with his outgrown outfit in favor of a ribbon on his crown, and pom-poms on his wings. Buneary retained her outfit, posing proudly, while Rura wore Piplup's old cheerleading outfit, sans pom-poms.

"Dawn!" Ash turned on his heels, gawking at his girlfriend. So, that's what took them so long!

Similarly shocked, Silver cocked his head, brows furrowed. "What the hell?"

Non-plussed by her audience, Dawn walked in, tossing her hair over one shoulder. "One, two, three, four, who's the guy that we adore?! Ash! Ash! Five, six, seven, eight, who is gonna battle great?! Ash! Ash!" Dawn and the rest of her team rattled their pom-poms. "Hehe! We're gonna cheer you on to victory!" she sing-songed.

Still unable to get used to this overwhelming presence, Silver snapped. "Why do you need her here?!" He pointed to the coordinator, looking to Ash for answers. Surely there was a reasonable answer for what was surely a headache on the way.

Pouting and posing, Dawn whined, not even letting Ash answer. "He doesn't need me! It just helps." Smirking, she put a hand up to her face. "Guess you've never had your own cheer team, huh?"

Not sure if he should be insulted or weirded out, Silver stomped a foot, shaking his head as if to try to move on. "Whatever, as long as he can focus on the battle. You hear me, Ash? No making eyes at your girlfriend!"

Ash blinked. "How'd ya know she was my girlfriend?"

"... Who else but your girlfriend would do this?!" he yelled.

As if prompted by the yelling, a young boy with glasses ran into the room. "Sorry I'm late, boss! I just got out of class!"

"It's fine, this isn't a scheduled match," Silver clarified. "Ash, this is my new underling. I'm finally getting help around the gym. He's going to be the match judge."

Ash nodded in understanding as the boy settled to one side of the battle field. Taking this as her cue, Dawn and her cheerleaders stood on the other side.

"Match, begin!" the young boy called.

With that, both trainers whipped out a pokeball. Pikachu leaped off Ash's shoulder, opting to stand by his trainer during the fray. Silver's Alakazam landed lightly, psychic energies buffering his fall. On the other side of the field, a Lucario touched down lightly, her tail twitching behind her as she stared intensely at her opponent.

Ash raised a fist, grinning. "Alright! Let's use Taunt!"

Growling, the blue pokemon raised a paw, gesturing for Alakazam to come at her. This angered the psychic type so much so that the mere thought of doing anything but attacking was unappealing. He wanted to punish her for her arrogance.

On his side of the field, Silver's eyes narrowed. He raised a hand, fingers spread wide and palm facing down. "Dunno what you're up to, but it won't help if we use… Psychic!"

Chuckling, Ash wasn't perturbed. "Night Slash!"

As Alakazam fired off a bright blue burst of psychic energy, it was met with a cruel, arching wave of dark energy. The two met in the air, wrapping around another. The blue dissolved as the black tore into it, eating up the psychic energy until they both dissipated like acid spilt onto dirt.

Suspicion glinted in gray eyes. "Kinda odd for a Lucario to know a move like that," Silver said, teasing to see what Ash would reveal.

The Pallet native kept his hand hidden, though. "Surprises are fun, too, you know!"

"Hm. Yeah. Focus Blast!" Silver figured that, if that dark type move got used again, the fighting type move would be the one to triumph this time. And, with all the energy this one packed, it'd go right through!

"Flamethrower!"

The bursting ball of fighting type energy met the stream of flame. The two ignited, expanding in a white hot ball of fire. On the side lines, the judge cowered and Dawn, Buneary, and Rura all hid behind Empoleon's protection, shielded from the rolling waves of heat. Ash even raised his hand to shield his eyes as Silver looked away, his curtain of hair billowing in the blistering heat.

When the explosion fizzled, there were two pokemon left: Alakazam, steam drifting lazily up from his body; and the black furred form of Meema, her illusion broken by the explosive collision of the two moves.

Finally, the coast was clear, and Rura hopped atop Empoleon's head, getting a proper view of the action.

As soon as he did, his eyes glimmered with pride. _~Yeah! Go, Meema, go!~_

Satisfied that that mystery was solved, Silver adjusting his clothes, growing hot in all his garments. "Don't know what pokemon that is, but it's definitely dark type, and that's all I need to know. Focus Blast!"

"The jig's up," Ash lamented. "Watch out!"

With her young's encouragement in the back of her head, it wasn't even an option for Meema to get struck down by the encroaching burst of energy. A sprint on all fours carried Meema swiftly past the Focus Blast, barely paying it mind as it burst in a rattling explosion behind her. Her sights were set on Alakazam, blood red claws ready to strike.

And, Ash would give her that opportunity. "Good, now, Night Slash!"

A feral cry was all that could be heard, and streaks of violet slashed across Alakazam.

The PSI pokemon stumbled, letting out a groan of pain. It was all he could do to keep himself afloat.

Silver eyed the creature opposing him with suspicion. The vicious look in its eye was worthy of concern. He didn't like pitting Alakazam against an unfamiliar dark type to begin with. "Alakazam, return!"

That was their opportunity. "Pursuit, now!"

The Zoroark charged, pouncing upon her opponent with predatory reflexes. Alakazam was struck just as he began to turn immaterial. The red flash of light flickered before disappearing into its pokeball.

"Now, that's a first." Silver's eyes turned to the sphere in his hand.

"The success of Pursuit is inconclusive," the referee sputtered. "Will the Gym leader please call out his Alakazam for a proper ruling?"

"Fine," Silver agreed, tossing the pokeball.

Alakazam appeared in a heap, swirls in its eyes. "Zam…" it groaned, out for the count.

"Alakazam is unable to battle," the judge announced. "The challenger wins this round!"

"Score one for us," Ash boasted. "Great work, Meema! You got 'em good."

The Zoroark turned back towards her trainer, bowing her head in gratitude. There was even a hint of a smile; she'd done well for Leader. Rura's chatters heard from the sidelines boosted her morale further.

It was nice for him to see her triumph in a safe setting. No fears and no repercussions. She could get used to this.

Silver grunted, recalling his pokemon again. "I don't know if you planned that out, but well played. Just don't assume mind games will work after this." Another sphere was tossed, calling on Nidoking.

"Nido," the biped growled, stomping its toughened hind leg into the gym floor.

Meema reared into a more cautious stance. She'd never seen this species before, but it looked to be a formidable adversary. Not frail, like Alakazam, by any means.

"Let's keep this ball rolling," Ash resumed. "Flamethrower!"

A jet of flames launched from the Zoroark's mouth.

"Poison Tail," Silver countered.

"Nidooo," Nidoking grunted, swinging his tail in a faint purple whiplash. Hot flames were pummeled by the attack, dispersed into little more than embers. He brushed off his tough hide, quelling any heat that still clung.

Ash grimaced. "It didn't do a thing." Of course; Meema seemed formidable, but she probably wasn't half as experienced as most of his team. Her cunning and his own had sealed the last battle, but this would be one of brute force.

"Hm," Silver mumbled. So, this unfamiliar pokemon was more vicious than it was powerful. That was worth noting. "Nidoking, Earth Power!"

A brutish fist slammed into the battlefield, sending golden cracks through the floor.

Ash wouldn't dare forget how perilous that move had been, last time. "When it comes up, stop it with Night Slash!"

Teal hues followed the cracks, and a feral cry downward strike.

Shadowy wisps tangled with the brutal illumination, the former pressing down on the latter with every ounce of force the growling quadruped could muster. A blinding explosion ended the conflict.

The burst of energy sent the Zoroark soaring, and plummeting towards Nidoking. Both of her forelegs swung forward, ready to slash across the poison type without restraint.

"Brick Break!"

Incoming, razor-sharp claws were ducked by NIdoking, who retaliated with a rattling punch to the chest.

Meema was tossed across the field, hacking to regain breath. This pokemon… She'd never met one who could deal and receive blows with so much raw strength. She was left to contemplate that as she wiped her jaw with her paw, standing up on shaky hind legs.

"That had to hurt…" Ash winced, sympathetic. "Hey, Meema! You doing alright, over there?"

An affirmative growl, and a murderous gaze towards Nidoking was Ash's answer.

"Alright, cool! Uh… Just remember this is for sport, alright?" Her behavior while fighting Anima still crept in the back of Ash's mind.

"You'd better hope it does. Punishments for out of control pokemon aren't lenient, if things get too messy. And with the privilege you've been given, it'd be a shame if you lost it so quickly."

"That's not gonna happen," Ash argued back, a little bit insulted. "I have faith in her!"

The exchange between the two humans left Meema in a dizzy frenzy of looking between the two.

A pang of guilt quickly formed when Ash's status was threatened. _"I can't afford to burden him like that."_

When Ash spoke, guilt was replaced by something… unfamiliar. Total bewilderment, even. With her past behavior in mind, Ash trusted her that much!?

A growl of reassurance called out to Ash, in tandem with an awkwardly raised paw. She'd seen humans make a similar gesture with their opposable thumb, usually as a sign of optimism. Ash, in particular, did it often. It was all she could do to convince him that she'd live up to his expectations.

"We'll see," Silver agreed with a soft shrug of his shoulder. "Nidoking, Earth Power! Don't let them rest!"

"King!" Nidoking roared, pummeling the ground before him in what looked to be a ferocious tantrum.

Ash's heart began to pick up its pace. "Dodge that!"

Still recovering from Brick Break, Meema lunged to the side, landing just short of falling prey to an earth-shattering explosion beside her. _"That could've been my head,"_ she thought aloud, a bit dizzy at her growing desperation.

"There's more coming!" Ash shouted in warning.

She didn't have time to look. The faintest tremor and flicker of light out of the corner of her eye sent her sprinting, ears flicking when each attack drew near. Whenever one Earth Power subsided, she gave herself a moment to breathe.

"She's not even looking," Silver observed, cocking a brow. "She fights a lot more like a feral, wild pokemon than a domestic one." He didn't know a lot about the species, but he could venture to guess.

Ash watched on amidst the chaos clouding the battlefield, quickly absorbing what Silver meant. Quiet awe turned to loud pride, a smile spreading from cheek to cheek. "Well, she hasn't been with us for that long, but she sure knows how to fight her own way!" Ash couldn't take credit, but it was something else, all the same.

"Flamethrower!"

Red-hot flames shot across the battlefield, engulfing Nidoking in their wrath.

"A direct hit!" Dawn cheered. This match was off to a good start!

A guttural groan of pain could be heard within the roaring embers. Nidoking's horn glimmered from the center, shining brightest of all.

"Nidoking, Poison Tail!"

The hulking, purple biped charged out of Meema's attack, assaulting the dark type with speed that one would think impossible for a Nidoking. Nearing the Zoroark, he skidded to a halt, turning his body to whip her with his bulky, poison-laden tail.

"Meema!" Ash called out in panic.

Meema was sent skidding across the gym floor, knocked breathless. She clutched her hurting ribs with a paw, eyes shrinking to pin needles. Any coherent thought that came up blended with the last, and her vision turned blurry. Tried as she might to push herself up, the Zoroark fell unconscious.

The referee leaned over to check the pokemon's status. "Meema is unable to battle," he declared, none the wiser that 'Meema' was only a name. "The Gym Leader wins this round!"

"Brutal," Ash muttered. "Meema, return!" He recalled the Illusion Fox to her pokeball, taking a moment to stare at the device. "You were great. Thanks for putting up a good fight!"

"Don't worry, Ash," Dawn called out. "You guys are doing great! She really held her own."

Rura's ears drooped. She was tough, but she got beat up bad! The sight of Nidoking, still lively and formidable, made him shudder. _~I didn't know there were pokemon that big!~_ Bewildered, he turned to Buneary. _~Can you eat them? Or, do they eat you?~_

Buneary stared at her new teammate, at a loss for words. _"Kid…."_ Open-mouthed silence lasted for several moments _"What goes on over there, in Unova?"_

"Thanks, Dawn. I know." Ash's smile returned. "Now, let's go! Rosa… I choose you!"

Appearing in a flash of light, the Lucario quickly took in her surroundings, swiftly raising her paws into a defensive gesture. She squinted at Nidoking.

"It's time for round two," Ash announced.

"Nido," Nidoking spoke, gesturing with a clawed paw for Rosa to come at him. They had unfinished business.

A bark was her answer, and she crouched further into her stance.

"You're going to send out the same pokemon against Nidoking twice? You do remember how this ended before?"

"That was then, and this is now," Ash argued. "It's because of that that I know Rosa's really gonna want to win, and she'll fight her best to settle the score! I wouldn't feel right not givin' her the chance."

"Car!" She yipped, raising a fist in enthusiastic gratitude. _"I lost Papa's last Gym Battle. This time, I'm gonna beat the pants off ya, 'n make him proud!"_

"That's Ash, alright," Dawn remarked, the familiar sentiment leaving her both nostalgic and concerned. "That strategy's got kind of a spotty record." Sometimes, it worked, like at the league. Others, it failed miserably.

"Empol," her starter agreed. Watching the battle at Lake Verity was a case of secondhand shame that he never wanted to repeat.

"But, that's just Ash. Besides, Rosa won't lose!" Dawn's quiet musings turned to adamant cheering, pom-poms raised. "Get 'em, girl!"

"Let's just make sure this is the real deal," Silver squinted. "Earth Power!"

Nidoking promptly struck the ground, starting another tremor.

"Dodge it, and charge in!"

A paw was swiftly held to the floor, aura feelers levitating. The energy coursing through the ground was promptly identified, and Rosa sprinted forward. A swift sidestep avoided the seismic disruption.

"Power-up Punch!"

Rosa jumped, throwing a blazing punch at her bipedal opponent.

"Poison Tail!"

The familiar crash of an armored tail smashing into her torso sent Rosa reeling, skidding across the arena floor. The unsavory feeling of her paws dragging along the ground made the Lucario shudder.

"Earth Power!"

By time her mind returned to the fight, cracks in the ground were heading her way.

"Use Aura Sphere to block that," Ash ordered.

Paws were raised over the Lucario's head, quickly channeling a ball of spiritual energy. She hopped, tossing the blast overhand towards the ground.

A loud, booming explosion ensued, sending a shaken Rosa skyward. The worst of the damage had been mitigated, but the wisps of smoke trailing her body spoke for themselves.

"I know you can keep going," Ash encouraged. "Aura Sphere!"

Rosa growled, drawing an arm back behind her head. She focused through grit canines, conjuring a glowing blue orb that was lobbed towards Nidoking.

"Brick Break," Silver ordered in few words.

A hearty roar accompanied Nidoking, who dug his hind legs into the gym floor, preparing himself for the collision between his arm and the potent blast. He put his back into the push, feeling his arm growing numb.

A brief struggle ended in the Aura Sphere being smacked back.

"Rosa!"

 _"_ _Yikes!"_ The air-stranded pokemon yelped, with terribly wide eyes. She crossed her arms for the worst.

Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, and the other pokemon present all winced. A loud, brilliant cyan explosion dropped

the struck jackal to the gym floor.

"Another Brick Break," Silver continued.

Nidoking charged his downed opponent, a glowing arm raised, poised to strike.

"You've gotta block it," Ash pleaded. "Use Power-up Punch!"

Rosa shook her head, still a bit dizzy. A purple giant was sprinting in her direction, fighting instincts bringing her competitive spirit to life. She pivoted to her feet, throwing a bunch with a raspy, high-pitched roar.

The collision of punches kicked up a brief gust, tossing dirt and dust across the fray.

Rosa grit her teeth, leaning her weight into her golden, blazing fist, struggling to push back Nidoking's overwhelming strength and bulk. Her forearm trembled against the other's large claws.

"Niiidd…" A low growl came with the poison type's efforts. Tried as he may to force his arm forward, that stubborn pup was putting every ounce of strength she had into her fist. His own paw was actually starting to singe.

"King!" He exclaimed, growing impatient. Easily able to hold his footing, he raised his opposite arm. Nidoking was ready to hammer this Lucario into the ground.

The secondary strike didn't slip by Ash. "Low Sweep, now!"

It was all Rosa could do to not squeak in fearful anticipation. Instead, she ducked, striking Nidoking's shin with a brutal kick.

A jolt of pain halted Nidoking's arms, bringing the mighty poison type to the ground.

"So, he taught her that move," the Gym Leader noted aloud.

"Good job," Ash praised. That'd keep them from dealing more damage! "Now, Power-up Punch!"

Still crouching, Rosa threw her weight into an uppercut, socking Nidoking in the jaw.

The fiery adrenaline provided by Power-up Punch gave her a rush of aggressive vitality.

Silver tutted under his breath. This was turning in Ash's favor. "Use Poison Tail!"

Nidoking held his jaw, head still pounding from the punch. As difficult as it was to move about, he had no issue throwing his tail around, intent on swatting the Lucario aside like a pesky Beedrill.

Ash saw this coming, and he hoped that Rosa had, too. "Counter that, with Close Combat!"

Sparring with Ash hadn't gone to waste. She hopped over the sweep, striking back with a roundhouse kick to the face. Satisfied with that, she struck Nidoking's head with her tail, followed by a punch to the gut.

Silver watched on with a dissatisfied sneer, as his own reliable pokemon was being pummeled by one punch after the next, helpless to retaliate meaningfully. A final kick to the chest sent Nidoking stumbling back.

Ash, on the other hand, was grinning, excitable as ever. "That's the way to do it," he exclaimed, pumping a fist.

But, all wasn't as well as it looked. Rosa staggered back with heavy, raspy breaths. Her chest was heaving, body winded by the fierce exchange of blows. She was pretty strong for her age; but, she was still young.

And, as she'd found, woefully inexperienced compared to her sturdy opponent. _"Ahh… I don't feel so good,"_ she whined.

And, there was their golden opportunity. "Now, Earth Power!"

The hunched over Nidoking had no trouble striking the ground below him, splitting it to make way for the powerful undercurrent.

"Rosa," Ash called out. "I know you're tired, but can ya push on just a bit longer? I know we've got this!"

 _~Y… Yeah…~_ she relayed to her trainer. _~But, I'm gonna need another vacation after this!~_

Ash chuckled, but he had no time for a witty reply. "You know the drill! Aura Sphere!"

A raging blue orb was formed overhead, tossed into the ground with vigor.

This time, Rosa was able to brace for the impact that sent her soaring.

With some difficulty, the Aura pokemon steadied herself in mid-air. She bared her fangs.

"And, go!" Ash roared, pulling an open palm back before thrusting it forward.

 _"_ _Taaake… That!"_ Rosa echoed, forming an Aura Sphere over her head. It was chucked at Nidoking.

"This, again?" Silver squinted. "Brick Break!"

Defending wasn't difficult for the biped, even with a bad leg. Nidoking countered with a mighty swing, crashing his arm into the orb of energy. Aura Sphere bent and bounced, carrying almost gelatinous qualities.

The chance of it bursting right there left Nidoking in a sweat, giving him all the motivation to knock it back.

"Not this time," Ash insisted, pulling a fist back. "Two can play at that game! Power-up Punch!"

A quick look was spared to Rosa's trainer, and her confidence was bolstered. She imitated his punch, delivering a blazing, screaming haymaker to her very own Aura Sphere.

The blast plummeted back like a golden, blazing comet. Far too swiftly for Nidoking to guard against.

The bursting blast pummeled the field in smoke and winds, forcing all present to raise their guard.

The inevitable conclusion came when the debris settled. Rosa landed on all fours, and Nidoking laid in a crater, unconscious.

The referee squinted through the dust. "...Nidoking is unable to battle! The challenger wins the round!"

"Hm," Silver huffed, recalling his pokemon. "Not bad. You don't seem much stronger, but you have a better understanding of your opponent." Another pokeball was thrown, calling upon Weavile.

"Weav," the dark type hissed, raising its sharp claws. It, like its opponent before it, had a score to settle.

"Way to go, Rosa!" Dawn cheered, waving her pom-poms. "You've got 'em right where you want 'em!"

"Rio!" The Lucario yipped, turning and waving to her mother figure. Even if she was aching, the warm and fuzzy feeling the praise brought made it worth it!

Silver, already grinding his teeth, snapped. "Stop goofing off and pay attention to the battle!"

Rosa flinched, shrinking with a low whine. That was so loud! Had she really been that bad!?

"Hey, don't yell at my pokemon!" Ash snapped back, teeth grit and showing.

"Pikaaa!" Pikachu echoed his trainer, ears standing up. The nerve!

"Then discipline them, and focus on why you're here!"

"I don't believe in disciplining them like that!"

"Oh, shocker."

Dawn fumed, stomping her foot. "Is this really how a Gym Leader's supposed to act!?"

Silver's eye twitched. "You know, I have half a mind to throw you all out."

Ash swallowed, quickly losing his edge.

The redhead sneered. "Lucky for you, I'm enjoying the battle too much."

"Then, let's get on with it!" Ash shouted, quickly losing enthusiasm when he looked back at his sniveling companion. The sight of his frightened hatched pokemon made the trainer's heart sink.

"You ready, Rose? I know you still have some fight in you."

A curt nod was his answer. As much as she _hated_ the yelling, it was nice to see Papa defend her.

 _~Don't worry. We'll make sure to kick his butt real bad for that.~_

A smirk was shared between the two over the quick mental relay.

"Now, Aura Sphere!'

Rosa drew her paw back, charging another sphere to lob forward.

"It can't be dodged… Block it, with Ice Shard!"

"Weav… Vile! Vile!" A slab of ice was chucked at the fighting type move.

Aura Sphere bounced, but didn't quite break upon being struck.

A second and third shard, however, made it burst loudly.

Ash's brows lowered. "Power-up Punch!"

A fleet-footed sprint narrowed the distance between the two, and the Lucario's fist lit up once more.

"Icy Wind, now!"

"Weav!" Weavile grunted, unleashing a bitter gust upon its dangerous foe.

Rosa shuddered, doing her best to brave the climate. But, frost clung to her fur, and a faint numbness slowed her pursuit. She resisted, throwing a spirited Power-up Punch.

The attack struck Weavile's face, sending it stumbling backwards.

It regained its footing, however, sporting a devious grin.

"It didn't work!?" Dawn's mouth gaped. She was sure Rosa had this in the bag!

"But, how!? That move's _really_ super effective!" Ash was at a loss.

"When attack loses its momentum, it's not going to hurt much," Silver explained. "This time, the loss in speed will put your Lucario down for the count. Ice Shard!"

"Vile!" Only several feet away, the dark type chucked another slab of ice.

"Close Combat!"

Rosa spun on her heel, delivering a roundhouse kick that shattered the shard into miniscule bits.

Weavile found himself on the receiving end of a persistent barrage of punches and kicks, afterward. The Lucario swung at him with vigor, a determined glimmer in her eyes as one haymaker came after the next.

This time, though, he was dodging handily. The punches were sluggish, weighed down by frost and fatigue. Weavile gleefully ducked and sidestepped each punch. The sharp eye and predictive capabilities that his opponent had boasted last time were weary. From the looks of things, she'd gone into this fight tired.

Weavile was more than happy with that. Now, he's just slash down that mangy-

Smack!

Rosa delivered a high kick to the jaw - one the underhanded Weavile clearly hadn't seen coming. The sucker punch - or kick, rather - was followed up by several swifter kicks to the abdomen.

 _"_ _Ha! Rah! Heeeyah!"_ The Lucario cried, finishing her short combination with a backflip that nailed her opponent in the jaw.

She expected to land with style, but she fell to her knees in a heap. Maybe that was a bit too much showing off…

Silver gained an unnerving grin. "Low Sweep!"

Ash gasped. "Get up, now!"

A paw pushed Rosa off the floor, and the other leg would come next.

It would have, if not for the leg crashing into the back of her knee.

The Lucario yelped, knocked flat on her back.

"Good. Now, Ice Shard!"

"Weeeaaave…!" Weavile cried gleefully, forming another frozen shard above his head. He enjoyed it oh-so-much when he got the opportunity to smash the attack into his downed opponent.

"Rosa!"

Frost and water vapor clouded the battlefield, and everyone on Ash's side winced.

Little was left to question when Rosa could be seen. She laid out, motionless.

"...Lucario is unable to battle! This round goes to the Gym Leader!"

"Pikachu…" Pikachu's ears drooped. Talk about a brutal end. He couldn't help but shudder.

A red flash of light retreated into Ash's palm. The trainer drew a heavy sigh. "Thanks, Rosa. You put up a great fight," Ash concluded, placing her sphere back on his belt. His gloved hand fumbled for another under his jacket, finally grasping it between his fingers.

Ash pursed his lips, staring down at the red and grey orb. _'This is about where I started losing control of the battle, last time… I've gotta start taking it really seriously from here on out.'_

The pokeball was wound up behind Ash's head, clutched tightly between his fingers. He leaned into a heavy toss.

"I choose you!"


	66. Can't Get Fooled Again

**Welcome back, everyone! Enjoy the second half of this exciting Gym Battle. And we also hope you enjoy the surprises we have in store!**

* * *

"I choose you, Tauros!"

The Wild Bull pokemon appeared, stomping its front hooves into the floor with a loud bellow.

Silver's silence was enough to tell Ash that it was up to him to make the first move. "Fire Blast!"

A tremendous heat fired from Tauros' nostrils in the form of a star, chasing down Weavile.

"Weav!?" Fretting at the terrific fire type attack, Weavile narrowly jumped over the flames.

"Use Ice Shard!"

Still in mid-air, Weavile chucked several blocks of ice at Tauros. He'd be better off bringing this brute down as quickly as possible!

The ice hit its mark, irritating Tauros.

Fuming, he bellowed loudly, whipping his hide with his own tails until he was worked into a frenzy. His eyes narrowed upon the small ice type. He was going to _trample_ it.

"He's really in the mood now," Ash remarked. A confident smirk picked up. "Double Team!"

Tauros took to a loud stampede around the battlefield, circling Weavile. What was one running Tauros became two, and then four, and then eight.

Weavile grimaced, stepping backwards in one direction before banging hooves made him jump. The constant clatter of heavy feet made finding the real deal quite difficult.

"Weavile can't tell them apart any better than I can," Silver admitted aloud. "Isolate him, with Night Slash!"

Whipping its long claws around itself, Weavile fired off a huge, arcing whip of black energy. It cleaved through the afterimages, finally losing momentum just before it touched on the remaining Tauros, which was undoubtedly the real one.

That was all the time Ash needed. "Horn Attack!"

The icy assailant swept in from above, and Tauros ducked his head, swiftly throwing it back up.

A harsh squeal came when Weavile's gut was jabbed with a horn. It tumbled pathetically onto the gym floor.

"Nice one!" Ash praised.

Silver uttered a grunt of disappointment. "Icy WIND!"

The black weasel blew out, gleaming clear crystals of ice glittering amongst the blistering cold wind.

"Now's the time," Ash narrated. "Battle Armor, Tauros!"

Tauros answered with a loud cry, stomping his hooves into the ground. A roaring blaze was sprayed onto the ground before the bull, coating it in a veil of heat.

One that held up stubbornly against the incoming chill. Little remained of Icy Wind, pardoning a small puddle before Tauros' feet.

Feral, errant flames snapped at Weavile, threatening it to retreat. "Vile!" That actually stung!

"Back to this idiotic move? You said you learned from your mistakes," Silver spat.

"I did," Ash argued. "Horn Attack, again!"

The blazing bull began its stampede, chasing down Weavile with ducked horns.

"Don't get close to that," the Gym Leader warned.

"Weav!" With less sheer force, but superior agility, Weavile had no problem darting out of the normal type's path. Another stream of embers did leave it sweating, however.

"Back the other way!"

Tauros skidded to a halt, ending his momentum before resuming his chase.

For such a large, inflexible creature, Tauros was catching up quickly, Silver noted. "Jump!"

A bellowing battle cry became a roar of frustration as Tauros missed jabbing his target yet again. The flames began to grow irritating to his hide, prompting his three tails to snap at his side.

Ash growled. This was getting tedious. "Give 'im a full-fledged Horn Attack!"

Tauros cried, his horns growing brightest among the flames. Two skewers of heat fired from them like projectiles, making Weavile, ironically, the bull's eye.

Silver grit his teeth. "Pull back!"

Fretting, Weavile rolled back, screeching at the glancing burn that crossed its chest.

"This is taking too long," Ash complained aloud. "Put that fire out!"

Scraping one of his horns against the gym floor, Tauros lifted the settled dust and dirt off of it, smothering the flames along his mane and hide. His blazing battle armor was nullified.

"Ice Shard!" Silver yelled. He frowned. So, Ash had figured out how put out his own fires? That wasn't good - for Silver. "Good to see you won't let your pokemon burn themselves out."

"Not twice, at least," Ash offered with a slightly embarrassed laugh. "Fire Blast!"

The massive white-blue Ice Shard collided with the wall of fire. As the attack tore through Weavile's, the dark type dodged again.

"Night Slash!"

Rushing forward, Weavile slinked close to the ground. Sweeping up, the violet dark energy tore at Tauros's belly, earning a critical hit. The bull stumbled back, falling onto his side with his eyes shut from pain. When they opened, his pupils were constricted, nostrils flaring. He snorted, pawing at the ground.

"Bing! There's the Anger Point!" Ash noted. "You're in for it, now."

"Anger Point?" Dawn echoed, pulling out her Pokedex.

 **"Anger Point: An ability boasted by temperamental pokemon. When one possessing Anger Point is struck with a critical hit, their rage peaks, greatly boosting their attack power."**

"Then, Weavile really grabbed the bull by the horns."

Empoleon and Buneary groaned at Dawn's pun, while Rura snickered.

"Crap," Silver muttered. "Low Sweep!"

Leg out, Weavile aimed to kick the still down-and-out Tauros.

"Stomp!"

As the ice type got close, Tauros's hind leg kicked out. The bull's powerful hind leg sent Weavile flying and then skidding back. The fine feathered fighter landed heavily on its own side.

"Weavile is out!" the judge called, in awe of the battle.

Silver returned Weavile, nodding. "Not bad. Let's see how you handle this one, though. Gengar! Let's go."

"I'm not an old Arcanine. I've learned plenty of new tricks. Tauros! That was great, take a rest. Kingler, I choose you!"

"Kuu-kiii!" Kingler gurgled, snapping his larger claw.

"S-Silver!" the judge called out. "Are substitutions legal?!"

The gym leader nodded. "They've never been against house rules."

The judge nodded, swallowing. That was embarrassing. "Then, let the match continue!"

"Gengar, use Dark Pulse!"

"Geg-gen-gen… Gar!" Gengar spun about, launching a barrage of dark energy at Kingler.

"Block it, with Crabhammer!"

The larger pincer swung like a hammer, smashing into the flurry of rings that threatened Kingler himself. With a grunt, he swatted them aside. The wall behind him took the brunt of the damage.

"Good job," Ash praised. "Now, Bubble!"

"Ku-ku-ki!" Kingler opened both of his pincers, spraying a wide wave of foam over the battlefield.

Ash was greeted with an awe-stricken, incredulous, very judgmental look. "Bubble? Is this your idea of a prank? Who's even cocky enough to bring such a basic move into this kind of battle?"

"You had your answer right on the tip of your tongue, Silver!" Ash taunted, smugly resting a hand on his hip. ""Basic' is the idea. It doesn't do a lot of damage, but it's easy to use, which means there'll be a lot of it before Kingler even thinks of tiring out!"

And, they couldn't afford to lose any range while battling a pokemon like Gengar.

An irritated ghostly grumble gave Ash all he needed to hear. "Get in there, and use Crabhammer!"

Kingler sprung into the suds and struck hard. But, he found himself swinging at thin-air.

"I didn't hear anythin'... What gives?"

"Kii." Kingler landed, crawling around on his four legs to search for the escapee.

"It must've gotten away…" Ash frowned. "Do ya see it anywhere, Kingler?"

"Ku-ki, ku-ki," Kingler shrugged with his claws, before gesturing to Ash.

"I should know the answer? Well, if I knew, I wouldn'ta asked! Because leaving a Gengar free to slip around is just asking for…" Ash's sentence trailed off. "We really shouldn't be wasting time, here. Use Bubble 'n turn this place into one big bubble-bath!"

A collective groan surmised his audience, then.

"I wasn't asking for notes," Ash mumbled.

Kingler obeyed all the same, spraying Bubble in every direction until the gym hall was flooded with the attack.

"I still don't hear anything from Gengar… Which must mean it's still hiding." The raven haired trainer shrugged, mimicking how Kingler had done before. "Fine. Be like that." An energetic, almost gleeful smirk crossed his lips. "Kingler, use Blizzard!"

"...Shit!" Silver snapped, gray eyes narrowing to a pin point as he watched Kingler's move take hold.

The mass of frothy bubbles that floated around the gym like a sudsy bath gone rogue were frozen over, crystalized like a winter fairytale. Delicate snowflakes and sharp, tiny shards of ice alike whipped between the now solid and slow floating bubbles. A drafty fog of moist, cold air floated between it all.

Dawn's heart leaped out of her chest at the beauty of the move. "Incredible…!" she said in awe. Nothing would ever compare with the beauty of pure, driven diamond dust falling silently in the infinitely dark night of Snowpoint with only the fat, pale moon to light the way, but this was definitely a close second. The delightful chill that entered the gym energized her, making her hairs stand on end. "What a move, Ash!"

"Empooo!"

Dawn wasn't the only one who liked the move, it seemed.

Rubbing beneath his nose in pride, Ash chuckled. "That ain't all."

Silver's breathing was still shallow and anticipatory. And, as he had expected, the multitude of collected bubbles soon began to let out high, squeaking sounds as cracks formed along their surfaces.

The orbs shattered, their crystal edges raining on the battlefield like broken glass.

Genger let out a ghostly wail as he took a hit, floating among froth-turned-frost. The pain was so intense his transparency had been nullified, his shadowy form once more visible to all within the gym.

"Not a bad move," Silver praised. "Definitely one to borrow."

"Glad I could learn you one," Ash teased.

"... Confuse Ray." Perhaps Silver was a prideful man, like Ash. He seemed to dislike being shown up.

The dark, iridescent lights floated from Gengar's crafty claws to Kingler. They circled the water type, confusing it.

"Harden!" Ash knew there was little use in trying to resist the confusion status, but they could prepare for it.

"Ki!"

Obedient, the bewildered Kingler made itself taunt, exoskeleton shining with a summoned layer of fresh, thick protection. Now, even if it hit itself, the blow would do less!

"Now, let's try Blizzard!"

Lifting a massive claw above its head, Kingler tried to summon Blizzard… But, it fizzled as it formed. A few wisps of faint white frost were all it had to show for its efforts.

Gengar, for its part, snickered, loud and mirthful with a hint of schadenfreude. "Ge-gegegege!"

"Don't get too confident," Silver warned his ghost. "Use Sludge Bomb." If Ash claimed he was learning, then Silver wouldn't give him the opportunity to catch up.

"Dodge that!"

As much as Kingler wanted to obey Ash's order, it could not. Scuttling to the side, the crab tripped on its feet. It landed heavily. The damage was minimal, but the fall hard hurt. Even worse, though, was the burst of toxic liquid upon its back. The shell touched by the wicked move was stained purple before it was quickly absorbed. A sickly parlor overcome Kingler's expression.

"Ki… Ki…" it croaked, feeling ill.

Ash clenched his teeth and his fist. "Kingler!" The crab had been poisoned.

Silver was satisfied by this. "Dark Pulse!"

A malevolent arc of biting black-purple energy swung from Gengar's waved hand, racing with disastrous speed for Kingler. The water type cried in pain as it was struck. However, the blow was enough to knock it to its senses.

This was not lost on Ash. "Crabhammer!"

"Dark Pulse!"

Colored like dark chocolate melted over a decadent shade of purple, Gengar's attack once again aimed true for Kingler. The orange pokemon was ready this time. Swinging its arm up, it buffeted the dark type attack. For a brief moment, the two moves fought, testing strength. Then, with a flick of what would pass for its wrist, the move was brushed away from Kingler.

"Alright!" Ash praised. "Blizzard!"

Silver looked to Gengar, noting the ghost's stature. It was time to throw in all his chips. "Dark Pulse!"

The two moves met in the middle. Though Dark Pulse was smaller and less all-consuming than Blizzard, it was a greedier move, made of dark energy. It stretched in the ice as it spread across the battlefield, rapidly fanning out. Soon, the two mixed, creating black ice and a chill like a the never ending winters of the arctic. The lights of the gym flickered and someone - the judge - cried out.

When the lights turned back on, everyone quickly looked to the pokemon. Each resting in a settled heap of ice, Kingler and Gengar alike were knocked out.

Gulping, the judge shyly spoke out. "D-Due to the circumstances of the match… I will declare the round a draw!" He hadn't seen who had actually fainted first, after all.

"Make it cool, cool like ice! The way Ash battles is super nice!" Dawn cheered, trying to cheer him on for the tie.

"Kingler, return!" Ash recalled the crustacean, offering his ball a look of pride. "Y'did great. Now, we're one step closer to winning." He turned, then, to his 'cheer squad,' flashing a victory sign with his fingers. "And, you guys can count on that!"

An enthusiastic yip from Rura answered Ash, and Dawn couldn't contain her smile.

His confidence was definitely back.

"Don't make promises you don't know you can keep," Silver butted in, calling on his next pokemon. "Go, Magneton!"

"Don't worry, I'm not!" Ash vigorously tossed his next companion's sphere. "Pidgeot!"

"Pidgooo!" The large avian shrieked, hovering opposite of the bound magnets.

"Are you sure you want to repeat this match-up?" Silver squinted.

"I was gonna ask you the same thing," Ash fired back.

Now, that one earned an irritated growl. "Arrogant little… Hmph. Thunderbolt!"

A crackling current crossed the fray, forcing Pidgeot to pull up.

"Heat Wave!"

Pidgeot spread her wings, ready to leave the battlefield blistering. A second Thunderbolt forced her to tuck kin, barreling to the side. Another made her squawk and duck.

"She's never gonna pull it off, at this rate," Ash lamented. "They're too fast. And, this gym's too small to let her use her full speed…" Sure, the ceiling was remarkably high, but it didn't accompany the momentum of a large flyer like Pidgeot.

From Ash's vantage point, she seemed to be having trouble skirting one bolt after the next.

"Lock-on!"

Three red points merged into one over Pidgeot's torso.

"Shoot," Ash muttered. "There's no dodging that! Just use Heat Wave!"

"Thunderbolt!"

Pidgeot began flapping her wings, stirring up hot air. She'd leave those magnets toasted.

A sizzling current running up her spine coupled with flashing lights told her otherwise.

"Pidgeot!' Ash clenched his fist, watching his pokemon fall. Not good. "Try to pull up!"

"Flash Cannon!"

Regaining awareness thanks to the scent of crisped feathers, Pidgeot blinked, trying to right herself.

A sudden burst of metallic energy ended that bid, the explosion sending her tumbling across the floor.

"This is looking bad," Dawn lamented, clutching her pom-poms. "There's got to be a way out of this!" Her face scrunched. If anyone could come up with something, though, it was Ash.

Hopefully he could do it in time.

"Zor! Zor-Zor!" Rura frantically yipped, hopping atop Dawn's head to make himself heard. Pidgeot had been so big and tough and scary the other day! There was no way she could lose now!

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu waved his paws frantically, standing beside Ash. He knew Pidgeot could take more than that!

"Djooo…" Pigeot groaned, shaking her head. One wing slowly pushed her off the ground.

"Lock-on, then Thunderbolt!"

Pidgeot was made a target once again, a singular red dot attracting the attention of another surge.

The battle's audience braced for the worst.

"Steel Wing!"

A huge, gleaming extremity coated in silver became the target of Thunderbolt, glimmering with angry golden sparks that danced up and down Pidgeot's wing.

Silver grit his teeth.

"Now, channel that into the ground!"

Pidgeot reinforced her opposite wing, allowing the current to run from one wing to the next, harmlessly flickering off into the nonconductive gym floor.

"What a move!" Dawn cheered, bashing her pom-poms together. "I knew Ash'd figure it out."

"You weaseled your way out of that one," Silver admitted. He smiled, finding it hard to be angry. Ash was making him work for his victory.

"I picked that up from a flying type expert in Hoenn," Ash boasted. If there was anyone to borrow from when it came to flying types, Winona was high on the list. "Now, Steel Wing, with a twist!"

Pidgeot'd had adequate time to recover, and she returned with a vengeance. Swooping across the field with glimmering silver feathers, Pidgeot neared her prey.

Magneton split without needing an order, floating apart, and out of Pidgeot's range.

"Now," Ash commanded, punching across his chest.

Pidgeot's assault turned into a ferocious horizontal spin, silver wings lashing out all around.

All three heads of Magnemite were struck, bashed off in different directions.

"Direct hit!" Ash celebrated.

"Amazing! She looks like a giant silver bullet!" Dawn marveled. Pidgeot was every bit as beautiful as she was vicious.

"Pika-Pikachu!"

Silver didn't need a reminder of what came after Magneton's separation. "Come back together, for Gyro Ball!"

The three heads were bouncing about. "Mag! Magnetooon~ Ton!" Their ricocheting returned to an orbit in their angry buzz, all three using the momentum to pick up speed.

Pidgeot fretted, pulling up towards the ceiling to steer clear of the electric type.

"C'mon…! You can dodge that!" Ash wasn't sure whether he was trying to convince himself or Pidgeot.

What soon became a silver cyclone followed suit, and smashed brutally into Pidgeot.

"Pidgoooo!" The huge avian squawked in pain, sinking towards the floor of the fray.

"That had to hurt… Uh-oh. Pidgeot?"

Wincing, Pidgeot found herself restricted in a net of sparks that danced along her feathers.

"She's… Paralyzed? But how? Far as I've ever heard, Gyro Ball can't do that."

"I'm as surprised as you are. This is a first." Silver squinted, resting a hand on his hip. "My only guess is that the static that remained from taking on Thunderbolt clung to your Pidgeot, and was passed back to Magneton when it was hit with Steel Wing. So, Gyro Ball carried an extra charge."

With that uncovered, the Gym Leader sneered. "Must hurt having your own strategy backfire."

Ash opened his mouth, but no comeback came to pass his lips. He closed it to grimace.

"You're done being a smartass? Good. Then, let's wrap this up."

"Pikachu…" Pikachu's ears sunk. "Pika!" There had to be a way out of this!

"Lock-on, and Flash Cannon!"

Magnemite's segments hung close, spinning together to fire another burst of light. "Ton~!"

"We've only got one shot at this…" Ash's eyes narrowed. "Tough it out, and use Aerial Ace!"

Pidgeot's fierce gaze narrowed. If anyone thought that the former guardian of Viridian Forest would be shot down in this humiliating a manner, they had another thing coming. "Pidgo!"

She fought the numbness in her wings, sailing towards her opponent on spanned wings.

"I don't know if you forgot, but you can't dodge it," Silver remarked. "It would've been more considerate to Pidgeot to just surrender.

A belly-laugh was Ash's only answer.

Silver light trailed Pidgeot, mirroring the Flash Cannon that was moments from landing.

She vanished.

"Zor!?" Rura yipped, blinking at the scene. She… She was just gone!?

"Bun, Buneary~!" Buneary sing-songed. Rura would see, soon enough!

Pidgeot's image materialized again, hovering over Magneton. Dwarfing it, beak poised, like a predator ready to snap up its lunch in one bite.

Wincing from paralysis, she hesitated in her numb state before charging forward.

That moment of pause made her far too late. She'd missed Magneton entirely.

"Sorry. It's basic knowledge that a flying type can't fight to its fullest while paralyzed. You failed your pokemon."

"Did I?" Ash grinned, poised as ever.

Silver's attention shot back to the battle just in time to watch Flash Cannon swerve and chase its target. Unfortunately, Magneton was blocking its view.

A booming, glittering explosion followed.

"Alright!" Dawn cheered, jumping for joy. This battle was intense! "What a way to beat Lock-on!"

"It's not over yet," Ash noted, watching Magneton hang in a lazy, disoriented pile above ground.

"Heat Wave, now!"

There was no time to waste; Pidgeot knew that as well as Ash, as she unleashed hell upon her foe.

"Mag… Magne-tonnnnn…!" The assortment of magnets groaned, bouncing off the floor with swirls in their eyes.

"...Magneton is unable to battle!" The referee called.

Ash finally had the chance to let out a heavy sigh. "Good job, Pidgeot. Return!"

"Djoo!" She wearily raised a wing to Ash, secretly content to be recalled.

Silver recalled Magneton quietly. "That was risky."

Ash couldn't keep a nervous chuckle down. "Go big or go home, right?"

"I couldn't agree more." The redhead grabbed his final pokeball, tossing it with a bit more enthusiasm than usual. "Feraligatr!"

The gator made his presence known, stomping his heavy hind legs into the gym floor. An eager, guttural growl made the feeble among the group shudder.

Rura held tightly onto dawn's bangs, much to her dismay. _"Is it gonna eat us!?"_

Pikachu instinctively clung to Ash's pant leg. He felt a little pathetic for doing so.

"Then, this is the last one… Time to give it all we've got!" With furrowed brows, Ash wound up his last pokeball, pitching it with all his might. "Torterra, let's finish this!"

The Continent pokemon took a sturdy stance. Eyeing his large opponent, he asserted his weight on the field with ground-quivering stomps. He'd disappointed himself a few times too many in the past, and though the trainer would predictably deny it, he was sure that he'd let down Ash. Today would come with a different tune.

"Terra!"

Today, he'd decide this battle.

Feraligatr hissed in return, snapping his jaws. He would _not_ be out-muscled here. Not again.

"We'll start," Ash decided. "Torterra, Stone Edge!"

"Terra!" The sturdy pokemon conjured an orbiting series of sharp stones, launching them at Feraligatr.

"Aqua Tail!"

Feraligatr hoisted its burly body around, launching a cyclone from his tail. The strong current pounded away at the rocks, grinding them to sediment, as well as blasting Torterra.

Being part grass type, Torterra didn't have much trouble shaking the attack off. The plants on his back even felt the slightest bit refreshed.

Of course, the offensive had only just begun. "Hit hard, with Slash!" Silver ordered.

The gator stampeded across the field, sharp claws poised to strike.

"Block it with your shell!" Ash countered.

Torterra did as much, turning his body to the side, as well as ducking his head. He felt razor sharp claws slash across his shell, but as always, the injury was dulled by a reliable, sturdy exoskeleton.

"It's working for now," Ash thought aloud. "But, we don't want it staying close. Leaf Storm!"

"Terra!" The pokemon cried, launching a furious storm of sharp, emerald leaves that carried Feraligatr into an airborne frenzy.

Roaring in agony, the water type was thrown carelessly onto its side.

Silver's thumb dug into his palm. "That cost us."

"It's about to cost a whole lot more," Ash assured. "Nail it while you can, with Stone Edge!"

With a toss of the Continent pokemon's head, he flung another barrage of pointed stones at his opponent.

"That's not going to work," Silver argued. "Hyper Beam!"

Feraligatr was just now pushing himself to his feet. In a moment where time was the essence, he threw his head around, firing a dark violet beam from his jowls that blasted across the battlefield without mercy.

The stones were incinerated, and Torterra crouched, preparing himself to bear the brunt of the blast.

An earth-shaking explosion followed, flooding the field with smoke and soot.

Ash dug his heels into the gym floor, guarding himself from the wind that followed. "Hang in there, Torterra!"

 _"_ _Yikes!"_ Rura yelped, picked up into the air by the resulting shockwave. Luckily, he was caught by Empoleon, who proudly guarded the cub in his reliable grip.

When the blinding light died down, Ash fully opened his eyes.

Torterra stood amongst the debris, boasting a large burn mark on his shell for his trouble. He grunted. "Torterra."

"Alright, Torterra! He's still in the game!" Dawn cheered.

"Those incredible defenses paid off," Ash agreed, looking across the fray.

Feraligatr was hunched over, panting.

"Now's our chance!" Ash declared, eyes wide and a hand held high. "Torterra, Rock Climb!"

"Terra!" The Continent pokemon made use of his tremendous mass, smashing his feet into the gym floor.

A tremor shot across, isolating Feraligatr atop a rocky outcrop. The water type stumbled, barely maintaining balance.

He was sitting prey for the stampeding Torterra, who bounded the field in a reckless charge. He clawed his way up the elevation, throwing himself at Feraligatr. His heavy body smashed brutally into its hide.

Feraligatr was thrown from his unwanted perch, colliding with the ground with a thud.

Rock Climb retreated, and Torterra took a few steps back, admiring his work while also keeping his distance.

"Excellent work," Ash laid on the praise. "You took your punishment and gave it back double!"

"Tor!" He grunted back with enthusiasm, a wide smile spanning his crooked beak.

The fire in Ash's eyes wasn't lost on Dawn, nor was the steady, sure footing he'd taken. He was back on his groove. And, what was more… "It took him a while… But he really did it."

 _~Wuzzat? Did what?~_ Rura queried, hoping back atop Dawn's head.

"Ever since Torterra evolved from a Turtwig, he got a lot slower, and his battling capabilities changed completely. Ash likes to use speed to stay ahead of things, and he lost his agility, so they had a lot of trouble working together after that. Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen him win a single battle since he became a Torterra."

The disheveled field spoke for itself.

"But, Ash finally figured it out. How to be patient, and use Torterra's power and defenses in the best way!"

She couldn't be more proud.

"Don't start celebrating early," Silver interrupted. "We're not done, yet."

Feraligatr had regained his bearings by now, brushing off what would probably become a bruise. "Fer..." He hissed. As much as that had hurt, he was tougher than that. He wasn't going down to no garden turtle!

"I was hoping you'd say that," Ash countered, refusing to lose his cool. "So, bring it!"

"Terra!"

"Of course. Hydro Pump!"

Feraligatr dug his claws into the floor, preparing himself for the recoil that would come with the brutal burst.

Torterra had taken a Hydro Pump before. But, after a Hyper Beam, it was doubtful he'd walk out of a second.

"We're not taking every attack you throw at us. Rock Climb, right in front of you!"

Pikachu hopped atop Ash's shoulder in anticipation of the coming tremor.

Silver pursed his lips. "What's he up to?"

Torterra backed onto his hind legs, allowing gravity to do the rest for him. "Tor!"

The heavy collision forced up ramp made of earth in front of Torterra.

The fury of Hydro Pump crashed into the elevation, pulverizing its obstacle.

Within seconds, all that was left of Rock Climb was an assortment of pebbles, thrown up by a thick mist.

But, Torterra was unharmed.

"Good job… Huh!?"

"Slash!"

A deadly set of claws sliced through the mist, swiping across Torterra's hide.

"Ter…!" The mark along his head stung. He ducked, providing his shell for protection.

Feraligatr emerged from the camouflage, battering Torterra's shell with repeated Slash attacks.

It wasn't doing a great deal of damage. But it did allow Silver to spot an opening. He smirked.

"Crunch, now!"

It was then that a sharp pain shot through the grass type's skull and jaw.

Every onlooker gawked in horror at the sight. Feraligatr had trapped his foe in a critical Crunch upon Torterra's head.

"Torterra…! Say something! Are you hangin' in there?" Ash's confidence vanished, swept away by fears for the worst.

"Terr…." The pokemon groaned in agony, his vision growing blurry.

Wrestling his way out of the hold could only bring him more harm.

"It's time to surrender." Silver spoke up, resting a hand on his hip. "Your pokemon is in danger. You've lost."

"Why, you dirty…!" Ash hissed. What was it with this region's Gym Leaders threatening him into forfeiting!?

"Ash, I hate to say it, but you better do it!" Dawn shouted, her pom-poms dropping. "You can always come back!"

"Yeah, I know…" Ash's fist clenched at his side. "I…"

"T…. Terra…!" Unable to shake his head, he barked down Ash's thoughts. "Tor…. Torter…!" Even now…. Even in pain as he was, he would not allow Ash to throw in the towel!

"But, Torterra…"

"Tor!" He did his best to force his jaw open, hoping to free his head. No such luck.

But, he couldn't quit. Not after coming this far.

Ever since he'd grown out of being a tiny, nimble Turtwig, he'd ironically done worse and worse in battle. He'd certainly improved over the past months. He'd even won a few matches. But, he'd never had a big victory.

He'd never used his strength to the fullest, until now.

As far as he was concerned, it was now or never.

"...I understand." Ash spoke, monotone. "This is important to you… But, there's no way for us to…"

Ash's voice trailed off, and his eyes grew wide.

"Giga Drain!"

"What!?"

Feraligatr's satisfaction was sapped away, a sudden, parasitic essence attacking his every nerve. His vigor, now likely running on adrenaline, slowly sapped away amidst the emerald glow.

He released Torterra, backing up to flee the super-effective move.

"Terra!" The Continent pokemon bucked his opponent with his head for good measure. His head felt sore, but Giga Drain's healing properties remedied most of the damage.

"Are you alright?" Ash checked, feeling a strong urge to run onto the field. "Can ya keep fighting? If you wanna call it quits, it's fine."

"Tor!" The tortoise shook his head, working out what passed for a neck for good measure.

"Right… Then, let's go for broke! Rock Climb!"

He eyed the heaving amphibian, charcoal, narrow eyes solid with determination. With a cry, he slammed downward.

"Feral!?" Suddenly upheaved by another mound of earth, he hissed. He could hardly stand!

"Alright~!" Dawn cooed, throwing her pom-poms up with glee. "Let's cheer them on! Ash and Torterra, it's up to you! Knock that gator down a few! Up 'till now, you've had it rough, but for a Sinnoh 'mon, that's not enough!"

Dawn's pokemon chattered in unison, flailing with enthusiasm.

"Pika-Pika-Pikachu!" Pikachu shouted, pumping a fist in enthusiastic support. If he couldn't fight, he'd still cheer his teammates on!

"This has gone on long enough." Silver threw a hand outward. "Hyper Beam!"

Feraligatr dug his claws into the earth, preparing for what would soon become a devastating blast. A sun-colored orb formed in the pokemon's drooling, snarling mouth. That tortoise was history!

"Torterra can't take anymore damage…" Ash grit his teeth. He clenched his fists, shutting his eyes tight. "It's all or nothing, Torterra! Leaf Storm!"

"Terra!" The grass type leaned forward, unleashing his full, unbridled fury from the mighty tree atop his back.

Feraligatr pushed to fire his blast, but the maelstrom of leaves swarming his body left him roaring.

Moments later, he offered little resistance. The very edge of the platform gave under Feraligatr's foot.

Before he could hit the ground, he disappeared in a flash of crimson.

Silver huffed, grasping the pokeball tightly in his hand.

There was a momentary silence. The judge coughed before raising his hand. "Feraligatr has been incapacitated, and recalled by the Gym Leader! Silver is out of pokemon, which makes Ash, the challenger, the victor!"

A breath that had been held for what felt like forever left Ash's lungs in the form of a loud whoop. "We did it!" Absolutely jubilant, Ash sprinted onto the field, kneeling to embrace Torterra. "You really stuck it out there, Torterra. Congratulations! You won it all for us!"

"Tor… Terra!" Exhausted, but thoroughly satisfied, the tortoise leaned just a bit on Ash, giving the trainer a wide smile. He even nuzzled against Ash's cheek! This had been their victory.

"Ash!" Dawn hollered, running to join the commotion. "Congratulations! You really gave 'em heck out there!"

"Thanks! But I owe you guys one, for cheering us on when things got rough!"

Empoleon and Buneary puffed out their chests, and Rura simply grinned.

"Pika-chu~!" Pikachu leaned over, patting Torterra's shell.

"And, you, too, buddy. I know it must've been hard for you to be out here… But, you gave me confidence when things got hairy. Thanks for stickin' by us." A hand reached up to affectionately scratch Pikachu's chin.

"Cha~!"

"Ahem."

A cough interrupted the festivities. Silver stood before them. He nodded to Ash, letting a hand slide into his pocket. "I've got to hand it to you. Your ability to adapt to a situation is top-notch. As _obnoxious_ and _annoying_ as you can be…"

Emphasis hung on those words.

"...You're also talented. Keep battling seriously, and you will go places."

"Hmph," Ash huffed. Indignant as he sounded, though, he couldn't keep himself from smiling.

"And, don't make me embarrassed to lose to you."

"You've got nothing to worry about," Ash boasted, resting an affectionate hand on Torterra's shell. "After this coming league, you'll be able to say you lost to a future Champion!"

"Terra!"

"And, his amazing pokemon."

* * *

The thin, tender sliver of the moon faintly glowed outside of the window where Ash and Dawn has settled to wait on their orders from the Pokemon Center kitchen. The place was surprisingly empty, but considering the time of year, Ash chalked it up to newer trainers being anywhere from Erika's gym to Blaine's. The eighth gym was always the last hurdle, reached after crossing the wide, shining sea south of Kanto.

It was a hurdle he had crossed for the last time. Having proven himself for absolute certainty at Silver's gym, Ash treated his team to a good healing. Now, they had been returned to him. All that was left to settle before dinner was a quick call to his mother.

While Dawn flipped through a beauty magazine, Ash dug through his bag for his X-Transciever. He pulled it out and noticed with a worry that the screen was cracked severely in a corner. He desperately clicked the power button and grew frantic when it didn't turn on. He shook the device and droplets of water flew out of it as a rattling noise was emitted from the device.

"What the hell?!" Ash snapped.

Looking up, Dawn wondered what Ash was doing. However, as she put the scene together, her eyes went wide. Back at the underground Rocket base, she'd flooded the room Ash's bag was in. After that, she'd thrown his bag at him.

"Oh, my god! I'm so sorry. When I rescued you…!"

Ash's heart sank. That's what'd happened to it? Sighing, he put it down on the table. "Not your fault." He shook his head before getting up, headed to the public phones.

He was grateful the Pokemon Center was empty. He sat down at one, dialing his mother's phone. It was only a moment before she picked up.

"Ash?"

"Hey, Mom! I won! Everyone did great."

"Oh, congratulations! I'm so proud of you, Ash." She looked around, as if trying to see someone else. "Did Dawn wear the uniform?"

"How'd you know about that?" Ash asked as his eyebrows knit together.

"She borrowed my iron to press it."

"Oh. Yeah, she wore it."

The mother giggled. "So, when are you headed home?"

"None of us are crazy about traveling in the dark, so we'll head back at first light tomorrow. We'll be home by lunch at the latest."

"Okay, honey. See you then. Tell Dawn I said hello."

"Will do! Bye, Mom."

The trainer hung up before heading back to the table. He saw that their food still hadn't arrived. He gestured to Pikachu, who had been playing checkers with Empoleon, and the electric mouse came with him. So, quietly stealing away behind the Pokemon Center, Ash found a relatively secluded place. He and his starter were both cautious to avoid the same field they had been ambushed at, before.

Once he was sure he was alone, he released his team. Pikachu stood on his shoulder, peering at them all. Ash smiled at them before walking to each, one by one.

"Torterra, you were great today. I mean it. I know you had to wait for it, but your patience really paid off. And, Tauros! Oh, man, buddy, you really took one for the team. I'll always remember this. Kingler, you were great out there, too. Good work, even when you were confused. Pidgeot, your endurance is incredible! Thanks for hanging in there. And, you, Rosa… You did great under all that pressure. Thanks."

As he went down the line, he came to the final pokemon, Meema. Resting a hand atop her head, Ash pet her.

"And, you. This was your first battle, but you did great. Thanks."

Ash turned to all of them. "We're gonna have to all rely on each other in the upcoming league! I know we can win! We just gotta work hard and have each other's backs!"

Crying in agreement, Ash's pokemon rushed into hug him. Most of them, anyway. Meema lingered back. She watched curiously, not able to fully comprehend Ash's kind ways. All the same, she was grateful. One hard battle was all she had faced this week, and yet she and her pup were well taken care of and full.

Quietly, as Ash invited her into the group hug with an echo from Pikachu, she promised herself she would work hard for her new alpha. She wouldn't lose her spot in this pack.

* * *

"I said we'd be over first thing in the morning… Didn't think we'd sleep past ten." Ash rubbed the back of his head, walking down one of the many dirt roads of Pallet. "Hope Mom isn't steamed." Even as he said so, he raised a hand to his mouth to yawn. Maybe rushing off right after breakfast hadn't been the greatest idea.

"Hey, it's not like we've had it easy," Dawn added, breathing in the refreshing breeze that filtered through the grassy hills of the small, out-of-the-way town. "It's no surprise that you needed the rest."

"So, it was all me, huh?"

" _I_ already had my hair in order by the time your eyes were open," Dawn reminded him, tapping a finger on Ash's nose before retreating her hand to flick her silky smooth locks. "And, we all know how much you go on about that taking time."

"Point taken." Ash admitted defeat. There was no point in debating further, anyway, as they'd reached the front porch of his very own home. He reached to turn the knob, twisting it.

"Pol!" Empoleon chattered, showing off his glimmering crown.

"I even had time to polish Empoleon's crown! Looks pretty stunning, huh?"

"Pika-chu~!" Pikachu cooed, his eyes glimmering in enthusiastic approval. He was in top form!

"Hey, Mom! I'm home!" Ash called as he stepped in first, kicking his sneakers off his feet.

"Huh!?"

Dawn cocked a brow at the teen who was still blocking the doorway. "Ash, what… What's the matter?"

The answer laid inside, Dawn's eyes joining Ash's, and Pikachu and Empoleon's with her, to peer into the Ketchum household.

The couch was occupied by Delia, and with her, two familiar faces; Misty and Brock.

Each of the three was occupied with a cup of tea.

Misty broke the silence with laughter, flashing a smirk. "Meowth got your tongue?"


	67. Breaking the Ice

**Once again, thanks for sticking with us! We have a quick announcement for the story; with real life obligations and needs for breaks considered, the story will soon go on a short hiatus. Likely after chapter 68 or 69, we won't be updating for around a month. We can assure you, though, the story will go on! We have plenty planned in store for anyone who's stuck around this long, so bear with us, please!**

 **And check out our another-rxad tumblr, for some brand new art with the story's updated cast!**

* * *

The straps of his backpack were held tightly in his gloved hands, squeezed in an attempt to mask the pounding of his heart in his chest. Ash's eyes flicked around the room, feeling modest relief when he properly identified the two sitting on the couch as his oldest friends.

"...Oh! Misty, Brock! Good to see you guys, ahahaha!" A very forced show of joy cloaked his reflexive fears, hopefully. His eyes scanned the room again before landing on Delia. "There aren't any more guests, right?"

Dawn frowned, brushing one of her bangs away from her face. He was still acting nervous.

"I can promise that they are," Delia assured, forcing her own smile a bit. "It's just us, dear!"

Ash exhaled, flooded with relief, and Pikachu did the same, loosening his grip on Ash's jacket. "Good stuff… Alright, then! Good to see you guys!" Ash chimed, not quite realizing he was repeating himself as he plopped down on the couch between his mother and Brock with a grin. "What a surprise!"

"You sure caught us off-guard!" Dawn chirped, taking a seat in the armchair opposite Misty. Empoleon leaned on the furniture piece.

"Pikachu-pi~!" Pikachu was predictably quick to pounce into Misty's arms burying his face in her neck. His troubles were quickly forgotten!

Silent, Brock and Misty exchanged a glance. The former huffed, laying a sure hand down on his best friend's shoulder. "You don't have to put on a show around us, Ash. We heard everything."

Ash crossed his arms and legs, turning his eyes towards the ground. "You know, then, huh?"

"You're not exactly hard to read," Misty added. The playfulness in her voice quickly disappeared, her tone becoming gentle, handling the situation with care like a fresh wound to be mended. "But, we're really proud of you and Pikachu for toughing it out." A hand reached to stroke the back Pikachu's head, cradling him in the redhead's lap.

Truthfully, the urge had burned in her gut to snap on them for getting themselves into such terrible danger. But, she'd been sure to get out every "stupid, reckless idiot" before they'd arrived.

"I don't think a whole lot of people can say they're that strong."

"But, even you guys have your limits," Brock added. "So, I'll be monitoring Pikachu for a bit, to help with any possible symptoms. You never know what traumatic situations can do to a Pokémon, or a person."

"I'm no good with all that smart stuff," Misty winked. "But, you can count on me for muscle!"

A clap of Delia's hands quickly grabbed Ash's and Pikachu's attention. "And, that's why your darling friends want to stay with you, Ash, to support you, up through the league!"

"Seriously!?" Ash leaned forward, hands grasping his knees. He was pretty sure his jaw had dropped! "You guys would really do that!?"

The warm, fuzzy feeling in his heart was quickly subdued by reality. "But, hold on. _Can_ you guys really do that? I know you've got the gym to watch, Misty, and Brock, you told me that medical school's kickin' your butt. How're you gonna be away that long?"

"Well, I had a stern talk with Daisy, so she's acting as Gym Leader right now; under my strict guidelines." Mew forbid she started handing out badges again.

"And, school's actually out for the semester!" Brock added. "I'm postponing my search for inter-semester work at Pokémon centers, for now. If I'm going to help anyone in need, it's going to be my best bud."

"What kind of friends would we be if we didn't, right?" Misty winked.

"You guys…" Ash swallowed heavily, clenching a fist tight. He was nearly moved to tears!

"Hey," Brock clapped a hand on his shoulder once again, looking to lighten the mood. "I just remembered! We ought to congratulate both of you! We heard that you won all of your Gym Battles, Ash. Won them for real this time, huh?" Ash was treated to a playful nudge of Brock's elbow.

"Yeah, yeah. They're all legit!" Ash protested.

Brock laughed, turning his attention to the coordinator. "And, Dawn! You won the Wallace Cup again? I saw it in the paper a week or two ago! Talk about a winning streak!"

"It wasn't easy," Dawn assured. "There was some stiff competition. But, I made sure my team really shined!"

"A water themed contest…. I would've killed to see that in person!" Misty clasped her hands together. "It must've been amazing… But, even that's a walk in the park compared to your other victory!"

"Other victory?" Dawn echoed, tilting her head.

"C'mon, don't play dumb," Brock teased, throwing an arm around Ash to ruffle his hair under his hat. "You and Ash, over here. My man's finally growing up!" The eldest friend was sniffing back tears!

"The two of us?" Ash and Dawn spoke in unison, exchanging a glance. Their faces flushed upon reaching an epiphany at once.

Delia giggled. "You didn't think I'd leave _that_ out, did you, honey?

"Like I was saying, getting through Ash's thick skull is a first! You should be proud."

Ash huffed, opening his mouth to argue. But, she wasn't entirely wrong. "Hmph."

"Well, it definitely wasn't easy! He's a charmer, but you have to drag it out of him. I should've gotten a ribbon for even getting him to say he liked me back."

"Let's not even go there," Ash protested. Mentally pleading she wouldn't repeat his words.

"I knew it all along! It was only a matter of time," Brock boasted.

Insulted, Ash scooted away from Brock, giving him a dirty look. "A little advice would've been nice!"

"I'm with Ash," Dawn pouted. "You know I wasn't much better when we traveled together, either."

The imagery made Misty laugh, forcing Pikachu to make room for her to clutch her gut. "I find it hard to imagine that you were just as dense as Ash, aha!"

Dawn had engaged in full-pout at this point. "Hey, at least I made a move."

"Mhm. I'm proud of you too, Dawn." Brock assured, and joy was quickly sapped away. Another thought had dawned on him, and he sulked. "Wait a sec…. That means that _Ash_ got a girlfriend before _me_!"

Once again smug, Ash threw an arm around his eldest friend's shoulder. "I'll be nice enough to give you some pointers, Brocko!"

Delia tilted her head, sighing comfortable and contentedly. The atmosphere was much more relaxed. This did exactly what Delia hoped it would do. So, she spoke up. "Hey, kids, why don't you head down to the beach south of town to relax a little? I need to get everyone's beds ready. I'll pack you some sandwiches for lunch so you can celebrate in style."

Ash considered the option, not initially eager. "Hm… Alright," he finally agreed.

Misty jumped up, eager to see the ocean. "Yes! Don't worry about the league, me and Brock'll whip you into shape to make sure you're ready!"

The mother giggled. "Right, right. Well, you kids get changed. Don't forget to bring cover ups! It'll be awkward walking through town without them." With that, she got up, heading into the kitchen to prepare their picnic.

Brock nodded and got up as well. "C'mon, Ash. Why don't you and I get changed in your room? The girls can have the bathroom."

"'Kay," Ash said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Pikachu bounded out of Misty's grasp and onto the now open couch, patting it for Empoleon to sit on with him. He grabbed the remote, switching it to a channel specifically designed for Pokémon to watch. Hearing the channel turn on, Mr. Mime entered the room as well.

Dawn and Misty, meanwhile, had gotten their bags, heading into the bathroom.

"I'll change behind the shower curtain," Misty offered as the two stepped into the tiled room.

"Thanks!" Now, they'd both have their privacy, Dawn realized.

It was quiet in the bathroom, though both girls could hear Ash and Brock yelling about something or other a room over. It was too quiet, in fact. So, Misty spoke up.

"Hey, what's bothering you? You haven't said two peeps since you got here. You alright?"

The response from Dawn was automatic. "No need to worry!"

"Aw, will you cut that crap?!" The gym leader stomped her foot within the shower, tempted to glare at Dawn but leaving the curtain well enough alone.

There was a pause, and then Dawn spoke. "... I feel bad, alright? I couldn't keep my promise to you, the one about keeping Ash safe…"

The mood grew tense and Misty chewed her lip. "I'm not gonna lie, Dawn, that worried me. But, I can't blame you. Keeping Ash out of trouble is pretty much impossible. But, thanks to you, he's here and he's safe. You did everything you could."

Smiling in the mirror as she fixed her hair, Dawn sighed in relief. "Thanks, Misty. I'm dressed, by the way!"

"Cool. I was wondering how long I was going to have to stand in th-"

As she stepped out of the shower, both girls looked over each other, a deadpan expression on each face.

"What the hell is that?" Misty snapped.

The coordinator looked down at her frilly tankini, plucking at the straps of it. "It's my swimsuit."

"It's gonna create drag!" Misty insisted.

Furrowing her brows, Dawn pointed at Misty's swimsuit. "Well, what are you wearing?!"

"It's a one piece! Good for swimming! Efficiently!"

Dawn shook her head, confused. "We're going to the beach!"

Misty threw her hands up. "We're gonna swim!"

Both girls ended up just walking out of the room, letting the subject drop. Still, they couldn't help but think the other's handle on form and function was extreme and the opposite of their own taste.

* * *

Kanto's early afternoon sun shone down on the snug, cozy shore that bordered the region's southern seas. The light only reached so far, however, obstructed in part by rocky outcrops that bordered the sand and surf. A tall, grassy hill overlooked the beach, pecked at by Spearow, who settled for seeds and grubs while they scouted for seafood along the shore. A Tangela hung in the bushes quietly, content to avoid being bullied by the pesky flying types.

Those happenings went unknown by Ash and his friends below, who had just settled into the secluded, but comfy enough seaside shore. Misty lounged out of the shade, laying out on a towel to soak in the sun. A pair of shades protected her eyes, but she'd long since abandoned her swim cover. Her one-piece and a cool, refreshing can of pop at her side were enough.

Dawn sat cross-legged under an umbrella, applying SPPF-50 absently to her arms as she flipped through the latest issue of her favored contest magazine. "A full page in Coordinator's Monthly…! I've really made it big, huh?" She put her application on halt, eyes glued to the page that referenced the Wallace Cup.

When she received no answer, she displayed a puffed-up pout. Everyone was too busy minding their own business, right now. She'd boast about it later. At least _she_ knew she was all that.

Brock laid along his own towel closer to the waters, content to watch the tide lazily carry pebbles and shells up and down the shore. He smiled wide, inhaling the salty sea breeze. After months of rigorous studying, he was pretty sure this was the lowest his blood pressure had been in a while. His mind hadn't even drifted to the disappointing absence of beautiful women on the beach!

Okay, he thought of it once, but only once. That was progress.

"C'mon… Stay up already, won't ya? Ash ordered, brows knit as he suspiciously eyed the half of a sand castle he'd assembled closer to the tide. But, one of the towers just wouldn't take shape, no matter how hard he tried! Once again, sand slipped through his fingers, and he dragged an open palm along his forehead. Something he regretted when he had to blink sand out of his eye.

"Dammit."

"Pikapi!"

"Huh? Pikachu?" Ash turned to the call of his favored nickname. Joy returned to his features. "He-hey!" Look what the cavalry brought in!"

Pikachu made a stubborn, steady stride towards his trainer, balancing a small, but loaded sand shovel in his grip, packed with very wet sand. "Pika! Pikachu!"

"Hey, good thinking! That'll be much better for holding things together!" The trainer gratefully took the small shovel, handily slapping the packed sand onto the tower that continued to mock him.

"Pi-Pika!" Of course, Ash knew not to doubt him! He stood up on his tiptoes, firmly patting the substance into a rectangular shape. "Chu~!"

"You got it! That one was all thanks to you, so let's call it… 'The Pika-power Pika Tower!'"

"Pi-Pikachu!" The electric mouse cheered, proudly flashing a victory sign… Before swiftly shaking the seawater out of his fur.

"Hey, c'mon! I was gonna go in, myself, but I didn't wanna get wet just yet," Ash complained, guarding himself with his arm from the spray. "So much for that…"

Oblivious to Ash's plight, Misty sat up, lifting her shades. "Wow, Dawn. The Pokémon are really scarfing down the Poffins you made before you left!" She eyed the gathering of Empoleon, Marill, Rosa, and Marshtomp, who were chowing down on their treat. Toxicroak, an enigma as usual, sat alone atop the grassy hill overlooking them. "I guess it was worth the fifteen minute wait!"

"Thanks, Misty!" Dawn quickly piped up. Well, that was some form of recognition. "A good coordinator's got to have a good recipe to let their pokemon shine! I'm just glad it's a hit!"

"It's an incredible talent!" Misty insisted, quickly turning her sights on Ash. "You got lucky, Ketchum! Finding someone who can handle filling your bottomless stomach!"

"Well, not everyone's a deadly chef like you, Misty," Ash quipped with a malicious grin.

Misty scoffed, resting her hands on her hips. "Yeah, well, I never saw you cook anything great either!"

"Neither of you two should be talking," Brock butted in with a snide smile. "...since I fed both of you the entire time we traveled together!"

Ash and Misty quietly went quiet.

"I see you looking smug, Dawn," Brock called the smirking bluenette out. "You didn't know any of that when you started hanging around us, either."

"Oh, yeah!?" Dawn huffed, brows furrowed. "Well…"

"Yeah, yeah. Mr. Mom would know, with your aprons and all." Ash quickly butted in.

"It's practical!"

"Then, why wouldn't you just wear a white apron? I never really thought pink was your color." Misty winked.

"It's stylish, as well!" Brock crossed his arms, indignant.

Ash's face scrunched at that notion.

"I don't wanna hear a word from you; Mr. Mom-still-picks-out-my-clothes."

That was the straw that broke the camera's back, and left Misty on her back, hollering with laughter, and left Ash glaring daggers.

Dawn couldn't help but laugh along, holding her gut for a bit more than a moment. As funny as this was, though, she quickly quieted, shrinking into her magazine. _'I'm a bit out of the loop here, huh…'_ Her eyes flicked to Empoleon, who was furiously digging a hole in the sand, with Rosa's help. She dropped her magazine to approach the pokemon. "You guys're sure working hard! What're you going to do with that, anyway?"

 __"Empol!" The Emperor Pokemon squawked. He was obviously going to hop in the hole to cool down!

Rosa nodded. The sand actually felt pretty good under her paws when it was wet and she liked playing with it. It was stimulating but not overwhelming. _~It's a little hot today! Iron Island was cooler!~_

Thinking about how young Rosa was, Dawn blinked. "Oh… That's right, you've never seen summer before." Dawn grimaced. "You and Empoleon are gonna hang out a lot in the ice, then…"

Misty walked over, looking down with Dawn at the duo. She cooed in pleasure, taking in Empoleon's large, impressive form. "Now, that's a pretty water type if I've ever seen one! He's grown a ton since you were at my gym! I was so focused on Ash earlier I guess I missed him."

Empoleon, basking in Misty's praise, posed, a metallic flipper catching a glint of sunlight. His golden crown, likewise, seemed to gleam.

"Aw, look, he's posing for me!" Misty cried out.

Meanwhile, Brock, having pushed Ash in the middle of horse playing in ankle deep surf, walked over while the trainer was trying to reorient himself. Said raven haired boy was on his hands and knees in the water while Brock headed over to the girls.

"What's goin' on over here? Oh! Yeah. Empoleon's looking good. Congrats on evolving!"

Ash came up, straggling behind Brock as he tried wiping his hands on his shirt. "How am I gonna eat with wet hands?!" Ash whined.

"Oh, speaking of that, let's eat! No need to let Delia's sandwiches go to waste!" Misty enthusiastically replied.

Ash's heart sank. "You're gonna eat my mom's sandwiches in front of me?!"

"Aw, c'mon, Ash, it can't be that bad," Dawn insisted. "It'll just be a little salty!"

"Yeah. Salt's good for ya, if it's just a bit!"

Shoving his fists into his swim trunk pockets, Ash grumbled as he followed his friends over to the picnic basket. He sat quietly while Brock passed out the sandwiches. Begrudgingly, he bit into the sandwich. However, he found to his curious delight that the salt was good. Better than normal salt, actually.

"Hey, this ain't too bad! Sea salt, right?" The boy tore into the rest of his sandwich, devouring it quickly. "I'm only eatin' sea salt from now on!"

He licked his lips and grabbed a bucket before heading out to the water.

Dawn, raising a brow, swallowed before speaking. "Ash, what are you doing?"

"I'm collecting sea salt!"

"Is… that a good idea?"

Misty interrupted, gesturing to herself. "Sea salt is extremely good for you! It's why my skin's so pretty!"

Dawn and Brock caught each other's eye, noses scrunching in frustration. This is why Misty and Ash got along so well. They were the exact same kind of ridiculous.

Ash was mere steps away from the ocean, when a fretting Krabby scuttled out of the water, rushing between Ash's legs onto the shore. "Eh?" Ash bent over, watching the water type scurry from between his legs. "What's up with that dude?"

"That sight's somehow familiar…" Misty mused.

Ash ignored her comment save for a squint, righting himself as he turned his back to the sea. "That's weird."

Oblivious to the occurrences in the ocean behind him, Ash watch in confusion as his friends' faces all went pale, eyes wide and bulging.

"Pi… Pika!"

When Ash turned back around, huge, massive chunks of ice were floating in the sea, easily as large as tug boats. The shallows frothed with foam from multitudes of Pokémon swimming away from the ice floats. The Pokémon that could flee to the land did such, abandoning the freezing sea.

Before Ash could react, Misty rushed past him, already lobbing a Pokéball out.

"Gyarados, let's go!"

Dawn wasn't slow on the up take, either, her and Empoleon wading into the water as the coordinator clung to the starter's back.

Brock, meanwhile, looked at Marshtomp, considering his options. "... I'm gonna hang back here, for support."

Ash nodded. "Hey, can you watch Pikachu and the rest of the Pokémon, then?" He didn't need to look at his partner to know this would be too much for the electric type's delicate psyche right now.

Brock nodded. "Of course."

"Thanks. Hey, Pidgeot!" The trainer whistled. Pidgeot, who had, until now, been in the trees upon the hill, flew down. Ash mounted the bird and quickly flew to catch up with Dawn and Misty.

* * *

Misty's brows knit together at the never-ending flow of ice. "This is too strange… Pallet's coast isn't like Cerulean; it almost never freezes over!" She swallowed. "Gyarardos, keep smashing through!"

The sea serpent roared in return, bashing frozen slabs apart with his thick skull and his mighty tail. As quick as he smashed a block in half, though, he was crowded with more slush. Tentacool and Goldeen swarmed his long body for shelter, loud with anxious chattering. Irritated, the Pokémon huffed.

"Keep calm, Gyarados!" Misty warned, catching sight of the marooned sea creatures. "They're just scared. Use your tail to clear a path for them!"

The Atrocious Pokémon reluctantly obliged. A whiplash snapped through the ice, clearing a straight, narrow path for the few pokemon who had come close. They swam off frantically.

"I wonder what could've happened so quickly…" Dawn mused. Her stomach churned at the sorry sight of a Magikarp with a frosty fin. "Empoleon, you help break it up, too!"

"Empol!" The penguin cried dutifully, smashing his skull into the ice before and surrounding him. His crown bashed in the edges, sending hairline cracks through ice that split it within seconds. He persisted with furor that cracked through the maze surrounding them with the efficiency of a drill.

"Wow, Empoleon! Who knew you could bash ice up this quickly?" Dawn marveled, clinging tightly to his back. Her teeth were chattering!

"It must be something Empoleon would have to do in the wild!" Misty guessed. "He's built for it! Still… We're not covering much ground, compared to Ash, up in the air… Hey, Ash! You go on ahead and find out what's up! But, wait for back-up, after Empoleon cuts a path for Gyarados! Don't do anything stupid on your own."

"I wasn't gonna," he muttered. But, he nodded, putting his feelings aside. "You got it! We'll meet you up there! You heard 'er, Pidgeot. High-tail it, further out!"

Flapping her feathers, Pidgeot's flight was turbulent to say the least. The hot air above from the sun rocked and whirled with the cold breeze from the sea below. Ash held on tightly as she alternated between falling and flying.

Amidst the chaos, though, an ice float appeared. On it was a single, large, pristine white Dewgong, constantly firing off Ice Beams and using Aqua Tail to stir up the sea.

"That must be who's causing all the problems… Pidgeot, drop me off!"

"Pi?!"

"Just… do it, please?"

"Djo…" The bird tutted, lowering her back enough to allow Ash to safely slide off. When he did so, she cawed to him again. "Pidgoo!" He'd better be careful! He had promised to wait for back-up…

"Yeah, I'll be fine! No need to worry." And, that saying always meant trouble.

"Gong…" Black beady eyes locked on Ash, furrowing at the sight of the human. He threatened Ash with a slap of his tail against the ice.

"Hey, Dewgong…" Ash hesitated, trying to keep his footing.

Blubber and muscle rippling, the Dewgong turned in a quick circle to greet Ash. A growl emitted from its fanged, whiskery mouth. "Dew…"

"Wonder what's got it acting like this," Ash mused aloud. "...Oh, right. I can sense that, can't I? Might as well give it a shot." Dewgong was no close friend, but a Pokémon in need always struck a chord with him, nonetheless. Ash huffed, letting his eyes fall shut. He tried to clear his mind, pushing the fact that his feet were freezing out of his mind.

He was quickly floored by the myriad of stimuli surrounding him, leaving Ash to fall back on his rear. "Holy cow…" The panic hanging around the area, manifested in countless fleeing pokemon practically left Ash with a headache. Among those was Dewgong. "So, you're not angry… You're scared of something."

Testing his luck, the trainer stepped forward, bare feet freezing against the hard ice. He hunched over, trying to make himself less intimidating. "Hey, hey, it's alright… It's alright."

Dawn and Misty would be pissed if they found out what he was doing, but he was now within two body lengths of the enraged Dewgong.

The growling Pokémon's attention was momentarily drawn to another pokemon in the distance: a little Goldeen. However, a harsh Brine pushed the fish out of the water.

"Stop that!" Ash yelled before tackling the white ice type, grappling it. He grunted, trying his hardest to find a secure grip of the slippery blubber that padded the water type.

The Ice Beam that Dewgong had been preparing struck uselessly into the sky, Pidgeot thankful she hadn't been in the way of the attack. Her relief turned into horror as the Dewgong writhed, tossing Ash off of it. An Aqua Tail from the beast knocked him off the ice float and into the freezing waters below.

"Pi!" she screeched, diving to the water but not daring to fly down into it.

She hovered over the surface, flapping frantically to spot the boy. Ash's head bopped above the surface and he reached out like a desperate Meowth to grab the jutting edges of the ice float. However, this garnered Dewgong's attention. Desperate not to have Ash be attacked again, Pidgeot flew at the ice type, her claws out.

"Go!" it roared, turning its attention to the bird harassing it.

Ash, meanwhile, managed to pull himself back onto the ice. His lips were already turning blue, and he was thankful for the sunlight warming his body. Shivering and sneezing, he lifted his shirt over his head, glad to be free of the deathly cold drench of it. He'd dry off and warm up much faster now.

"Ash!"

He winced.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Misty screeched, holding on tight as Gyarados bucked Dewgong, knocking it off of the ice.

"Tryna help!" Ash snapped, shivering. Pidgeot glided down low enough for him to scramble back onto her.

"What's wrong with the Dewgong?" Dawn asked.

Ash shrugged. "It seems scared? And, really angry!"

Dawn pursed her lips. "Well, we can't do anything without Brock! Listen, I'm gonna seal it off! We gotta head back! You're freezing." Looking down at her partner, Dawn gestured before her. "Alright, Empoleon, let's try Ice Beam, too!"

As the waves crashed around Dewgong's ice float, the pokemon scrambled back onto them. Empoleon's Ice Beam hit the waves after, trapping the ice type onto the float with high walls of thick ice.

"There… Now, it can't get away or hurt anyone." She looked around. "Lots of stragglers… Empoleon, use Whirlpool. We can guide them back to safety."

"Empo."

Soon, a soft torrent of water was formed around the bird. As he swam, he collected the tired and fatigued Pokémon, allowing them to rest in his elemental embrace.

"Gyarados, let's make sure they get back safe."

The huge serpent followed the penguin, making sure nothing came to harass the weakened brood. Ash and Pidgeot flew above, with Ash soaking up the sunlight he craved so much. The heat felt great.

* * *

Brock had kept a steady eye on the sea, though, short of a few errant ice beams, he'd seen few new developments. He breathed a sigh of relief when his two female companions came into view. "Dawn! Misty!" He waved his arms, gesturing them to come closer. "I found a tide pool that's still just a bit warm. If you can lead the Pokémon here, they'll be better off." He gestured to a lone span of water that bordered the hills closing off the beach.

"Thanks, Brock. I've got it under control!" Misty assured, pointing to the tide. "Gyarados, heat it up with Flamethrower!"

A ferocious cry answered Misty, and red hot flames barraged the water. The stream continued until the water began to steam.

"I think that's enough. Good job, Gyarados," Misty praised.

"Great. Now, Empoleon! Do us a favor, and let all those Pokémon off in the warm water."

"Pol!" Empoleon acknowledged his trainer, guiding the Whirlpool with a swing of his wing.

The gentle twist carried into the warm waters, garnering a few exasperated sighs of relief. Goldeen were content to float around the gentle waters, and Magikarp splashed their fins clean of frost.

"Wonderful. Now, come over here, guys! We'll make sure you're good as new, in no time." Brock crouched, gently gesturing to the water types. "Misty, it'd help if you could stand guard with us. Dawn, could you lead Marshtomp back to Ash? He's had some trouble with the icy waters."

"Marsh…" The amphibian muttered apologetically, head sinking halfway into the water in shame.

"You can count on us!" Dawn assured, gesturing for the Pokémon to follow. "No need to worry, Marshtomp. If you hang with us, you'll make it through to help in no time!"

"Marsh… Tomp!" It cheered, feeling just a bit more optimistic. It swam after Empoleon's retreating form.

"Great. Now, how about you guys help me with taking care of these Pokémon?" Brock turned to the other gathered Pokémon. "Marill, you can swim; can you check them for any injuries I might miss?"

"Mar! Marill!" Misty's Pokémon chirped, bouncing into the water. He began scouting the small swarm.

"Pikachu, could you grab the berries from my bag? I could use some help with handing out Aspear Berries to keep these guys from coming down with hypothermia."

"Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu cried enthusiastically, crawling into the doctor's large bag, tail wiggling as he sniffed around for the suited fruit. If he couldn't aid in the mayhem, he'd certainly do his best to help on the shore! Now, what did Aspear Berries look like again…?

"Great," Brock replied, inspecting a Tentacool's tentacles with care. "Now, take it easy… I'm not going to hurt you," he whispered. He frowned. "A few of them are bruised… All that stray ice can't be good for you."

"Cool…" The Pokémon whined. Just floating over here left her sore!

"Rosa, could you check the right pocket of my bag? There should be some Super Potions in there."

 _~Uh-huh!~_ Rosa chirped, starting over before stopping in her tracks. ~ _Uh, what do they look like~?_

"They're orange, with a cherry-red base. They shouldn't be hard to find."

 _~Gotcha!~_ The Lucario sprinted over to search beside Pikachu, struggling before undoing the button keeping the pocket shut. _~I think I see 'em… Ah-ha!~_ She sing-songed, tugging the spray bottles free. She whined, irritated when the other potions fell out of place. A bit of fiddling left them neat and sorted again. _~I got 'em!~_

"Thanks," Brock offered the Pokémon a grateful smile, taking one in his hand. "Now, press the nozzle to use the spray, and help me out with this Tentacool. She's getting a little fussy."

* * *

"Here comes another! To the left!" Ash warned, holding on tight as Pidgeot rolled out of the way of yet another Ice Beam. He could feel the bird's heavy breathing from below. "Dodging all those attacks must be taking a toll on ya, huh... "

"Pidgeo," the flying type huffed. She was the toughest of her flock! She was embarrassed, frankly.

"Hey, anyone would get worn out dodging that many attacks. You're holding out great! Now, if we could just get some back-up…"

"Marsh! Marshtomp!"

"Huh?" A desperate plea from outside the ice caught Ash's attention. "Pidgeot, pull back!"

"Ash!" Dawn called out from below. "We're here! Well, me and Empoleon. Misty stayed to help the others, with Brock. Whatever you need, we'll have your back!"

"I know," Ash nodded, but he cocked a brow at the pleading amphibian. "But, uh, what's up with Marshtomp?"

"I think he wants to help," Dawn ventured to guess. He was standing on his hind legs…

"Oh! Maybe he wants to get up and help! Is that it, Marshtomp?"

The water type nodded enthusiastically to Dawn.

"Well, then, let's get him up here! We could use all the help we can get." Ash gestured with a turn of his head for Pidgeot to draw closer. She hovered above the ice.

"Empol!" Empoleon squawked, climbing onto a raft of ice. He grabbed the Mud Fish Pokémon between his wings.

"Empoleon!? What're you up to, now?" Dawn furrowed her brows at her starter, gaining a steady footing atop the ice. "You almost dropped me into the water, too, you know."

"Pol, Empol!" He was terribly sorry about that, but first they had a mission! He hoisted Marshtomp high, tossing him into the air!

"Oh, I see!" Ash leaned to the side, holding his arms outward. "Hang on, Marshtomp!"

Startled, the Pokémon flailed. Empoleon should have known that he wasn't a flying type!

But, surprisingly, gravity didn't get its cruel grasp on Marshtomp. Instead, when he stopped flailing, he found himself in Ash's secure, comforting grip. The trainer smiled down at Marshtomp, pulling him safely into his chest.

"Hey, you're fine now, see? Nothing to worry about!" The trainer pat the Pokémon's head fin; Marshtomp was sure he could feel Ash shiver a little; and turned his attention back to the center of today's disaster. "Alright. Pidgeot, think you can drop us off again?"

"Pi? Pidgoo!" Was Ash nuts!?

"Just trust me, alright? I know what I'm doing, this time."

The bird hummed her doubts, but lowered to the ice, nonetheless.

Ash hopped off, and Marshtomp with him. "Alright, Dewgong… I've got a friend with me, now. If you want, you can talk to him, and tell 'im what's wrong, alright?" He crouched again, making himself less imposing to the other.

"Marsh… Marshtomp!" The Mud Fish crawled forward, keeping a non-aggressive posture constant. He'd learned this from Brock's internships. "Marsh." Whatever was wrong, he could help. Dewgong could tell him!

"Dew…" The seal huffed, panting heavily. The closer Marshtomp came, the lower his head went, bearing its horn. He hissed. "Goooong!" Get back, it said! Get back, or he'd… Or, he'd…

Marshtomp watched ice type with his guard raised, never hearing a full threat. Tried as it may to posture, its head was hanging, and it panted heavily. It seemed… Tired, even?

Even more strange was that it had started lapping at the ice that he stood upon. He was too busy licking to even pay attention… "Marsh!" The Pokemon's tiny eyes went wide. That was it!

He'd watched Brock address a similar case before, he was certain. All of the symptoms… Dewgong had to be overheated! "Marsh! Marshtomp!" He pleaded for permission to help, drawing closer.

Ash stood still, carefully watching the two.

Dewgong promptly fired another Ice Beam, his aim just a bit off in his fatigue.

"Oh, crap…!"

Petrified, Ash shielded himself with his arms, but the bitter cold never came.

"Huh…? Marshtomp!"

The Mud Fish had leapt in the attack's path, stubbornly pushing on against the frost that began to restrict his form. "Tomp…!" He squealed, bearing the cold. He wanted to help!

If that stupid Dewgong would just let him…!

"Hey… Check it out!"

Hearing Ash's voice from outside the barrier, Dawn shouted. "Ash!? What's happening!?"

Ash watched, open-mouthed, as a brilliant glow blinded him. "I think he's evolving!"

Marshtomp's tiny form shone bright, slowly growing larger in defiance of Dewgong's Ice Beam. One narrow head fin split into two mighty horns, a puny body grew into a huge, bulky mass, and narrow legs laid onto all fours, testing the ice with their weight. The light faded, and ice shattered with it.

"Swamp!" The newly evolved Pokémon roared, his deep voice rattling the ice.

"Check it out… You evolved into Swampert!" Ash let down his guard, fear washed out by joy. "Maybe we have a chance of getting through to it, now! Whaddya say; wanna give it another try?"

The fully evolved pokemon turned his attention to Ash. "Swampert!"

Swampert turned, however, throwing his burly body at the icy cage, shattering the wall with ease. A mighty splash rocked the waters. "Swamp! Swampert!"

"You must want Brock here… Alright, I'll go with you!" Ash announced, making a running jump before landing atop the large Pokémon's back. "Pidgeot, you've gotta be tired… Come back with me! Dawn, you man the fort, and make sure Dewgong doesn't get away, or cause any more trouble!"

"Amazing!" Dawn clasped her hands together at the sight of Brock's companion. After a moment of admiration, she nodded to Ash. "You can count on us! Besides, you shouldn't be anywhere near the water, right now." She glared at her boyfriend. She'd _told_ him to wait up.

Ash flinched; he knew that look. "Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry, alright? I'm heading back for a reason, y'know… Let's go, Swampert!"

He wasn't looking for anymore scolding. Even though Dawn was in the right.

"Pert!" Already growing impatient, Swampert sped off through the waters. His new, bulky form plowed through slush like it was little more than a mud puddle!

* * *

"There, there… Hold on, I'll get to you, too!" Brock assured frantically, wiping sweat from his brow. He'd really underestimated the amount of Pokémon taking refuge, here. "Your fins are a bit too delicate for me to scrub," the doctor explained to a Goldeen. "So, you'll just have to wade around a bit in the warm waters, here."

"Gold, Goldeen," the Pokémon acknowledged. Though, she huffed, showing little enthusiasm.

"You do seem tired… Pikachu? Could you bring this Goldeen an Oran Berry for me, please? And cut it up to bite size pieces?"

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu agreed, walking over to the man and the fish. The sooner these pokemon ceased to suffer, the better. He hoped for their best, but he was selfishly trying to avoid any parallels with the sights he'd seen just over a week ago.

Thankfully, things were starting to look better! He lightly tossed a plump, blue berry into the air, slicing it with several swift strikes of Iron Tail. "Chu! Chu! Chu!"

"Goldeen… Goldeen!" The water type sing-songed, gratefully accepting the fruit slice Pikachu offered her, chewing on the morsel. Her strength slowly started to return.

Rosa sat on the shore, eyes shut tight. Meditation was her refuge when the anxious swarm became just too much stimulus for her to bear. Gentle breaths kept her soothed, though, she felt a bit guilty only doing so much to help.

That thought was pushed out of her mind when a familiar energy drew near. Her spirits jumped, and her eyes shot open. _~Papa! Aunt Pidgeot! Yer back!~_ The Lucario chattered, sprinting over to where the two docked at the shore. But, what was this!? A new Pokémon! "Rio!"

"Brock!" Ash called, stepping down, patting Swampert in a show of gratitude. "We need you!"

"Ash?" The man looked over, shock quickly taking over his features "Marsh… Swampert!? You evolved!?"

"Swamp!" The Mud Fish Pokémon nodded, turning his head to beckon his trainer over.

"Oh, he's gorgeous~!" Misty cooed, while gently scrubbing a Starmie's leg with a damp towel.

"He evolved while trying to help out the culprit. I think he wants you to check Dewgong out! He's acting like he knows what the problem is."

"Hm," Brock acknowledged, a prideful smile on his lips for just a moment. But, this was no time to rest easy. "Let's go, Swampert." He carefully boarded the bulky Pokémon's back. He turned to Ash. "These guys could use your help, Ash. Everyone's done great," he looked to the Pokémon, some who were still whining, others simply waiting for the crisis to pass. "But, it's a bit chaotic, so the more hands free to keep everyone calm, the better."

"You can count on me!" Ash assured, sitting down beside Pikachu and Misty. "We're counting on you, Brock! You too, Swampert!"

Brock nodded to his younger friend, turning towards the sea. "Full speed ahead!"

With that, Swampert swam off.

* * *

With Misty and Ash left behind on the shore, tending to the chilled and injured, Brock held on tight to the large, wide body of his newly evolved water type. As the ice flecked sea whooshed past him, he eventually returned to the scene of the action. There, he saw Dawn likewise clinging to Empoleon, dodging the temper tantrum attacks of Dewgong while returning purely defensive fire.

But, the Dewgong was distracted. That was all Brock needed. Carefully, the doctor motioned for the ground type to inch closer to the ice. However, it was no sooner than Brock had helped Swampert back onto the ice than Dewgong had noticed them.

The white furred pokemon snarled. "Dewww!"

"Pert!"

"Dew!"

Yet another Ice Beam was fired off. This time, Swampert blocked it with ease, deflecting it with his massive fin-paws.

"Dewgong," Brock said, his voice sure and steady, "you have to calm down."

Brock's very tone resonated with the creature and it paused, looking at him with dark eyes. The doctor-in-training took a step forward, watched by his nervous yet trusting water type. Slowly but surely, the man stepped forward.

"Hey, hey, you're a big guy, aren't you? I know you're tough, you don't have to growl at me."

Only bearing his tusks, but not attacking any more, the Dewgong remained calm. His taut muscles flinched under Brock's touch when the doctor pressed a hand to his side.

"Here. You like Oran berries, right?"

Regardless of whether he did or not, the Dewgong hungrily ate the berry out of the doctor's hand. Brock silently thanked his intensive classes in bedside manner. This could have been very ugly. As he touched over the Pokémon, he found it feverishly hot. Yet, there was no swelling or any discernible bruising or bleeding. And, judging by the way the brute licked its own ice and panted, it seemed to be a case of heat stroke.

"Alright, buddy. Listen, I can help you cool down, if you can follow me. Can you do that?"

"Dew," he answered serenely, as if he had not just attacked dozens of creatures.

"Good boy."

Dawn watched in quiet awe as Brock slipped into the water before climbing aboard Swampert. Dewgong kept at Swampert's side, swimming slowly and laboriously. She and Empoleon followed them all at a distance, not wanting to set off Dewgong's temper again.

* * *

Misty wiped her brow, watching as the last Goldeen swam off.

"Well, that wasn't too bad."

Ash nodded. "We ran through a lot of Sitrus berries, but it was totally worth it! They're all better now!"

Indeed, the earlier victims of the Dewgong's rampage had recovered. Rosa sat on the beach, watching the shoreline with anticipation, while Pikachu sat on Ash's shoulder. Misty's Gyarados had been returned.

Soon, Rosa stood. ~ _They're back!_ ~

"Everyone, step back please!" Brock asked as he arrived with his ward. "Dawn, could you have Empoleon freeze the tide pools? Dewgong needs to cool off."

"Hm? Yeah!"

Walking back on the sandy shore, Empoleon blasted the pools. They turned to slush, an inviting mix in the eyes of the Dewgong. Without prompting, he slid into them, resting comfortably.

Brock nodded. "Good job. Now, I'll need to give you a blindfold so you can rest easy while I give you a quick check-up. Okay?" He reached into his bag, poking around for the gear.

"Gong?" Dewgong tilted his head. What was a 'blindfold,' exactly?

"Ah-ha." Brock drew out the small cloth, gently approaching Dewgong. "Now, I'm going to cover your eyes with this. Don't worry… If you get upset, I'll take them off, alright?"

The Pokémon eyed the cloth, slowly nodding. He stayed still as the band was tied gently around his head. He was no longer greeted with the sight of a foreign beach and a blinding sun, but with a blanket of pitch black. Dewgong exhaled, leaning into the icy water, belly-up.

Swampert settled at the bare minimum of a safe distance, watching his trainer intently.

"I think it's asleep." Ash crouched nearby, watching with interest.

"So quickly!?" Dawn blurted, gawking at the surprisingly serene sea-dweller.

"Well, even water Pokémon get tired swimming," Misty explained.

"Plus, he's been putting out a lot of energy to keep his body temperature low," Brock added. "All of the Ice Beams it put out, on top of the stress and heat-exhaustion… It's a bit of a double whammy." The doctor in training reached into the water, grabbing a handful of ice. He cradled Dewgong with his opposite arm, gently rubbing the ice over its throat, and then its stomach.

"Gong…" The Pokémon cooed in his sleep.

"Now, Misty, can you fetch me my berry bag? It should have a hand juicer in it."

Misty nodded. "I'm impressed, Brock! I thought I'd be the one to care for a water type Pokémon," she remarked, grabbing the small bag inside his larger knapsack. "But, you've got it all figured out! You even got Dewgong to come along quietly."

"Well, he is working on being a Pokémon doctor," Dawn added.

"Burying his head in those books paid off," Ash tagged on, though he couldn't help but make a disgusted face when those words came out of his mouth.

"Ahaha," Brock chuckled, losing enthusiasm at Ash's remark. "I should hope so… It is my dream to help care for Pokémon wherever I go. As for Dewgong, that required a lot of training. Dealing with hostile Pokémon is a very dangerous business, as I'm sure we all know."

The aspiring man took the bag, gratefully, grabbing a berry before squeezing its juice into the small bowl.

"It takes a great understanding of Pokémon, and how they feel! That's what's most important," Ash decided, petting Pikachu's head as he did so. He winked at his companion.

Pikachu rubbed his head, a bit embarrassed. But, he couldn't disagree. "Pikachu."

Brock did the same. "Please, guys. You're exaggerating! I'm just doing what's required of my field." With the juice gathered and mixed, he gently tugged the blindfold above Dewgong's eyes. "Wake up for a sec, okay? I've got something that'll restore your strength."

The Pokémon stirred, lazily blinking his eyes. He yawned. The faint scent of berries lingered, though, and he opened his mouth just slightly, allowing Brock to feed him the concoction with a tilt of the mixer.

"Dewgong~!" The Pokémon licked his lips. That was delicious!

"Good," Brock praised. "Now, I'm going to put the blindfold back on. You get some rest, alright?" He waited for Dewgong to voice his approval, slipping the blindfold over his eyes.

In short order, the water type drifted back off to dreamland.

Brock sat back down, breathing a heavy sigh. He wiped sweat from his brow. "It's fine for now. We'll let it rest for a bit, but someone's going to have to take it back to the Seafoam Islands, where it belongs."

"Professor Oak probably knows who could get 'im there," Ash supposed. "Pidgeot, you feeling good enough for one more quick ride? We could check with him, quick!"

"Oh, no, you don't!" Misty scolded. "I'll do it. You know it's not a good idea for you to be running around on your own, right now."

"You sound like Mom," Ash exhaled. "But, I guess you're right."

"Definitely right," Dawn agreed, leaning against her boyfriend in a slump. She was exhausted. "Knowing you, it'll take all three of us to keep you out of trouble!"

"Yeah, yeah, pile it on, why don't ya."

Dawn stuck her tongue out. "But, you did hold your own out there. Even if you did the opposite of what we told you." Ash was met with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Well, the real MVP here is Swampert!" Ash quickly deflected, eager to shift attention away from himself. He looked to the Mud Fish. "He was the one who figured out what was wrong with Dewgong, and even evolved to get Brock out there! You did great, today."

"Swamp," the Pokémon replied sheepishly, pulling his attention away from the sleeping Dewgong. He raised a fin. He was just doing the right thing!

"The modest type, huh?" Misty chuckled. "Precious!"

"Like trainer, like Pokémon!" Brock rubbed one of his head fins. "I'm really proud of you."

"Swampert!" He nuzzled his head into Brock's shoulder.

"What a swimmer, too!" Dawn praised.

"Lucky for us, at least one of us was _supposed_ to be in the water!"

"Yeah, yeah. I get the point already!" Ash protested. "Besides, I'm all warmed up n… uh, Misty?" Ash cocked a brow. She was just blankly staring at him! "Is there something in my teeth?"

"Your what?" The redhead hissed, fingers clutching in futility at the sand. "Try _everything else!_ Were you put through a blender, or something!? Look at you!" Misty pointed at Ash's torso. She'd gone blue in the face, a chill running down her face in a classic case of fridge horror. "What the hell happened to you!?"

"Huh? What the heck's your proble-" Ash looked down, reality quickly dawning on him. "Ohhhh. That." His scars!

"I… I hadn't even noticed until now!" Brock gawked, unease hanging in his tone. "You look like a case out of one of my textbooks… And those wounds aren't fresh." In fact, they appeared to be fully healed!

"It sure caught me by surprise," Dawn whistled. She recalled the first time she'd seen what Ash had endured; the day she asked him out. Now that she wasn't preoccupied… How many were there!? There were those parallel claw marks on each of his forearms, a slash from the right side of his torso, that red mark spanning his right shoulder…

"Why don't ya take a picture? It'll last longer," Ash deadpanned.

Dawn was suddenly beet red. "I-I was just counting! Besides, they make you look distinguished! Like the stripes of an Arcanine!"

"Don't encourage him," Misty pleaded. "He's done enough!"

"For once, I'm gonna agree with you," Ash dropped in. He'd suffered quite enough for one journey. That didn't stop him from draping an arm over Dawn's shoulder, however. "But, you can't knock 'er for having good taste!"

"I have worked as a Pokestylist," Dawn boasted, winking at Ash. "My taste can only be the best!"

"Well, they have one thing in common; they both have big heads." A sweat drop rolled down Misty's forehead.

A quiet nod was Brock's answer.

"But, oh, you'll have to tell me about that sometime!" Misty cooed. "I'd love to see your designs~!"

"You can count on it!" Dawn winked. "I've already done a few for my own Pokémon!"

"Someone's got to ask," the doctor-in-training interrupted. "What even happened to you?" His eyes were turned towards Ash.

"Well, the truth is, they're from Mount Silver," he explained, rubbing the back of his head.

"That place!?" Misty blanched. "Ash Ketchum, that place is supposed to be completely off-limits! What were you doing there!?"

"Professor Oak got me permission, but… You remember Harrison's Sneasel that gave us so much trouble?"

Brock and Misty nodded without comment.

"Imagine being around hundreds of wild pokemon as strong as that; or even stronger!"

Brock and Misty shook their heads, and the latter averted her attention to something that wouldn't give her gray hairs at 16 years old. "By the way, Dawn! You and Empoleon were spectacular! I hadn't seen you battle before now, but you really held your own! Oh, and that Whirlpool… I can see what Ash sees in you!"

"Aw, c'mon," Dawn waved her hand with a bashful smile, cheeks flushing once more. "He's known Whirlpool since he was a Piplup, but it's only gotten more incredible!"

"Pol, Empol!" The Emperor Pokemon posed, eager to bask in the praise, unlike his trainer.

"Really! Between the four of us, I'd say we make a damn good team!"

Dawn could feel a smile spanning to the corners of her cheeks, a hand held to her chest. So much for being out of the loop! "Yeah… Thanks, Misty!"

Ash mirrored her smile, leaning back on his hands. It was nice to see Dawn fitting right in! "Hm? Hey, I think Dewgong's waking up!"

"Gong~" The Pokémon yawned, shrugging off his blindfold.

"Aw, isn't he just precious?" Misty cooed, making her way over to the Pokémon.

"Now that he's not trying to freeze us," Dawn added, joining her older friend in front of Dewgong. "Poor guy… He's got such a nice coat! It reminds me of a Dewgong I saw at the Wallace Cup!"

"There was one there, too!?" Misty bowed her head in a dramatic slump. "I can't believe I missed it…"

"Dew, gong!" Their current guest complained, side eyeing both of the girls. What was he, chopped liver?

"Oh, sorry… We didn't forget you, sweetie!" Misty pet the side of his head.

"You'll just have to let me polish your horn before you go~!" Dawn chimed.

"Empol…" Ignored, and utterly dejected, Dawn's starter sulked in the background.

Ash, meanwhile, sneezed, rubbing his nose with a low whine. "Maybe gettin' dunked wasn't such a great idea."

A friendly, paternal pat on the shoulder came from Brock. "They do say hindsight is 20-20!"

"Yeah, well… Ahh… Ahhh…! Achoo!" Ash huffed. "I wouldn't mind learning Foresight, myself."

"I think everyone would benefit from that one, Ash."

"Pika-Pika," Pikachu agreed, arms folded.

"Don't tell me you're ganging up on me, too!"

"Pikachu!"

The warm breeze of dwindling spring daylight caressed the shore, sparing only Dewgong, himself.

Somehow, for this odd group of friends, this felt like an ordinary day.


	68. Chasing the Final Stretch

"There… Now, why don't you give us a little spark? Nice and gentle." A soothing, deep voice coaxed, belonging to a man who held a tiny conductor to both of Pikachu's sunset-colored cheek pouches. The ball-ended tips were gently pressed to the mouse's fur.

"Pika," he nodded, shifting a bit atop the coffee table in the middle of the Ketchum home's living room. He tensed his little paws, channeling a small gathering of golden sparks through his electric sacs. "Pi," he muttered, sending a charge through the unobtrusive electrical coils. His ears perked at the quiet, but persistent beeping of Brock's device that sat upon the table.

A tiny red needle bounced and favored one measuring line after the next, indecisive in its movements, like a disoriented Tauros fooled by the tail end of a Thrash attack. Pikachu's black beady eyes followed the measuring tool, though, he had no earthly idea what its readings meant.

"All done," Brock hummed, retracting the coils from Pikachu's personal space, greatly putting the mouse at ease. A loud huff said as much, and his body language loosened.

"Sorry about that, Pikachu. We're done, now. You've been good," Brock reassured, gently stroking the mouse.

Whatever had gone down had left him positively panicky around medical instruments.

"Pika-Pika," Pikachu acknowledged, rubbing the back of his head. It wasn't Brock's fault, and he knew that well. But, his pounding heart rushing blood through his body said otherwise. He retreated into Ash's lap, nuzzling into his shirt. He was satisfied to feel Ash cradling his yellow form.

"Hm…" Brock hummed, his brows furrowing at the Voltometer that sat before him. "That's odd, though."

"What's odd?" Ash challenged, securing Pikachu in his grip. Nothing else could be bothering Pikachu, right now. Any health issue that threatened his companion would have to come through him, first!

Brock's lips pursed. Ash's aggressively defensive behavior was unsettling. "Pikachu's charge. It's unusually intense."

"Well, we know _that_ ," Ash scoffed, making a face at the notion. "Pikachu's super strong, you know that!"

"That's not it. I'd expect his output to be on the high side, but his total output isn't the issue. His discharge was erratic, even in a tiny, controlled dose of electricity. Unless it's an entirely inexperienced electric type, like a Pichu, an electric type shouldn't have that kind of trouble."

"Pikachu's plenty good at controlling his attacks," Ash vouched. "So, what're you saying?"

"Pika-Pika!"

"It just means that he's anxious," Brock explained. "His heart rate was bit high, too. That nightmare must've given him a real scare."

"Pika…." Pikachu agreed, sitting down atop the smoothly furnished table. Another unpleasant dream housed by dimly lit hallways and haunting figures boasting bold, red "R's". Waking up in Ash's arms did help, as did breakfast. But, the consistent haunting dreams still left him jittery.

"I've had a few of 'em, myself," Ash complained, folding his arms behind his head.

"I could imagine." The eldest of the three nodded. "Well, that's no fun. I could at least give Pikachu a therapeutic massage. C'mere, and I'll help you calm down."

"Chu!" Pikachu quickly brightened up to the idea, walking over and plopping himself down in Brock's lap. He was content, as the doctor began to gently massage his scalp. A gentle coo was his note of approval.

"Now, there are some foods that help with controlling moods, so that could help in the long run…" Brock mused. "Ash, do you know if your mom keeps any avocados in the house?"

Ash shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure, but I can check!" He stood, walking into the kitchen before checking the fridge.

"You've had a hard time, huh, lil' guy?" Brock turned his attention back to his patient. "Don't worry. If I know you and Ash, you'll come out strong. These kinds of things aren't easy, but you handle it better than most."

"Pika-Pikachu," the mouse exhaled. "Chu." He sure hoped Brock was right. He didn't want to be unfit to work with Ash forever.

"We've got a few!" Ash announced, holding one in each hand.

"Great! Then, I'll make some guacamole after our exercises. Just hang on tight, you two."

"Exercises?" Ash tilted his head.

The doctor-in-training nodded. "Us aspiring doctors to learn about anxiety in pokemon, but it should work for humans, too. There are a couple mental exercises you can do to soothe your thoughts, and your body with it. If you ask me, you both could benefit from that."

"No arguments there," Ash nodded. "So, shoot, Brocko. What do we have to do?"

"First, I'm going to ask both of you to get comfy and close your eyes; tune out your surroundings."

"Mhm," Ash hummed, leaning back into the sofa. His lids fell shut, and he took a deep breath.

Pikachu mirrored his trainer, leaning into Brock's torso. His massage made that rather easy.

"Now… When it comes to trauma, a big part of what makes you anxious is not having control of a situation. So, let's kick that to the curb. At least, for the moment, for now." Rome wasn't built in a day, and scars didn't heal that quickly, either. "Give yourself control, in your thoughts; think about things and situations that'd make you happy. Keep your mind focused on that."

"Sounds simple enough," Ash supposed. He exhaled again, letting his mind wander off. The satisfying 'ping' a pokeball made upon a successful capture came to his mind quickly. A rush of pride, and the excitement to engage a new friend always had him feel like he was on top of the world.

"Pikachu…" Pikachu drifted into his own thoughts. The gentle nudging of a current, carrying him along in a comfy inner tube. The sweet taste of a fruity drink meant for humans, non-alcoholic in his case, poured out of a tiny glass suited for his paws.

Ash began to sink into the cushions, envisioning one of his mother's scrumptious, welcome-home meals. The loving hospitality and savory morsels always put him at ease, no matter the adventure that preceded it. And, on that note…

Laughing with his pokemon. Swinging Infernape in his arms, embracing Meganium after she'd saved him from a poisonous doom. Watching his Butterfree find love… No, his lips pursed tightly at that one. It was bittersweet. He'd been happy, but… He'd had to let a dear friend go.

Brock raised a brow. "Ash? Did you run into something nasty?"

He shook his head. "It's nothing." He did his best to return to the good times. Watching Butterfree save their hides… That was better. Turtwig chomping on his arm. A flurry of other positive memories. Rosa curling into his chest to nap, when she was just a pup…

When their worst fear was getting chewed out by Riley. That was nice. He was pretty sure he'd let a belly-laugh slip through, when he recalled one of the wisecracks he'd made that turned the guardian's face sour. Heh. 'Sir scolds-a-lot.'

Pikachu's ear bounced, his heart light with memories of his secret escapades with wild pokemon, who dragged him and his companions along on mysterious adventures. When they'd bounce and prance along, only to feign innocence in front of their trainers, as if they hadn't budged an inch.

Ash's mind moved on, then, to more recent endeavors. Playing on the beach with Pikachu, and of course, Dawn. When they scavenged for sea shells, competing for the most interesting find. When what Dawn thought was a beautiful crimson slab was a Krabby's claw, and it spit out a startled Bubble in Dawn's face.

He recalled laughing at the mishap. He remembered Dawn's feigned threats, and her heavy pout. He recalled thinking her angry pout was actually pretty cute, as quickly as that was shoved away. That bold fire in her eyes, pushed down by furrowed blue brows. That intense look gave him butterflies.

Then, that night, after they'd come back from that _catastrophe_ of a date, and she left him with a playful peck on the lips while the pokemon weren't looking. She'd looked so…

"Ash… Ash!"

"Huh, wha!?" Ash lurched forward, startled. "What'd I miss!?"

Brock was giving him a scrutinizing gaze. "That look on your face… I know that look! It's the look of a man made helpless by a woman's beauty," he whispered, careful to keep Delia out of the conversation, should she be browsing about the house. "Those weren't just pleasant memories."

While Ash had been caught in a blissful daze moments before, his face was heated with shame, now. "Was it really that obvious?" He shrunk into the sofa. "Well, not _all_ of my good memories are about pokemon, y'know," he protested. "Just almost all of them."

Pride swelled in the heart of the former breeder, but for once, he kept his feelings hidden. He had to be responsible. "No one understands you more than me, Ash. But, if you start making expressions like mine someone's going to catch on! I don't want to get chewed out for being a bad influence."

"Ahaha," Ash laughed, too amused at Brock's fretting to be embarrassed. "Sure thing, man. I'll be careful… But I can vouch that this one's not on you." He reclined back into his thoughts, chasing away any suspect ideas.

In the meantime, Pikachu had gotten a jumpstart on his daydreaming He thought of omelets with ketchup, a fresh cut berry split by his tail, successfully solving conflicts between other pokemon… And, settling his own. He could never forget the satisfaction, the complete freedom of triumphing in his hardest battles. Edging out over Regice… The thrill, and the pride in his and Ash's work.

Looking into the indiscernible face of the golem, maybe things weren't so…

Things began to shift and squirm, the formidable Regice taking the form of a terrified Sandslash, backing into a corner that they'd both been forced into. His tail twitched as Brandon's sure, strong gaze turned into the demented leer of an overly curious scientist hungrily studying his every move. He began to tremble, and his breaths began to pick up.

A gentle stroke of what he could only expect to be Brock's hand brushed those thoughts aside. Bad idea. He wasn't ready for that, just yet.

Oblivious, Ash had gone back to his own thoughts. Fighting passionate battles with Pikachu at his side, whether it was a haughty Raichu or a legendary pokemon whose presumptions were justified, started as a nice, cozy place. Until he also recalled Pikachu's new reluctance to fight. It saddened him, until he changed his own course. ' _Forget battles… We've been through a lot.'_

Pokemon and trainer alike had turned their thoughts to the purest topic - their time together.

Befriending one another under Ho-oh's rainbow. Desperately sharing rations when things got tight. Huddling for warmth in unforgiving snow storms. Riding together on Lugia's back. Playing 'Go Corphish' with a worn deck of playing cards on , viewing the cards at just the right angle via moonlight. Counting and pointing out patterns in the stars.

...Were they both reclining into these thoughts? Ash seemed to feel that his thoughts weren't entirely his own.

Pikachu felt the same.

 _~Hey, buddy. You thinkin' what I'm thinkin? 'Cause I think you're thinkin' what I'm thinkin'.~_

Pikachu's tail twitched. _~Say that three times fast,~_ he quipped. But, in all seriousness… _~I think so… Weird, huh?~_

 _~Sure is,~_ the trainer quietly agreed. A lightbulb went off in his head then. _~Hey, buddy. You up to cheat this exercise a little? I have an idea.~_

A quick vibe of affirmation told Ash all he needed to know.

"Pi! Pika!" Pikachu cried, hopping out of Brock's lap. He stood on the coffee table, exclaiming something or another.

"Huh? What is it, Pikachu?" Brock tilted his head at the mouse. "Did something get to you?"

"Pikachu," he shook his head, before dashing off towards the stairs. "Pika-Pika!"

"I wonder what's up with him," Ash questioned aloud. "Guess we should check it out."

Brock nodded, humming in agreement before following Pikachu, who'd already started to run up the stairs. "Does he have anything up there that keeps him calm? Like a security blanket?"

Ash shrugged as he tagged along. "Not one I've ever seen."

By the time the two humans had caught up, Pikachu was standing in Ash's doorway, waving his paws. "Pikachu!"

"Alright, Pikachu. Show us what's on your mind," Brock coaxed, following him into the bedroom.

Pikachu now stood atop Ash's bunk bed, frantically waving his arms, speaking his own language to the duo. "Pi! Pika-ka! Pikachu, chu!"

"I wish I could help," Brock frowned, scratching his cheek. He was lost. "But I can't understand exactly what you're saying. You think you could give me a hint?"

"Hey, Brock? You might wanna check this out."

"What is it, A…. Aaaahhhh!" Brock yelped, his face quickly becoming pale as he fell back on his rear.

Was that a Gyarados!? No, it was…. "...A mask," Brock huffed, less than amused. Ash was wearing a Gyarados mask.

He turned in a fret, and there was… a Magikarp!? No, that was Pikachu squishing his face flat, imitating the dimwitted chant of a Magikarp.

And, now, Ash and Pikachu were both laughing hysterically. The former bumped fists with the latter. "Ahaha, oh man. We really got you good!" Lifting the mask, he leaned to offer Brock a hand. "That was priceless."

"I'm sure it was," Brock grumbled. He took Ash's hand, nonetheless, pulling himself to his feet.

"Pi-Pika…!" Pikachu quieted in his laughter, rubbing the back of his head. He felt just a bit guilty. A little.

"Man, Riley would chew us out if he saw this," Ash chuckled, leaning against his bunk.

"Pikachu."

"Riley…?" Brock cocked a brow. "...Of course. Now, that makes sense. I was wondering how you two cooked that up without a word." So, now Ash had a real command of aura? Enough to collude silently with Pikachu, even? "I'll be keeping my eyes on you two." Brock feigned vigilance, pointing between his eyes, and his companions' with his index and middle finger.

"You missed a lot," Ash boasted. "We used that power for good; no reason we can't goof around with it, now!" He exchanged a mischievous grin with Pikachu.

Brock's expression softened into a smile. They'd certainly grown calm, compared to just a few minutes ago. Pikachu especially, who showed no signs of tension, now. Maybe having them in cahoots with one another wasn't such a bad thing.

"Hey, speaking of aura. Are you sure we shouldn't'a had Rosa involved with our routine? She's seen a lot, too; I feel kinda bad."

Brock shook his head. "Having you all anxious together could lead to that stress snowballing, and making things more stressful for everyone. Particularly with a Lucario, with their affinity for picking up on thoughts and feelings. I'll be better off working with her alone." Besides, he'd hardly gotten the chance to spend some quality time with the pup! "She's better off having some girl time with Misty and Dawn, right now."

"Gotcha." Now, Ash felt the guilt lift off his shoulders. "I hope they're havin' a good time."

"I wouldn't worry about it. Now, how about we head back downstairs? I can make you both some of that guacamole."

"Sounds good!"

"Pika!"

* * *

Meanwhile, outside, a battle was happening between Dawn and Misty. And, it wasn't exactly powderpuff stuff, either.

"C'mon, Dawn!" Misty teased, a hand thrown out. "Show me some struggle!"

"I'll show you a struggle, alright!" Looking towards Typhlosion, who was covered in an inky variant of Smokescreen rather than the sooty variant, she nodded. "Swift!"

Growling deeply, the partially blinded fire type let the fire along her shoulders blaze up. From it, tiny sparks grew into massive stars. The stars formed a flurry which flew true towards Seadra.

Misty watched with a tilt of her chin as Seadra was struck. "Hm. Bubble Beam." She lifted her hand to her hip, wondering if Dawn was growing desperate or if she was planning something.

Seadra's attack, in turn struck true on Typhlosion.

But, Dawn only smiled.

"... What've you got planned?" Misty asked.

Dawn shrugged. "Just needed you to give your position away. Now, Double Edge!"

Typhlosion rushed forward, remembering the direction the Bubble Beam had come from. Slamming into the evolved water type, Typhlosion felt content when the other pokemon was sent skidding backwards. Though the attack had hurt her, it had hurt her opponent more!

For now, anyway.

Misty, quick to retaliate with action and with words, stomped a foot. "That was dirty!"

"Was not!" Dawn shot back.

"Seadra, use Dragon Dance and then Twister!"

Writhing in an mystically charged dance, Seadra gathered energy. It felt stronger, fleeter, more ready to do battle! When it released the swirling blue cyclone of Twister, it caught Typhlosion up in it, forcing the fire type to flinch.

That was all the opening Seadra needed.

"Bubble Beam!"

As Typhlosion recovered herself, another volley of exploding bubbles was sent her way. These, however, went critical. Seadra's Sniper ability had been activated thanks to the time he took to aim while Typhlosion flinched, and it was all that was needed to finish off the match.

Dawn sighed. "Well, dang," she said. "Good match, Misty! Thanks, Typhlosion."

"You're welcome. Thanks, too, Seadra!" Misty said. Returning the water type, she walked over to Dawn. "So, you learned some, didn't you? You've got to make sure you don't take the brunt hits. Defensive attacks, always."

"Yeah…" Dawn mumbled. "But, it's just gonna steam. And, a Bubble's steam isn't-"

"Make it work!" Misty interrupted.

Dawn pouted before shrugging. "Alright." With that, she broke out her brush and began pulling the bristles through her hair. "Ugh, the humidity is awful…! I'm gonna need some sun ASAP."

The water specialist was tempted to say something, but Dawn had waited until the end of the battle. "It's dumb that you're that worried about humidity," she said, because her own hair was almost always either wet or at least damp, "but, like, this is a good time I guess."

Rosa, who had been lingering nearby for the battle, spoke up then. _~Mama Dawn's always responsible like that!~_

Humming, Misty tilted her head. "W-Would… You play with my hair?"

The coordinator's eyes seemed to glitter. "I haven't played with short hair since grade school with Leona!"

"Who?"

"My best friend growing up," Dawn quickly explained.

Soon, Dawn was slathering Misty's hair in moisturizer and braiding it in a thin crown around her head. Rosa wagged her tail, offering Dawn dandelions and clovers she'd plucked to be inserted into Misty's hair. Misty, meanwhile, admired herself in Dawn's hand mirror, blushing a bit.

"This is actually really cute… Do you wanna go shopping sometime? My dumb sisters are so impractical, they're always like, let's get some heels, let's find contour your face! I just want a cute dress, you know? Maybe a little blush…"

Dawn held Misty's hands, cooing in joy. "I can't walk in heels, so, like, trust me! I know all about cute and casual looks!"

Rosa whimpered, nosing Dawn's cheek. _~I wanna be pretty!~_

The coordinator giggled. "Sounds like someone might do good in the appeal rounds!"

Hopping up and down, the jackal-like pokemon giggled. _~Yes, yes, yes, get me ready for appeals!~_

"Alright!" Dawn agreed. "Let's get you beautiful!"

Rosa's tail wagged happily as Dawn brushed and trimmed her fur. She tried to tolerate the odd sensation of having her nails clipped and filed. The gleam her metallic spikes gave off once they were polished was fantastic, too. Once Rosa was done, she and Misty admired each other, thoroughly appreciative of the make over.

Empoleon, meanwhile, had been sulking in the shade of Delia's back porch. It was a little hot out, and somehow he felt out of place among all the girls.

Dawn was happy to include him, though.

"Hey, big guy! We still got some metal buff! Misty, wanna try putting a shine on Empoleon's crown?"

"Would I!" Misty gleefully answered.

By the time Brock walked outside, he caught a makeshift beauty parlor in the backyard. Misty was toweling off Starmie's jewel, grinning happily. Dawn was circling around Rosa as the fighting type posed, her muscles bulging while Dawn took pictures with her PokeDex.

Startled, it took the doctor a moment to react. "This doesn't look like training," he said.

All guilty parties blushed, caught in the act.

"I-It is!" Dawn insisted.

Misty gestured to Starmie with both hands. "It's more aquadynamic like this!"

Deciding to ignore their excuses, Brock shook his head. "Anyways, there's a contest in Cerulean in a few days. We just saw the ad on TV. I thought Dawn should know."

The girls took one look at each other before giggling like school girls.

 _~So, I get to appeal, right?~_

"Definitely!"

"You can't lose in my home city, Dawn. That'll be embarrassing!"

"No need to worry! I'm gonna get my fifth ribbon."

* * *

The trek took a couple of days, but the gang had made it to Cerulean City, where they stood in front of the city's Contest Hall. The large dome bordered a river that rolled past the banks bordering the city, blessed with the gentle aroma of the city's meticulously clean waters.

"You know, I've lived here all my life, but I've never taken the time to visit the Contest Hall!" Misty remarked, her index finger brushing her cheek in thought.

"Really? Not even once?" Dawn did a double-take at that. "I couldn't imagine!"

"Well, for Kanto, the contest scene is relatively new," Brock added. " The International Coordinator's Association had a hard time winning over some of the local governments; they didn't think a more traditional battle scene that's more popular here would go for it. But, they changed their minds a couple of years ago. I remember hearing the mayor of Pewter City talking about how the contest scene would bring more tourists and trainers through Pewter City."

"Well, what do ya know." Ash blinked, processing the bulk of information. "Lucky for us that they heard it out, huh?"

"You guys were missing out… They must've held this year's Wallace Cup in Cinnabar for that reason!"

"I bet that made 'em even more popular," Ash added. "After seeing your matches, at least a few people'd have their minds open to contests!" He lightly nudged Dawn with his elbow, who flicked her bangs with pride.

"If I can get more people interested, then I'm doing my job as a coordinator!" Dawn postured, glowing with pride. That couldn't hide the blush dusting her cheeks, though. For someone who could hardly be seen as romantic, Ash sure knew how to play up a girl's confidence!

 _~Can we go in, now?~_ Rosa whined, tugging at Ash and Dawn's jackets. _~We're not gonna win this contest by just standing around!~_ Truthfully, she was getting antsy, just listening to the group talk. Were all adults like this!?

"Hah, sorry!" Ash apologized, patting the back of her head. "You must be gettin' bored, huh?"

A sheepish nod was his answer.

"Well, then, let's get to it!" Dawn announced, walking in the double doors.

Rosa quickly regretted her goading.

"Holy cow… This place is packed!" Ash gawked. The lobby was densely crowded with spectators and applying coordinators alike.

The Lucario whined, clinging to Dawn. _~Too many people…~_

"What's wrong?" Misty crouched, leveling with the Lucario. "You a shy gal?"

The pokemon hummed a non-committal note, no longer using telepathy.

"She's bad with crowds," Dawn explained.

"Always been overwhelmed by a lot of people and commotion," Ash explained. "With aura sensing, you can imagine what that's like. It took her a while to get used to contests."

Misty tutted. "Poor thing. Well, forget about them! You get out on that stage and put _their_ eyes on _you_! You're the star of the show!

 _~Y-yeah!~_ The Aura pokemon perked up. _~I'm the star!~_

"How about you get in your pokeball for now?" Dawn suggested. "I'll call on you when it's your turn to appeal!"

 _~O-okay!~_

Ash handed Dawn Rosa's pokeball, and the girl quickly recalled the pokemon.

"Now, to get past that line…" Dawn groaned. "It's gonna take forever… Someone up at the front is making a scene."

Indeed, the front of the line was swarmed by what could only be spectators, cooing over someone or another.

"Break it up; break it up!" The registrar scolded, clapping her hands. "If you want to speak to the competitors, you can do so _after_ the contest!"

"Are we sure Drew isn't here?" Ash deadpanned. He always was swarmed by enthusiastic fans…

"If he was, May would've told us," Brock reminded Ash. "I think we should go get our seats."

"Good call," the trainer agreed. "We wouldn't wanna get caught standing up. Well, good luck Dawn! We'll see you on stage!"

"Don't tell me you're going to leave me on this line?" Dawn pouted.

"Don't worry." Ash winked, holding his hand up high. "You'll be up dazzling us in no time!"

Dawn's enthusiasm returned, easily enough. "You can count on it!" With that, she slapped her hand against his.

Brock and Misty exchanged a look, then smiled.

The latter hummed a tune of disappointment. "Aw, but I wanted to check out the pokemon! I bet they're all precious!"

"You'll see them on stage," Brock reminded her, while he and Ash pushed the Gym leader along.

"Aww, but look at that Pikachu and its heart-shaped tail! And that Seaking! Its horn is so well-polished! Ohhhh, and that Golduck! How darling!"

Dawn couldn't help but chuckle as he watched her older friends struggle to escort the redhead.

* * *

"What a line…" Dawn whined, finally having slipped through the death trap that was the registry line. She'd made it past the first trial, and had managed to enter the locker room, where other competitors had gathered.

"Talk about a full house…" Dawn marveled, eyes caught on the monitor hanging from the locker room's ceiling. The stage was on display, the slowly rotating camera showing off the huddled masses of spectators. Some of the crowded shifted and fussed, squeezing in to watch the upcoming show.

Dawn's expression lit up when familiar faces dotted the crowd. "There's Ash and Pikachu! And, Misty… And Brock!"

"A-a lot of familiar faces are showing up…!"

"You know people who are in the audience, too?"

"Huh?" Dawn jolted, caught off-guard by the familiar voices. When she turned, they were identified quickly. "Paige? And Larkspur!? It's been a while!" She flashed a jovial smile at the two coordinators.

"It sure has… I haven't seen you at any contests lately. I thought you'd already finished getting ribbons." Larkspur tilted his head.

Dawn frowned, quickly avoiding eye contact. She tugged at the collar of her vest. "No, I… I've just been really busy! You know how it is," she dismissed, plastering on a forced smile. "But, hey, you said that you know people in the crowd, too?"

"Oh! Um, yes…" Larkspur folded his arms behind his back, turning his eyes to the screen. "That older coordinator, Glenda is watching."

Dawn was happy to be off the subject, but she tilted her head, all the same. "Hold on, how do you know who Glenda is?"

The boy went silent, save for a quiet, dragging hum. His foot brushed against the floor. "I lost a contest to her, recently. Pretty badly, too."

Dawn hummed a note of sympathy, quickly putting another smile on. "Hey, that's nothing to be embarrassed of! She's crazy strong; who knows how long she's been a coordinator!"

"Probably a very long time," Paige ventured to guess, barely audible. "I'm kinda glad she's not competing… The competition is rough enough!" She pouted, idly adjusting the bow in her golden hair.

Dawn raised a brow. Was she having a hard time? She couldn't help but recall her own earlier hardships. "Hey," she interrupted, raising two tightened fist, brows furrowing into a bold, determined expression. She smiled wide. "It's easy to get psyched out on stage, but like I always say, 'no need to worry!' We're all good coordinators, right? So, let's have some fun! You've gotta just grab the time you have by the horns!"

There was a prolonged silence between the two younger competitors, who exchanged glances, looking for hints from one another.

Paige spoke up, first. "Miss Dawn? What do you mean by 'the time we have?'"

Dawn blanched, her face growing noticeably pale. Shoot. These munchkins hadn't been through anything near what she and Ash had been through… And, she thanked Arceus for that, when she waved her hands wildly. "Forget about that part, haha! Just… Focus on having fun!"

She was met with a scrutinizing, maybe even frightened gaze, before the two let it go and shrugged.

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Ma'am?" Dawn blinked. Was she old enough for that title!? She was still growing, herself! "I really am starting to feel like Mom…"

* * *

"Wow! Talk about a full house!"

Lilian's voice boomed, only barely coming out over the audience with the aid of her microphone. She stepped about the arena in circles, as if she'd been made dizzy by the overwhelming crowd. "It looks like all of Cerulean has come here today! I'm sure you all've noticed that it's getting late in the Contest season, which can only mean one thing; the competition is bound to be fierce!"

A roar of cheers echoed the emcee's voice.

"And it's not just the stands that are crowded; today, we've received an unusual number of challengers! Normally a few of you eager coordinators would miss the cut, but you were lucky to show up in just the right numbers! We have just enough competitors for a whole other round!"

Lilian winked, saluting with her index and middle fingers.

"And you know what that means, right!? It means twice the appeals, twice the battles, and twice the competition here, today!"

A bustling encore of excitement assaulted the collective ears of the stadium.

"So, if you don't mind, let's give a big welcome to our first coordinator in line! After winning the Wallace Cup, she suffered a thrashing defeat, but now she's back to rock our world! It's Dawn, from Twinleaf Town!"

Waving to the excited audience, Dawn walked onto the stage. Her warm smile gave way to the click of a pokeball, releasing Rosa. "Okay, Rosa! Spotlight!"

The young Lucario landed lightly, automatically searching the audience for Ash's face. Spotting her adoptive father, she felt certain. With Dawn behind her to give commands and Ash and his other friends to support her, there was no way she could fail!

"Alright, Rosa, just like we practiced! Aura Sphere!"

Creating a ball of energy, the fighting type nodded.

"Great! Now, Power-Up Punch and Low Sweep!"

Lobbing the ball into the air, Rosa kept her eye on the fighting type energy. Soon, she was darting to and fro across the stage. One might have described the scene as something like a schoolgirl playing with a ball, but it wasn't just like that - it was that. Rosa was youthful and sweet, a young girl doing what she enjoyed to bring a lively performance to others. With every powerful thrust of her paw-like hands, she send the bundle of glowing energy into the air. Her kicks kept it afloat, as well.

A glimmering, back-handed Power-up Punch performed with a spin on her heel knocked the Aura Sphere into a soaring spin.

Watching it ascend, Rosa grinned, flipping into a handstand that morphed into a twirling head spin. Meanwhile, Aura Sphere descended, locking onto the free spirit.

A fierce, upside-down Low Sweep knocked the orb sky-high.

"Now, finish it! Power-Up Punch!"

With one last slap of her paw, Rosa spiked the ball into the stage floor. With a shattering sound, the energy burst into a thousand blue sparkles. Rosa blushed as the audience cheered for her.

Mr. Contesta spoke first. "As always, Dawn, you've shown that you allow your pokemon to have a great time! And thank you, Rosa, for sharing your talents with us!"

Mr. Sukizo followed with his unsurprising commentary. "Adorable, and remarkable!"

"It's clear that Lucario is battle ready, just as ready as she was to have fun! Her athletic skills were a joy to behold!"

While the judges complimented the both of them, Rosa looked back at Dawn, awaiting approval with clasped paws.

"You did great," Dawn whispered, voice not even registering with the congratulatory speech of Nurse Joy booming over the sound system.

* * *

"Up next is Paige, the Pika-prodigy! Let's give her a big welcome!"

"Dawn's appeal was so cute… I hope we can match up," the blonde muttered, clutching her companion's pokeball clutched to her chest. She'd honestly almost forgotten she was making her entrance, but the deafening silence poked her on the shoulder, and she flushed. Oops!

"U-uh… Pikachu, let's dazzle them, darling!" Paige sputtered, chucking the capsule.

Her Pikachu appeared in mid-air, blowing a kiss to the audience before sticking the landing.

The popular pokemon's appearance spurred some hushed mutters and criticism in the crowd, among the scattered cheers for the adorable mouse. Paige swallowed, turning her eyes back to Pikachu. "Now, show everyone your Double Team!"

Dashing forward, Paige's Pikachu created a pack of Pikachu after images. A wavering in the air created a gleam of silver; all of the movement was creating visible energy paths!

"Nuzzle!"

Joining together, the little yellow pokemon and its doubles created a burst of yellow electricity.

"Tada!" Paige called.

The judges were quiet for a moment.

"Paige… This is very pretty, but you've done this before."

Mr. Contesta coughed uncomfortable. "You've always done this, actually."

The local Nurse Joy raised a hand. "Not that you haven't gotten better at it! And, it's always a little different… But, well… Perfecting is good, but variety is better."

Not exactly enthused with the news, Paige none the less accepted it.

* * *

"And now, let's turn our attention to another experienced coordinator! Ryan, from Blackthorn City!"

A young man, likely in his late teens walked onto the stage with a bold swagger, boasting a stylish maroon jacket and spiked, navy hair. Whoops and shrieks of applause came from a portion of the audience that kept up with the current events of contests.

"Ryan was a semi-finalist in Johto's last Grand Festival! We're lucky enough to have two high placing coordinators among us today; now, let's see what this one has in store for us!" Vivian shouted, playing up the hype.

"A semi-finalist?" Ash echoed, leaning forward in his seat. "Guy must be pretty good."

"He sure looks confident," Brock observed. Would he live up to his reputation?

"Pidgeot," Ryan called, winding up his pokeball. A slick toss launched the device into the air. "Show them your skills!"

A loud, bellowing shriek introduced the large avian, who spread his wings with such force that it kicked up a light draft.

"Now, use Hidden Power! Light this stage up!"

A squawk was Pidgeot's answer, and he craned his neck, conjuring what must have been a dozen orbs of energy hanging above the arena.

"Holy cow," Ash muttered, clutching his knees. "Look at that Hidden Power…"

"There are so many…!" Misty marveled, mouth agape. "That must've taken a lot of practice."

"That's not the only hidden power we have," Ryan quipped with a grin, throwing an open palm outward. "Feint Attack!"

"Pidgoo!" A flick of the pokemon's wings scattered the Hidden Power through the air. Afterwards, she seemingly vanished.

At least, to the untrained eye. Faint traces of a blurred shadow zipped through the air, claiming its first victim when one of the orbs burst.

A booming flash turned into many, what looked like a smudge of ink zipping from one iteration of Hidden Power to the next, setting off an unrelenting chain reaction above the audience's heads. Rails and chair arms were gripped in the wake of explosions peppering the sky.

The mach speed shadow returned to the center of the arena, revealing its identity once more.

"Great! Now, sweep it up, with Whirlwind!" Ryan commanded with a snap of his fingers.

Furious beats of the beast's wings rounded the flickering lights into a fluorescent swirl, soon fading until its only resilience laid in ruffled bangs of Ryan's, Pidgeot's, and the audience's alike.

The coordinator rested a hand on his hips, a sure smirk climbing up his cheek.

"Wow! What a performance! Now, let's hear what the judges have to say about Ryan and Pidgeot's appeal!"

"It's apparent that Pidgeot's very well trained; I'm sold on its prowess!" Nurse Joy chimed.

Mr. Contesta went next. "The emphasis was a bit heavy on the flashy explosions…" He hummed, a look of skepticism faltering quickly. "But, on the other hand, you allowed everyone to see just how swift and ferocious your Pidgeot is. That appeal was impressive!"

Mr. Sukizo was last. "Heart-stopping, and not to mention, remarkable!"

Ryan nodded, quickly thanking the judges before exiting the stage.

"And, there you have it!" Lilian concluded. "I'd say that Ryan didn't disappoint anyone today!"

Ash, finally, was left with a pretty wide smile. "I bet my Pidgeot'd love to have a go at Ryan's. It'd be one hell of a battle!"

"I'm sure it would be," Brock agreed. "But, you should probably let Dawn have a shot at them first."

Ash chuckled, playing with the brim of his cap. "I guess you're right!"

* * *

"For the love of Mew…" Larkspur whispered, eyes glued to the monitor backstage. "We're up against _him_?"

"Isn't it great?" Dawn gushed. Her fist was clenched tight at her side, and her eyes gleamed. "We've got some tight competition!"

An incredulous look was sent towards Dawn. The boy raised a brow. "You're not nervous?"

"Well, kind of," she'd admit. "It won't be easy, facing him. But, he's not the only one here who's placed in a Grand Festival!" The Sinnohan winked.

When she was met with silence, Dawn averted her eyes, realizing her mistake. She forced on a smile, resting a hand on her junior's shoulder. "Still, it's important to remember; rank doesn't mean everything! Even when things look bad… I remember during my first try at collecting ribbons, I faced an old rival of my mom's in a contest. The rival of a future Top Coordinator… I was pretty scared, at the time."

"You competed against someone on that level!?" The coordinator stared at Dawn, wide-eyed. "What… Happened, then? What did you do?"

"She gave me a really hard time." As Dawn said this, though, the memory put a smile on her face. "I still remember her Delcatty keeping my Ambipom helpless with status conditions. For a while, I was in a bind, but Ambipom came through for me. We just had to keep on trucking when the odds were against us. I won that contest. So, do me a favor and try not to worry about it, alright? Focus on making _your_ pokemon shine!"

Somehow, Dawn's optimism was contagious. Larkspur found himself smiling, nodding to the older competitor. "I'll do that, Dawn. But…"

Dawn turned her head back to Larkspur, then. What else could be wrong?

"You said that you used an Ambipom… How come I've never seen you use it in a contest?"

Dawn's lips pursed. "Well, the thing is… Ambipom did enjoy contests, but when we entered a pokemon ping pong tournament, she really liked it a lot. So, right now, she's involved in that. I do miss her… And, she used to be Ash's pokemon, so I know he does, too. But, I'm sure she's having a great time."

The boy whistled, leaning back onto the bench they sat upon. "I can't imagine doing something like that… Letting a pokemon go sounds really difficult. Do you think you'll ever see her again?"

"I did promise to see her again, someday. Once she's had her fun with ping pong." There was a short pause. Dawn's blue eyes quickly grew wide.

"Hold on… Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure they said that their training center was in Kanto!" Dawn's hands clapped to the sides of her face. How could she have forgotten!? "We've already been through Vermillion City, since then… I feel awful." What kind of trainer was she!?

"Hey, Dawn." The boy's gaze grew stern.

It actually made her a little uneasy. "Huh? What's the matter?"

"Remember what you told me? Right now, you've got to focus on your pokemon. You can go see your Ambipom the next time that you have the chance. But, you're in a contest right, now, right? So, Ambipom would want you to do your best for the pokemon with you, right now!"

After his outburst, the grass-type specialist shrunk, quickly going red. "S-sorry… I did say that I wanted _you_ to be _my_ mentor. Not vice versa."

Dawn shook her head, a subtle smile returning to the corners of her lips. "No, no, you're right! I'll do exactly that, for all of my pokemon. Thanks, Larkspur. Even a student can be the teacher, sometimes!" She winked.

Just then, the heart-to-heart was interrupted by Lilian's voice over the loudspeaker. "Now, let's welcome a budding competitor on the scene!"

Lilian announced. "From Celadon City, Larkspur!"

"O-oh, no! I'm late!" He stuttered, rushing off towards the stage, nearly tripping over his own feet. "Sorry, Dawn!"

A bead of sweat rolled Dawn's forehead. Poor kid. "Knock 'em dead!"

* * *

Larkspur rushed onto the stage in a hurry, panting and tugging at his collar. Composing himself, he swallowed, tossing his pokeball forward. "Tangela, perform for us, please!"

The Vine pokemon appeared, and upon catching on to the emcee's pun, the audience let out a collective groan.

Larkspur kept his eyes on the prize, and pointed forward. "Tangela, use Ancientpower!"

"Tang~!" The pokemon danced about on its large, red feet, conjuring several large, glowing boulders, hovering in the air in front of it.

"Now, show your strength! Power Whip!" The green-haired coordinator ordered.

Two sturdy blue vines were launched from the bundled pokemon, boasting a vibrant magenta glow.

The first boulder was doomed to a violent pincer attack, smashed from either side into rubble.

The audience cooed, responding well to the unassuming grass type's power.

Tangela showed no mercy, one of his vines slicing through the air vertically. The whiplash split another stone clean in half.

Both tendrils smashed the remaining halves.

This process continued in quick succession until only one boulder remained.

"Tang…. Gela!" The Vine pokemon ascended with a leap, entering a somersault that brought its vines down with it. The final mysterious boulder was crushed to smithereens, only leaving sparkles and dust as Tangela landed with grace.

With that, Larkspur bowed.

"A great show of strength from Tangela! Let's hear it from Larkspur and his punishing pokemon!" Lilian concluded.

* * *

"I've never seen a Tangela hit that hard," Misty remarked. Her emerald eyes had been glued to the scene.

"Typically, that kind of prowess is more common in Tangrowth," Brock agreed. "But, this one knew Ancientpower, so it must be really close to evolving."

"Pretty impressive," Ash added. "Larkspur's really come along way. Hasn't he, bud?"

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu cheered, watching comfortably from Ash's lap. He even came off a bit more confident, too!

"Wait, you know that kid?" Misty questioned, turning to face Ash.

"Mhm." The trainer nodded. "He's kind of new to the contest scene, least as far as I know. He focuses on showing off grass types, and he really looks up to Dawn." Ash smiled to himself, folding his arms. "He's a greenhorn with a green thumb!"

That would've been enough to floor Misty and Brock, if they had the room. For what it was worth, they groaned.

"You're no better than Lilian!" Misty barked.

"And you're not even cute to make up for it," Brock grumbled.

"Says you," Ash retorted, folding his arms. "...Still. I hope the two of 'em get to battle. I bet it'd be a great match."

"Pi-Pika!" Pikachu agreed, leaning back into Ash's torso. Hearing the three of them banter made him feel so comfortably at home, too.

* * *

Backstage, a tension laced the air. All of the coordinators looked up to the black screen as Lilian spoke. Slowly, faces showed up.

Paige let out a sigh of relief as she spotted herself. The coordinator named Ryan nodded as he saw himself. Larkspur nodded to Dawn as he saw her, and the coordinator clapped the kid's back as she saw his face.

"Maybe I'll have a chance to battle you again," Larkspur teased.

To this, Dawn only smiled. "We'll see."


	69. Mentors

Lilian faced the audience, palms out. "Time for an electrifying battle between the rising star of Sinnoh and the new spark of Kanto! It's Dawn against Paige!"

Both girls walked onto the stage, releasing their respective electric rodents out of their pokeballs. Pachirisu bounced on her feet, head tilted to and fro. Paige's Pikachu's tail twitched, heart shape flailing back and forth.

"Start!" Lilian yelled.

"Pikachu!" Paige cheered. "Use Play Nice!"

"Pi!" the little electric type answered.

Dashing forward, she bounced around the Sinnoh squirrel. Pachirisu, never one to refuse a chance to play, gave chase. The two electric types let out happy chatter as they did such. Dawn's points took a hit; what Paige pulled off was incredibly cute.

"Pachirisu," Dawn grumbled. Why was the squirrel so easily distracted?

Forming a heart with her hands, Paige giggled. "Use Quick Attack!"

"Use Spark!" Dawn countered.

Pachirisu began to charge Spark, bundles of blue bursting off her, but with her having just been distracted, that was the opening Pikachu needed. She was hit head-on. Dawn once again lost points.

"Ooh, that had to hurt! Dawn tried to come back from that one, but Play Nice was just too effective! Paige is doing a number on the duo, pairing cute appeal with a strategic edge!"

Paige, with her confidence mounting, ordered loudly: "Quick Attack!"

She lost points for reusing the move, but it wasn't too bad.

"Discharge!" Dawn cried.

"Chi-pa!" The Elesquirrel chattered, hopping well out of Pikahu's reach. "Chi-chi!" Crackling blue bolts sprayed across the battlefield.

This time, the burst of blue sent Pikachu tumbling back. Though Pikachu was a charmer, Pachirisu vastly outranked her with experience. After all, there was a certain other Pikachu she trained with relatively often. After dealing with him and even being able to channel his power together with her own, as she had done back during the Rocket crisis in the Fuschia forests, it was certain that her attacks were just too strong for this fledgling Pikachu to shrug off. The disparity cost Paige points.

"Ah!" Paige panicked. "Double Team!"

Pikachu took off, running around Pachirisu fast enough to create after images.

Dawn smiled, sure of herself. "Spinning Sonic Discharge!"

Knowing that particular improvised move, Pachirisu jumped into the air, rolling to incorporate the Spin technique and then brought Discharge into the mix. The effect was a bit of a vortex of electricity, not unlike the plasma balls children played with, but the electric currents soon washed over the entire field, eliminating Pikachu's Double Team and delivering a nasty shock. Dawn wasn't too upset about the points she'd knocked off Paige for aesthetics, either.

"Uh oh!" Paige mumbled. "Um… Um… Quick Attack and Nuzzle!"

Pikachu cocked her head before nodding. Her cheeks crackled and she ran forward. Dawn recognized the move as looking similar to Volt Tackle, but decidedly weaker. It was enough, combined with Pikachu's greater size, to send Pachirisu reeling, but not enough to put the little tank down. It did put them neck and neck with points, though.

"Play Nice! Quick Attack!" Paige ordered, desperate to get Dawn on the ropes.

Pikachu, leaping onto the still shocked Pachirisu, teased the smaller pokemon with her tail before slapping her with it. The audience ate it up.

Dawn's fist balled up. "Super Fang!"

Pikachu yelped in pain, feeling sharp buck teeth sink into her tail. Subsequently, she was roughly tossed with a swing of Pachirisu's head, sent tumbling across the fray.

Paige trembled. "Play Nice!"

"Chu~!" The pokemon shook off the pain, putting on a big, adorable smile. Another sprint towards Pachirisu was followed up by somersaults and teases of her jagged, heart-shaped tail. She giggled, satisfied with her maneuver when Pachirisu was helpless to the lure of chasing the adorable bolt, swatting at it with her paws.

She thanked her lucky stars that the playful state left her swats ineffective; she was actually managing to bat her tail, time after time! Just how fast was this far-off relative!?

Meanwhile, members of the audience cooed and reveled in the scene. Paige had Dawn neutralized, and it was winning her points, to boot!

"How's that, Dawn!?" Paige grinned, fluffing the ribbon tied into her locks. She had the older girl on the ropes!

A sure smirk on the Sinnohan's face was enough to eat through her nerve.

Dawn didn't look deterred in the least. She looked cunning, even. "Adorable! But, thanks for getting Pachirisu all worked up!"

"Eh?" Paige's tiny fist was clutched tight. "What do you mean, thanks!?"

"Well, Pachirisu's always been easily distracted when she has the chance to have a good time. But, it's not always a bad thing." Dawn couldn't help but think back on their first meeting. She'd been absolutely impossible to catch!

Which, right now, worked out just fine. "Pachirisu, how about we make this even more fun? Use Rollout!"

"Chiii~!" Already in a frenzy, the rodent bounced, curling into her tail to form a tiny, fluffy wheel that rolled and hopped about the stage.

"Aw, would you look at that! Dawn is giving Paige a taste of her own medicine, as Pachirisu looks absolutely adorable rolling about~!"

"Now, let's add in Spark," Dawn commanded.

The fluffy bundle of energy erupted with crackling static, bouncing about and leaving trails of blue wherever she went. Paige lost points again.

"D-Double Team!"

Pikachu separated into another bunch of clones, but desperately seeking the defensive wasn't doing her score any favors.

"Get 'em, Pachirisu!"

"Chi-chi-chi-pa~!" She blazed a trail through the copies, blurs of yellow scattering in the wake of teal. One-by-one, they disappeared.

She barreled through the last, skidding to a halt. The squirrel looked frantically about. "Chi? Chi-pa?"

"Pachirisu, behind you!" Dawn shouted out.

The Elesquirrel turned, only to get a face full of Quick Attack, knocking her skyward.

"Oooh, it looks like Paige and Pikachu weren't done, just yet! A sneaky use of Double Team gave them the opening they needed! Can they seal the deal in the short time they have left!?" Lilian bellowed into her microphone, fanning the flames of speculation.

' _Lilian's not kidding! We've gotta wrap this up fast.'_ Dawn's blue brows furrowed. "Okay, Pachirisu, Glittering Fang!"

"Glittering Fang!?" Paige echoed. That didn't sound good at all! "Be careful, Pikachu, darling!"

"Pa-chiii!" Pachirisu chanted, diving down towards the mouse with her buck teeth exposed. Blue sparks flickered from her incisors.

Pikachu stumbled back, to no avail. Pachirisu chomped down on her side, making her hiss.

That was nothing, compared to what came next.

Discharge was unleashed, and wild bolts danced from the blinding center of the stage. Blue flickers rained like embers, and both pokemon shone like a pair of chandeliers.

Finally, Pachirisu scurried back to Dawn, shaking herself free of static.

Lilian squinted at the results. "….Oooh, and it looks like Pikachu is unable to battle! Which means that, thanks to Glittering Fang, Dawn and Pachirisu are the winners! And, what a show it was!"

* * *

"What a finisher!" Ash pumped a fist, eyes still glued to the arred field. "Man, what a way to work with Pachirisu."

"It really shows how much they've grown," Brock added. "Between this and the Ice Chandelier, they've really proven that they can make Pachirisu's nature an asset."

"How could it not be!? It's absolutely adorable! Pikachu was cute, too, but gosh!" Misty cooed, hands held to her cheeks. "Not as cute as _the_ Pikachu, of course."

"Pikachu..." Pikachu rubbed his head. This wasn't a competition! Well… Actually, it was. But, he wasn't part of it!

"You missed a lot," Ash added. "Back when she first caught Pachirisu, he could never stay still. It took all of us just to keep up with her!"

"It made using her in contests a bit of a problem," Brock recalled. "But, they definitely understand each other now."

"Sure do," Ash nodded. "Still… I feel kinda bad for Paige. She's had it rough, and she put up a tough fight, too."

"When you coast your career on one gimmick, that'll happen." The doctor-in-training crossed his arms.

* * *

"And now, for a battle that I'm sure you've all been waiting for! Dawn, the Sinnoh finalist who's made quite a splash here, against Ryan, the Johto semi-finalist who always makes an explosive entry! Between the two, we're bound to see a breathtaking clash between their pokemon!"

A deafening round of cheers sounded for the two competitors entered the arena.

"Hey, Dawn," Ryan called across the stage. "I've heard of you, here and there, and not gonna lie, I'm impressed! Two Wallace Cups in a row ain't something to sneeze at."

As if she wasn't already giddy for the upcoming challenge. Now, she was starting to become a big name! Wouldn't Johanna be proud. "Well, it wasn't easy, but thanks! I haven't had time to keep up with Johto, but you've got to be good to get as far as you did! However this ends, no hard feelings, right?"

Ryan blinked, taken aback. "Well, yeah, duh. Why would there be?"

"Because I plan on getting to the Grand Festival, and becoming Top Coordinator!" A flick of Dawn's wrist tossed her blue tresses, a smirk crossing her lips. "So, I'm winning my fifth ribbon today!"

Dawn's bold declaration won a few excited hollers from the crowd.

Ryan had to laugh, then. "I like you, Dawn. But, I'm winning today, so yeah. No hard feelings!"

"Wow! It hasn't even started, and both coordinators are talking big! You can feel the tension in the air!"

"We'll see," Dawn countered. She made quite a show of winding up, tossing her pokeball. "Empoleon… Spotlight!"

The Emperor pokemon made his entrance, smashing his glimmering wings together. "Empol!" He was raring to go!

"An Empoleon… So, that's got to be your first pokemon, eh? Well, I'll show you mine! Raichu, let's dazzle 'em!"

"Rai~!" The mouse chanted, making a particularly cutesy entrance before standing on all fours, whipping his tail against the floor. He grinned, taunting Empoleon with a 'come and get it' gesture of his paw. "Rai-Rai!"

"Pol!" The water type cawed, standing proud. He'd make it eat those words!

* * *

"Get 'em Empoleon! Show them what a true and blue water type is made of!" Misty hollered, waving her fist in the air.

"Ryan's really got her fighting spirit boiling… Give 'em hell, Dawn!" Ash whooped.

"And she's got him feeling competitive, too," Brock noted. "This'll be an interesting match, no doubt."

"Pika, Pikachu~!" Pikachu hollered, waving his arms. He believed in Empoleon!

* * *

"Now, with five minutes on the clock, let the match… Begin!"

"Raichu, let's start off strong! Thunder!"

"Raiii… Chu!" The rotund rodent shrieked. A brilliant, booming current shot across the stage.

"Empoleon, charge in and spin!"

The large, sturdy bird sprinted forward, heading straight for the eye of the storm.

"What's she up to?" Ryan cocked a brow. Dawn wasn't stupid enough to throw the match like that.

A few gasps could be heard over the crackling Thunder.

"Now, spin!" Dawn ordered with a wave of her hand.

"Empol~!" A swift dive forward was coupled with a sudden horizontal spin. Electricity snapped at thin air, fizzling in a disappointed buzz. A crafty barrel roll carried Empoleon past the shock with barely an inch to spare, and he returned to a spirited sprint towards Raichu.

"Ooh, what a nailbiter! A risky play by Dawn, but it went off without a hitch!" Lilian narrated, sure the audience felt the same.

As did the judges, apparently, when Ryan's points dropped just a bit.

"Now, Drill Peck!"

Only feet away from his smaller foe, Empoleon became a ruthless spinning top, jabbing his sharp beak into Raichu's torso.

Raichu hissed, his posture buckling from the shock. All the same, though, it was a flying type attack. He growled, looming in Empoleon's shadow.

"Gutsy! I like it." Ryan grinned. "Raichu, Electro Ball!"

A look of mischief left Empoleon puzzled, as Raichu twisted back his hips. Golden sparks began to swirl on the end of his tail.

"Rai!" Raichu swung around, slapping the sharp end of his tail into Empoleon's plated abdomen.

A vicious orb of static slammed into the water type, sending him skidding far across the battlefield.

Empoleon dragged the steel tips of his wings across the floor, reducing his sliding to a halt. When Electro Ball faded, he huffed, brushing the residual static off of his chest. "Empol!?" Was that all Raichu had!?

"Ooh, and what a graceful counter from Raichu! That Electro Ball did a number on Empoleon, but he's hanging in there!"

Dawn's score dropped a sliver, falling in line with her opponent's.

"And, there's plenty more where that came from!" Dawn boasted. "Empoleon, Hydro Pump!"

A torrential jet fired from the penguin's mouth, intent on pulverizing Raichu.

"Raichu, let's ride that wave!" Ryan countered.

"What!?" Dawn flinched. What was that supposed to mean!?

"Rai!" Raichu all too happily obliged, making a clean jump over Hydro Pump. Rather than take the attack head-on, he grounded his feet atop his wide tail end, landing atop the pressurized jet itself.

Met with cheers and gasps of awe, Raichu surfed Hydro Pump with glee, riding the wave to the far end of the stage. Finally, he leaned to one side, sliding off of his free ride to skid to a halt. The electric type even took time to pose, flicking his tail about.

"Wow! Now, _that's_ how you fend off an attack with style!" Lilian cheered. "Raichu really rolled with the tide on that one!"

With that smooth display, Dawn's points dropped to about three quarters.

The bluenette pursed her lips. "He's not messing around… What a way to show off!"

"Good job," Ryan praised. "Now, let's hit 'em hard! Electro Ball, back to back!"

Raichu spun about, launching four different glowing spheres in quick succession.

"You can handle that, Empoleon!" Dawn encouraged. "Knock them back with Steel Wing!"

"Empol!" Tempered wings took on a silver glow, reared before swinging at the incoming projectiles without restraint. The first two were knocked back with one wing each. And, just to show off, the big, prideful penguin spun on his feet, backhanding the third Electro Ball before swinging around to bat the fourth on its way.

Suddenly, Raichu found himself face to face with a taste of his own medicine.

"Nice one," the coordinator from Johto admitted. "But, two can play at that game! Brick Break!"

Stubby paws shone with prowess, jabbing at one Electro Ball after the next, sending them astray. The last was even smashed between the electric type's paws, crushed into little more than a fizzle.

Dawn and Ryan's points dropped accordingly, with Ryan leading by an inch or two, still.

"Let's turn the tides, Empoleon," Dawn encouraged. "Steel Wing!"

Empoleon wasn't about to go down on this note. "Pol!" He cried, charging in towards Raichu, his wings covered in a brilliant sheen. When he was within arm's length, he skidded to a halt, bringing his wing down in a merciless strike.

"Fend it off, with Brick Break!" Bryan coached.

"Rai!" Eager for a fight, the mouse beamed, swinging back with a roaring uppercut.

The two attacks clashed, letting out a loud echo of the contest between sturdy muscles and tempered steel. Raichu brushed off Empoleon's strike, leaning right to throw a haymaker at Empoleon's beak.

The stubborn penguin guarded with his opposite wing, stopping Raichu's paw in its tracks. He squawked in pain, a numbness buzzing through his extremity. That didn't stop him, though, from smashing Raichu across the face with his free wing.

Getting clocked left Raichu the slightest bit dizzy, stumbling back, desperate for balance. He didn't find relief, when his larger opponent took the opportunity to turn his assault into a one-two Steel Wing punch. He hissed, going pale under his fur when he found himself in the Emperor's shadow.

A predatory gleam shone in Empoleon's eyes, eager for glory, when he brought both wings down in unison like a sledgehammer.

"Raichu, dude, block that!" Ryan encouraged. "Don't let Empoleon fizzle you out!"

His black beady eyes narrowed. Both of his paws shot upward in a double uppercut, smashing into Empoleon's limbs. His wide hind feet pressed into the floor of the stage, supporting his weight against his larger opponent.

"Good job! Now, pummel 'im!"

Raichu's arms were already beginning to hurt. But, looking straight forward, he saw his chance. He shrugged Steel Wing to each of his sides, turning to pummeling Empoleon's unguarded torso.

" _Wow!_ Look at the sparks fly between these two fully evolved pokemon! I'm feeling the intensity of a league battle, here, in this contest! But, as we've already seen, both of these pokemon boast plenty of style! Just who will have the finesse to come out on top!?"

* * *

"C'mon, c'mon! Whack 'im good, Empoleon!" Misty jeered, throwing jabs at the air. "Show them that they can't count on a win just because of their type!"

The fiery Gym Leader's boxing forced an unfortunate Ash to lean out of danger.

"It's really remarkable," Brock mused.

"Ain't it? What a battle!" Ash gushed, fists held tight with enthusiasm. "Dawn must be having a blast!"

"Not that." The student shook his head. "Well, yeah. But, I mean Empoleon. He's fighting completely differently than he did as a Piplup. He was always talented, but he was so clumsy. Sometimes a little scatterbrained, too focused on his own pride. Now, he's totally composed. I never thought I'd see him excel like this at close quarter fighting."

Ash could only smile, letting a belly-laugh slip through his lips. "Yeah, this journey's been really good for him. He's had so much time around Pikachu, Rosa, and the others. I think watching my pokemon gave him something to work for; hell, battling Charizard is what brought him to evolve into Prinplup in the first place."

"So, that's what changed his mind." Now, the puzzle pieces were coming together. "He must've seen that all of your pokemon remained close to you and to each other, no matter how much they evolved, or how long they were gone." Ash's smile was contagious. Pokemon really were interesting.

* * *

By now, Raichu had slipped through Empoleon's defenses with a soaring uppercut. Empoleon squawked, feeling his beak grow sore.

"Don't take that, Empoleon! Watch out for the next one!" Dawn coached.

"Raichu, knock him back!" Ryan countered.

"Raiii…!" Still airborne, the electric mouse cried, eagerly winding up a right hook.

He wasn't prepared for the clobbering that Steel Wing delivered.

Empoleon was rewarded with a disheveled, spinning Raichu, and he eagerly claimed his prize. A downward haymaker sent the rodent bouncing off of the ground.

"Oooh, it looks like Empoleon came out on top with that encounter! What tenacity!"  
Dawn and Ryan's points had both been dropping during the encounter, sliver by sliver. But, Dawn's victory put her back in league with her opponent, leaving each coordinator with just over half of their points left.

"Pikaaa! Pikachu~!" Pikachu cheered, emphatically waving both of his arms. Empoleon was performing just as well as he had in their own spar! No, better!

"Now, let's keep the ball rolling, Empoleon!" Dawn goaded, smiling from ear to ear. "Whirlpool~!"

"Pol!" The Emperor raised both wings above his head, whipping up a huge, roaring Whirlpool. He tossed it forward, sweeping up Raichu in the current.

Ryan's fist tightened as he watched his points dip again. Fortunately for him, Dawn had done a great job setting him up. He grinned.

"Surf's up, Raichu! Ride that Whirlpool!"

"Shoot," Dawn hissed under her breath. She should've thought that through.

Could've, should've, would've.

Now, Raichu was standing atop his flat, jagged tail, shifting his weight left and right until he climbed the twisted arcs of rushing water.

The clever stunt earned cheers from the audience, and adversely, Dawn's points dropped.

"Now, light up that pool, with Electro Ball!"

Raichu released the electric attack into the torrent. It was tossed about through the rough waters, quickly gaining speed.

With every rotation, the vibrating orb grew, highlighting the water with golden streaks.

But, it wouldn't last long. The sphere of static was growing wild, too spirited to be contained by the waves.

Ryan's eyes shimmered, a smile spreading when he saw his opportunity. "Raichu, now!"

The Electro Ball popped out of the Whirlpool in a bound for freedom, and clinging to his tail, Raichu followed, soaring in a radical arc.

"Chu!" Raichu cried, spiking Electro Ball with a stylish Brick Break.

Dawn gasped. That thing had to be half the size of Pikachu's giant Electro Ball. "Block it, with Steel Wing!"

Empoleon swallowed heavily. This wasn't good. "Pol…!"

A falling golden comet collided with its gleaming, guarding target. Vicious crackles could be seen and heard, forcing most onlookers to guard their eyes.

Empoleon was sent tumbling and skidding across the battlefield, smoking and singed.

Dawn's points, meanwhile, dropped to around a third.

"Empoleon!" Dawn cringed, both of her palms covering her mouth. Her blue brows knit, a chill slithering down her spine.

"Wow! What a show! Ryan and Raichu really know how to use their opponent's attacks against them!" Lilian boomed. "Can Empoleon even continue!?"

"Pol…" The pokemon groaned into the stage floor, recoiling from the leftover static that nipped at him. He'd better get a facefull of Poffins, after this.

"Empoleon… Can you hear me? You can keep going, right?" The crack in Dawn's own voice worried her. Just who was she trying to convince?

"If Empoleon can't get up soon, this might be a knock-out!" Lilian's words proved all the more discouraging.

"Empol…." The penguin's body began to stir. Trembling, ashen wings pushed against the stage. His face could be seen.

When Ryan caught on, he counted Raichu lucky that he couldn't see that frightening gaze over the waves.

"I knew it!" Dawn bluffed, holding a fist to her chest. That was close. "Ice Beam, now!"

Empoleon hadn't stood yet, but nonetheless, he fired. A crackling beam shot through the air, blasting the Whirlpool.

Rushing waters were quickly infested with solid ice. Raichu panicked, riding the highest of waves to escape the cold.

Numb limbs and a solid block of ice encasing him told the rodent that he wasn't so lucky.

"Beautiful~! Empoleon put an end to Raichu's showboating by freezing his own Whirlpool solid! And what a work of art it is!"

"Surf's out for the summer, Ryan!" Dawn boasted, quickly regaining her composure. She rested a hand on her hip.

"You think you're funny, eh?" Ryan snorted. So, they thought they could put Raichu on ice…

"Buddy, let's light up the stage with Thunder!"

* * *

Misty, meanwhile, groaned. "I think I'm going to have to lecture both of them for all of these puns…"

"Hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" Ash teased.

He received no answer.

"You don't have to give me the cold shoulder over it!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Raichu grabbed back the crowd's attention with a sizzling Thunder, blasting the frozen Whirlpool to shards and glittering, crackling dust. An all-consuming, electrified hail was Raichu's backdrop as he made his safe descent, landing on his hind legs. "Rai-Rai!"

"Beautiful…" Dawn cooed, completely drawn to the aftermath. She couldn't deny being impressed.

"And, yet another comeback by Ryan and Raichu! They're putting a lot of pressure on Dawn and Empoleon, who only have a small fraction of their points remaining. And, there's barely a minute left on the clock!"

"Glad you like our work!" Ryan boasted. "I'd suggest you throw in the towel now, but I'd rather see what you have left up your sleeve!"

A smirk crawled up Dawn's lips. "No need to worry. We'll show you!"

"Just what I wanted to hear. Raichu, use Surf!"

"Raiii… Chu!" The cute, rambunctious rodent tossed his paws in the air, forcing up a current from under his feet.

"Again with the waterworks," Dawn muttered, watching what quickly became a wave looming over Empoleon.

Raichu, naturally, was coasting the peak of the tide. Dawn watched her points narrow to a sliver.

"We've gotta make this count," Dawn thought aloud. And, she was sure she had just the thing.

"Empoleon, let's carve up that wave! Steel Wing, right up the middle!"

Ryan scoffed.

"Empol…. Empoleon!" Now standing upright, the penguin leaned forward, putting faith in his footwork. His right wing shone with a lustrous silver, reinforced right to the sharp end of his crest. The makeshift blade was swung in a vicious uppercut, slicing the base of the wave.

A defined split rushed from foundation to crest, slicing Raichu's wave cleanly in half. Mist hung in the air, gifting the Steel Wing with a rainbow sheen.

"Goodness! Look at that slice! Empoleon had all the strength and precision to break Raichu's Surf cleanly in half!"

With that, the audience roared in Empoleon's favor, and Ryan's points took a dive.

"Great stuff," Ryan spared. "But don't get cozy yet!"

A single soul soared through the crashing wave. "Raiii!" Raichu cried, grinning as gravity carried him to Empoleon.

"It's done, Dawn. Brick Break!" Ryan ordered, throwing a hand forward.

A bead of sweat ran down the bluenette's forehead. There had to be a quick counter to this… If she could just observe…

Bingo!

"Empoleon! Use Ice Beam, right in front of you!"

"Pol?" The penguin was startled, but he was in no position to argue. A freezing beam was fired directly before him. It collided with a peaking splash, now free of the initial wave. Arching waters were quickly frozen over in a teal flash.

Raichu squeaked, quickly realizing his error. He flailed his arms and legs, but it was to no avail.

He collided face first with the slab of ice between himself and Empoleon.

"Oooh~ That's got to hurt! And what a fall from grace for Raichu! Talk about quick thinking," Lilian narrated.

Ryan's points narrowed again, and now, he was the one sweating.

By now, Dawn was ecstatic. "Hydro Pump!"

Empoleon was thrilled to oblige. A merciless jet smashed through the ice, sending the poor Raichu sliding across the arena.

"Less than thirty seconds left~!"

"Empoleon, let's finish this!" Dawn encouraged, holding a fist tight. She punched forward. "Ice Drill!"

"Empol!" The Emperor began sprinting, channeling a hint of an Ice Beam on the tip of his beak.

"Ice what!?" Ryan stammered. "Raichu, bud, don't give in! Thunder!"

The electric mouse groaned, crawling to his feet. A leer was sent Empoleon's way, and he shrieked.

"Now!" Dawn coached.

Empoleon dove into a Drill Peck, his body taking on a wild spin. The Ice Beam followed, creating a spinning, icy spire on the end of his beak.

Mere feet away from Raichu, it collided with Thunder.

Seats were clung to and ears were clasped in the wake of the resulting explosion. Lightning bolts strayed, ice shards rained, and smoke spread.

Dawn and Ryan alike guarded their eyes. Ryan tried to be more subtle about it.

"...Aaaand, we're out of time! Now, let's check on our competitors!"

Wisps of smoke ditched Raichu first. The bulky rodent stood, just barely, his fur damp and littered with ice crystals.

Dawn could swear that her heart had skipped a beat.

Empoleon was next. Singed, dizzy, and heaving heavily, the penguin supported himself on one wing. He met eyes with Raichu.

"Both pokemon are conscious!"

Startled gasps and controversial chatter raged among spectators, then.

"...So, we will turn our eyes to the scoreboard, then! It looks awfully close…!"

Hopeful, Dawn squinted. She almost couldn't bare to look.

"And, by just a hair, it's Dawn! Which would make her the winner of this round!"

At least half of the crowd erupted into boisterous, whooping cheers. Dawn breathed a heavy, relieved sigh. She was almost as short of breath as Empoleon!

"It was a close call, and Ryan dominated a portion of the match, but in those last moments, Dawn saw her opportunity and snatched dominance from her seasoned peer. That's the prize you win for tenacity, folks! So, why don't we give them both a hand!?"

Ryan huffed. What he thought would be frustration turned out to be amusement. "Holy hell… What a battle!"

Raichu scoffed, not quite as humble about it. He struggled, opting to fall onto his rear, rather than on his face. "Raiii…." And, they'd been so close!

He stopped his moping when he felt a gentle hand atop his head. "Hey, I don't wanna see you sulkin'. That was top-notch! You put up 'till the end!"

Well, at least his trainer thought so. Raichu relented, nuzzling into his trainer's shoulder. "Rai-Rai~!"

Ryan laughed, recalling the electric type in a flash. "Give it a rest, man. You're wiped."

When he looked across, he smiled. Dawn had pulled Empoleon into an embrace, thanking him for a job well done.

"Dawn!"

"I promise, I'll make as many Poffins as you… Huh?" Dawn turned, tilting her head.

"Good game. No one's pushed me that hard in a while!"

"Same to you!" Dawn beamed, helping Empoleon to his feet. "Sorry I had to knock you out of the contest."

"Hey, don't sweat it," he dismissed with a wave of his hand. "If nothin' else, this'll have me on my toes for the next one! I'll see you later." With a wave of his hand, the Johto native retreated.

"You can count on it!" Dawn promised, pumping a fist. "C'mon, Empoleon. Let's get you over to Nurse Joy. You look like a Poffin that's been in the oven too long."

"Empol!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

* * *

"Hoo, boy…" Ash whistled, leaning back in his seat. "What a match!"

"I couldn't even breathe before that smoke cleared up." Misty exhaled.

"Pika-Pikachu!" All of that action… He hardly had time to feel anxious!

"A real, model show between coordinators," Brock asserted. "Dawn's come a really long way."

"She sure has," Ash agreed. He was positively beaming with pride. "That's Dawn for you."

"Is someone proud of his girlfriend?" Misty cooed, poking Ash's thoroughly red cheeks.

"Hey, knock it off!" Ash shrugged her hand away. But, the tough guy act was hard to keep up. "Mm, yeah. You caught me. She looked like she was really having fun on that stage, even when things were tilted against her. That's the attitude to have when you're in a tough match!"

Brock couldn't help but laugh at their antics. "You're right, Ash. With that mindset, she's bound to win."

* * *

"Now, we'll move on to our next match! Larkspur is up against Shannon! Let's watch these two coordinators have it out!"

An auburn-haired girl, likely in her teens, sprinted onto the stage. "Golduck," she cooed, enthusiastically tossing her pokeball. "I choose you!"

The water type's appearance cooled Larkspur's nerves. He showed a hint of a smirk, adjusting his collar. "Victreebel, perform for us, please!"

The Flycatcher screeched, spinning about before landing with his sturdy vines.

"Ooh, Shannon's at a disadvantage here!" Lilian observed aloud. "Who knows how she'll handle that? We'll find out, now! Begin!"

"Victreebel, Leaf Tornado!"

The grass type swung its leafy extremities, and a grassy gust followed.

"Bust that, with Water Pulse!" Shannon countered.

Clawed hands summoned a blue orb, swirling and bubbling. It was tossed overhead.

Water Pulse got sucked into Leaf Tornado, stretching and compressing under its force before erupting in a volatile burst. Leaves were sent soaring, weighed down and washed up by the quick current.

Larkspur's points dropped just a bit.

"Good job, Golduck! Now, use Fury Swipes!"

"Gol… Duck!" Golduck sprinted, striking at the plant with a vicious swipe of his claws.

Larkspur huffed. "Pull back, Victreebel!"

Irritated, Victreebel hopped backwards.

Golduck was on it like a Shellder on a Slowpoke's tail, slashing it several more times.

"Ooh, what a combo!" Lilian enthused.

Victreebel fell back, and Larkspur swallowed. "Leaf Tornado!"

"Uh-oh! Larkspur may lose points for calling the same move twice!" The emcee warned.

And, she was right.

"It's just gonna get worse," Shannon taunted. "Disable!"

Golduck's eyes shone an eerie blue, and Victeebel was enveloped in the same.

The Flycatcher sputtered, failing to summon his assault, tried as he may.

Larkspur took a subconscious step back, insecure, as his points dropped to about three quarters.

"Shannon has a clear edge, so far! What an upset, and a treat for underdog water type lovers, everywhere!"

* * *

"You said it! Get 'im, girl! Rough 'em up, Golduck!" Misty cheered, shaking her fist in the air.

Ash's face scrunched at his friend's betrayal, leaning forward in a huff. "Don't listen to 'em, Larkspur! You can still kick their butts!"

"Ha! You're obviously underestimating the mettle of a good water pokemon." Misty smirked at her companion, flicking one of her orange bangs.

"Nah. I just know how good Larkspur is." Ash mimicked Misty in his confident gaze. His eyes turned back to the action.

"Pi…? Pikachu," Pikachu huffed, head tilted. He wanted to root for Larkspur, but it was hard not to root along with Misty! He was caught between a rock and a hard place.

* * *

"Use Vine Whip!" Larkspur countered.

Two tendrils lashed out with intensity, ready to latch and ensnare Golduck.

"Catch those vines!"

"Duck!" The ever-vigilant water type snatched both vines, suspending them in a tight grip.

Larkspur regrettably watched his score drop another sliver.

"Great job, Golduck~! Now, reel that Victreebel in!"

"Gol… Duck!" He yanked away from the grass type, pulling it in quickly.

For the first time since the match began, the timid boy bore a look of confidence. Bingo. "Toxic!"

He watched Shannon's face fall from across the stage, as volatile purple goo covered her pokemon.

"Duck…!" Golduck groaned, writhing in pain. The toxins had begun to sink into his skin.

Eager for payback, Victreebel launched Golduck with a harsh whip of his vines.

Golduck bounced off the arena floor, and Shannon lost a good deal of points.

"Talk about a comeback! In her confidence, Shannon fell right into Larkspur's trap… Or, was the grass type specialist just lucky? He'd better hope the luck continues, since he's still a bit behind in points!"

The usually composed boy growled under his breath. ' _Appreciate the support,'_ he retorted dryly, at least to himself. "Good work, Victreebel! Now, use Venoshock!"

The plant hissed, firing a sickly green goo at Golduck.

Shannon's breath was caught in her throat. That was bad! "Confusion!"

Golduck concentrated, catching the slime in mid-air. It was suspended in a purple glow, held together much more like a solid than a liquid. The crowd cooed at the display.

"Duck!" He exclaimed. The mass of poison exploded, splattering across the field.

"What a show of telekinetic prowess! Golduck is definitely no slouch!"

With that, Larkspur fell a bit behind, once more.

"Tough luck, kid! You're not bad!" Shannon remarked from across the stage. She smiled. "Too bad I've gotta beat you, now. Golduck, Water Pulse!"

"Duck!" Golduck chucked another sphere at Victreebel.

"D… Don't pretend this match is over!" Larkspur barked. Well, as close to a bark as the boy could muster, that was. "Use Vine Whip!"

Victreebel spun about, bursting Water Pulse with a fierce whiplash. The liquid splattered, and Larkspur was neck-and-neck with Sharron again.

"Both coordinators are doing quite a good job repelling each others' attacks. But, with the clock ticking, who will slip up first!?"

Golduck writhed, hissing at the nagging sensation of poison. His posture had begun to falter.

"Hang in there, Golduck, sweetie!" Shannon encouraged. Though, her cracking voice was no vote of confidence. "Use Confusion on that Victreebel!"

"Gol…" Golduck growled, glaring daggers at the plant. A sudden exertion of telekinetic force squeezed Victreebell, tossing the poor pokemon skyward.

"Victreebel!" Larkspur gasped. "Use Vine Whip to toss Golduck, and be quick about it!"

Still soaring, Victreebel launched his vines, snatching up Golduck.

The water type squawked, breath knocked from his lungs as he was flung skyward.

Beaming, Larkspur threw a hand out. "Leaf Tornado!"

The Flycatcher pokemon shook its head, regaining its bearings before spinning again, kicking up a small typhoon.

Golduck was caught in the eye of the storm, shrieking as razor-sharp leaves struck and kept him afloat.

"Ooh, what a combo! Shannon and Golduck are caught in quite a pickle, now!"

"Says you," Shannon argued. "Golduck, Confusion, now!"

With each swipe of a leaf, an irritated growl built in Golduck's throat. Annoyance turned to fury, and that was promptly unleashed. A blue aura shone like a jewel, consuming the water type, and his surroundings with him.

The foliage that had attacked so viciously was suspended, creating a scene that could only be described as art. Golduck, a master of its domain, floating amongst the element that caused it so much ire.

Captivated chatter from the audience proved to be a rather good sign, in Shannon's mind.

"Very impressive!" Larkspur commended. "You're not making this easy at all…" It reminded him a bit of battling Dawn, even. Not quite her difficulty, but still. "Victreebel, if you don't mind, let's finish this!" Adjusting his collar, he pointed forward. "Venoshock!"

Victreebel shrieked, spitting out acidic slime that splattered and coated the suspended leaves.

"O-oh, no! Golduck, get that goo away, now!" Shannon stuttered.

But, holding his position was a feat of its own. Struggled as he may to expand his focus, the water type was trapped.

The leaves quickly withered and split, raining the poisonous substance atop Golduck.

He shrieked, collapsing onto the stage. Trembling arms held him up for just a moment.

Lilian peered forward, squinting at the downed pokemon. "Aaand, Golduck is unable to battle! It was a tough battle, but Larkspur and Victreebel will make it on to the next round! Thanks to all four of you for giving us the show you did!"

"T-that was excellent, Victreebel!" The green-haired boy praised, embracing his weary plant. He was in for a surprise when the tired pokemon collapsed against him.

"Ree…" Victreebel brushed Larkspur with an affectionate flick of one of his leaves. He was satisfied as the red light of his pokeball consumed him.

"Sh-shannon?" The coordinatot turned towards his defeated opponent.

"What's up," she answered, voice dry of enthusiasm. She'd already recalled her own.

"That was a fun match… You almost had me!"

The brunette showed a hint of a smile. "Hey, thanks. At least I lost to someone good."

"Thank you, Larkspur and Shannon, for showing us a great deal of sportsmanship! Now, if you'll kindly head backstage, we'll proceed with the next round!"

* * *

As soon as Larkspur evaded the limelight and stepped backstage, he exhaled heavily. "That was close…"

"You were awesome!" Dawn gushed, approaching the younger coordinator with a spring in her step. "Fighting back against psychic type moves is never easy, especially when they have the type advantage."

"Thanks." Larkspur smiled. The more experienced girl's approval made him smile. A moment passed, and his eyes grew wide. "Oh, wow. Then, that means…"

"We're up facing off in the final round!" Dawn finished. "It'll be our first battle since the contest in Celadon City!"

"Mhm." Larkspur nodded, adjusting her collar. "That was where we met, too."

"Oh, you're right! Gosh, it feels like it's been such a long time, since then… I'm excited to see how we both measure up, these days."

"Yeah… I doubt I'll be able to beat you, though." He looked up to the Sinnohan and shook his head. "...But, I will try! I'll do my best!"

"That's the spirit!" Dawn smirked, pumping a fist. "And, I'm going to give you everything I have. Because I know you can handle it!"

Larkspur swallowed. He was starting to get emotional on the spot! "R-right… Thanks, Dawn!" That was the best way to compliment an opponent, after all, wasn't it? "I'll give you my full efforts, too!"

"Now, it's time for the final round of this contest!" Lilian could be heard over the loudpseakers. "It's time for our last two competitors to enter the arena!"

"That's our queue!" Dawn winked. "Let's get to it!"

"Yeah!"

* * *

"Thank you, everyone, for staying with us, and thank you, to all of the coordinators who've made this event such a thrill! Now, for all your patience, you'll get to see the finale you've all been waiting for! Dawn, a rising star, will be battling Larkspur, another talented trainer! Will his expertise in grass types overwhelm Dawn, or will her flexibility be her key to success? We're about to find out!"

"Get ready, Larkspur!" Dawn challenged, gripping her pokeball in a loose hold before tossing it forward. "Typhlosion, spotlight!"

Crimson flames unfolded from the large badger's back, fanning brilliantly in tune with the pokemon's mighty roar. She stood on her hind legs, poised to battle.

"Wow! A Typhlosion! That answers my question; Larkspur's in for an uphill battle against a fully evolved fire type!"

Dawn frowned. Was it really necessary for an emcee to undercut the boy's confidence like that?

"We'll see!" Larkspur asserted, green brows furrowed. He tossed his pokeball, as well. "I think I made the right choice… Cradily, it's your turn!"

The Baranacle pokemon took root on the stage, craning its neck to threaten Typhlosion.

The Volcano pokemon scoffed, showing off her flames.

Dawn was satisfied with the boy's confidence. "We're waiting to see what you guys are made of!"

"With both pokemon present, let the match… Begin!"

"Cradily, let's start!" Larkspur ordered, holding a hand out. "Show us your Ancientpower!"

Much like Tangela, Cradily writhed, summoning several glowing stones. They were flung at Typhlosion with remarkable precision and control, chipping just a bit off of Dawn's points.

"Cut through that with Swift!" Dawn countered.

With a toss of his head, Typhlosion launched a flurry of stars, sending the glittery projectiles into the eye of the storm.

The mystical stones were slain into slabs and rubble by Swift, one cut into pieces after the next. Golden stars soared past their defeated targets and burst.

Voices from the crowd cheered, and Larkspur lost a chunk of his points.

"What a show of beauty and skill!"

As flattered as she was, Dawn quietly wished that Lilian would keep her mouth shut. "It's only just started," she muttered.

The boy frowned. "Cradily, Solarbeam!"

Particles of light began to draw to the rooted pokemon, gathering between the tendrils that surrounded its intimidating visage.

"Smokescreen!"

The flames crowning Typhlosion's neck began to spit out thick, black smoke, shrouding her side of the field in mystery.

"Go, Cradily!"

The sturdy pokemon fired the solar energy it'd quickly gathered. The burst of light made it rear and recoil; a show of raw power!

The blast exploded through Smokescreen, clearing a visible tunnel in the smog. Eventually, it exploded, leaving blinding results.

"What a powerful Solarbeam! Excellent work from Cradily!" Lilian praised, finally. "But, where is Typhlosion!?"

"Double Edge!"

Typhlosion emerged from the blackness, crashing into Cradily in a full-body tackle. She roared, roughly tossing the Barnacle pokemon behind her into the air.

Larkspur, surprisingly, looked unperturbed. "Grass Knot!"  
Cradily wailed as it soared, dragging up a multitude of vines from below the stage. Just as gravity started to take hold, Cradily was caught by his own creation. The vines wrapped tightly around Cradily's body, holding it secure.

The audience, and even Dawn, gasped.

"Wow! Typhlosion showed off Herculean strength with that Double Edge, but Cradily recovered by catching itself! What a brilliant use of Grass Knot!"

While Larkspur lost another inch for Double Edge, that ingenious recovery put him back in league with Dawn.

* * *

"My goodness…!" Brock stammered, eyebrow twitching.

"Huh? What's the matter, Brock?" Ash turned to his older companion.

"The way he's using Grass Knot… That kind of strength and dexterity is nearly unheard of; let alone from the air."

"Maybe it has to do with the kind of pokemon Cradily is?" Misty ventured to guess.

"Probably. It's probably rooted to a natural talent. But, still… Ash did say that he hasn't been a coordinator all that long. He must have a real intuition for training and nurturing grass type pokemon."

* * *

"What a move… You guys have been working hard!" Dawn smiled wide. She was somewhere between proud and astonished.

"We wanted to be able to match you!" Larkspur swallowed, holding an open palm outward. "Cradily, Ancientpower!"

Still suspended by the flora, Cradily launched another volley of boulders towards Typhlosion.

This time, though, the assault came with a secondary effect. The odd violet glow surrounding the rocks drifted between the artifacts, linking together with Cradily at the center. The colored patterns on the Barnacle's body began to glow, its body invigorated with a strange energy.

As a result of the power-up, Typhlosion could do nothing to avoid the barrage. Boulders pummeled her.

"Wow, a devastating hit from Cradily! And Ancientpower has, well, powered it up! The fossil pokemon really has a ghoulish look set up, now, and it's formidable to boot! What a turnaround for Larkspur!"

Dawn watched her points dip below her opponent's. "Really impressive. Typhlosion! You've still got some fight in you, right?"

The rubble began to shift and shudder, bursting open to give room to Typhlosion. The fire type groaned, shaking her head.

"I thought you would!" Dawn was relieved, but not quite shocked. "It's time to fight back! Use Swift, and combine it with Flamethrower!"

Typhlosion kicked the obtrusive boulders to the side, twisting her body back. Growling, she built up heat around her neck.

She spun forward, launching a glimmering swarm of stars. With them came a mighty, fiery roar, weaving a white-hot Flamethrower into their path. Swift spun circling ribbons across the battlefield, carrying a fierce pattern of red and orange flames that drew gasps from the audience.

Larkspur swallowed. "Um, Cradily…! Use-!"

The boy was a bit late on the draw. Scorching stars sliced through the vines suspending Cradily, sending it plummeting.

The Barnacle pokemon braced itself when the second half of the assault became obvious. It screeched, suddenly barraged by blazing stars before it could even hit the ground. The pokemon fell swiftly and ablaze, like a comet before the crowd's very eyes.

* * *

"What a move!" Ash marveled, clutching his knees. "Larkspur didn't know what hit 'im!"

"Pi-Pika~!" Pikachu cheered, bouncing in Ash's lap. His paws were held to his cheeks in eye-glittering wonder. What a beautiful attack!

"It was like a shooting star on stage…!" Misty cooed, sharing Pikachu's sentiments. "Your gal's a real artist, Ash."

"Mhm," the trainer nodded, almost absent mindedly.

"And, what a way to undercut Cradily's advantage. She brought the spotlight right back to her with that combination. An expertly thought out move," Brock remarked. "Larkspur's going to have to think fast if he wants to even the odds."

* * *

"Wow! What a counter from Dawn! She brought down the beast with that beautiful combination, which has put her in the lead!" Lilian narrated. "What will Larkspur do to turn things back in his favor!?"

"Y-you can do it, Cradily! Stand strong!" The boy coached with trembling knees. ' _I really picked the right person to tutor me.'_

The sturdy pokemon screeched, craning its neck to regain balance. It stood once more.

"Wow! Cradily is still with us! Its boost from Ancientpower must have given it the guts to tough out that flaming Swift!"

Larkspur nodded without much of a thought. "Use Brine!"

Cradily threw its head forward, spewing a monstrous burst of sea water towards Typhlosion. Crashing against the arena floor, it crested, threatening to flood Larkspur's end of the field, where Typhlosion stood.

"That's dangerous," Dawn muttered. Luckily, she'd already considered a counter to water type moves. "Use Flamethrower across the field in front of you!"

Typhlosion cried in response, tossing her head about. A roaring flame traced an arc in front of her, blasting the incoming water with intense heat.

The head of the wave was foiled, bursting in a boiling, strong-scented mist before the fire type.

"Good job," Dawn called, praising her pokemon. But, she'd counted her Torchics a bit too early. "Huh!?"

Over the first wave of Brine came a second wind, towering over Typhlosion. The awestruck pokemon was swept up in a brutal wave.

* * *

"Huh? What the hell just happened!?" Ash leaned forward, eyes wide. "I thought Typhlosion had it steamed out!"

"Well, that was Brine it was using, Ash." Misty reminded.

"Yeah, so what?"

"Brine is a unique water type move, in that it does much more damage when an opponent's taken a lot of damage, calling on the user's fighting spirit to call forth a second wind of power in the form of more water. With the shape Typhlosion's in, it was invigorated," Brock explained.

"Huh… Well, what do ya know." In that case, Dawn was in a pinch.

* * *

Meanwhile, Larkspur hadn't missed a beat. "Cradily, now!"

Dawn arched a brow. "Now, what?"

When Brine began to dip away into a puddle, Dawn understood. "Typhlosion!"

Hanging above the moisture, Typhlosion hung, suspended by her four limbs above the stage. Much like Cradily had been, itself, she was suspended by Grass Knot, immobile.

"Wow! A sneaky move by Larkspur and Cradily; Typhlosion was dragged up by Grass Knot in the middle of Brine's assault, leaving it completely defenseless! I'd say that Cradily is shaping up to be a personification of the forces of nature, now! A true terror of the deep!"

The back-and-forth between the coordinators generated quite the commotion amongst the crowd. Who would win was hard to tell at this point, though, the last stunt had put Larkspur safely in the lead.

"Typhlosion, you've got to break free! You can force your way out of there!" Dawn encouraged.

The Volcano pokemon tense, yanking on the vines with her forelegs. The vines wouldn't budge, so she tried to kick her feet. The pokemon whined, finding herself in a very poor position to throw her weight around. She could hardly move!

"No luck…" Dawn grit her teeth.

"And, Typhlosion is stuck! What a bind!"

"Use Solarbeam," Larkspur ordered, once again.

Cradily began gathering sunlight.

Dawn grimaced. "Typhlosion, Flamethrower!"

The Volcano pokemon reared her head back, building up heat. But, what came out barely amounted to an ember and a puff of smoke.

"Typhlosion!?" Dawn's fist clenched. That was worrying. Was she out of the fight?

* * *

"Now, that's weird… why didn't Typhlosion attack?" Ash stared on, perplexed.

"If I had to guess… I think it was Brine. Look at Typhlosion's fur; it's wet and matted, now."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I think I've run into this before," Misty added. "When some fire type pokemon become too wet, it affects their body temperature and affects their ability to work up a strong flame. It's happened at the gym; usually, the trainer ends up having to surrender.

"Well, that's bad…" Ash's shoulders slumped.

"Pikachu…" The electric mouse sulked. Poor Typhlosion!

"Hang on," Ash piped up. "Is that really bad for Typhlosion? Is it, like, dangerous!?"

"For pokemon that are very dependent on their flames, like the Charmander line, it could prove dangerous pretty quickly. But Typhlosion and its line don't even have their flames ignited outside combat, for the most part. So, it'd only become a problem if left untreated for an extended period of time."

Ash breathed a sigh of relief.

* * *

Dawn wasn't so at ease, when she watched a burst of solar energy crash into her suspended pokemon.

"Typhlosion!"

"Ouch! And, Larkspur lands the third move in a row! Suddenly, Dawn's in a really tight spot!" Lilian narrated.

Indeed, Dawn's points were beginning to narrow to little more than a sliver.

Things were looking grim.

One would think so, at least, if they didn't pick up on what Dawn had. Even as Typhlosion hung, weary, a faint orange glow began to take over her form. The flames around her neck began to re-emerge, dancing wildly in defiance of the damage done. Her ruby eyes snapped open.

"Is that… Blaze?" Dawn squinted. It wasn't quite the same as Infernape's, but then, nothing was. Still… Between the damaged sustained and the renewed flame… It just had to be!

A smile picked up on Dawn's lips. "Hang in there, Typhlosion! You can do this!"

"Sorry, Dawn, but I'm going to put an end to this!" Larkspur asserted. "Cradily, Ancientpower!"

Cradily tossed its head, summoning several more boulders high above Typhlosion. With a cry, it unleashed its avalanche.

"It looks like this match is all but over!" Lilian whooped.

Dawn smirked. She didn't seem convinced. "Flamethrower!"

Larkspur blinked. "But, didn't she just-?"

Typhlosion answered with a mighty roar. Turning her gaze to the falling rocks, she unleashed a brilliant, roaring hell into the air.

Ancientpower was blasted to rubble in the pillar of heat. The collision looked like an uncanny recreation of a small volcano erupting before the audience's eyes. Their gasps and hollers could almost be heard over the flames. Almost.

Dawn, back on her groove, punched into the air. "Now, blaze your way out of that Grass Knot!"

The aptly named Volcano pokemon flexed her muscles, enveloping her body in heat. The roots ensnaring her burnt and withered away, allowing her to land on all fours. She hissed, staring down with a predatory leer. She was going to recover her pride, here and now.

Larkspur's fist was trembling, and his irises with it. Once again, the match had been turned on its head in the blink of an eye. "Cradily… Use Brine!"

"Smokescreen!" Dawn countered.

Cradily belched up another wave, and Typhlosion spit out a thick fog.

"Things are coming down to the wire, here," Lillian narrated," but, just what could Dawn be up to, with that Smokescreen!?"

There was a gleam in the Twinleaf native's eye. "Flamethrower!"

A torrent of heat was added into the mix, igniting the smoke in a terrific explosion. Heat could be felt from all corners of the contest hall, forcing Dawn and Larkspur, and their pokemon, most of all, to brace themselves against the scalding, ashy winds.

Dawn squinted when she felt safe to, and threw an arm out. "Double Edge!"

The quadruped charged into the smoke, safe from evaporating waters to charge into a recoiling Cradily. Her full weight was thrown into the sturdy Barnacle pokemon, gearing it up for being tossed to the air once more.

Larkspur swallowed heavily when he spotted his own pokemon reeling above the smoke. "Brine!"

"Flamethrower!"

Cradily, lacking time to even right itself, unleashed a torrent of sea water upside-down. Typhlosion wouldn't come out of this without being drenched!

The Volcano pokemon begged to differ, tossing her head out with a final wave of flames.

Persistent fire boiled through the opposing wave, blasting Cradily with a brilliant last shot.

The fossil pokemon dropped trailed in smoke, crashing brutally into the stage. It rolled over, its eyes turned to swirls.

"Aaand, Cradily is unable to battle! That makes Dawn and Typhlosion the winners!" Lilian shouted. The crowd subsequently burst into enthusiastic applause.

"Oh, Typhlosion!" Dawn gushed, rushing onto the field. She pulled her larger pokemon into a tight hug. "You were amazing!"

The Volcano pokemon was quick to diffuse her flames, throwing her arms around Dawn. She found herself nearly collapsing on her trainer.

"Typhlosion!?" Dawn stammered, struggling to support the heavy pokemon. "I love ya, girl, but I can't exactly carry you in my arms anymore!"

The fire type whined, and her trainer suddenly felt a bit of guilt. "Aw, c'mon. I'll still brush your coat; Arceus knows you'll need it, after this."

The show of affection drew affectionate chatter from the crowd; at least, the chunk of the crowd that cared for the sentimental display.

"D-Dawn?" Larkspur had approached the victor, with Cradily nowhere to be seen. "Congratulations!"

"Larkspur!" Dawn turned her attention to the boy, holding her hand out. She smiled. "Thanks. Right back at you!"

"Huh?" The boy tilted his head, puzzled.

"That was a great battle; you almost beat me! I was actually shaking in my boots, for a minute."

"Oh, really? Well, thanks, I-"

"And now, it's time to congratulate our winner! Dawn, please meet with our judges to receive your prize!" Lilian interrupted.

Dawn side eyed the emcee. "A minute to wrap things up would've been nice." But, that was only loud enough for her peer to hear. She leaned in to whisper. "Hey, I'll catch you in a minute. We'll talk after, alright?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah. Again, congratulations!"

With that, he departed, and Dawn approached the trio of judges, with a weary, but prideful Typhlosion in tow. A small pedestal was quickly set on the scorched, drenched stage, where Dawn stood. Looking to Typhlosion, she felt a bit guilty hogging it all to herself, but then again, she still stood tall over her trainer.

"Now, I'm pleased to present the Cerulean Ribbon to our big winner, Dawn!" Lillian narrated, while the short official stepped forward, presenting an open box the bluenette. A navy blue ribbon with a teal medal was presented, and Dawn took it into her hand. It was gorgeous!

"From what I've gathered, Dawn, this is your fifth Kanto ribbon! Congratulations for participating so far, and putting on such passionate, beautiful, and even heart-stopping performances. We'd just love if we saw more of you at the Grand Festival!"

"Thank you so much!" Dawn beamed, hugging the ribbon to her chest. All of the praise was a bit overwhelming; but she couldn't complain! "You definitely will! My pokemon aren't done showing what they can do just yet!" She winked, turning her attention to her companion. "Right, Typhlosion?"

Baring her fangs in a smile, Typhlosion cried in agreement. She couldn't agree more!

"Well, there you have it! Thank you all for watching this contest, and thank you, to all the competitors who made the event possible! We hope to see you again soon!"

* * *

"Now, where did… There you are!" Dawn rounded a corner into the locker room, spotting her opponent sitting on a bench. "Sorry for the wait. Lilian really needs to learn some manners," she huffed, resting her hands on her hips. By now, the tired Typhlosion had been recalled.

"She could have chosen her words more carefully…" Larkspur nodded, hands in his lap.

"Mhm… Hey, what's that you're holding?" Dawn peered over, taking a seat beside the other coordinator.

"Oh, it's my ribbon case." He held out the box with velvet lining. All of the slots were filled, except one. "I've won four ribbons, so far… I'm so close to qualifying, but I can't quite make it." He clutched the case, turning his eyes towards the ceiling. "I wonder if I'll qualify in time."

"For the Grand Festival, right?" Dawn checked. Dumb question. "Hey, like you said, you're almost there! And you almost beat me! It's not like it starts tomorrow, you know."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Larkspur forced himself to smile. "I'll find a way, somehow… Thanks again, Dawn. Thanks for having faith in me. It means a lot, especially from a rookie."

"First of all, you're no rookie," Dawn corrected. "What you did with Cradily was something I'd expect from someone who's been on the scene for a while! And, yeah… I feel like it's the right thing to do, I guess. To look out for my fellow coordinators when they need a little push. I've hit some ruts in my career, and some really great friends backed me up. But, there's something about another coordinator giving it to you straight. That's what my first rival did for me."

"Yeah… well, I think you've done a great job! Ciara really looks up to you, too, you know. So does Paige."

"I didn't think I'd attract so much attention here… But, I'm glad I could help!" Dawn winked. She looked off, then. "Hey, I hate to split, but I should probably go meet up with Ash and the others. I'll catch you later, alright?"

"Yeah… I wouldn't want to keep them waiting. I'll see you at the Grand Festival, Dawn!"

"You know it!"

* * *

After a long, trying day of contest battles, Dawn saw a sight for sore eyes; Ash, Pikachu, Misty, and Brock had been waiting for her!

"Dawn!" Ash hollered, waving to his companion. "Way to go!"

"Pi-Pikachu!"

"You put on a great show!" Brock commended, beaming with a hand on his hip.

"Absolutely gorgeous! You did Cerulean proud," Misty added with a wink.

The bluenette felt absolutely giddy, approaching the group with a spring in her step. At first, she'd intended on stopping to accept her praise. But, with a second glance at the messy-haired boy at the forefront, she had other plans.

"You really smoked the competition!" Ash enthused, lit with his glowing charcoal eyes and a toothy grin. He felt like he was ready to burst with pride! "I knew you could… Uh, Dawn?" He hesitated, watching Pikachu swiftly leap onto Brock's shoulder. He turned back, just in time for…

"Mmph!"

Nimble fingers clutched the trainer's white collar, tugging inward to greet his lips with a swift, but forceful meeting with Dawn's own. A forward, playful kiss had been claimed before Ash could think to speak, stealing his breath away. When Dawn pulled back, he only stared, caught on her proud, smirking visage.

Only he was oblivious to his crimson, stupefied expression.

"Thanks, guys! It means a lot. And thank _you_ , Ash." Dawn folded her arms behind her back, quickly moving past her actions.

As if.

"Just what in the world was _that_ about!?" Misty gawked, face twisted in confusion.

"Oh, that? Sorry," Dawn waved her hand apologetically. "It was just part of a deal we had."

"A deal?" Brock's brows furrowed. "I'm a little lost."

"Oh… Yeah," Ash finally started to come to. "When she won the Wallace Cup, I think we said somethin' about celebrating like that, didn't we?"

Now, he understood why Pikachu had so swiftly abandoned his perch.

"I just took the initiative, this time," she boasted.

"Ash, you dog," Brock teased, throwing an arm around his best friend's shoulder. "Who knew you had it in you!?"

"Ahahaha," Ash laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm just as surprised as you!" Even as he said so, though, Dawn got a wink back for her efforts.

"Still," Misty interjected, squinting at the two. "Maybe you should ix-nay on the PDA."

"Huh?" Ash tilted his head. "P-D-what-now?"

Misty groaned, massaging her temples. "You're smacking lips in the middle of a contest hall, and you don't even… Argh! Ash Ketchum, you are hopeless!"

"The point is," Brock interjected, "we were thinking you should save that for somewhere more… Private," he squinted, waving his hand, as if that made this anymore discreet. He totally wasn't taking sides because he was envious. Nope, not at all.

Ash squinted at the doctor in training. "Who's 'we?'"

Dawn pointed a finger squarely towards Brock's chest. " _You_ lost the right to say _anything_ about PDA a long time ago, Romeo."

Ash and Misty erupted into laughter then. To Brock's dismay, Pikachu buried his face in the man's shoulder to hide his laughter in a tragic show of betrayal. Dawn even joined in, next, tickled by her own observation.

Brock grumbled, doing his very best to put on a sour face. But he, too, soon cracked. "Ahahaha!" He laughed loudly, rubbing the back of his head. "Alright, Dawn, alright. You've got me there!" She really wasn't wrong.

The group of friends enjoyed their mirth until they began to quiet, some wiping tears of laughter from their eyes.

"Excuse me," Nurse Joy called out, interrupting the group. "Is Miss Dawn Tsumura here?"

"Oh! Yes, I'm here!" Dawn chimed in, turning quickly to the nurse. Had she caused that much of a scene!? Her face was beginning to grow hot with shame.

"There's someone trying to reach you on the video phone."

"Oh," she exhaled quietly. Crisis averted. "Thank you, Nurse Joy!"

Quickly escaping her scolding, Dawn approached the closest video phone, only to be greeted by…

"Mom!?" Dawn gawked, rushing forward to lean her palms on the desk that supported the device. "Oh my gosh, hi!"

"Were you expecting someone else?" The mother hardly feigned offense long enough to come off genuine, chuckling at her own joke. "I just finished watching your contest, and I thought I'd give you a ring."

Smugness overcame Dawn as she flashed the azure ribbon in front of the screen. "Glad you tuned in! It's my fifth ribbon in Kanto! I'm all set for the Grand Festival!"

"Very nice. And, with so much time to spare, too! You handled that like an expert."

"Did I really?" Dawn's bravado quickly melted, a hand held to her chest. Johanna wasn't one to sugarcoat things at all; that was some serious praise!

"Now, you know I wouldn't lie, honey. The way you held up under pressure was no lucky mistake. And your attacks are as powerful as they are elegant, now! I'm very proud of you, Dawn."

Dawn folded her arms behind her back, normally pale cheeks dusted pink. Even if she'd stepped out of her mom's shadow… That praise was undeniably heartwarming. "Thanks a lot, Mom."

The conversation was beginning to run dry, and a tense silence came between the screens.

Johanna stroked Glameow's fur.

Dawn swallowed, averting her eyes to a nearby coordinator and his pokemon. "...Sorry I didn't get in touch with you before now."

"It's fine," Johanna dismissed, forcing a smile. "I was actually waiting, myself. I've spoken to Delia, but we thought it'd be best to… Not let any sensitive information get out." Choking on her words shocked the Sinnohan woman. She was normally tough and pragmatic to the core. But, every parent's heart could crack when their own was in peril.

Dawn nodded without a word. That made sense.

"...Besides. I was sure you needed your space. At least until you were comfortable showing your face in public. You certainly did today."

"Hey, we can't hide forever, right?" Dawn winked, reflecting on the same advice she'd given Ash. "We've all got each other, so there's no need to worry!"

She braced herself for the inevitable.

"You know that's when I worry the most." Johanna's sure blue brows furrowed. The usual playful tone in her voice was lacking. "And you know I have a reason to, this time."

Dawn pursed her lips, kicking at the floor. "I know."

"Still… You and Ash should be proud of yourselves. Your heroics led to the rescue of many pokemon, and even a couple of trainers."

Dawn swallowed, flicking her eyes left and right. The hall was busy enough with chatter, and no one seemed to be paying attention. "Did we, really!?" Back after the fact, she didn't even want to so much as look at the news.

Johanna nodded. "Hm. For all of your troubles, you saved innocent lives, and got a few crooks locked up. I can't say I'm not proud."

"Thanks," Dawn responded curtly. She was happy for that, truly. But it wasn't something she felt like dwelling on again.

"...Oh, on a lighter note. I heard you and Ash have gotten 'closer,' lately."

"Oh! Right…" Dawn turned crimson, brushing her fingers through one of her blue tresses. "That's another thing I shoulda caught you up on."

Johanna chuckled. "Please, dear. It was plain as day that it'd happen, eventually." Looking around the room, the regaled top coordinator sought out the face of the other half of the couple. "Speaking of which, where is he?"

"Right here!" Ash chirped up, his ears absolutely burning up. He knew when he was being talked about - usually. "Hey, Johanna!"

The blue haired master coordinator hummed in greeting. "Good to see you, Ash. Congratulations on your new relationship, by the way," she praised, perhaps cheekily. "Mind Dawn, though; she can be quite the handful."

Dawn huffed, about to defend herself while Ash snickered.

However, one face unfamiliar and one face Johanna knew flashed before the screen, blocking the happy couple.

"Johanna! You know Ash well enough to know they're equal!" Brock chided.

"Yeah, if anyone needs to be careful, it's Dawn! Ash is a circus all by himself!" Misty agreed. "... Oh! Right, sorry, Brock told me a minute ago that you're Dawn's mom! I'm Misty, an old friend of Ash's and a new friend of Dawn's! Lemme tell you, if she wasn't such a good coordinator, I'd snatch her to be my pupil! She's quite the talent with water and ice!"

Johanna chuckled. "Oh, I know who you are. Your sisters are, ah, a conversational topic here in Sinnoh. Quite a few coordinators take cues from their water ballets, and I can't help if they got inspiration from a certain Wallace for them… But, that aside, I simply can't let you take away Dawn." The woman winked. "She's following in her mother's footsteps, after all."

"Oh?" Misty asked. "Dang, that kinda sucks! Oh well, me an' her can play in the water all we like together!"

"Now, that would be great! Make sure to battle my daughter lots, Misty! I know she and Ash really push each other, so help out with pushing her forward, too, hm?"

On that note, Ash wrapped an arm around Dawn's shoulder, poking his tongue out. "Hey! Don't try nosing in on this! Dawn's a great battling partner; she's smart as heck and won't go down without a fight!"

"I have to be, battling you," She answered with a laugh. "You're always packing really powerful punches with your moves! Your strategy's great, don't get me wrong, but the sheer impact your pokemon have…!"

Brock coughed into his hand. "So, uh, you see, Johanna, this is how they flirt: they just compliment each other's battling style…"

The woman nodded. "Not a bad relationship. Alright, kids, I just wanted to check in. Dawn, I expect to be the first one you call after you win the Grand Festival, okay?"

Lifting a fist, the young coordinator smiled. "You got it, Mom! I'm going to bring home a trophy for sure! I'll repay that ribbon you gave me, gold for gold! You'll hold onto something for me this time!"

With that, Johanna hung up. No sooner had all four of the teens gotten up than they spotted another older woman waiting on them. It was Glenda. At her side, one of her Persians - this one with pinker ears than the others.

"So, that's your mother," the woman noted. "I wonder why I didn't see it before. You must straighten your hair, because Johanna's was much, much curlier. She wore it in an afro, actually, if I recall."

Blushing a bit, Dawn played with her hair. "I mean, yeah… Mine is kinda wavy naturally, but it's super frizzy, so…" Shaking her head, she focused on her rival. "Anyway, am I gonna see you at the Grand Festival?"

"Since you've come such a long way, then, yes, I will see you there," Glenda subtly corrected, reminding Dawn which of the two of them was the elder and therefore more experienced. Casting a sidelong glance at Ash, she tutted a warning: "I'm saying this because I like you and I don't know if your mother's given you the advice she and I and every other successful young lady's gotten, but keep your head in the matches and out of your boyfriend's face while you're preparing."

Despite turning tomato red at being called out so openly, Dawn couldn't help but think of battling Glenda again. After tangoing with Ariana's Persian, she wanted to see how she would fair against Glenda's once more. She raised a fist, smilingly wildly. "I'm gonna give the Grand Festival my all!"

Glenda nodded and walked off, leaving our four heroes in the Pokemon Center, all of their hearts ablaze. There would be a short interlude before Dawn and Ash's final tests, but they had so much training to do before then!


	70. Grooming for the Future

**And, we're back! Thank you so much for your patience, readers! We needed a break from writing this story, but we're back on board. We hope to update regularly again, though, please forgive us if it occasionally takes a bit longer than usual. The show will go on!**

 **Please, if you have any thoughts or comments, leave us a review!**

* * *

"So, if we keep going from here, we'll get to Vermillion, right?" Dawn queried, barely dodging a pedestrian that rudely shoved passed her. Some bitter utterance was mumbled under her breath. Some nerve he had!

"Right," Brock affirmed, taking the lead. Just to be sure, he peered down at a miniature map that could fit snugly inside a pocket. We'll cut through Celadon City and cut through Saffron, then head south to Vermillion. It should only take a day or two."

"Yeah, but couldn't we've just cut through the woods? That's what we did, last time." Ash cocked a brow, opting to scan the skyline. Countless skyscrapers towered over them, once again. Celadon always tended to make him feel a little dizzy.

"Do you really wanna get lost out there?" Misty folded her arms behind her head, shooting a glance at Ash.

The trainer quickly caught on, sticking his tongue out at the redhead. "We were fine, last time."

"Yeah, but just to be safe." Brock squinted at the guide in front of his eyes. "Besides… We're making a quick stop, first!" As he said this, he swallowed, his features unusually stiff.

"I really wanna see Ambipom," Dawn whined. "What're we stopping for, anyway?"

"There's someone I've been meaning to have a talk with."

"Well, that's cryptic." Ash deadpanned.

"Another beautiful girl?" Misty dropped in.

"No… I mean, yes! But, that's not the point! I think you'd do well to meet her too, Dawn. She's an expert on caring for pokemon, and we could all stand to learn from that."

The Cerulean Gym Leader blinked. "You don't mean…?"

"Wait, do you mean Suzie!?" Ash blurted out.

"Hm." Brock nodded. His brows furrowed. "I've wanted to speak with her since I changed my path, but I just haven't had the time."

"Oh, then I could get my pokemon pampered~!" Misty gushed.

"The breeder!?" Dawn clasped her hands together. "Oh, I'd love to see her again!"

Brows furrowed, Brock did a double-take. "Again?"

"We saw her at the Wallace Cup! She was the guest judge, and we got to catch up after it was done. Actually, we said we'd drop by, sometime," Ash filled him in. "No reason not to, now!"

"Especially after we skipped her last time we were here," Dawn directed at the elder trainer.

"I told you I was sorry."

"Pikapi, Pika-ka!" Pikachu interrupted. "Pikachu!" He asserted, crossing his arms.

"Huh? What is it, Pikachu?" Misty tilted a head at Ash's fuzzy companion.

"I think he's sayin' that it doesn't matter now," Ash ventured to guess. "The point is, we're here!"

"That's a very good point, Pikachu!" Dawn praised, reaching over to scratch his fur. "Thank you!"

Brock took the opportunity to lean over, whispering to the electric mouse. "Looks like you're a chip off the ol' Brock! I bet you've had to break up a few spats in my absence, right?"

Ash squinted. "You know I can hear you."

Brock coughed, turning his attention away from his friend. "...Oh, hey! There it is!"

"Great!" Ash cheered, turning towards the boutique. "I think Pikachu could use a visit with her right now, anyway. She oughta be able to help you out, right, buddy?"

"Chu," Pikachu curtly agreed. As far as his issues were concerned right now, he was content to live by 'out of sight, out of mind.' But, maybe Ash had a point… At the very least, a nice massage would provide some temporary comfort.

However, as the gaggle of teens and their pokemon companions reached the door, they found the lights off and a closed sign on the door. This, of course, did not stop Empoleon. The picture of consumer arrogance, he jerked on the door twice before Dawn gently put a hand over his flipper and shook her head.

"They're not here."

"Empo!" he squawked indignantly. What could possibly be more important than him and his beauty treatments?!

Crossing her arms, Dawn pulled her starter to the side to have a few words about respecting business practices.

Misty, meanwhile, took time to read the note taped to the inner part of the glass door while Ash and Pikachu watched Empoleon be scolded and Brock quietly wondered if he should view this as a reprieve or delaying the inevitable.

"They're out to lunch," she deduced.

"Oh, cool, we should go eat, too!" Ash replied.

Brock grunted. "We just ate."

"We could eat again."

Seeing where this was going, Dawn spoke up. "We could go battle. I remember there being some training fields here last time. Or, there's gotta be, anyway. It's a city! What city doesn't have training fields?"

Sufficiently distracted, Ash pumped a fist. "Oh, yeah, training! Now, that I know we could all go for!"

Misty threw Dawn a grateful smile and a knowing look. Ash was the same as he ever was, at heart; he had two great loves: battle and food.

* * *

Once the gang reached a cluster of battlefields, they found themselves content. Misty was more interested in borrowing Dawn's PokeDex and reading about the various exotic pokemon from Sinnoh than battling, which, truthfully, had hurt Ash's feelings, especially since Dawn was focusing on coordinating moves rather than flat out battling, and Brock was too occupied by his upcoming confession to help Ash out any.

("It's not a confession!" Ash would insist. "You're just admitting something!")

So, while Ash was off to his quarter of the field, Dawn had tried to hog the drier ground. It was quickly proving to be an exercise in futility.

"Rura, please! We need to try your other moves out! I know you've got Fury Swipes… But, even that needs work…"

The little fox, on the other hand, looked up from the mud, his bell, legs, and muzzle caked in it. He shook and Dawn flinched, barely avoiding being caked.

 _~Fury Swipes? Okay! I can do that, Dawn!~_

Reaching forward, Rura's little claws extended and glowed. First with his left paw, and then his right, he swiped at the air. He struck it a few times before looking up at Dawn for approval.

She smiled, putting a hand under his chin. He was really wild; all of his moves were so practical, not really flashy. Even if she couldn't make him look stylish yet, maybe she could work him putting more flare into his attacks. "Very good!" she said, trying to be gentle. "But… Can you try scratching a big line in the mud? A big X? I'd love to see you do that!"

The tiny fox's tail wagged and his eyes seemed to shimmer. _~I can do that! Watch me, watch me!~_

Attacking once more, Rura bounced a little higher in the air, slashing at the ground. With each slash, the X's legs grew a bit wider. By the end of it, he could sit neatly in the middle of the X, chest puffed out proudly.

 _~How was that?!~_

It was better, truthfully. Dawn still wasn't crazy about the style. It was very rough around the edges; even rougher than anything she'd done with Mamoswine! It reminded her of Maddox, quite frankly. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"You're so good at listening," she said, squatting down to scratching behind Rura's ears.

 _~Heh, thanks!~_ With that, the cub let out a yip and lifted his paws.

Dawn, in turn, squealed. His paws were super wet and cold from the mud!

Meema, across the field, had been watching keenly as Dawn trained her cub. While she trusted the two humans, she was ever nervous of how her child behaved around them. Still, she noted how patient Dawn was with him. Maybe she was only being lenient because he was a cub, though.

As she was beginning to dwell on her past, Ash's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Meema!" he repeated for the third time.

 _~Leader, I am sorry. I was watching your mate and my cub.~_

Brushing aside his typical confusion with Meema's terminology, Ash laughed her apology off. "It's fine! I just wanted to get you in on the training. I think you could use it, you know?"

 _~Of course.~_ The Zoroark bowed her head, sauntering onto the field. The concept of a designated spot for battling still puzzled her, but her last match had given her a good enough idea of how it worked. _~I'll do my best.~_

"That's all I can ask for!" Ash gave the pokemon a thumbs-up, before holding his hand to his chin in thought. "Now, who should I put ya up against…"

"Pi… Pika!" Pikachu volunteered from atop Ash's shoulder.

"Huh? You wanna do it? You sure, Pikachu?" Ash turned to his companion.

The mouse nodded, taking a deep breath. "Pika, Pikachu!" He was going to have to tackle this, sometime. Besides, it was just a spar against one of his friends. What harm could it do?

Meema blinked at his odd behavior, but kept silent. Not looking to speak out of turn, she crouched, slowly stalking her end of the fray. Icy blue hues clung to Pikachu, sure and imposing. Surveying for the slightest hint of movement. Pikachu, for his part, also dropped to all fours, circling Meema in turn.

However, when she darted forward, a blur of black and red, Pikachu froze. The Pursuit attack struck him, making him skid across the battlefield… And, Pikachu shook his head.

"Pika!"

He darted back to Ash's side, scrambling up to sit on the boy's shoulder. He slumped. It was too much. Between Meema's colors and the still fresh memories of being forced to fight, he couldn't.

Ash, for his part, only furrowed his brows and let out a resigned sigh. "I get it, buddy. It's okay." He turned to the fox. "Meema, I'll find you another partner."

While Ash turned to the rest of the waiting team, Meema looked at the mouse's striped back. _~Is it alright for him to do this… Pikachu,~_ she called out, only to him, _~Aren't you worried about your status?~_

The mouse's ears twitched. He had clearly heard her. But, judging by the way he bristled ever so slightly, pressing closer to Ash's neck and shoulder, he didn't like what he heard.

Meema decided to let the subject drop. She worried quietly if she had crossed a line, clawing at the dirt below her in a bid to ignore the tense silence. Even still… He appeared to be second only to Ash, yet she hadn't seen him fight once.

Ash felt Pikachu tense, and rubbed under his chin, oblivious to what'd been said. "Okay…. How about… Misdreavus!" He grabbed a pokeball, tossing it.

The open capsule spat out a flickering glow, but the shine quickly vanished. Misdreavus, chipper and playful as ever, circled around Ash immediately. She looked around, delighted to see the new area.

"Misdreeea-vus," she sang, settling before Ash after having had her curiosity sated for the moment.

"Hey, Misdreavus! You ready to do some training?"

The little ghost nodded, eyes gleaming with enthusiasm. "Mi-Mi!"

"Great! Well then… Meema, this is who you're battling!"

The Zoroark dropped onto all fours, sniffing. Whatever that floating thing was, it was clearly a ghost. Misdreavus, ghost type… That didn't tell her a lot. She looked to Ash, awaiting orders.

"Meema, you use Night Slash! Misdreavus, use Power Gem!"

The dark type rushed forward, claws aglow with potent energy. As she struck the air, she found the form of the ghost faded before her eyes, like fog retreating from the morning light. Before she could hit the ground, though, she found herself pummeled by raining rocks.

"Misdreeeee!" the ghost sang, delighted in her ruse.

Ash whistled. "Huh. Wow. Well, between you and Haunter, I'm starting to regret not using ghost types sooner, Misdreavus." Turning back to the task at hand, Ash was about to order another blow when he noticed Meema clutching her side even though she continued to stand. The trainer's eyes widened. "Brock!"

The doctor-in-training began jogging over as Ash ran to Meema's side.

 _~Leader, I am fine. Please, let us continue the match!~_ Meema insisted.

However, when Ash put his hand where her paw was, the fox snarled loudly before whimpering in shame.

"Meema…" Ash whispered.

"What's wrong?" Brock asked as he arrived.

Ash stepped back, letting his friend have a look as the girls walked over as well. "I don't know. She's clutching her side."

Brock rubbed his hands over Meema's ribs, noting her reactions. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, it looks like it's just a bruise. A big one, but we'll just add some more protein to her diet for a few days and give her a heating pad to lay on when we get back to a Pokemon Center. It seems pretty old, since she's still in pain but I can't feel what I should for a newer bruise. You said you had a match with Silver, right? She's probably been hiding it since then." He moved his hand from the fox's ribs to her forelegs. "... No wonder she bruises easy, she's skinny. She's not skin and bones, but, geez, this isn't good for her. Battling underweight puts strain on pokemon."

Ash crossed his arms, glancing at Dawn.

She sighed, holding Rura in her arms. "Actually… We've been trying to feed her more."

"... Ah," Brock said. He looked to the fox. "What's up? Are they feeling you something you don't like."

Meema seemed to freeze, the look of a trapped animal on her face. _~I… No. Leader gives me good food. Plenty. I am sorry. I will not trouble our pack again. Please do not worry over me.~_

Brock frowned at the blatant brush off. He shook his head and stood. "I've never needed a diagnosis beyond switching diets or providing vitamins. I can't help with issues like this…" The doctor looked off. "But, Suzie works with beauty-focused parts of raising pokemon. I'm sure she's helped underweight pokemon before." He sighed. "I guess it's time to see her."

Noticing the tense atmosphere, Misdreavus let out an unhappy chirp. "Mi…"

"It's not your fault, Misdreavus," Ash assured.

"Well… We were going to see Suzie, anyway. Might as well give Meema a little TLC!" Dawn looked down at herself. "Plus, I think Rura and I both need to clean up, too. Everyone could use a little freshening up."

Misty grinned. "I could use some new make-up, too…" She recalled Scissor Street having a few human boutiques.

"You wear make-up now?!"

"Ash, you've seen me wear make-up."

"Yeah, but without looking like a clown!"

For a brief moment, Brock was transported back to the first time they'd gone through Kanto together. He and Dawn looked on as Misty grabbed Ash's collar, though quickly backed off when she realized how close to her height he was getting. Her head start on puberty might not last forever!

* * *

Brock's fingers, normally sure and dexterous as only a caretaker's could be, roughly gripped the cold, metallic handle of the entrance to the salon, marked by the design of a Vulpix on the glass door. He hoped that his sweaty palms wouldn't be noticed by the next of his friends to handle the door. Or, worse; if even Suzie-!

"Earth to Brocko!"

"Eh?" The student jolted out of his thoughts, looking back to his squinting companion.

"C'mon, man. We're gonna grow old, out here." Ash quipped, a hand slid into his jacket pocket. With Meema's condition, it was hard not to be a little antsy.

"Don't you want to rush in and see Suzie? I'm sure she'll be happy to see all of you!" Sure, she'd made Dawn's acquaintance, too, but it sounded like she and her older companions went way back!

"Oh, uh… Yeah! Of course! Sorry, I just, uh… Got lost in thought a little, ahah!" Brock stammered, plastering on a wide, enthusiastic smile.

Misty squinted at the man's strange behavior.

"Well, then, c'mon!" Ash urged.

Brock swallowed, pushing the door handle. A gentle chime accompanied their entry.

"Why, hello there! Can I… Oh, hello~!"

A gentle hand had been tending to rounds of brushing golden, silky fur, suddenly dropping the tool, to the recipient's dismay. Wide-eyed, Suzie turned swiftly to the group of travelers. "Ash, Pikachu, Misty, Brock… And, Dawn! My, what a surprise!" The woman gushed, turning to give her full attention. "Welcome back to my salon!"

"Told you we'd be back," Ash boasted, clapping a hand on Dawn's shoulder while the other reached to stroke Pikachu. He was relieved to get that promise out of the way.

"This is my first time, but thank you~!" Dawn clasped her hands together, doed eyes darting the establishment. It was… Very simple, actually; only showing the bare essentials! Yet, it already felt so cozy!

"Great to see you, Suzie!" Misty greeted, flashing a smile at the Breeder.

"T-thank you very much!" Brock managed, bowing his head to his superior. He at least showed a hint of a smile, now. "It's an honor!"

"Now, Brock. You don't need to be modest; I'm sure you're every bit the breeder I am, now!" Suzie flashed a bashful smile, dismissively waving her hand.

The student swallowed hard. "Yes… Thank you, Suzie, but about that…"

"Nine~!"

Trotting over, the creamy colored fox brushed her cheek against Brock's hip.

Bending down on one knee, Brock hugged the fox. "Hey, I know that greeting… Someone evolved from a Vulpix, huh? You're all big and pretty, huh?" He smiled down at her while the fire type wagged her tails at her. "I'll come visit more, if I can. Would you like that?"

"Ni," she whined, licking his cheek.

"That'll be a great time for us to catch up on breeder talk!" Suzie interjected.

Brock froze before standing up, coughing into his fist. "Uh… Suzie… I'm, uh, not a breeder anymore. I'm… going to school to be a pokemon doctor."

Without missing a beat, the shop owner snapped her fingers. "Oh! That explains why you haven't had time to visit. Told you he was just busy, Ninetales!" She smiled. "Congratulations! How close are you to being finished? It'll be even better to share our different views on pokemon care!"

Taken back, the former gym leader sputtered. "You're not angry?!"

She shook her head. "Nah!"

Sighing in relief, Brock put his hands on his hips. "If you're not mad, I'd definitely like to come visit when I can. I miss Ninetales and I'd love to catch up with you."

With her patience wearing thin, Dawn looked up from the grooming station she'd been cross examining. "Hey, can we get some work done, Suzie?" She nudged Empoleon, who hopped from flipper to flipper behind her. "I know at least four of us that could use some freshening up."

Suzie giggled. "I'll take care of your pokemon. Dawn, you can use the bathroom to freshen up if you want."

"Thanks, Suzie!"

With that matter settled, the Breeder turned towards Ash, leaning towards Pikachu. "I suppose you'll want to be pampered again, won't you, Pikachu?"

Her sudden move forward made Pikachu tense, his jagged tail flicking anxiously behind Ash's head. "Pika," he curtly answered, forcing a smile.

"Oh, dear… You seem jumpy; not at all like you were when I saw you a few weeks ago! Is something wrong, Pikachu?"

Embarrassed, the mouse averted his eyes, looking up to his trainer instead. The entire group quickly grew remarkably quiet.

Frowning, Ash ruffled a hand through his messy hair. "Well, yeah… The thing is… Pikachu… We kinda went through something traumatic, not too long ago." He wasn't keen on recalling details. "Up until now, the thought of getting into a battle makes him kinda panicky. He can't compete. Doesn't like being in shady, narrow spaces, either."

"Goodness," Suzie cupped her hands over her mouth. "And, he's normally so cheerful… You poor thing." She pursed her lips, slowly holding out a hand, palm up, to offer Pikachu. "What kind of symptoms is he showing?"

Satisfied with Suzie's tender approach, Pikachu nuzzled his fuzzy cheek into her palm. "Chu~"

"A bit of free-floating anxiety," Brock added. "I wouldn't say he's depressed; he's still often in a good mood, but it's not hard to stir him up. A rapid heartbeat shows when he begins to grow upset, and his electric shocks lack focus. We've made a little progress, but he still can't battle."

"Goodness… That could be a couple of things." The green-haired woman reached to massage the mouse's scalp. "Well, I'll do my best to help you at least a little, Pikachu."

"Pikachu," he thanked Suzie, gratefully nodding his head. He had no reason to turn her aid down!

"Thanks so much, Suzie." Ash bowed his head. "It means a lot."

"Of course; I wouldn't feel right turning away a friend in need! Now," Suzie continued, turning back to the group. "I hope you don't mind if I take care of Pikachu first? All of your pokemon will be next!"

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Brock, who was stroking Ninetales' fur, waved his free hand. "We can be patient."

"Of course! Anything for my Pika-pal," Misty agreed. Seeing him in this condition just wasn't right!

"Thank you. Now, Pikachu, if you could sit atop this counter, please?"

"Pi!" Pikachu hopped down from Ash's shoulder, rushing across the tiled floor before hopping atop a counter, accompanied by a couple brushes, small mirrors, and other tools. The appliances sent a chill down his spine, before he reminded himself that this wasn't an unwelcome hideaway; these were the tools of a friend! He had to stay grounded, he'd tell himself, crossing his arms, as he was approached by the green-haired specialist.

"Good, now, let me just take a quick look at you, if that's alright…" Suzie waited for Pikachu's approval before brushing her fingers across his fur. "You're clean; not at all unkempt. But, your coat is lacking that usual luster!" She tutted. For Ash's Pikachu, that was quite unusual!

"What's that about?" Concerned, Ash folded his arms.

"I'm sure it's not his grooming, especially with Brock around to take care of him… It must be from stress."

"Pika," Pikachu agreed. He was no expert on biology, but he had felt less than lustrous, lately.

"Poor Pikachu," Misty tutted, one of her fists clenching remarkably tight. She was ready to turn whoever upset him inside out.

"Now, could I see your mouth, please?" A small dental mirror was held up.

"Pi!" Pikachu flinched, backing away from the tool.

"Hey, buddy," Ash interjected, stroking his head. "It's okay. Remember, it's Suzie. You're in good company!"

"Chu…" Well, Ash did have a point. With that, he opened his mouth wide, baring his fangs.

The tiny instrument was wielded with care, studying Pikachu closely. "No signs of physical trauma I can see… I don't have to ask whether he's been to a Pokemon Center since. The roots of the symptoms must be purely emotional."

"Pikachu," he agreed. Minus relative exhaustion after the fact, he hadn't really been hurt physically at all. He counted himself lucky for that, at least.

"Hm…" Suzie hummed. "Pikachu, does your panic spike in response to a particular memory? Is that why you become stressed when presented with a battle?"

A curt nod was Suzie's answer. Pikachu had few words to give; it was hard not to feel a bit of shame.

"I'm sure you wouldn't enjoy recounting the event… In any case, I think I have a diagnosis for Pikachu, Ash."

By now, Dawn had rejoined the group, squeezing by to stand beside Ash. Overhearing the last bit, she clutched a hand over her chest. "What is it, Suzie? It's not too serious, is it?"

"You might want to consult with a pokemon psychologist, but I'm pretty confident that Pikachu's suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder."

Each of the group looked among themselves. They each had vague notions of what post-traumatic stress disorder was. It wasn't that long, after all, that war veterans had returned from their own trials. The conflict hadn't been particularly long or intense on a global scale, but it was enough to bring about public knowledge of a previously rarely seen issue.

Ash's focus, of course, was just getting help for his partner. "So, he can get help?"

Suzie nodded. "Yes. I know a couple of good doctors, so I can give you their names. Until you can make an appointment, though, I recommend a couple of things. For starters, I'm going to call up another shop on Scissor Street that sells disability aids. They've got an item called a thunder vest; it'll help calm Pikachu down during any episodes. You get there and pick it up after this, okay?"

"Okay."

"Next, when you're introducing Pikachu back into battles, start by letting him do all of the movement with a pokemon he's really familiar with. I remember you having a Bulbasaur last time? Electric types don't hurt grass too much, so that'd be a good start." She sighed. "Finally, you should see a doctor. I know you're busy on the road, but at least visit one before the conference if you're headed to it. It's going to be loud and very intense there, and I don't know how healthy that'll be for Pikachu."

The trainer nodded furiously. "I'll do it! Thank you, Suzie." He paused. "But… What's a thunder vest? I've never heard of that item before. It's not like a thunder stone, is it…?"

The breeder laughed a bit. "... I can see how you'd think that! No, it just helps reduce anxiety in pokemon. It applies a little pressure, like a hug. It's soothing. Some people even use something like that by wearing heavy clothes!"

"Great!" Ash smiled happily.

Pikachu, happy with his diagnosis, hopped off the counter, contenting himself to wait on one of the salon chairs.

"With him okay… I got one more I need you to look at." Releasing Meema, Ash scratched behind her head. "Brock said you'd be better for trying to get her to eat."

The breeder's eyes widened at the massive dark type's sudden appearance. Dismissing how she now tracked mud in the shop, Suzie tried to figure out the pokemon's typing and appearance. She wasn't sure what was too skinny for a pokemon she didn't know. Nevertheless, she patted her grooming station. "Well, if it's Brock suggesting you come, and he's a doctor, it must not be anything medically wrong with her, and she must like her food okay."

Brock stepped forward, conversing with the other breeder. "Ash told me she won't before her cub's had enough. She also has a tendency to hide her injuries, which is why we noticed she was so skinny. She's got some bad bruises on her ribs and fatigues easy. Her body fat isn't high enough for her to be healthy."

Suzie ran her hands through Meema's long red fur, causing the fox to look to Ash to make sure this was safe. When the trainer walked over and nodded, she calmed and tolerated Suzie's touch.

"Hm… I'm not expert on… uh…"

"Zoroark," Brock provided.

"Right!" Suzie said gratefully. "I'm no expert on what Zoroark should look like, but most fox-like pokemon have more wispy, less coarse hair. This feels like a Raticate's bristles."

"... She isn't supposed to feel that way?" Ash asked. He looked back to Dawn. Wouldn't she have known, with the difference between Meema and Rura?

The coordinator shrugged. "Don't look at me! Empoleon was downy and soft when he was a Piplup, but now he feels slick and metallic!" She looked down at Rura, whose paws had been at least washed clean. "I just thought it was 'cause he was a baby!"

 _~I'm not a baby!~_ Rura insisted.

Suzie squinted. "Wait, that's her cub?" She looked between the two. "Ash… How did you get Meema?"

"We helped her out. She was being harassed by a poacher."

"And, is she social or anti-social?"

"Uh… Social, I guess? She's a little different, real formal, but she plays nice."

"Different? How? Like… Does she use any titles or anything?"

"Yes!" Ash nodded.

Suzie concluded her assessment, turning to the pokemon. "Meema… You used to be a part of a pack, didn't you?"

The fox froze. Her ears pinned back and she looked away.

"... I won't push." She looked towards Ash. "She experienced a period of food shortage. I don't know if her old pack disbanded, or there was a famine and the pack just couldn't find prey, or even if she existed in an illegal Safari Zone without proper care." She crossed her arms. "She's still scared there won't be enough food, for whatever reason. Until she opens up about why, she won't ever stop trying to focus on… Rura, was it? Rura's feeding."

"So, we can't do anything?!" Ash asked in horror.

"Unfortunately, not really. You need to the mother and cub a particularly high protein-high fat pokechow." The breeder sighed. "That's all you can do until you can assure her whatever happened won't happen again."

Ash nodded. "Right." He looked to the fox, who still wasn't acknowledging them. "... I'm sure this is kinda nosy, huh, Meema? Wanna have a break and play with Rura while everyone else gets pampered a little?"

 _~Yes, Leader,~_ she finally responded, hopping down from the station and walking over to Dawn to take back her cub.

"Have fun, you two," Dawn encouraged, gently letting down Rura. He scurried off to chatter to his less enthusiastic mother, who pleaded him to avoid making a mess in another human's domain.

"Now, if each of you would like to have a pokemon cared for, you're welcome to release them!"

"Well, y'already took care of Pikachu; you don't mind if I call on another, right?"

"Of course not! Consider Pikachu's examination a special gift to a friend," Suzie winked.

"Thanks a lot! In that case… Rosa, come on out!" Ash lightly tossed a pokeball.

The Lucario appeared in a flash of light, ruby eyes scanning her new surroundings.

"Oh, my! A Lucario. I don't think I've ever seen one in Kanto!" Suzie cooed, kneeling to level with the Aura pokemon. "It's nice to meet you, Rosa!"

Ash quickly butted in. "It's Suzie, the judge from the Wallace Cup, remember? You heard her after the appeals!

Quickly recalling her voice and appearance with that reminder, Rosa greeted Suzie with a happy yip.

"I'm not too familiar with Lucario, but she does look happy and healthy!"

"Well, I know someone who won't want to miss out on some care," Dawn added, turning to Empoleon. "Ready, big guy?"

"Pol!" The Emperor squawked.

"Suzie's going to give you a check-up!" Dawn enthused.

"Pol!"

"I think I'll choose… Marill!" Misty cooed, calling on the small water type.

"Marill, Mar!" The small Water Mouse squeaked, hopping into her trainer's arms.

"I'm sure you could use a check-up after evolving… Why don't you join us, Swampert?" Brock called on the Mudfish, who took up quite a bit of space on the tiled floor.

"Swamp."

"I guess the theme of the day is water type pokemon," Suzie giggled. "Except for Lucario, of course! Hm…" The shop was suddenly beginning to feel crowded. "I'd love to tend to you all, but on my own, I might have my work cut out for me," Suzie mused. "One moment, please!"

The group watched as Suzie headed towards the back of the salon, stopping only when a door towards the end of the hallway opened.

"Oh, he looks positively stunning~!" A stout, middle-aged woman stepped out, and along with her, an Alakazam whose mustache appeared shiny and silky-smooth. Loosely holding his twin spoons, the PSI pokemon looked content.

"Of course! He always had it in him; and, we're always happy to help bring it out!" A third figure stepped out afterward; a tall, broad-shouldered man sporting something like a smock, decorated with the rare smudge of excess beauty products and polish. He sported sharp features, a strong jaw, and short, dirty blond hair that hung over his forehead in a fringe. "Your Alakazam will… Oh, Suzie! Did you need something? I was just showing our latest customer out."

"Actually, Zane, there is!" Suzie chimed, turning back to the customer momentarily. "Pardon us, Ma'am, but it's a bit of a busy day. We hope you and your pokemon are satisfied, and that you visit us again soon! Remember to let your outer and inner beauty shine~!"

With that, Zane turned his attention to the front of the salone. A wide smile spanned the man's face. "Brock! Is that you!?"

"Eh…? Zane!" Brock gawked at the slightly older man. He smiled once his confusion had passed. "In the flesh," he chuckled. "So you did start that joint salon, after all!"

"We did!" The man boasted. "And, it's nice to see you, Ash and Misty. And, uh…" He looked to the last companion, racking his brain over whether he'd seen her before and had just forgotten.

"Dawn! Nice to meet you," she greeted with her usual cheer. "And, you're…?"

"Oh, excuse me! I guess an introduction's in order," Suzie interrupted. "Ash, Misty, Brock, I'm sure you remember Zane. He's my business partner, and my fiancé!"

"Fiancé?" Brock echoed. An old, familiar pang resurfaced in his chest. Nonetheless, he forced himself to smile. "That's great. Congratulations, both of you!"

"How romantic~!" Misty cooed.

"Very! Partners in fashion, and in life… Very poetic!" Dawn gushed.

"Well, uh, congrats!" Ash added, not having very much else to add.

"Please, you're embarrassing us!" Zane chuckled.

"Yes, but thanks, all the same… But, I think the focus, today, should be on your pokemon! I was actually on my way to ask for your help; I love tending to pokemon, but our friends have brought quite a few to be cared for!"

Zane nodded. "I see. Well, you wanna split? I'm pretty good with the polish, so, uh… The big blue bird and the Lucario should be fine. Can you take care of the Marill and the… Ah, jeez, they brought in a lot of exotic pokemon."

Giggling at his confusion, Suzie agreed. "I'll take care of Marill and Swampert, yeah!"

"Thanks Suzie."

Dawn turned to Empoleon. "Okay, big guy, go with Zane!"

"You, too, Rosa. You can trust him."

Soon, the breeders began working on their clients. While Zane started by dry-washing Rosa's fur with a blow dryer on low heat, Suzie used a damp wash cloth to clean Swampert. When Zane cleaned Rosa's tear troughs and clipped her nails, Suzie massaged Swampert's paws. Suzie moved on to dry-washing Marill as Zane switched to rasping Empoleon's flippers back to a proper edge. Marill giggled as Suzie exampled her thin tail and Empoleon let out a blissful coo as Zane polished his crown.

"Brock, Misty, could you come over to me?" Suzie asked.

"Okay!" both answered, walking over.

"Okay, Brock, watch where I put Misty's hand," the breeder commanded. She took the gym leader's hand and placed it just behind Marill's ear. "Now… Press here."

Once Misty did, Marill's mouth went slack and a dribble of dark, almost green water dribbled out of her mouth.

"... What the heck is that?!" Misty yelped.

Brock laughed, reaching for a napkin to clean the same material dribbling out of Swampert's mouth. "Haha, I knew you were gonna do that! Misty, it's just residual water. Sometimes, when they battle, pokemon don't use all the water they intended to for an attack. It's not healthy for them to keep it in. If you press there, you empty it out of them, like pointing a hose down after you're done with it."

"... Oh," the gym leader said. She felt her face heat in shame. How could an aspiring Water Pokemon Master not know a vital detail like that!? She'd have to do some in-depth studying when she had the chance.

Zane wiped his hands, looking over his handy work. "Well, I'm done. How about you, Suzie?"

"Yep!"

As the four pokemon looked themselves over, their trainers were in awe. Swampert positively gleamed; the mucus covering his skin was clear as varnish, giving him a healthy shine. Marill's buoyant tail seemed lighter than even air now, hovering above the water mouse's ears. Empoleon's flippers ended in a beautiful, pointed tip. Rosa looked herself over, having never felt this clean; it was even better than Dawn's cleaning!

"Thanks so much, Suzie! You too, Zane!" Ash spoke up, very grateful.

 _~Yeah, thanks a lot! I feel all fluffy!~_ Rosa cooed, spinning on her toes. Her tail was lax and soft, now!

"Pika!" Pikachu added, whilst conversing with Suzie's Ninetales. They'd had tons to catch up on!

"Marril looks happier than ever! I can't thank you enough." Misty hoisted the Aqua Mouse in her arms.

"And, Swampert looks great. Just what I'd expect from top-notch breeders!"

Face flushed from the praise, Suzie laughed. "Please, you're flattering us, again! Now, I think that just leaves… Meema and Rura, right? Zane, do you think you could give Rura a quick cleaning and trimming?"

"Oh, would you!? Rura, you'll look gorgeous!"

A disappointed pout from the Zorua made Dawn correct herself. "Sorry, sorry. You'll be handsome!"

"No problem at all! Come here, lil' guy," Zane gestured to the Illusion Fox, leading him towards one of the treatment rooms, and Dawn followed.

"Now, Meema… You're a bit large for one of the back rooms, so I suppose I'll give you a cleaning out here. Is that alright?"

"..." The Zoroark tilted her head. It wasn't the first time she'd been muddy, was it really that big a deal? But, on the other hand… Humans seemed to like to keep their domain tidy whenever possible. She nodded.

"Trust me; you'll feel like a whole new you, afterwards!" Brock assured. "Never underestimate how a good grooming'll make you feel."

Well, Brock hadn't steered her wrong, yet. And, Leader wasn't putting up any arguments. If he, by extension, agreed this was best, then it was justification enough to follow 'Suzie' to lay atop a disposable mat.

"I suppose I'll start with your mane… It really is gorgeous! What a characteristic feature. No doubt, it helps a Zoroark look intimidating, am I right?"

Meema's icy blue eye looked back to the Breeder as the new, gentle sensation of a brush ran through her red and black locks. A low vocalization answered her. _~It's quite necessary, yes.~_

"When you're raising and protecting a cub on your very own, it must be!" Misty deduced. "No shame in being a fierce momma! It actually sounds noble." Though she hadn't seen it yet, Dawn had said something about her casting illusions…? What an interesting, mysterious pokemon!

The redhead couldn't help but feel a bit unnerved when Meema turned her head to stare at her, nary a word. She involuntarily clutched Marril; had she said something wrong!? That was way too intense…

 _~It's simply my role,~_ she dismissed, wincing when she felt a tug on her mane. Instinctively, she bared her fangs.

"Suzie!" Brock panicked.

"It's alright, Brock. I think I found a knot in her mane… Sorry about that, Meema. I'll trim that quick. Brock, could you pass me the tougher pair of scissors?"

"Sure," the student obliged.

Given the sheers, Suzie began skipping at Meema's main. Quite a bit of her mane's tips fell to the end, but the difference wasn't discernable to Ash and Misty's untrained eyes. Brock only noticed because of his past with breeding and Dawn only knew because of her attention to detail. Meema certainly didn't seem to begrudge it.

Soon, the breeder began dry-shampooing Meema's fur, brushing out bits of dry skin. Ash was in awe. Her coat went from a dry, even gray to a warm, velvety charcoal shade. Suzie followed up by rubbing moisturizer all over the dark type.

Meema, content and secure enough to relax, rested her huge head on her paws.

Suzie sighed contentedly, finishing up the treatment by rubbing the bead in Meema's main with a cloth. "Well, good news, Ash: I've seen Meema's condition before and it's completely reversible." She scratched her cheek a bit. "The downside is… it's expensive."

"Any price!" Ash insisted.

"You're going to need to find prenatal vitamins for Meema and buy high activity pokechow for her."

Brock slammed a fist onto his hand. "Oh! She lost bone strength and organ health from having Rura! I hadn't thought of that." He shook his head. "I never connected the breeding aspects of medicine… Domestic pokemon always get the benefit of lots of visits to the Pokemon Center, so we didn't even really go over complications with breeding in my classes."

Suzie laughed. "It's not a big deal, Brock! Most breeders who aren't in apprenticeships under someone with a daycare don't know it either! I've been at this longer than you."

Ash interrupted their discussion. "Can I buy what she needs here?"

The breeder shook her head. "Unfortunately… No. You can, however, buy high performance pokechow at pretty much anywhere that sells pokeballs. Make sure you get what's meant for carnivorous large pokemon. She won't get what she needs out of general pokechow. And, you know a doctor, so I'm sure he could write you a prescription with my recommendation to be given the vitamins at a Pokemon Center."

Realizing that was his cue, Brock nodded. "Right! We'll go there right after, huh?"

Ash counted on his hands. "Wait… Wait… Thunder vest, vitamins, pokechow… What else do I need to get?!"

"I think that's it," Misty clarified.

Ash nodded gratefully. He looked to Meema then. "... You ever gonna tell us what happened?" he finally asked.

 _~... Leader, it was simply the way things were. My old pack was different. We had to be strong to survive.~_ She looked down. _~Loyalty was rewarded, as well.~_ She closed her eyes. _~I could not do what the pack needed of me.~_

That was vague. Ash let it go, though he couldn't help but wonder what she had needed to do. Hunting? Defense? Had she been disloyal? Is that why she put so much effort into being obedient now? He wanted to reach through to her, but until she let him in, he could not.

The somber mood was immediately broken by Rura barging in, yipping the whole while.

 _~LOOK AT MY BANDANA! LOOK AT MY BANDANA! LOOK AT MY BANDANA!~_

He hopped onto the table where his mom was, tail wagging widely. Around his neck was a sky blue bandana.

Zane came out after, laughing. "He's sure energetic! Don't know if you wanted the bandana, Dawn, but he wanted it! Sometimes pokemon wear them for a few days after their grooming, just to show off. I'm not a fan of accessories, but it's simple and it's a classic."

Dawn put a hand on her hip, shaking her head. "I'm mostly worried about him getting it dirty. There's no way to wash clothes when we're traveling, and I'd hate to see him in a dirty cloth."

Zane nodded. "Hm… He's prone to getting dirty, huh? Maybe try focusing on that for him. Don't worry if he looks put together. If he's happy and healthy and not just, you know, caked in dirt, you'll be fine."

"Oh. Okay then." Dawn shrugged. That was going to be a lot to get used to...

"He is pretty young. Besides, if you're goin' for appeals, there's gotta be a crowd for rowdy, playful pokemon! Bet you'd turn a few heads in the arena," Ash grinned, reaching to ruffle the red tuft of fur atop Rura's head.

 _~I'm gonna wow 'em all!~_ The pup agreed, snickering even as he sent his thoughts.

"Oh, so you're the coordinator Suzie was telling me about! Congratulations on the Wallace Cup!"

"Thank you!" Dawn chimed, gesturing to Empoleon and Rura. "It was the least I could do to show off my pokemon's hard work!"

Empoleon proudly displayed his gleaming wings, and Rura poked his nose up high… Though, he hadn't competed, back then. But, he wouldn't argue with the praise!

"Those events attract so many pokemon you'd never normally see in Kanto or Johto; it's a great sight! It's a shame I had to maintain the shop, or I would've gone myself."

"It is," Suzie agreed. "That said, thank you, everyone, for letting us see your unique pokemon! Just for that, we'll make this appointment free of charge!" She winked.

"Free!?" The group shouted in unison.

"Are… Are ya sure?" Ash gawked. "You did a lot for us."

"We'll take the experience with new pokemon as our payment," Zane reasoned. "Don't worry about it!"

"That's really nice! Thank you. Marill and I really appreciate it," Misty added.

"Mar, Marill!"

"Us too," Brock agreed, patting Swampert. "It was nice to see both of you in action! Every bit as good as I'd expect."

"...Oh, speaking of faraway pokemon!" Suddenly, Dawn blurted out. "We still have to get to Ambipom!"

"Oh, that's right… Sorry, Suzie and Zane, but we'd better get going! Daylight is starting to get short," Brock noted, looking out the glass windows spanning the front of the salon.

"Of course! We wouldn't want to keep you from treating Pikachu and Meema!" Suzie agreed. "We'll see you off."

* * *

A golden tint washed over Celadon from the slowly setting sun, gradually casting the city in shadow. A 'closed' sign hung on the front door of the salon, where Suzie and Zane stood, along with Ninetales.

Opposite were what remained of the group; Ash, Pikachu, Meema, Misty, Brock, Dawn, and Rura.

"Thanks again for the help, and the prescriptions!" Ash chimed. "We really appreciate it, don't we guys?"

"Pika-Pika~!" Pikachu cheered, waving to them both. A proper diagnosis and a bit of advice made him feel a bit better, and things could only get better, from here!

Meema lifted her head, eyeing the Breeder duo. _~Yes. Thank you.~_

"Don't mention it! It fulfills us just to be able to help any pokemon!" Suzie dismissed.

"Though, a throwing our salon's name around a little couldn't hurt," Zane added with a wink.

"Zane!" Suzie scolded.

"I was only joking! Well, kind of…"

The group laughed, nonetheless.

"I'll be sure to recommend you to anyone who's looking for help with their water type pokemon," Misty promised. "It's only right after helping Marill!"

Watching the duo, Brock could only smile. On another bittersweet note, he knelt before Ninetales. "I know I said it before, but it was really nice seeing you again, Ninetales… I never forgot what it was like to have you on our adventures. You watch out for these two, alright? Until the next time I visit."

"Nine~!" The fox nuzzled into the man's cheek, gleefully accepting a hug.

"Ahaha, hey," he chuckled. "That tickles! Oh, and I promise I'll bring your favorite pokechow."

"Hey, I don't mean to rush you guys," Ash interjected, rubbing the back of his head. "But we better split, before that other shop closes."

"Right," Brock agreed, petting Ninetales one last time. "Good luck to both of you!"

"Take care!" Misty shouted, waving over her head as the group began to depart.

"We'll be sure to stop by again, some day!" Dawn promised.

"See ya!"

"Pika-Pika!"

"Goodbye!" Suzie waved back.

"Catch you later!" Zane saluted. The two exchanged a glance, sharing a fond smile and a laugh. Ninetales cozied up to both.

A day that had started out rather shaky, plagued with doubts and concerns, had quickly become a warm reunion for some, and new friendships for others. With closure for Brock, regarding his chosen path, and Pikachu and Meema's steps towards recovery, the visit to Scissor Street was a worthwhile one.

Now, it was time to visit one more familiar face; Ambipom!


	71. Rekindling an old Spark

**Welcome back, readers! Hope you enjoy yet another chapter of Another Road! As always, commentary and feedback are much appreciated. Enjoy!**

 **Also, there's a new piece of promotional art for this very chapter on our another-rxad tumblr, so check that out!**

* * *

The business district of Vermillion City wasn't as busy as usual. With the dinner rush well over, the daytime shops were closed. A few remained open, but they were mostly late night restaurants or small movie theaters. The closed business included, unfortunately, the table sports center. Given that this is where the ping pong training was held, it meant Dawn would have to wait another day to meet back up with Ambipom.

"Are you kidding me?!" the coordinator yelped, dropping down onto her knees.

Empoleon put a hand on her shoulders, conflicted on whether he was indifferent to there being one less pokemon to share Dawn's attention for now, or whether how much he missed Ambipom weighed more heavily on him. Ash, on the other hand, jammed his fists in his pockets, kicking the dirt.

"Aw, man, I was lookin' forward to seein' her."

"I keep forgetting you traded Aipom over to Dawn," Misty admitted. "I'm even more surprised you didn't trade back. Remember Butterfree and Raticate?"

"This is different!" Ash quickly insisted. "Dawn's a friend! Ambipom was always supposed to come back after training! Wasn't she, Dawn?"

"Yeah!" the coordinator agreed, standing up.

Brock crossed his arms. "Ash has Dawn's Buizel, but it's a Floatzel now."

"Yeah, Brock. I've seen it," Misty grunted.

"You like him," Ash teased.

"Him, yeah. You? You're testing it."

Throwing an arm over the gym leader's shoulders, Ash chortled loudly. "Aw, Misty, ya know ya love me! I'm your bestie!"

"Ugh," she joked, playfully throwing his arm off. "You're like the little brother I never asked for!"

"Who're you calling little?!"

"You!" Misty stuck her tongue off before bolting. "I'm gonna get to the Pokemon Center so I can call dibs on the bed, ya runt!"

"What?! No way!" Ash yelled, taking off after her.

Blinking, Dawn looked up to Brock. "Was… Is…"

"This normal? Yes," he finished. "Don't try to catch up. Misty's about as athletic as Ash is." He smiled down at the bluenette. "And, Ash kind of ratted you out on slacking in the physical department during your trip to Hoenn. Looks like I'm not the only slacker anymore."

Scoffing, Dawn flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Just for that I'm not walking with you. I'm going to out pace you."

"You're shorter than me, Dawn!" Brock warned. "I'm gonna keep up! My legs are longer!"

"These boots were made for walking, Brock! These boots were made for walking!"

* * *

After a short incident of Dawn trying to power-walk and nearly twisting her ankle in a pothole in the street, the entire group joined back together after they had rushed to her aid. Thoroughly embarrassed, Dawn was content to let Empoleon carry her into the Pokemon Center.

Misty and Ash were, of course, not content to let either be first to check in, so, in a brief moment of reverting to their childish behaviors, they tried to push each other away from the counter. Brock naturally took over at that point, getting the room key without Toxicroak jabbing him and no flirtation with this station's Nurse Joy.

As the gang headed into the four person room, Ash couldn't help but comment on that, nursing an ear Misty had pinched.

"You didn't flirt with the nurse," he said flatly.

"Yeah," Misty agreed, shaking her hair from where Ash has messed it up. "What's up? Last I checked, you still like 'em, if the way you treat Euphoria is any gauge." The gym leader had listened to many a phone call while Brock was studying where he gushed over his shift partner.

Brock chuckled. "Ah… That's just it! Euphoria and I are… talking. While an unclaimed man might find it okay to flirt with unrelated women, it's uncouth to flirt with any woman's near relatives."

Dawn squinted as she put away her purchases from back in Scissor Street. Some fur sealant was removed from their shopping bags, stuffed desperately into Dawn's rapidly space limited backpack. "So… You're, like, exclusively flirting…? Is that a thing?"

"I don't think it's a thing," Misty agreed, looking over her new makeup purchases. She was rather excited to try out the new green eyeshadow.

"What makes you two the relationship experts?" Ash piped up as he tried to tug off the price tag from Pikachu's new Thunder Vest.

"I've been on more dates than Brock has," Misty said, shrugging.

Brock pursed his lips. "... You're just bitter," he mumbled. "Anyway, what do you guys wanna do for dinner? The longer we wait, the more limited our choices are."

Ash jerked his head up from where he was trying and failing to put the Thunder Vest on Pikachu. "Uh… Though I saw a barbeque place back a while away. They had the Boccer game on, too." The teen accidentally clicked his fingers in a buckle. "Aw, crap!"

"Was it a sports bar? Can we eat at sports bars? I know Sinnoh lets trainers above ten in, but, like… Does that work for Kanto?" Seeing her boyfriend's frustration, Dawn stopped fluffing Buneary's fur, since she'd been trying the fur sealant out on her wool. "Would you help Ash and Pikachu?"

"Bun!" Pushing Ash away, she began buckling and zipping the pieces.

"Did you go gambling?" Ash deadpanned.

"I went winning," Dawn retorted.

"Oh, she definitely lost. How much did you lose?" Misty quipped, laughing.

"I didn't lose!"

"Bun-Bun!" the rabbit triumphantly said, presenting Pikachu to everyone present.

Said electric type shifted, looking himself over. It wasn't too snug, but the weight was noticeable. It wasn't bad, either. It felt like a heavy, warm blanket; it was definitely comforting.

Ash smiled, ruffling his starter's fur. "Wanna go try it out in the city? You could go with Buneary! Vermillion has lots of electric types, what with Surge and all! I bet there's tons of Pikachu. You can blend right in. Buneary won't let nobody sneak up on you neither."

Picking up on Ash's suggestion, Dawn piped up. "She's got good stamina! You could try training with her, too! We'll leave food out for you guys, so you can come back whenever you want!"

Pikachu's ear twitched as he considered it. "Pi…"

Buneary, on the other hand, was bouncing with excitement. "Buneary~!" It would be like a date with Pikachu!

Her enthusiasm almost wanted to make him decline, but he needed this. Plus, she was a good battling partner. If she could just calm down, he was sure he'd enjoy being alone with her more; or, at least, dread it less. "Pika," he relented.

With that, he took off out of the room. Buneary followed closely after, clearly giggling like a schoolgirl.

"Hm. She didn't even pick him up and spin him. That's really good for her," Brock noted.

"Aw, well, this sucks," Misty suddenly lamented.

"What does?"

"Buneary's going on, like, a date with Pikachu, isn't she? She seems to like him. Dawn and Ash are going together. I'm the only loser here without a date!"

"I don't have a date either, Misty…"

"Yeah, Brock, but that's because you're hung up on Euphoria!"

Ash rubbed the back of his head, looking off to the side while Dawn giggled.

"Uh… Why don't we just go down to the shipping district? They've always got some street vendors and some side shows."

"Empo?!" the water type asked.

"Yeah, they've got fish," Dawn answered.

Misty huffed. "Well, I'm getting dressed up! If there's any cute boys, I'm gonna get their numbers!"

With that, Ash let out a loud groan. "Oh my Mew, that's why I didn't say going to a restaurant!" He turned to the bathroom door that Misty had disappeared behind. "If Dawn isn't getting dressed up, why are you!? C'mon! Work with me! I'm hungry!"

* * *

Meanwhile, with their trainers and companions left to work out their plans, Pikachu and Buneary enjoyed a brisk walk through the city. The occasional street performer went about their business in hopes of gathering some cash; neither had any to offer, but they made sure to offer their applause. Particular to a rocker, blaring his electric guitar, with some lightwork courtesy of his Voltorb. Pikachu was sure to voice his enthusiasm!

Buneary watched a couple of Magnemite float and spin about, occasionally orbiting power lines before an electrician fiddling with a fuse box told them to scram. Seemingly amused by their mischief, they were content to float off and chatter in beeps and syllables.

Pikachu felt a bit more secure when he saw a few of his own kind wandering around, and didn't neglect to greet them in passing.

There were even a pair of Electabuzz carrying take-out bags, most likely trusted to the errand by their trainers, judging by their arm bands.

Pikachu exhaled loudly, raising one of Buneary's ears in concern. She turned to the mouse. "Everything peachy, Pikachu?"

"Oh! Yeah!" Pikachu rubbed his neck, wearing an apologetic smile. He hadn't meant to worry her. "I just think the others were right; we blend in here, easy!" Though he was unaware of it, his lightning bolt tail was wagging behind him.

Buneary couldn't help but find that adorable. "...Hey, check it out!" Tragically tearing her eyes away from the object of her affections, she pointed.

"Huh?" Pikachu stopped in his tracks, looking out where Buneary had pointed. Just off the next block was a dirt battlefield, with a generous view of the port. Past it, anchored boats clung to the seaside undisturbed.

"A battlefield! C'mon, let's get to work!"

Pikachu didn't respond, keeping his eyes glued to the gently rocking waves offshore.

She frowned. "Hey, c'mon. Let's start with some laps, huh?"

The mouse turned back to the rabbit. "Alright. That sounds like a plan!"

A quick dash down the block, and the duo occupied the rectangular field, borders marked by spraypaint, with benches off to the side for spectators. There were no humans lurking around eyeing for a match, right now, however. The field was theirs.

"Alright," Buneary clapped her paws together. "A few laps around the edge sound good?"

"Fine with me!" Pikachu agreed, taking off onto all fours on the edge of the field.

"Like you need the head-start!" Buneary huffed, hopping off towards the mouse.

Pikachu dashed at a brisk, comfortable pace, skidding to a halt only to round a corner. This wasn't bad, so far!

"I'll… Catch up… To you… Just you.. Wait… Hun…!" Buneary panted, closing the distance between the two with one huge leap after the next. But, with every bound she made, Pikachu got even further ahead! She could only barely stay in league with Pikachu.

And, what's more, he didn't look like he was breaking a sweat!

The duo rounded corners in what seemed like no time at all, kicking up dust as they went.

After several laps, Buneary relented to catch her breath.

Pikachu skidded to a halt when he caught on. "Well, that was fun!" He chimed, standing on his hind legs. "Really got the blood flowing!"

"Yeah… Y'can say that again…" Was she getting out of shape? She needed to fix that, quick!

"...So, what now?"

"It can't hurt to practice some of your moves, can it?" Or, maybe she was speaking too soon.

"I don't know…" Pikachu fidgeted. Wouldn't that bring bad feelings on?

"Hm…. Got it!" Buneary clapped her paws together. "Use your Thunderbolt! Just… Forget it's an attack! Pretend yer using it to call for help! Right up in the sky!"

"Like a beacon?" Pikachu tilted his head.

"Yeah! Like that. C'mon, hot stuff, dazzle those skies~!"

"That doesn't sound too bad… Alright!" Pikachu hunched over with furrowed brows, calling on the static dormant in his cheeks.

"Chu!" With a brief charge, he threw his arms upward, shooting a dazzling, crackling lightning bolt high into the heavens.

* * *

Not far from the Vermillion Gym was an office building with a roof that held a much better view of the city's skyline. Pipes and wires ran across the top of the structure, and along with them, a single heating vent, upon which a large, tubby rodent sat.

Enjoying the consistent stream of warmth, he shoved ketchup-drizzled fries into his mouth out of a styrofoam box, watching the occasional blinking jet fly among the scarcely seen stars over Vermillion. Light pollution made for mostly clear skies, so the occasional glowing passerby was always a treat to watch.

When he grew bored of that, he lugged himself over to the edge of the building, watching the docks below. The ships' schedules had long since been memorized, and he could never resist scouting out new meat that would inevitably challenge the gym. Today was disappointing; he saw some young, greenhorn-looking trainers step off, and some geezers who didn't look the least bit fit to battle.

Hell, the last proper challenge he'd seen step off one of those boats had been a couple of months ago; a kid with a backwards cap and a Typhlosion, who'd turned out to be from Johto. One of the toughest fights he'd had this year, but most had been duds, not ready for their electrifying might, as the lieutenant loved to say.

Leaning his chin on his paws, he was about to give up and head back to the heated vent.

A pillar of light shot up from a field near the pier, though, rousing the mouse's senses. When he looked over, his face drooped. "Just a damn Thunderbolt," he complained to no one in particular. How stupid he was, for getting excited.

All the same, what was probably false hope welled in him, and he guided his tail in the direction of the commotion. A crackle or two in the air told him that it was somewhat strong. However…

"Eh. Feels unfocused. Can't be him." Raichu turned to return to his takeout, grabbing the last of it; a lone chicken wing. "Ain't like I got better shit to do, though."

* * *

"Now, that's what I'm talkin' about!" Buneary hollered, twirling on the tip of her toes. "Not bad; not bad at all!"

Pikachu exhaled, actually happy with the familiar feeling of sparks dancing along his fur, this time contrasting with the pitch black padding that hugged his torso. "I missed that. Nothing like a Thunderbolt to get the blood pumping!"

Even as he said so, Pikachu's ears perked up, keening to heavy steps in the dirt. He saw Buneary's do the same.

"Good, now give us a Thunder." Sauntering over to the two first stage pokemon was Raichu, footsteps heavy, and words muffled by the scraps that he was biting off the bone in his paw. Sated, he tossed the garbage aside.

But, one man's trash was another man's treasure; a small gang of Spearow swooped by to pick at the remains.

"Raichu!" Pikachu turned to his final stage. As many of that species as there were, he'd always recognize that accent.

"In the flesh. Didn't think I'd see you back here so soon… Ey! Get! Scram!" The mouse hissed, as the rowdy gaggle of Spearow made a loud, shrieking fuss over their small meal. A bit too small to share, apparently. A snap of Raichu's electricity sent them scattering with their prize.

"Lil' Vullabies… Hey, Baby. What's with the vest. I know you ain't doin' service work, are ya?"

"This?" Pikachu looked down, stretching his arms out. "It's, uh…"

"Y'know, it's rude to interrupt a training session outta nowhere like that. You a friend of Pikachu's, or what?" Buneary butted in, stepping forward.

Raichu squinted. "Y'gotta mouth on you… Huh. The doe yours? She's pretty damn cute, you know- could end up keeping her for myself."

Pikachu's ears folded back; he shouldn't be shocked by his sleazy attitude, knowing Surge.

"Uh-uhn, bud. Unless yer this Pika-stud, over here, keep dreamin'!" Happy to take any opportunity to ham it up, Buneary winked at Pikachu. "Least you got good taste, though!"

Raichu whistled. "All that, 'n y'haven't made a move? Maybe if you'da manned up and evolved, you wouldn't be intimidated by a smart mouth."

And, that was the Surf that broke the Numel's back. Pikachu stepped up to Raichu, chest puffed out and ears still pinned. "I'm just fine without evolving!"

Raichu leaned back into a hollering laugh, slapping his own knee. "Relax, kid! I'm just bustin' your grapes."

"Keep talkin', and I'll bust yours," threatened, the high-pitched, unassuming voice of a Buneary, who stood on the tips of her toes to stare daggers at Raichu.

Another whistle left Raichu. "I like you, uh… Shit, what're you guys called…"

"Buneary!"

"Buneary," the mouse continued. "You're a real stand-up gal in my book. But, trust me, I'm just messin' with him." He slapped a large paw rather hard on Pikachu's shoulder in a fraternal fashion. "I know Pikachu could lay me out flat if I caught him on the wrong day. Hell, he already did!"

"That last match was a great one," Pikachu agreed, his enthusiasm trailing off with each word. He kicked the dirt, averting his eyes from his evolved counterpart.

"Somethin' bothering you, kid?" Raichu cocked a brow at Pikachu. "Oh, yeah. Y'never answered me about the vest."

"Stuff happened," Pikachu quickly answered. "I'm still pretty shook up. Haven't battled since."

Piping up in Pikachu's defense, Buneary raised a paw. "But, that's what we're doing here! We're getting him back in the groove."

"Good on ya both," Raichu retorted, not an ounce of contempt in his voice. "Somethin' left ya shell shocked, huh? Don't be 'shamed. Ya made it back. Ya can recover from it."

Not altogether surprised by Raichu's understanding, once he thought about the other pokemon's notorious history, he couldn't help but turn to the other and ask, "How?! I gotta get over this before the Indigo League…! I have to fight with Ash!"

The bigger mouse nodded. "Heheh, that brings me back. Yeah. Don'tcha worry. Ya gotta push your boundaries a li'l. Not too far. Even drill sergeants like me known shell shock don't do well with that."

"So, practice?" Buneary asked. Hopping back a bit, the rabbit smiled wide.

"You guessed it. Now, y'just need a way to start off easy."

Pikachu folded his arms. "But, what… Everytime I try to fight, I get psyched out."

"I got it!" Buneary chimed in. "How 'bout I get you moving again with some of my attacks? You know I'd never wanna rough you up for real~"

"I know," he deadpanned. Pensive, he tapped his foot against the dirt. Was that a good idea? "...Alright. We'll give it a shot!"

"Do what you gotta do," Raichu agreed, stepping off to the side to give the companions room.

"An' don't go selling yourself short, hot stuff!" Buneary crouched, squinting at the object of her affections.

"I'll do my best!" Pikachu agreed, not bothering to correct her.

"Good, 'cause here I come!" Buneary sprang high, plummeting towards Pikachu with a fierce Jump Kick ready.

Pikachu was suddenly grateful for his vest. He hopped a good distance back, clearly avoiding Buneary's kick.

"Aha!" Buneary cheered, satisfied with Pikachu's speed. "Now, try this!" She stepped forward, jabbing at Pikachu with each of her ears.

"Pi!" Pikachu huffed, stepping to the side of the first punch. When the second came, he hopped backwards, and again for the third. Swerving by each jab of her ears, Pikachu felt his heart starting to race, his breath growing heavy.

A bit too heavy for a casual dodging exercise.

"C'mon!" Buneary huffed, throwing one last jab before hopping back. "See, you're just as tough as ever!"

"Sure don't feel that way," Pikachu muttered, stumbling back before falling on his rear. For a cool, cozy spring night, he felt remarkably hot, his thoughts blurry and hard to pin. Being chased like this…

That was it!

A freezing Ice Beam fired Pikachu's way, prompting him to lift himself with one paw and leap over the chilled air.

The Electric Mouse landed on all fours. "I just have to remember what Brock said…" That fear came from feeling out of control. Like those awful events would happen all over again; but, that wasn't happening at all! He was out in the open, on a portside field, with two pokemon he knew well.

"Hey! Baby! No time to screw around!"

"Pika?" He was jolted out of his thoughts by Raichu's voice, and was soon thankful. Buneary was dropping in from above, seeking Pikachu out with a fierce Bounce attack.

He sprang sideways, parrying Buneary's kick with a spin of his tail. "Pika!"

Buneary yelped, skidding off to the side with only a moment's notice. "… You got me!"

The mouse stood, adjusting his Thunder Vest. His heart was still pounding, but… "I did it!"

"Proud of ya, kid." A light slap in the back with his lightning bolt tail was Raichu's praise. "You didn't let that shit get to you. That's the first step to having your head in the right place."

"It wasn't easy." Pikachu wiped sweat from his brow. "But, if I can keep this up, then I'll be ready for the league!"

"One step at a time," Raichu reminded him. "That covers defending. Y'think you're up to being the one dishing the attacks out?"

"Attacking? I… Don't know." Pikachu frowned, lightly tugging at his vest. "Do you think I can?"

"Yeah, c'mon! Throw whatever y'got at me! I'm a tough sunnuva Bun, I can handle it!" Buneary riled, throwing jabs with each of her paws.

"You sure I won't hurt you…?"

"Nah, nah. You got this backwards, hun." Raichu walked over, standing in front of Buneary, opposite of Pikachu. "I'll take it."

"Waddya think this is? I've sparred with 'im before." Buneary stood on her toes once more, staring down Raichu.

"I'm sure you have, but only one of us has no-sold Pikachu's attacks before."

Hook, line, and sinker. With furrowed brows, Pikachu widened his stance. "Alright… If you're so sure about it, let's go!" He'd show Raichu, and then, all of Kanto!

Raichu grinned, pounding his chest. "Like takin' candy from a baby. Alright, show me some thunder!"

His feet drug across the dirt. Golden sparks flickered from the pouches on his cheeks. He eyed his target.

But, where Raichu stood, he could only see a cowering Girafarig, fearfully awaiting whatever punishment he might have dealt out. With his Thunderbolt ready, he recalled the Stantler-in-headlights stare he'd seen the moment before he shattered its collar. Overcome with a sickening guilt, Pikachu slumped, shaking his head. He swallowed, fighting back tears.

Raichu stood, his tail whipping about. "He's having some bad callbacks. Buneary, you're closer to him than me; try and calm him down."

The larger rodent barely had the chance to blink before the normal type was at Pikachu's side, holding him through the vest that was meant to do the job. Patting his cheek with one of her fluffy ears, she did her best to reassure him. "Snap out of it, baby. You're plenty tough; no one's gonna hurt ya, got it?"

Pikachu swallowed, taking a deep breath. "Uh-huh," he agreed. Her concern wasn't his, but hearing a familiar voice slowed his heart a bit. Slow, deep breaths.

"I know you're tryin', but that's not what he's scared of." Raichu walked over, looking Pikachu in the eyes. "Pikachu, it's me. You're not hurting anyone, alright? You ain't putting any scars on me. You're fine."

"Phew…" The mouse shook his head. "Thanks… I… I'm fine." He felt Buneary embrace him, and returned the hug briefly.

Normally, the small rabbit would have been over the moon, but she had greater concerns. "What happened there?"

"Just… Stuff that happened. It got into my head. Sorry about that."

"Hey, I told you. There's no shame in dealing with shell shock." Raichu rested a paw on Pikachu's shoulder. "If it's not gonna get you rolling again, spill it. Did ya hurt someone?"

The yellow mouse shook his head. "I was pushed to. Things worked out, but… Whenever I'm out to attack anyone, I see those scared pokemon… Ones worse off than me." He massaged his temple with a paw. "I hope they're alright, now."

"I'm sure they are," Raichu fibbed. He had no damned idea. But, that wasn't a burden he needed on his shoulders, now. "Alright, that's enough. Now, we know what scrambles you. That's a damn big step, you did good."

"Right," he agreed. "Thanks, Raichu. Buneary. I owe you guys one."

"You can pay us back by getting better~!" Buneary winked.

"Gal's right. You can sort that out in the long run. How 'bout I teach you something new, for now?"

"Something new?" Pikachu tilted his head. "Like what?"

"A defensive maneuver. You saw it in our scrap; watching your hide should be fine for you, right?"

"I think so. I didn't have a lot of trouble dodging… Alright! I'll try it." Eager, he pumped a fist in the air.

"Buneary? I need your help." Raichu walked a decent distance away from the two, turning back around to face them. "You're not in the shape for it, Baby," he addressed Pikachu, shrugging his shoulders. "Guess I have to settle for the gal."

"Y'still think you can talk down on me, huh!?" Buneary huffed, dashing at Raichu.

"Long as you're a half-pint, you're not leaving me a choice." Raichu grinned. No better way to kill time than getting someone else's Gogoat. Especially if it earned him a fight.

A Jump Kick was launched at the cocky rodent, with all of Buneary's momentum and weight behind it. "You're gonna eat those words!"

She was close… Just another moment, now…

"Rai!" Raichu cried, unleashing a booming Thunder. Blinding, golden bolts crashed into the dirt, tearing the ground apart.

Buneary was greeted with a painful cloud of dust that got into her eyes, prompting a swear that was drowned out by crashing electricity and rolling smoke. Disoriented in the midst of her drop, she crashed roughly into the ground.

"Bun…" She groaned, pushing to her feet, stepping through the dust and ashes with her ears ready to spring. "C'mon, you… Quit slinkin' around and-!"

Buneary was shut up by a foot slamming into her face, sent skidding across the dirt, and into the open by a dropping Mega Kick.

"Buneary!?" Pikachu gawked at his downed companion.

A whip of a pointed, lightning bolt tail swept the dust cloud away, where Raichu stood proud. "And, that's how you use camouflage."

The braggart's unevolved counterpart rushed to Buneary's aid, holding a paw out in aid. "You okay?"

Her coal black eyes blinked, stubborn to adjust to the cool night skies above her. Buneary's vision wavered despite it, and she could swear she was seeing double. Double of the dashing mouse crouching before her.

"I mighta died 'ngonetoheaven… Cuz I see a star or two right infrontame~" Still dazed and dizzy, Buneary took the opportunity to lean across Pikachu, paws clasped together about as well as a disoriented Buneary could.

"...Buneary?" A sweatdrop ran down Pikachu's forehead. He waved a paw in front of her eyes. "How're you feeling?"

"On cloud nine… You gonna be my guardian angel, baby?"

"Shit… You think I hit 'er too hard?" Raichu frowned, holding a paw up to his chin.

"You're fine. This is normal for her," Pikachu deadpanned. As exasperated as he managed to look, a streak of red found its way across his nose. Did she have to be so damned dramatic? "C'mon, Bun. Up and at 'em."

The normal type shook her head, finally coming to. "Ergh… No wonder y'gave Pikachu a hard time. You hit like a Garchomp."

"I'm not Surge's partner for nothin'." He was quietly relieved that he hadn't done too much damage. As cool as Pikachu tried to play it, he was pretty sure he'd be in for a world of hurt if she'd been seriously injured. "So, Baby. You catch all that? I want you to try it."

"Sure did," Pikachu nodded. Seeing it from third person made the strategy all too clear. "But…"

Raichu quickly caught on. "Don't worry about hitting back. Just get the move down and you can worry about that when you're ready."

Pikachu stood, helping Buneary up in the process. "You think you could go one more round?"

"I won't let you down!" The normal type chanted, hopping a decent distance away from Pikachu.

"Okay… I think I'm ready!" Pikachu stood tall, tail and ears alert.

Buneary began hopping towards Pikachu, turning into a spin to fire a swirling Ice Beam.

"I don't remember that being part of the plan," Pikachu thought aloud, springing out of the beam's range.

"Never said I'd make it easy~!" Naturally, Buneary's sharp hearing picked it up. "Here I come~!"

With flickers of teal dying out, Pikachu could only see a pair of cotton-tipped ears braced to pummel him. He silenced his doubts with a deafening crash of lightning before him.

Buneary was quickly forced to brace herself, slowed by a sudden shockwave, and numbing static with it. Sliding into the smoke with her guard raised, she marveled at Pikachu's display of power.

"A'ight… You ain't gonna fool me this time!" She slowly stepped through the debris, ears alert.

The raised extremity picked up on a snap, and it struck.

She found nothing but a quick, unpleasant jolt. "Yowch!" She hissed.

Before the bolt-tailed mouse could be spotted, the dust began to clear. Buneary peered about, vigilant.

Pikachu stood beside Raichu, long free of her watchful eyes and ears.

"!? How the…?" The normal type gawked.

"Y'did it, Baby." Raichu pat the smaller mouse on the back.

"It really does work…" A smile slowly grew on Pikachu's face. He'd done it!

"Sure does~!" Buneary hopped over, a bit sluggish from the clinging static. "Y'got me!"

A cool breeze swept up scattered dust and ashes as it passed the trio, nudging their ears while greeting them with the scents of sea salt and charred dirt. A robust, refreshing scent after a night of trials and training. A tangible reminder of their hard work.

Rushed, but quieted breaths from all three were a sure sign that the pokemon were tired. But, all were too prideful to admit it.

"Hey, Baby."

"Do you have to keep calling me that? I'm not a kid anymore," Pikachu protested, folding his paws across his chest.

Raichu hollered again. "Barely over a foot, you coulda fooled me."

"You know what they say; the bigger they are, the harder they fall." He'd heard Ash use that retort plenty of times. It was tired, but it left him with a satisfied smirk, all the same.

"Only runts say that."

"Go around telling people you got beat by a runt then."

"Ooooh!" Buneary whopped, paws cupped around her mouth. "Y'need a Burn Heal for that one, grandpa?"

Surprisingly, Raichu had a good laugh. "Well, I ain't getting any younger. But, just for that one, I'll stop bustin' your grapes."

"You better," Buneary shot back.

"Talkin' awfully tough for someone who left a dirt print with bunny ears." The large Electric Mouse grinned. "Really though. For all the shit I give you two, I'm proud of ya. Feel good knowing I'm not leaving the next generation to a buncha pansies."

"And, we're only gonna get tougher!" Buneary insisted.

"Long as you keep your chin up. I don't think I need to remind you to look out for each other. His trainer's got guts and a heart, but sometimes, a pokemon needs to hang around another pokemon."

"Ash and I get each other just fine," Pikachu huffed. That was a line no one dared to cross.

"You think I'm not tight with the lieutenant? I know that, ya dolt. Just keep sight of who you got around you... " Raichu trailed off, letting out a regrettably loud yawn. "I think you pinned me right for bein' a geezer, Buneary. I think I'm ready to crash. You yung'uns have fun."

"Sure," Pikachu nodded along. "But, Raichu?"

"Whaddya want?" The rotund mouse huffed. They were really dragging this out.

When he turned back, Pikachu had turned his hips, offering his jagged tail.

"Really, kid? Y'gonna embarrass me like that?"

"C'mon. You're still a 'chu!" Pikachu chimed, smiling wide.

"You yungun's really know how to turn me into a softy… Alright, alright." He whipped his long, jagged tail about, securing it in a hold with Pikachu's tail before shaking.

"Thanks again, Raichu."

"Don't mention it. I'll catch you later," he concluded, turning to trudge back home. "And, I better see you 'n your trainer make it in the big leagues."

"You can count on it!" Pikachu piped up, waving to the Raichu's retreating form.

With the eldest gone, the mouse felt free to collapse onto his bottom, resting his paws on the cool dirt.

Buneary looked to her companion and followed suit. By now, she'd noticed, a majority of the other pokemon nearby had retreated, likely to turn in for the night. She scolded herself for it, but she couldn't help but notice that the two of them were pretty much alone.

"What a night, eh?"

"You can say that again…" Pikachu whistled. "Hey, Buneary?"

She quickly perked up. "What's up?"

"Thanks for having my back. With the training, and, y'know, Raichu. He's a handful."

"Yer a little too nice with your words," Buneary leaned back. "But, that is what makes you, you~! But, man, what I mighta said if you guys weren't tight…"

Pikachu let himself laugh along. "I don't blame you. But yeah, that's me. Still… It's good to have a little back-up, and all that support… Even if you're kinda over-the-top." He averted his eyes to the sky. He hated to criticize, but…

"Baby, what's life without a little spice~?" Buneary cooed without missing a beat, lying back dramatically into the soil, with an arm held up in the most diva-ish matter she thought possible.

The rodent found himself caught up in more laughter. Maybe he was starting to understand her. "Well, one thing's for sure, Buneary: You're the spiciest there is."

"My, what a sweet talker~!" Buneary gushed, batting her eyelashes.

...Maybe just a little.

Awkward laughter was Pikachu's response. He rubbed the back of his head. "But, really, it's been fun hanging out with you today! I'm glad we got to train… Oh! That reminds me." He turned to the normal type. "We did all that for me, but what about you? I know you have the Grand Festival coming!"

"Well, I know I'm not pulling any punches! We're gonna blow the competition away! And, I'll pound anyone in our way." She threw a few jabs before leaning back against Pikachu. "But, we've got time!"

"Right." Pikachu was just tired enough to appreciate Buneary's soft cotton fluff leaning against him. "Then, after we get through the Indigo League, I'll help you train so Dawn can become Top Coordinator! We all will!"

"Pikachu, y'got yourself a deal!" Buneary held a paw out.

"It's settled!" Pikachu beamed, holding his own out to shake.

Buneary gave a firm shake, before leaving a quick peck on Pikachu's rosy cheek.

Her boldness had been spent, it seemed, when she buried her face in her fur, hopping off.

Pikachu hesitated, devoid of expression, pardoning a drop of sweat and a faint red streak across his nose. Some things never… "B-Buneary! Don't go too far ahead!" The mouse sputtered, chasing after his flustered companion.

Down the block and around the corner, a familiar group of four walked through the dimming streets, illuminated only by streetlights, and the occasional flashing fluorescent sign for a bar or a club.

"Ah, man… For once, I'm full!" Ash sighed, patting his full stomach. "I'm ready to head back 'n crash like a Snorlax."

"You say that, but you're still eating," Dawn reminded him.

"Y'can't not finish a chili dog, Dawn. That's a crime!" Ash says as he stuffs the remainder of the morsel into this mouth.

The mess on his face made Dawn scrunch her nose, and she reached into her bag. "At least finish it all the way," she pleaded, reaching over to wipe his cheek with a wetnap, much to his dismay.

"I coulda gotten it," he argued, face flushed.

"You would've missed it."

"You having buyer's remorse, Dawn?" Misty prodded, winking at the two.

"What's got you so cocky!?" Ash blurted back.

Misty continued to carry herself with a high chin, flashing her phone at the teen. " _Three_ new phone numbers, from a couple of cute guys! You can't say I'm on the down and out anymore, compared to you two."

"Trust me, if Ash being sloppy bothered me, we'd've had problems a long time ago."

"You're just extra forgiving because he shared his cotton candy with you," Misty accused.

"Yeah, and coming from Ash, that's practically a love letter," Dawn chimed back, linking one of her arm's with her boyfriend's.

"Well, y'know," Ash boasted, smugly running a finger over the bridge of his nose, allowing Dawn to cozy into his side.

"Can we knock off the relationship talk, please?" Brock complained, tagging along in a heavy slouch. "There's still one person here who's still dodging Luvdiscs, y'know."

"But, I didn't even see you hit on anybody," Ash pointed out. "You sure you're not sick or something?"

"I've still got my heart set on Euphoria!" He argued, rubbing the back of his head. "It's just… Been a while."

"Well, if it's driving you crazy, maybe you should rethink that 'exclusive flirting' deal," Misty deadpanned. "I can't believe I'm saying this to you, but you have to hurry up and make a move! There's no use torturing yourself. That's our job."

"Thanks a lot."

"C'mon, you know I'm joking." Misty pat the eldest friend's shoulder.

"Yeah, we're just looking out for you!" Ash chimed in.

"Hm… You're right, Misty. Thanks, guys. I'll keep that in mind."

Dawn leaned over to Ash, raising a hand to whisper. "Speaking of lovebirds."

Around the block came a fluffy, hopping bunny; Buneary! She bounced on with fluff covering her eyes, not the least bit aware of her surroundings, at this point.

"Buneary!"

Her trainer's call stopped the normal type in her tracks, and she turned to the group. She lowered her fluff to wave, cheeks still burning red. "Bun~!"

Ash smiled, only for a moment. "If you're here, then where's…"

"Pikapi!"

Catching up quickly in a slowing dash, a tired Pikachu approached the group, stopping to catch his breath. That vest got heavy, after a while!

"There you are!" Ash grinned, resting his free hand on his hip. "You guys just got back?"

"Pika-Pika," he nodded along, echoed by his stomach growling rather loudly. They hadn't eaten yet!

"You must've been training for a while!" Misty cooed, stopping to crouch down to the two pokemon. "...And, you've got a lot of dust on you! You weren't fooling around."

The mouse shook his head. He was rather proud of his progress!

"You look like you're in good shape, aside from fatigue," Brock observed. "I'm sure you helped with that, Buneary, am I right?" He smiled down at the rabbit, resting his hands on his hips.

"Bun~!" She spun on the tips of her toes, winking at Pikachu, before quickly growing shy. She was nervous to even look at his face!

"Pika-chu." He rubbed the back of his head. She'd been an experience, alright. But, she had kept him calm!

"I knew I could count on you! Up here, girl," Dawn held an arm out for Buneary, who promptly accepted the offer to be carried.

"Thanks, Buneary. And great job, buddy!" Ash held out his free arm, which Pikachu quickly scaled, nuzzling cheeks with his favorite trainer.

"Hey, that tickles!" Ash laughed. "I'm real proud of you, buddy. You…" His praise was interrupted with a yawn.

"I think it's time to get some rest," Brock followed up. "After you two have a bite to eat."

"And then, tomorrow, we get to see Ambipom!"

"It's about time!" Ash agreed.

The gang continued their path towards the local Pokemon Center, with Ash and Dawn arm-in-arm, and their companions clinging to each, equally content.

Pikachu leaned over Ash's shoulder, chirping a couple of syllables to Buneary. _"Thanks again. I'll keep trying my best!"_

Buneary winked, blowing a kiss to her beloved. _"You won't be the only one~!"_

* * *

The next day, our heroes found themselves headed towards the Ping Pong Training Center, head by a surprisingly wide margin by Dawn, though Ash wasn't slouching on his pace to meet back up with Ambipom. Upon entering, the coordinator used her detail oriented nature to zero in on the wing dedicated to strictly training, not the matches. With little searching, she found where her precious purple partner was, training with someone who did not appear to be O.

That said, because she barged into the room, Dawn was immediately pegged in the forehead by a ping pong ball.

"Empo!"

"Dawn!"

"Pikaka!"

"Ambi!"

All four rushed to the coordinator's side. When Brock and Misty walked in, it took them only a second to figure out what had happened.

"This is why you knock on doors," Misty quipped.

"It's not like I wanted to get hit!" Dawn snapped. Still, she turned her attention to Ambipom. "There you are!"

"Ambi," the purple pokemon greeted.

"We came to pick you up!" Ash interjected.

The coordinator nodded, sitting up and holding out her arms. "How was ping pong? Are you ready to come back to coordinating?"

"Ip-ip!"

The pokemon pointed towards the walls. There, glittering as a testament to her skill, was a single golden trophy and two blue ribbons.

On cue, O walked in. "Dawn! There you are. I suppose Ambipom showed you her trophies already?"

"Three first places?" Dawn asked.

"No, no, haha. Two first places and an award for best rising athlete. She's done great as a professional." The man clapped the back of the monkey's shoulder. "Haven't you?"

"Ambi!"

"Well, we're here to take her back," Ash said.

"If she's ready," Dawn added.

Jumping into the coordinator's arms, Ambipom nodded. She'd done what she wanted! She was ready to come back to her two favorite people! She took note of Brock and Misty and waved at them.

"Are you sure…? Well, I can't complain. She was fun to have around. I'll see you around, Ambipom."

With that, Dawn snuggled her cheek into Ambipom's. "I think this calls for ice cream! What do you say, Ambipom?"

"Ambi!"

But, not before snatching Ash's cap right off his head.

"Hey!" He yelped, his head suddenly feeling unnaturally light. But, it didn't take long to find the likely culprit. "I guess even after playing ping-pong, that's still your favorite game, ain't it?"

"Pom~!" The pokemon snickered, taunting Ash by waving the cap above his head.

Unfortunately, he was a bit too tall for that, and snatched it back! "It's good to have you back."

* * *

It was quite a crowded group. While Misty fed Marill some of her vanilla bowl, Dawn let Ambipom finish off her waffle cone. Ash, meanwhile, was nursing a brain freeze from trying to wolf down his cone while Empoleon obsessively tried to keep his cone perfectly solid as he ate it. Pikachu seemed to be tolerating Buneary's return rather well, content to share a strawberry treat with her.

That just left Brock, who had just tried to use his personal cell phone to call Euphoria, especially concerning the pamphlet he'd just picked up near the counter. Though his pink haired would-be paramour hadn't answered, he could at least tell his friends.

"Hey, guys!" Brock called out, holding out the pamphlet, "there's a tag team tournament happening two days from now in a place called Navy Town! It's going to have a grand prize of a few evolution items and strength boosters along with a cash prize for the winners!" After a brief pause, he grinned. "The first few runners-up get an evolution stone, it looks like. I bet the competition will be fierce."

Ash raised a fist, blazing competitive spirit melting his pain away. "A tournament?! I'm so there!"

"That'd be a good chance to get Rura and Ambipom up to speed with everyone else!" Dawn noted, clasping her hands together.

Misty snatched the pamphlet, looking it over. "Hey, they've got a dragon scale shown with the prizes, I could totally use that!" She smirked, handing the paper back to Brock. "Plus, one of the guys I got a number from yesterday was talking about what a hot shot trainer he was… Might call him up to help out."

"Aw, what?! If he comes, that's less of a chance for us to win the prize!" Dawn argued.

"I could beat him," Ash quietly assured her, not overly worried.

"Shut up, Ash," Misty hissed, "Anyways, there's a tag-team portion before we go solo. I know you and Dawn are gonna team up, so I need a partner."

"What about me…?" Brock asked.

Misty smirked. "Why don't you just call your sweet, sweet Euphoria?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be during the weekend," Ash added, not as malicious as Misty because he hadn't yet realized she was goading the other boy. "She'll be off, won't she?"

Dawn let out a sigh of romantic whimsy. "Oh…! You could confess to her here! Wouldn't that be romantic? To confess during a tag battle?"

Misty quietly made a gagging noise. "You two are so corny. I was asking that so Brock would finally figure out where they're at."

Brock, meanwhile, stood in quiet horror. "Yeah," he agreed. "I, uh, could call her. I'm sure she'll come." In the back of his mind, he was very worried she wouldn't.

But, he had two days to make her agree to come, or he'd be very embarrassed once they got to Navy Town.


	72. Interlude

**Welcome back, everyone! We're very sorry for the long wait, and unfortunately, have some unexpected news. The tournament we'd been setting up was beginning to take a lot of our time and energy, and we felt it best to push the event aside, for the time being, and focus on the main plot. Remnants of the tag tournament still exist, and could certainly be released as bonus content after the story is done! But, for now, we'll give a rough reflection of the event for this chapter, and hope that none of you are too upset by the news. Real life obligations have once again made writing difficult, so we can't absolutely promise on-the-dot posts every other Tuesday as we have, but please know that there are plans, and this story is going places! Don't forget to get excited for the Indigo League, looming on the horizon! We appreciate your patience and hope that you stick around for the rest of the story.**

* * *

The day had been hot. After almost ten hours of on and off battling for the entertainment of others, as well as a rather handsome promise of prize money, our heroes and their newfound friends were particularly famished.

And, thirsty, if the way that Misty drained her glass of water was any indication.

"You're actin' just like a Magikarp, uh-huh," one of their newer friends noted. She had long black hair tied in two pigtails, sporting blue from head to toe.

Ritchie laughed. "Himashi, was that a pun?"

She shrugged. "If it made you laugh, then sure!"

"I like her! Where'd you find her again, Ritchie?" Ash asked.

Not noting how she seemed to duck shyly at Ash's attention, the boy jerked a thumb at her. "In Hoenn! Rangers have to stick together, y'know. She's real nice. Kind of a space case."

"How're you gonna call me out in front of your friends?!" Himashi gasped, thoroughly insulted.

Dawn put a hand on Himashi's shoulder. "If it means anything, you were really great today!"

"Don't worry. Ritchie isn't the only guy at this table that doesn't know how to handle girls."

Brock groaned at that, knowing it was intended for him. "I already said I'm sorry… To you and Europhia."

"Yeah, but you and her having a falling out cost me a chance to go on a date," Misty pointed out.

"You can't be that upset; you and Dawn won," Ash said.

"Yeah," Brock agreed. "I've gotta find a way to show Euphoria I'm not just playing around with her when I get back…"

Noting that he seemed to be still upset about that, Misty patted his back. "Well, at least us winning let me get a Dragon Scale." She picked up her new Kindra's pokeball, squealing a bit in memory of how he'd looked upon evolving. "He was so cute as a Horsea, but he's flat out handsome as a Kingdra!"

Stuffing a tater tot in her mouth, Himashi jerked a thumb towards the carrot top's bag. "It was nice that you and Dawn gave Chigusa the money. Her dojo seemed important to her, and she was only competing to get the prize money."

"Yeah… Until she said that, me and Brock were really surprised to see her here, especially with Raiden of all people," Ash added.

"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?" Brock asked. "They're both martial artists. They're supporting each other."

"That makes sense, but why was Giselle with A.J.? I wasn't crazy about her, but she seemed classier than hanging around with that jerk," Misty interjected.

Brock leveled a hand, silently asking her to tone it down. "Hey, Giselle's always valued her strength. Her ground types aren't anything to sneeze at, even with a team full of water or grass. A.J.'s strong, so she probably liked that." He paused. "A.J. probably didn't mind being around her too much, either…"

"A.J. wasn't the only one," Dawn mumbled, cutting her eyes to the boy sitting next to her.

Ash threw up his hands. "Will you let that go?! I didn't mean anything!"

Not in the mood to see a couple bicker, Ritchie spoke up. "Hey, hey, A.J. isn't all bad. He does like his pokemon a lot. Seems the rumors I heard about him training under Surge are true, though, judging from his style and that new Raichu he had…" He took a swig out of his soda. "Speaking of strange, did I tell you guys how tough it was to battle Sparky and Mikey?!"

Right on cue, his Sparky, the Pikachu, looked up from his bowl of food.

"See! See! That's what I'm talking about!" the trainer shouted.

"The Eevee brothers seemed nice, though," Himashi offered.

"Meeting Rainer and Pyro for a battle was nice. I got to battle a lot of water type trainers. The battles against Trinity and Sakura, though…" Misty seemed to trail off, a distant and delighted look in her eye.

A smug look overcame Dawn as she leaned to look at the water gym leader. "Oh? What about Georgio? He and Shinjo seemed nice."

Misty visibly flinched.

"... Man, speaking of people, I wonder why Max and Koda didn't come eat with us." Very much so a people-person, Ash knew he would have enjoyed the company of more friends. Having four old friends and Himashi was nice, but Max and his rival would have made it a real party!

"Well, they're younger than us," Brock explained. "They need all the training they can get, and nobody knows that like Max, after having watched you."

"Thanks for the praise."

Brock tutted. "That's not what I meant, Ash, and you know it. Anyways…" He looked at the drink menu. It was for an older crowd than them, but it was clear that it was representative of the general price range of the place. "... We can only afford it because we're all more secure in our careers."

Dawn nodded in agreement. "It's been so nice having more prize money from winning contests!"

"Rechallenging gyms unofficially hasn't netted me much, but even when exciting stuff that I guess would be worth talking about isn't happening, I still do a little prize battling," Ash agreed.

"Without my sisters running the show, we're well out of the red, too," Misty noted.

"Well, the expenses explain why that Leaf girl was here." Ritchie adjusted his hat. "I still can't believe she tried to make off with your wallet!"

"I'm just glad Zippo and you stopped her," Ash said with a laugh.

Himashi grinned, tilting her head. "Hey, since you got your wallet back, why don't you cover everyone's dinner?"

Ash only let out a barking laugh at that. "Yeah, right! You and Ritchie eat as much as I do! Fat chance!"

With that, the whole table burst into laughter. It had been a long, tiresome day, but the tag battle tournament had gone over smoothly. Or, rather, it had gone over smoothly with our heroes…

Elsewhere in Kanto, something evil was afoot. In the darkness of the night, a flash of lightning fired off, its fizzle too distant to even be heard by the group.


	73. Lull Before the Storm

A sleep in the Navy Town Pokemon Center had both been more and less luxurious than our heroes had anticipated. The sheets were certainly a higher grade than usual, but-

"You're telling me in this expensive freakin' town, they don't have a fancy breakfast buffet?!" Ash complained, slamming his now empty cup of orange juice on the table.

Dawn rolled her eyes, chewing on a donut.

Brock only shrugged. "They've got lots of creamers. It's rare that I get peppermint coffee," he said as he nursed his mug with a bit more of said flavor.

"That's your problem! You don't need a fancy breakfast. Take me, for example! A bowl of cereal is a very balanced breakfast!" Misty ate another spoonful as if to prove a point.

"What are you, and old woman?! I'm not gonna eat some high fiber nonsense for breakfast! I want waffles with whipped cream and syrup!" Ash shot back. "Dawn, you're just donuts, you should be in on this with me!"

"What? Hey! Don't call me out! I eat what I want!"

"Then, support me with the waffles!"

"I mean, waffles would be nice, but donuts are okay!"

"They're not as good as waffles!"

"Hey," Brock interrupted, "keep it down." He pointed towards the television, where a young anchorwoman was speaking live from Cerulean City.

Misty dropped her spoon. "The power's out." Her eyes widened. "Oh… Oh, crap, the gym! We've gotta have heated tanks, the water pokemon…! Some of them are tropical…!"

Without hesitation, Ash put his hat back on. "Pikachu! We're cutting breakfast short, buddy."

Dawn nodded, standing up and slinging her bag on her shoulders. "Empoleon! We'll have to train after this."

"So, we all know without saying that we're going with Misty?" Brock asked, wiping his mouth and standing.

"Yes!"

Misty, touched but not surprised, smiled. "You guys are great. Alright! I know there's a train from here to Saffron; if we take it, it'll only take us about two and a half hours to reach Cerulean in all! We'll be there before lunch!"

"Let's go, then!"

"Pikachu, you and me'll share a seat on the train, okay?"

"I hate this is how we do it, but it'll be nice to see Misty's gym again, huh, Empoleon?"

* * *

As soon as they set foot in Cerulean City, the situation was clear. Store owners were desperately trying to sell temperature sensitive goods at a discounted price. People wandered the streets, desperate for something to do now that their daily lives were interrupted. Misty, however, was not wandering. She was headed straight for her gym. The only thing between her and it was a police blockade.

"Hold it right there!" the officer Jenny began. She stopped as soon as she recognized Misty, putting her megaphone down. "Hey, you're the gym leader." She looked behind Misty. "Are they with you?"

"Yeah. So, please, get out of my way." Pushy due to worry, Misty hurled the police barriers, rushing inside.

Her friends followed, a bit more patient with weaving between barriers before they caught up. Inside, they were greeted by the sight of Daisy, Violet, and Lily crowding Misty.

"It's awful!"

"The boiler won't work!"

"Cloyster can keep the tanks cool, but no one can keep them warm!"

"Blaine's too far away to come help before there's trouble, and he doesn't even have a phone at his gym!"

Misty, however, was level headed. She looked back at Ash and Dawn. "I know you both have fire type pokemon," she said seriously, "so, please… Help us out."

Ash and Dawn exchanged a look.

"Well… Typhlosion could help? I don't know if Houndoom could keep a whole tank heated."

"Don't worry," Ash assured her. "I know someone who will. … Even if he'll hate it." Ash released Charizard, earning a squawk of exasperation from Empoleon. There was only room for one prideful pokemon in this gym!

The fire type looked the gym over, jaw clenching. Navy City had been more interesting than this. What was Ash up to, taking him to a gym they'd already defeated?

"Hey, hey, don't gimme that look," Ash started. "Our friend Misty needs our help."

Charizard tilted his head, as if asking how he was supposed to help.

"Pi! Pika Pika!" Pikachu explained, jumping to land on Charizard's shoulder.

The dragon considered Pikachu's words. That sounded an awful lot like grunt labor, which was infinitely beneath him. He cast a sidelong glance at Misty, recalling all she had done for himself and Ash throughout the years. He squinted. If it was for her… Maybe.

Brock, sensing that Charizard was on the precipice of agreeing, spoke up. "You know Charizard," he began, crossing his arms and looking haughty, "if you help, the kitchen'll work here. If the kitchen works here, I'll be able to cook. If I'm able to cook, well… I'm certainly not against taking requests for some of my super special pokechow. I still remember the recipe you like."

A twitch of the dragon's tail that might have become a wag was all the tell Ash needed.

"Yes! Thanks Charizard! You just need to make sure the boiler fire doesn't go out! The girls won't ask you for anything else!"

The Sensational Sisters let out cheers of glee. "Thank you, Charizard!" "You're so totally cool!" "Mega ultra cool!"

Needless to say, the dragon basked in their praise.

With that settled, Misty let out a sigh of relief. Finally, she could focus on the root cause of the problem. "Say, Daisy, what's caused all this anyways."

Daisy shrugged. "Do I look like Tracey to you? All I know is when I went downstairs to go check on things, this old rusty power box was sparking like crazy. They always said to not mess with electricity, so I left that alone!"

Misty tilted her head, thinking about it. "Power box…? Our power box isn't down stairs! I'm gonna go check that out."

"Hold on, we'll come with you! Charizard needs to see the boiler, anyways," Ash said.

Brock and Dawn remained above ground, figuring it'd already be a tight enough fit with Charizard down there.

* * *

While Ash made sure Charizard only ignited the boiler fire rather than setting the building on fire, Pikachu joined Misty over by the power box.

"Ugh… That doesn't make any sense! We haven't used this box in years! Heck, I think I was still in diapers the last time we opened this thing! Yeah, 'cause I tried to check on it about two years ago, and it was rusted shut! So… Whatever surge took out the power blew this thing wide open!" Misty muttered.

"Pi-ka," Pikachu answered.

"Yeah… It definitely isn't good. Wonder why Daisy didn't tell the police." Knowing her sister, though, she hadn't thought it a priority. "Oh well… Hey, Pikachu, you can sense electricity, right?"

"Chu!"

"Well, would you mind seeing where this leads? If we can find out what powerlines are messing up, we might be able to help everyone find a solution."

"Pika!"

Happy to oblige, Pikachu put a tail to the wall near the power box. He followed along the source of power, tilting his ears when he realized it would take him up stairs and outside the building. He quickly ran up the steps and out of the basement.

"Hey, wait up!"

"Misty? Where are you and Pikachu going? Hey! Hey! Slow down!" Ash left Charizard behind to run after them.

* * *

Outside, on the gym lawn, Misty stared up at the power pole that Pikachu had spotted. It was lonely, facing away from town and northward. Furthermore, the gym leader reached down, picking up the leaves and vines which suddenly littered the ground here.

"... They're fried."

Brock, who had come outside along with Dawn, let out a disapproving grunt. "That means they were on the pole until it went live." He looked where the lines led. "... Hey, weren't these a part of the old power plant's supply? They were all supposed to get taken down."

"Yeah, well, the Fuchsia City gym was supposed to get rid of their booby traps last year, but I'll bet it'll be on the league agenda again for them to do that," Misty retorted.

"So, something's going on at the old power plant, then," Ash concluded. "We should go check it out."

Misty nodded. "My sisters have things covered here, so I'm coming with."

Brock checked his medical supplies. "Electivire are known to do wild things when they're hurt. We may be dealing with an injured pokemon. I'm coming, too."

"Well, don't count me and Empoleon out, either!"

* * *

After briefly stopping to let the Sensational Sisters know they were heading off, our heroes roamed northward towards the power plant. The closer they got, the more the air crackled with electric energy. As soon as they could see the building, they knew something was off, and it wasn't just because one or two lights would flash on occasion.

Empoleon was getting the worst of it, but the humans' hairs were standing on end and Pikachu's ears and tail couldn't stay down.

"Empo…!" he whined, crackles of electricity rolling off his body. Being water and steel typed, this was absolutely unbearable for him.

Dawn touched him, but recoiled as soon as she was zapped. "Ouch! Aw, buddy, I'm so sorry! Empoleon, why don't you have a rest in your pokeball until this is finished?" With him put away, she looked towards her friends. "... This isn't gonna be good, is it?"

Brock sighed. "I'm afraid not… Whatever's going on is bigger than one Electivire. They can't do…" He waved his hands, causing a few sparks from just the friction in the air. "This."

As the group was about to clear the treeline, Ash held a hand back.

"Shit."

"Language," Brock gently chided, until he saw what Ash said it for. "Nevermind."

Before the entrance to the power plant was a small squadron of Team Rocket grunts. While Misty and Brock quietly tried to discuss what to do about them and how serious this made the situation, Dawn immediately yanked Ash and thus Pikachu back. The three shared a series of wide eyed looks.

This didn't go unnoticed by their other friends.

"... We can go back, if you want," Brock offered.

Misty nodded. "Reinforcements might be good."

Dawn shook her head. "Whatever's going on will only get worse if we wait." She looked at Ash. "... You decide, though. I won't… We won't…"

"I know what you mean," Ash answered. He looked to the ground, fist balled. "... Gonna be really honest. My stomach's in knots. But… Whatever's going on in there's hurting pokemon, maybe more than we know. I can't let that happen. Besides, what're they gonna do? Put another hit out on us?"

"That's not funny!" Dawn snapped. "They really might!"

Ash took his hat off, hiding his face with it a bit. "... Right. Right. Sorry, Dawn. We can't just let this happen, though."

"You're right," she agreed. "But, listen… We can do this safely. I'm not going to lose you again."

"You won't," Ash promised. He noticed the light shuddering in Pikachu's paws on his shoulder. "Buddy? You okay?"

Up until then, Pikachu had stoicly been looking ahead, tail and ears kept erect only thanks to the mysterious charge in the air. Now, however, when asked, he caved. His paws came up to his face and he quietly cried into Ash's jacket collar. "Pi…! Pika! Pikapi Pikaaa!" He didn't want to be afraid and he definitely wanted to help, but even seeing the red R of their uniforms made him want to run away.

Ash immediately held Pikachu, comforting him.

"Pikachu isn't going," Misty said. "I'm not gonna make him cry."

"He's not staying here by himself!" Ash snapped. "... I can't make him come, either; I won't."

"It's probably safest for everyone if he doesn't," Brock added.

Against all these voices saying no, Pikachu relented. He reached up, licking Ash's cheek apologetically. "Pikapi…"

"Hey," Ash insisted, "your job right now is focus on feeling better, okay?" Ash looked to Dawn. "Do you have Togekiss with you? She's slow, and she looks like a cloud from the right angle. If she takes Pikachu back, I know he'll make it safe."

Dawn walked back into the woods a bit with Ash after nodding, releasing the fairy. She kneeled down to speak to her.

"Okay, Togekiss. Please take Pikachu back safely to Cerulean City. Stay there with Charizard. You'll be safe until I get to you, okay?"

"Toge!"

Pikachu hopped on Togekiss's back. Before they took off, Ash held Pikachu's paws.

"You be safe, buddy."

"Pikapi, Pikachu."

With their well wishes said, Togekiss took off, climbing slowly into the air to disguise herself as a cloud, and then quickly gliding off. Ash watched them until he couldn't tell what was cloud and what was Togekiss, and then until he was sure what might have been Togekiss moved too far away for him to see through the trees.

"Rosa, I choose you."

Dawn gave him a questioning look, but didn't say anything.

The Aura pokemon appeared. _~What's up, Papa?~_ Then, she hesitated. Ash and Dawn didn't look happy. _~...Papa?~_

"Rosa, I'm gonna be straight with you." Ash reached to place a hand on her shoulder. "We found another messy situation, here." He frowned when the pokemon tensed. "I know… I'm sorry for springing these things on you. The Game Corner, Silph Co, and then my rescue…. I'm sorry, Rosa. You shouldn't have to deal with these things, so often. None of us should, but… Especially you. I didn't prepare you for this."

Physically, he had. Emotionally was a whole other matter.

"So, as much as I'd appreciate your help, I'm not going to push you into another one of these things. I remember you had a rough time sleeping, not too long ago… I don't wanna do that to you again. Whether you wanna get involved is your choice entirely, alright?"

Rosa held a paw to her chest. Her lip trembled. _~I-I'unno… I'm scared…~_

"That's fine," Ash assured. He knelt down to her level. "The rest of us'll-"

Rosa dove into his arms. _~I'm scared you'll get hurt again!~_ She clung to the teen's red jacket, tears staining her fur. _~When you were in trouble, I-I evolved…! I had to! 'N then you got snatched away from us… Y'looked so beat up! I was so worried!~_ She was pounding a fist against her trainer's chest. _~What'm I gonna do when you really get hurt, huh!?~_

Ash swallowed his guilt, gently stroking her back. Dawn watched, a closed hand held to her chest.

"I…." Ash reached to rub his own eyes. "I won't…! No one will!"

His usual confident gaze only erred towards the grass. That was a tough promise to make, these days.

The Lucario sniffled, wiping tears from her puffy eyes. She pulled back to look up at Ash. _~I dun…. Dun mind punchin' bad guys… But, losin' any of you gets me bad! Especially you, Papa.~_

Ash gently scratched behind her ears. Whenever he opened his mouth, he was admittedly at a loss for words.

"We'll be here with you," Dawn reminded her, placing a gentle hand on her back. "Like always."

"And, you've got us, now." Brock had finally joined the scene, and Misty with him.

"Yeah, you don't have to worry," Misty chimed in. "We're used to saving Ash's butt when he does stupid things!"

Ash lacked the usual urge to bicker. He laughed, instead. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Misty, Dawn, and Brock laughed with him.

"Don't get mad at me for telling the truth," Misty winked.

"Much as I don't wanna admit it, she's got a point." Ash rubbed his eyes with a glove, looking back to the Aura pokemon before him. "It's pretty much a tradition."

Rosa sniffled. _~If you're all here… Okay. I'll come along. But, only if I stick by your side the entire time, Papa!~_ She held one of Ash's hands with both paws, wide, ruby eyes set on his. _~And, promise this'll all stop, soon?~_

"I…" Ash opened his mouth, only to find his throat dry. This felt like a big punch in the gut. Could he even answer that properly?

Misty rested a hand on Rosa's shoulder. " _I'll_ promise for him. Anything else that pops up after this, I'll take on my own! I'll _make_ Ash stay behind, if I have to." She gave a smirk Ash's way, turning back to the pokemon with a more genuine smile. "He'll be resting this off, like he should be."

"I'll double down on that," Brock volunteered. "You all've done plenty for Kanto, lately, already. We'll pick up the slack, if we have to."

Ash's lip trembled. On impulse, he yanked Brock and Misty into a hug. "You guys…!" He swallowed. No use staining their outfits with tears. "...I owe you one."

Dawn brushed a bang from her face with a smile. It was no wonder Ash thought of them so highly. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that at all… Because we'll shut them down, here! No need to worry!"A thumbs-up was flashed to the group.

Ash opened his mouth instinctively. "That's when I…" He looked to Rosa, and pulled back from his friends. He shook his head. "Right. No need to worry!" He held a hand out to Rosa. "Rose, you've got yourself a deal."

She grabbed Ash's hand with both paws, frantically shaking it. _~It's a deal, Papa!~_

The mood had lightened, for a moment, at least. Brock looked towards the Power Plant. "Then, that leaves us to figure out how we're going to get in, undetected. Beating them should be easy, but we're better off not attracting too much attention."

"No need to worry," Dawn repeated, unclipping a pokeball from her belt. "Houndoom, spotlight!"

"Hou!" the dog barked, wagging his tail and brushing his horns against Dawn's side.

"Ssh, buddy. It's good to see you, too." She looked to her friends. "Houndoom knows Smog. We're going to use that to knock out the grunts. Once we do that, we can sneak in. I'll change into a grunt uniform and look for what's going on. I can see them using walkie talkies, so we'll find a channel that isn't in use to keep in touch. Since Houndoom looks like a pokemon Team Rocket would have, no one's going to suspect a thing!"

Ash gave Dawn a look. "Are you sure that's a good idea? You've done that before."

"You've done this before?" Brock echoed, shocked. "Dawn, it's way too dangerous to split up!"

"Well, do any of you have any pokemon that can pass? Misty, your orange hair is a big give. Brock, you and Ash stand out too much. If I put my hair up in a hat, I can walk around unnoticed with the cap covering my eyes."

No one had an argument. As much as they weren't crazy about the idea, they could only nod. It was their quietest bet for getting more information.

Smiling at them, Dawn shrugged off her pink jacket, tucking it into her bag. She motioned for Houndoom to head towards the grunts from the side with her, trying to flank them.

Ash watched tensely as Dawn disappeared into the woods. Misty quietly released Starmie, ready to come running if Dawn needed help. Brock, lacking anything as small and as quiet as the others for this situation, remained vigilant, though his jaw was clearly clenched.

Soon, they got their signal. At first, it was like a thin haze, too loose for the grunts to notice. By the time they began coughing, the Smog was thick and purple. Dawn and Houndoom stepped out of the woods, still pouring on the fumes. Dawn had her jacket over her nose, blocking out the noxious gas. As soon as the last grunt quietly passed out, she gave a thumbs up to her friends.

Rosa was the first to approach, having performed a raid at Dawn's side before. _~Good job!~_ she praised. _~No one noticed! We're safe!~_

Dawn patted the top of the jackal's head. "Mmhm! Thanks for trusting me again, Rosa."

She wagged her tail. _~Always!~_

Brock knelt down, gathering the walkie talkies. "One for you, one for you, one for you, and one for me. There, all four of us have one. Rosa's staying with Ash, right?"

"Right," Ash agreed. He watched as Dawn slipped on the grunt's uniform over her regular clothes. He was a lot bigger than her, meaning the bottom of his shirt passed as a skirt on her. "Where should we go while you're scouting?"

Misty spoke up instead. "We shouldn't linger near the door."

"There's a basement," Brock suggested. "That's where the control panels were. At the very least, let's try shutting down the power here. That should solve things back in Cerulean City, right? We might be able to call for backup from down there, too."

"There! While you guys check out the basement, I'll blend in with the grunts and see what I can learn."

Recalling what happened the last time they got split up, Ash hesitated. "Dawn…"

She smiled at him. "I'll come back for you no matter what, okay?"

He nodded, smiling at her in turn. He knew she meant it. "Okay."

With that, the group headed inside.

* * *

The path down to the basement was thankfully quiet. The entrance only led in two directions; stairs headed down to the basement were where Brock, Misty, and Ash headed while Dawn began walking down the corridor to seek out grunts to spy among.

"If we finish this early, I'll try dressing up to go after Dawn," Misty suggested as they turned the last corner.

Ash shook his head. "Me and Rosa'll go after her. We'll be able to sense… where… Oh. Fu-"

"You!"

Our heroes looked in horror at the mass of backlit Team Rocket members standing before control panels, the callow yellow light from the power displays giving them all a ghastly glow. Particularly, Archer, who was seated on the only cushioned chair in the room, glowed a devilish blue thanks to the blinking display next to him. He stood upon seeing the teens, though.

"What absolute luck!" he said, sounding anything but glad. "I thought I got shafted; I'm only watching to make sure the power stays on in the plant, after all. But, look, LOOK! The brat with the bounty on his head walks in!" He laughed. "You're so stupid."

Brock reacted first, withdrawing a pokeball and facing it forward. "Steelix, come on out!"

"They know we're here!" Ash yelped.

Misty quickly ripped her walkie talkie off her pants, bringing it to her face. "Dawn! Dawn, come in! Our cover's blown! Meet back up with us!"

"It's no good! If anyone hears that, she's done for! I'll hold these guys off! Ash, Misty, go find what the problem is and meet back up with Dawn!" The former gym leader put a hand on Steelix's head. Right now, the snake blocked off the room at the end of the basement hall, temporarily holding off the grunts. Brock could already tell by his expression they'd need to turn around and battle soon. No doubt a horde of Zubats and Rattata were chipping away at the snake's hide.

"What about you, Brock?!" Ash asked.

The eldest child of the Pewter Gym looked solemnly at Ash. "Worse come to worse, I'll have Steelix Dig us out of here. Don't worry, we won't get taken. But, I'm going to hold them off so we won't have to retreat. So, hurry. I'm a little rusty; I guess it's a good thing we had a chance to brush up in Navy City."

Misty hesitated, stubborn pride and her care for her friend both telling her to stay and fight. However, she could tell he meant it. He could handle himself, right? Furthermore, Rosa's expression made it clear she wanted to go check up on Dawn.

"... You better not make me drag you out of here!" Misty snapped before she turned and ran up the stairs. Ash and Rosa followed after, throwing Brock concerned looks.

Brock let out a deep sigh, rubbing under Steelix's chin. "Alright, big guy. We talked about horde battles in Kalos, what, a month ago? We said we wanted to go visit the pretty girls there. So… Let's get some practice in." As Steelix moved, ready to face the mass of pokemon, Brock stomped a foot, throwing his hand out. "Use Dragonbreath!"


	74. Cutting it Close

**And, we're back again! We hope you enjoy this thrilling chapter!**

 **Again, though, we'd like to leave a little warning. If violence beyond pokemon's usual cartoonish caliber makes you uncomfortable, express caution while reading this chapter. Beyond that, have fun, and please leave feedback, if you desire!**

 **Also letting you know that we've changed our author name from Jukezorz to Mezamun! To avoid any confusion.**

* * *

There were few grunts. That unnerved Dawn. In fact, she'd only seen three. One was actually taking a nap, while the other only told her to go see if a mysterious Professor Zager needed anything. She said she would ask him, but she had no clue who he even was.

She would get her answer shortly; soon, she reached a wide, open room. Platforms hung above and below the set that led into the room. Beneath it all, most horrifically, was a bright blue mass of electricity. In the center of it was Zapdos, quiet and nearly comatose, only twitching every now and then as a sign that it was not dead.

Dawn forced herself to hold in a gasp. Beside her, Houndoom's hackles rose. Dawn looked to where he did, spotting Petrel and who she could only assume was Zager. They looked down on Zapdos. Dawn began walking towards them, trying to think of how she could signal her friends that she'd discovered what was going on and that she'd found the source of the problem.

"Hey, get moving, the grunts outside fell asleep, I need you to-" came a voice behind Dawn. She immediately recognized it as Ariana's.

Worse yet, however, was that her walkie talkie went off.

"Dawn!" came Misty's voice over the radio. "We've been spotted! Get cover now!"

Ariana gasped. Dawn tried to dart ahead. Ariana reached out, trying to snatch the girl's neck but only grabbing her hat.

"You little rat!" the executive snarled as soon as Dawn's long blue hair cascaded around her.

In short order, Ariana's own walkie talkie went off, informing Zager and Petrel, who had seen from a distant Ariana accost what they assumed was a grunt.

"We have guests!" Archer seemed frenzied, not entirely kept together. He sounded both excited and anxious. "It's Ash Ketchum and Dawn. Two others are with them. What you do to the others is your business, but make sure Ash and Dawn die."

With that, the radio went silent.

"Oh!" Petrel hooped, marching over towards Dawn. "I'm so glad you've come back to my, my little contest star! I owe you one for the nasty burns that explosion of yours gave me!"

"I've got problems with her, too," Ariana sneered. "But, if she hurt you, I'm certainly willing to let you get first blow."

"Fat chance!" Dawn yelled, pushing past Ariana and away from Petrel.

The man gave chase, though, following Dawn off the platforms and into another room.

Ariana, meanwhile, calmly walked over to Zager.

"Won't you go after Ash?" the professor asked.

Ariana laughed. "What? No! There's two left. I assume Archer's hunting one or found it already, so that leaves one for me." She tilted her head up. "After all… I'm sure everyone's favorite rabid Rocket is going to come out thirsty for the boy's blood. And, I'm certainly not getting between him and what he wants."

* * *

"Ash, wait up!" Misty yelled, barely keeping up with the frantic boy and his Lucario. The metal under the platforms reached her ears just as she reached up with Ash. His white knuckled hands gripped the platform's rails. When she looked over, she spotted what Ash did. "Zapdos!"

"There!" Ariana announced. "My opponent!"

"Our opponents!" Misty corrected. "C'mon, Ash! Let's take her and the egghead out together!"

"Right! Rosa, let's-"

Ash was kicked off the platform and onto the one below, unable to finish his sentence. Leaping down after him and landing heavily, a blue haired man hunched over, breathing heavily. Rosa barked in horror, immediately jumping down after Ash.

"Get up!" Proton spat, spittle flying from his lips. "I'm here to rip you a new one, kid! Stand up! I don't like nothin' limp! Not 'til you've stopped breathin', at least!"

Above the oncoming blood match below, Professor Zager nodded before returning to his control panel. "Well, you were right, Ariana. He was very eager. I assume you'll take care of the girl. I can't help; I've got to finish the complacency programming. That electric field will only hold Zapdos back for so long, after all."

Ariana began walking towards Misty, who was still screaming for Ash to get up. "Oh, no hard feelings about being busy, Zager. Since I can't have the girl, I'll get the girl's friend."

* * *

Back with Dawn, the coordinator slammed into a locker, having taken her turn too quickly into the room. The entire room, in fact, was full of lockers. Houndoom's claws clicked against the floor as they scrambled to find a hiding spot in it, trying to think of a plan to escape Petrel.

The man, meanwhile, seemed content with the room.

"This is a dead end, you know," he called out. "Literally, I mean, as well as figuratively. This room doesn't go anywhere. It's the locker room, where the old workers used to keep their things. For you… Well, it can be the last game of hide and seek you'll ever play." Clicking every pokeball on his belt, Petrel released his whole team: two Weezing, a Koffing, an Electrode, and a Graveler. He looked to them. "Find her. Explode or Self-Destruct. I don't care. Make sure she takes the hit. Directly."

As his team fanned out, Petrel wandered after them, hoping to catch a glimpse of the show.

"You've embarrassed us, you know," he said aloud. "We're so desperate to regain some sense of authority that we had to go after Zapdos. That's so desperate looking for us. You know how it is, being a coordinator, don't you? You try too hard and you just don't look cool."

Houndoom's tail raised as he sat beside Dawn, teeth bared in a silent growl. A Koffing stumbled upon their hiding place, then. It grinned maliciously, beginning to release Poison Gas

Dawn and Houndoom, however, were wise to his game.

"Houndoom, Flamethrower," Dawn whispered.

The sound of fire jetting in the room alerted Petrel, even if he couldn't see her. He could, however, see where the room was lit, giving away Dawn's position.

"I said Self-Destruct!" the man snarled. "You better explode before she makes you explode!"

Whether Houndoom igniting the gas or Koffing Self-Destructing caused the explosion was unclear; all Dawn knew was that she and Houndoom were knocked back and several of the lockers were gone in a charred, black mess when she sat up. She could hear distant yelling, probably Petrel, but her head was swimming. Did she hit it? She thought she might have, especially since Houndoom was barking at her but she couldn't hear it, only a loud ringing.

She looked behind her. She scrambled to stand as an Electrode rolled into view through the smoke. Her hearing began to return and Houndoom's barks echoed off the bare walls of the room.

"We gotta go!" she yelled, jumping through the now-empty space between the lockers, Houndoom right at her side.

As soon as the jumped, though, Houndoom began snarling, alerting Dawn to the presence of another pokemon.

Knowing she was out numbered, Dawn fumbled to release Typhlosion. Hopefully, two fire types would be able to take explosive attacks better. It was her only hope! "Typhlosion, I need you!"

The fire type, immediately sensing Dawn's fear, hugged her mother figure, roaring in fury.

The three turned to face the oncoming danger. Dawn's heart sank when she saw what it was.

"You gotta… A Graveler?!" she asked, incredulous. "Gah… The fire won't…! We still gotta try! Typhlosion, Houndoom, use Flamethrower!"

The Graveler seemed to take this as a challenge, walking forward through the flames, beginning to glow a brighter and brighter white until the fire and its own budding Explosion caused it to ignite. Typhlosion moved quickly, wrapping her arms around Dawn again to shield her from the attack.

The coordinator and her pokemon were both tossed again, though Dawn didn't hit her head this time. When she sat up, she saw that both fire types were unconscious, but thankfully sustained no damage she knew couldn't be fixed with a trip to the Pokemon Center.

That is, at least, she hoped so.

Regardless, Dawn returned the both of them, trying to figure out what to do. She couldn't call on Empoleon with Zapdos's electric pressure still filling the air with that horrible energy. Togekiss wasn't even here right now! Instead, the coordinator released her Absol and Rura.

Absol, immediately recognizing the danger of the situation, took a defensive position before Dawn and the Zorua. Dawn held Rura close, whispering to him.

"Are you still alive?" Petrel called, walking through the lines of lockers.

Dawn silently mounted Absol, sitting astride her white back with Rura in her arms. Without being ordered Absol used Detect, sensing the oncoming Electrode and running away from its attack, letting it Self-Destruct behind them in vain.

Petrel jerked his head, glee in his expression. "Oh, you aren't dead!" He looked to his two Weezing who had returned to his side after failing to find her. "I get to see you die, then!" He quickly ran towards the sound of Absol's claws clicking against the floor, turning to see…

Two Dawns and the Absol.

Petrel's smile dropped. "I don't know what game you're playing, but I'll end it without a worry. There's three of you, and I have two Weezing." He snapped his fingers. "You do the math."

As both of the poison types approached, one of the Dawns bolted, running down the hall.

"There's the real one! Weezing, after her! Do not let her escape!"

In short order, one of the Weezing followed while the other remained behind. Out of sight, there was an explosion. Absol and the remaining Dawn flinched.

The Rocket executive let out a bitter laugh. "Sorry, you two. Your trainer abandoned you. Don't worry; I punished her. Tell you what… Dark types are nice, and you're a very talented Ditto if you can hold that form for this long. Let me, your savior take you in. What do you say?"

"You can shove your offer!" the remaining Dawn snapped, revealing herself to be the real deal. Yelling and crying out of anger and worry, she pointed towards Petrel's final Weezing. "Night Slash!"

"You stupid girl!" Petrel yelled. "Explosion!"

Dawn was knocked down once more by the explosion, having it much closer to her than Petrel. That was, of course, fine by the man. When the smoke cleared, he saw the Absol unconscious right by his Weezing. He walked by both, headed for Dawn to finish the job.

 _~Don't touch her!~_

Petrel jerked his head up, seeing a little black pokemon at the end of the hall. It was then that he realized that Dawn's last pokemon hadn't been a Ditto. Whatever that thing was, it knew Protect.

Which meant that Petrel was going to have to face it. On his own. Without a single pokemon to help him.

The man didn't say a word, shock silencing him.

Rura, on the other hand, didn't waste any time with words out of anger. He rushed forward, preparing a Foul Play attack. Using all of Petrel's strength against him, Rura slammed the man back, knocking him out. Satisfied to have sufficiently handled that ordeal, the little fox snorted.

 _~That'll teach you!~_ He turned his attention to Dawn, running to her side. _~Dawn! Hey! Dawn, get up!~_ he begged, shoving her a bit with his front paws.

Dawn roused, sitting up. "... You did it. Thank you, Rura." She hugged the Zorua. She stood up, breathing in a little sharply. Her ribs hurt. She returned Absol, headed out to see if she could meet up with her friends. It sounded busy out there.

* * *

Back in the basement with Brock, the doctor-in-training had just finished dealing with the last of the grunts. Deciding to conserve Steelix's remaining strength for the possible escape route he might need, Brock returned the big snake.

"Surely you don't think I'll let you go," Archer said aloud, walking towards Brock. He released his Tyranitar. The huge beast loomed behind the Rocket administrator. "You young gym leaders don't know about the good old days. Back then, your kind knew better than to stick your noses in Rocket business."

Brock, hesitating, lifted a pokeball. "What does that mean?"

There was no answer. Archer only smiled darkly.

"... Swampert, come on out!" Brock said instead. He looked above, noting the ceiling was crumbling a bit. He heard the distant sound of explosions, as well. Whatever was going on up there might bring the whole building down! He had to hurry.

"Use Screech," Archer ordered.

Tyranitar assaulted Swampert with a horrid wail. The Mud Fish flinched.

"Fight back with Water Gun!" Brock countered.

A jet was spat at the larger pokemon, sending it skidding back.

"Earthquake!"

The Armor pokemon roared, lifting a foot high. It was promptly slammed into the floor, rattling the basement. Desks, chairs, and fluorescent lights rattled, while Swampert endured the brunt of the attack, tightly gripping the floor for stability. "Swamp…." He growled, shaking his head.

Archer sneered. "You didn't really think you'd do Team Rocket in so easily, did you?"

"The right thing isn't always easy," Brock replied with a scowl. But, he tensed. Archer's face… He was horror-struck, his eyes turned up towards…

The Executive sprung back,barely missed by a chunk of the ceiling that crashed to the basement floor. Tyranitar had swatted cement aside with ease, only irritated.

Archer suppressed a sigh of relief. Not a chance in hell he was trying that again.

A grunt meanwhile, trembled, fear-struck and speechless. A block of industrial cement parted with the ceiling, moments from crushing him beneath its weight.

Brock gasped. "Swampert, guard him with protect!"

The water type dashed without hesitation, projecting a barrier around himself and the Rocket. The heavy material crashed against it, falling harmlessly to the side.

The grunt was still trembling. "Th-thanks, man…"

A glare from Proton shut him up. His superior turned to Swampert with a grin. "Rock Slide!"

The other man scrambled as heavy stones crashed into Swampert's bulky hide.

"Swampert…!" Brock grit his teeth. "What kind of lowlife… Using mercy against your own teammates as an opening. You should be ashamed to show your face to either of us."

" _You_ should be ashamed of your naivete. A grown man, and you're still so gullible? Honestly, it's a wonder you or any of your friends are even still alive… But, I might be making too many assumptions." Archer laughed, shaking his head with a dismissive hand in the air.

Brock's jaw hung, his stomach tying itself in knots. "How dare you," he growled, his voice low and hoarse. "They are. You won't get your filthy hands on them." He would see to that, if nothing else. He'd stake his own life on it.

"Swamp!" Swampert roared, shrugging the jagged stones off of his body. A guttural hiss was directed at Archer, his webbed hands trembling. How dare he threaten Brock. How dare he threaten Ash, or the others!

The Mud Fish wretched, tilting his head back. His body trembled.

"Swampert…! What's wrong!?" Brock stepped forward, not at all mindful of the Tyranitar between them.

"Sorry. Looks like your pokemon will be the first to go."

"Swamp!" Swampert threw his head forward, and his body with it, spitting out a flood of Muddy Water.

Waves of muck crashed into Tyranitar, disheveling the bottom-heavy pokemon. It was left to the mercy of Muddy Water, washed up unconscious at Archer's feet.

"Hmph." Archer tutted, recalling Tyranitar without a word. He dropped another pokeball. "Persian, Feint Attack."

A shadow popped out of the capsule, whisking across the mucky, debris-laden floor.

Swampert crouched, defensive. However, a surprise swat across the face bypassed his guard.

"Slash!"

A gold glint shone in the midst of a fleeing shadow, startling Swampert. The water type lurched back, standing on his hind legs. "Swamp!"

A move that proved futile, when a vicious slash stung his side. He hissed, stomping a webbed foot down.

"Hang in there, Swampert," Brock urged. "Mud Bomb!"

A mass of muck smashed into Persian, toppling it with little trouble. The feline hissed, trying to blink the mud out of his eyes.

"Use Slash!"

Persian lunged at his target - at least, what he thought was his target. The cat was startled to find himself sliding across the wet floor, missing his target completely.

"Mud Bomb, again!"

Swampert launched another assault, hitting Persian a second time.

"Swift!"

The feline shook his head, turning to launch a barrage of stars at his opponent.

"Those won't miss," Brock muttered. "Protect!"

A green barrier formed around Swampert, guarding against the swarm of golden stars that pelted the guard.

Archer grinned. "Slash!"

Swampert's shield held out through the last of Swift with little trouble, but as always, a nigh-invincible barrier never lasted long. The green film flickered, and an ominous gleam replaced it.

Persian crossed Swampert with a Slash, swift and brutal. It skidded on past the injured pokemon, pleased with handiwork.

Swampert stumbled, his sturdy legs trembling. "Pert…." His sides had grown sore.

"Hang in there…" Brock whispered, throwing a hand out. "Use Mud Bomb, behind you!"

The Mud Fish stomped to his side, belching another round of mud at Persian.

"Power Gem," Archer commanded.

Persian turned, launching a brilliant, glimmering beam of crimson in return. The beautiful vanity of Persian's forehead jewel met the sturdy practicality of Swampert's earthy attacks.

Soon, mud splattered, and the prideful shine of Power Gem blasted through.

Inhaling, Brock shouted with urgency. "Swampert, Protect, now!"

The command gave Archer a devilish grin. "Feint Attack."

Persian's ray of energy smashed into Protect, held back by the reliable failsafe.

But, that failsafe was only so reliable.

A ghoulish figure slipped past the muck and debris, appearing briefly before Swampert.

Startled, the Mud Fish jolted back. His barrier flickered away.

A sharp pain struck Swampert's side. Persian had crashed into him, sending him tumbling.

With a croak, he collapsed.

"Swampert…!" Brock pursed his lips, holding his companion's pokeball out. "Thank you."

"Rock types usually aren't all too impressive," Archer sneered, "but you aren't even trying to hold to your brand! You should be grateful that this embarrassment won't reach the public eye."

Brock's brow twitch. With a deep breath, he bit his tongue. "...Toxicroak, Brick Break!"

As the pokeball opened, Archer spoke. "Persian, use-"

An unforgiving fist was promptly smashed into Persian's gut, sending the hacking feline flying with the

following uppercut. Toxicroak watched the pokemon roll limp, scoffing. "Croaaak."

 _'_ _Don't think I didn't hear you.'_ His narrow pupils drifted in Archer's direction. The air sac on his throat inflated and deflated, slow enough to seem ominous.

"Hm. So, you're not as helpless as you look… Houndoom, Sunny Day!"

The hellhound appeared in a flash, firing a golden orb from its mouth towards the fractured ceiling. Scorching, brilliant rays flared down upon the fray, basking Brock and Toxicroak in uncomfortable heat.

Houndoom, however, reveled in it, its tail flicking and head turned upward.

"Not fun to adjust to after standing in the dark," Brock complained under his breath. He blinked  
uncomfortably, in the meantime, and Toxicroak guarded his own eyes.

Archer was happy to take advantage of that. "Use Flamethrower!"

Toxicroak was swarmed in roaring flames, shrieking even as they died down.

"Croa…." He whined, swiping away at the last of the embers on his skin.

"He's burned…" Brock grimaced. "Brick Break!"

The amphibian sprung, quickly cornering Houndoom with a right hook. "Bite!"

Toxicroak's fist grazed Houndoom's muzzle, only to be swiftly caught in its grip. Sharp fangs kept  
Toxicroak in place.

Brock gasped. "Poison Jab, the other hand!"

He raised his opposite arm, flooding it with venom.

"Flamethrower," Archer countered.

There was a malicious glint in Houndoom's eye. He released Toxicroak, only to blast him with heat at  
point-blank range. The victim tumbled out of the smoke, trembling.

"This is looking bad… Hang in there, Toxicroak!" As Brock said so, even, sweat trickled down his cheek.

Whether it was his nerves or the heat, he wasn't sure. "Poison Jab!"

The biped scoffed, pushing himself onto his feet. As if he'd go down like that!

A glowing limb was swung, smashing cleanly into Houndoom's underbelly. The hound stumbled back  
erratically, coughing and whimpering.

"Great shot," Brock cheered. "Now, if it'd just…" His brows lifted. "...It doesn't seem to be poisoned."

Archer chuckled. "Unfortunately for you, no. Lingering around toxins all day, and even knowing poisonous

attacks, this Houndoom's about as close to immune as non-poison types can get! But, you'd be a complete  
fool to expect less from an Executive of Team Rocket."

Brock exhaled. _'I'm starting to run out of options… I'd better keep an eye open for an opening to run.'_

"Use Flamethrower!"

A last bath of flames crossed the basement, scorching Toxicroak.

Brock coughed, an arm held over his face to to fend from the smoke. A few swipes of his opposite hand  
made grey wisps dwindle, exposing Toxicroak. The Toxic Frog had collapsed, covered in singes.

Finally, Sunny Day's glow was beginning to die out.

"Thanks for fighting so hard… You rest, for now." Brock recalled him, and released another. "I need you,  
Chansey!"

"Chansey~!" The Egg pokemon cooed, appearing with a spin… But, something didn't feel right. Heavy vibes of fright and animosity hung in the ai; a Chansey's natural enemy. She pouted, adorable beady eyes growing narrow. She opposed Archer and Houndoom. "Chan-Chansey!"

"Hm. You must be getting desperate. Bite!"

Houndoom lunged, sinking his teeth into the rotund normal type before roughly tossing her aside.

As Chansey bounced, Brock threw an arm out, ignoring Archer. "Use Egg Bomb!"

Chansey rolled and rebounded, holding her tiny hands above her head. A glowing oval appeared, and was promptly chucked at Houndoom. It exploded upon contact, prompting a yelp from the smokey debris.

Archer's lips pursed. "Use Sunny Day, again!"

A golden light was shot out of the scattering smoke, heating the basement once more.

"Flamethrower!"

Chansey confronted the brunt of a curtain of flames, whimpering in pain. "Chans…. Chansey!" She wasn't going down, just yet!

"You can take it, Chansey! Softboiled, then, Secret Power!"

Glittering white orbs shooed off the flames, before gathering to Chansey's form. Her marks began to fade, and her vitality returned! Subsequently, she had plenty of strength to spare, launched in the form of a pink wave of energy that struck Houndoom.

"Hou-ou…." The fire type whined, shaking his head. Suddenly, he was feeling oddly disoriented.

"Don't lose focus," Archer ordered with a snap of his fingers. "Bite!"

Irritated, Houndoom uttered a low, guttural growl, barely a warning before he chopped down upon Chansey's arm.

The Egg pokemon yelped, awkwardly stumbling back. She was quickly preoccupied with nursing the bite on her arm.

"Oh no." Brock swallowed. "Chansey, watch out-!"

"Use Flamethrower!"

The flinching Chansey was bathed in yet another flash of fire.

Brock wiped sweat from his brow. "Talk about pressure… Use Softboiled!"

The normal type hoisted another glowing orb, bathing herself in rejuvenative energy. Even still, she breathed heavy, staring down the aggressive Houndoom.

"Honestly, what's the point of delaying the inevitable? You're only wasting Team Rocket's precious time."  
Archer laid a hand on his hip, sporting a scowl. "My amusement with this spectacle has run thin."

"It isn't inevitable," Brock barked back. "Chansey's job is to bring hope; to heal and provide tenderness to  
anyone in need, just as that's my aspiration. Of course she's going to win against evil!"

Archer's face twisted. "You've reached far to try to sell me that load of crap. You've worn out my patience-"

The room trembled, Brock and Archer forced to regain their footing. The ceiling above them rattled,  
near-deafening thuds heard from above. Fluorescent lights flickered, some dying out completely.

"Oh, no…!" Brock's head turned up, brows knitted down. _'The others…!'_

Just hypothesizing what had gone on upstairs put his stomachs in knots.

Archer grinned, a gleam in his eye. "Careless… Tear him to shreds!"

"Hou!" Houndoom boomed, hunting down Brock with eager glee. By the time the man had caught on, he  
was only moments from devilish fangs sinking into his flesh. Oh, and Houndoom couldn't wait until he-

The dark type squealed, violently yanked.

"Chansey!" The normal type gripped Houndroom by his arrow-tipped tail, her kind gaze replaced by a menacing glare. She held on, no matter how much Houndoom whined and pulled away. "Chan!" She violently yanked Houndroom about, chucking him directly into the wall on the opposite end of the room.

Grains and chunks of cement began to chip and fall, their rough, granular sounds perfectly heard over Archer's awed silence. Even as the basement had begun to rumble, he could only stare at the pokemon embedded in the solid surface. "What the-!?"

Huge chunks of ceiling plummeted, deafening the Executive's shrieks.

Brock's heart jumped into his throat. He lurched forward, yanking Chansey away from the fray, just in time to save her from more falling slabs. "Chansey, we've got to go!" He pulled the pokemon towards and up the stairs, far more roughly than he'd like. "Either he'll climb out, or the rest of the ceiling will crush us, with him!"

"Chansey!" The pokemon stumbled, finally keeping up as they scaled the stairs.

"Now, let's catch up with our friends."

Muffled, frenzied threats were shouted from under the rubble.

* * *

"Ash…!" Misty had clutched the cold railing, heart racing. "You coward," she hissed at Proton. A louder, quite literal hiss caught her attention, though, emerald eyes turning to the Arbok that Ariana had released.

There was, unfortunately, no time to worry about her best friend. Misty reached for a pokeball, hesitating. _  
'With what happened to Dawn's Empoleon, I ought to be careful… But, I don't have much of a choice!'_

Brows furrowed, she chucked a pokeball. "I need you, Gyarados!"

Arianna quickly found herself in the shadow of a towering, uncoiling Gyarados. The heat from its breath  
Could be felt all the way from the platform, and its intimidating gaze made her a bit less comfortable than  
She'd like to admit.

"Sorry, but mine's bigger," Misty boasted with a smirk.

"That alone won't get you anywhere." Arianna threw a hand out. "Sludge Bomb!"

Arbok spat up a hunk of venom, pummeling Gyarados.

The Atrocious pokemon recoiled briefly. Likely to their horror, he shook his head, nonchalant. There was no sign of poison in its body language, and his angry gaze hadn't wavered.

"Hydro Pump!"

With a toss of his head, Gyarados blasted Arbok with a deafening torrent.

The serpent washed up at Arianna's feet, knocked out in one blow.

The executive was silent, barely mustering a breath in her wide-eyed stare. Only her pride willed her not to tremble. "...Drowzee, use Disable!"

The psychic type appeared, glowering cyan eyes unafraid to stare down Gyarados. "Drowzee~"

Briefly surrounded in a similar glow, Gyarados roared, irritated. The mental block was enigmatic and irritating, willing him to thrash out. His long, finned tail began to thrash, leaving a huge dent in the railing.

Misty scowled. That aggression needed to be taken care of, quickly. "Gyarados, Hyper Beam!"

The serpent's rage was unleashed with a violent blast of energy, completely engulfing Drowzee.

Its limp body flew out of the smoky explosion, tumbling towards Arianna. She held up its pokeball, regretfully returning it. "Even for a Gym Leader, this is unusual."

"If you had half a brain, you wouldn't underestimate us," Misty bit back. Even as she boasted, though, her eyes stayed glued to Gyarados. He was hunched over, lacking his usual vigor. He'd need a moment to recover from Hyper Beam… Now, if they could only be that lucky.

"...I'll keep that in mind. Vileplume!" Arianna tossed yet another pokeball.

"Plume!" The flower sprayed a bit of poisonous pollen from its flower, eyeing Gyarados.

"Sweet Scent!"

Vileplume spun about, dousing the huffing serpent in a calming fragrance.

Gyarados' eyes fell, half-lidded. He barely held his body above the platform.

Arianna's lips tugged upward. This was her chance. "Sleep Powder!"

"Vileplume!" The grass-type shrieked, unleashing another round of spores.

Gyarados collapsed with a thud, unconscious.

"Gyarados…!" Misty grit her teeth. "Come on, wake up!"

"Petal Dance!"

The grass type spun about, pummeling Gyarados with a storm of sharp petals.

"Gyarados…!" Misty growled, frustrated. "Come on, you're tougher than that!"

As the assault continued, though, no movement was seen in the Atrocious pokemon's body.

That was, until it rolled over, swirls in its eyes.

"Crap," Misty muttered, recalling her pokemon. "Thank you, Gyarados. Return!"

Arianna's smarmy smirk made the Gym Leader nauseous. "Not a word," she hissed. "Kingdra, Smokescreen!"

Barely a flicker was scene before thick, black smoke surrounded the pokeball, and soon, Misty's entire end of the fray.

"Now, Dragon Dance!"

In the depths of the smog, Kingdra began twirling and dancing about, quickly boosting his performance.

Arianna squinted. Flickers of red light escaped from the smoke. "There! Frustration!"

Vileplume shrieked, dashing into the veil. It jumped up, brutally kicking Kingdra with both of its legs.

The seahorse was knocked back, crashing into the railing.

"Kingdra!" Misty called out, nervous. Her eyes flicked up to Arianna and Vileplume. "That Frustration…" It had worked disturbingly well. "Do your pokemon even like you!?"

"As long as they battle well, that's hardly important."

"You're despicable," Misty spat. "I'm glad I'm here to stomp out scum like you! Dragon Pulse!"

Kingdra righted himself, firing a violet blast from his snout.

"Dodge that," the Rocket ordered.

Vileplume spun to the side, dodging the attack.

"Sweet Scent!"

Pleasant scents began flooding the platform.

"Another Dragon Pulse!"

This time, Dragon Pulse hit its mark. Vileplume cried, tumbling towards Arianna's feet.

Arianna grimaced, recalling it. "Take care of them, Persian! Fake-out!"

Straight out of its capsule, Persian lurched for Kingdra, making the water type recoil.

Stopping just short of a swipe, Persian grinned, holding its paws outward. A loud smack unleashed a shockwave that sent Kingdra tumbling.

"Kingdra, Bubblebeam!"

Kingdra righted himself, firing a swarm of foam.

"Pay Day!"

The feline's jewel shimmered, and golden coins were summoned to collide with Bubblebeam.

The bubbles exploded, showering the arena with glimmering coins.

"Use Dragon Pulse!"

"Let's obscure their aim, shall we?" There was a gleam in Arianna's eye.

Persian sported the same, turning to kick a pile of coins at Persian, obscuring its shot.

Thrown off by the shimmering fragments, Kingdra squinted, searching for his target once more.

Just as a light began to gather, Persian interrupted Kingdra once more.

Pelted by coins, Kingdra squealed, irritated.

"Slash!"

Before the sea horse had a chance to recuperate, Persian was upon him. A vicious slash to his belly grounded him.

"Kingdra…!" Misty's brows furrowed. Her poor prince, slashed down… She frowned, recalling him. "Thank you for fighting… You were great."

Arianna scoffed, wiping sweat from her brow with as much subtlety as she could manage, before grabbing her last two pokeballs. Her pride was hurt, but losing was absolutely not an option. She released her Murkrow and Golbat at once.

"I should've known a Rocket would be a dirty cheat," Misty spat.

"Corsola, Starmie, I need you!"

The two water types were summoned together, opposite of Murkrow and Golbat.

Meanwhile, a soot-marked hand clung to the railing. Dawn had stumbled in from the nearest walkway, holding Rura snugly with one arm. Her hues grew wide. "...Misty!" Spotting Arianna, she reached to cover her mouth. "...And, the last face I ever wanted to see again."

"Starmie, Camoflauge! Corsola, Spike Cannon!" Misty ordered. Starmie adopted the steel type in the form of a silver sheen on its body, and Corsola launched a barrage of spines at both of their opponents.

"Dawn!" The Gym Leader gasped, turning to the girl.

"Murkrow, Astonish! Golbat, Frustration!" Arianna hissed, her red brows falling low in disgust. "You… Petrel didn't finish you off!?" She spat. "Total incompetence… You should be in a gutter." The irony was lost on the Exeutive.

Meanwhile, both of Misty's pokemon suffered the assault after Corosla's attack had struck them both. She and Starmie resisted both attacks, however, only skidding back a marginal distance.

"Wait there, Dawn! I'll be with you in a minute!" Misty called, turning back to the battle. "Corsola, Recover! Starmie, use Psychic on Golbat!"

Corsola surrounded herself in a glow, healing her minor injuries.

Starmie, meanwhile, chucked Golbat brutally against the wall. Golbat fell to the platform, limp.

"...Murkrow, Pursuit!"

Knowing now that it was alone, Murkrow squawked, chasing down Corsola.

"Starmie, Rapid Spin!"

The steel-coated star chucked itself at Murkrow, crashing into it without mercy.

"Spike Cannon!"

The falling crow was ambushed with explosive needles. It fell from the impact point, unconscious.

Misty glowered at the cornered Executive. "Starmie, Psychic!"

Suddenly, Arianna found herself paralyzed, restrained in a telekinetic grip. Muttered curses were all she could muster.

"Misty… Dawn! Ash…!" Brock huffed, stumbling into the room, out of breath. Thankfully, when he absorbed the scene, his worst fears were put to rest, for the moment. "Thank goodness."

"Brock!" Misty turned to the eldest of the group. "Please, check on Dawn!"

The man swallowed. "Of course." He approached the coordinator. "You look like you've seen better days."

"That's putting it mildly," she huffed, allowing Brock to get a closer look. "...You think it's anything serious?"

Brock squinted. Her speech was slightly slurred, and her coordination was sloppy. Ashes specked her outfit and her knees, and her hair was a ruffled mess. "...I think you're just a bit woozy from smoke inhalation and getting tossed around. But, from what I can see, you should be fine, otherwise."

"Well, that's a relief…"

Then, Misty looked over the railing, sharply inhaling. Her irises trembled.

* * *

"Get up!" Proton spat, spittle flying from his lips. "I'm here to rip you a new one, kid! Stand up! I don't like nothin' limp! Not 'til you've stopped breathin', at least!"

Ash hissed, a hand clutching his knee. He was pretty sure he'd scraped it upon impact. He admittedly felt a bit dizzy, his head throbbing from the fall. He shook it, trying to psyche himself up. "In your dreams," the trainer spat, pushing himself to his feet. He was going to feel that in the morning.

Upon standing, the silver gleam caught his eye; sharp metal shone in Proton's grip, quickly drawing close.

Proton was charging at him with a knife, moments from swinging the blade.

Ash's brows tightened. A fleeting intuition visited him, and he jumped back, barely avoiding a stab in the gut.

"Come on," Ash huffed, leaning back before throwing a right hook for the man's jaw. "Y'build yourself up with that entrance, and you're gonna bring a knife to a fist fight?" The first punch missed, and he went for another.

The fist was caught in Proton's gloved hand, squeezing Ash's knuckles. "I could… Beat you to a pulp…!" The man hissed through grit teeth, yanking Ash in. "But slicing you up would be oh-so sweeter!"

Ash saw another gleam, and his heart pounded. Proton's armed hand was knocked off by a swing of Ash's opposite fist. "Sounds like an edgy way to call yourself a chicken!" Meanwhile, he struggled through a snarl to hold back the taller man's wrists. Trickling sweat told a whole story.

If Ash slipped up once, he was mincemeat.

The Rocket gleefully stomped on Ash's foot, prompting a shout that would be his undoing. The knife was jabbed right towards the irritating boy's throat.

That was, until a booming burst of light flew between them both, exploding against the railing nearby.

Rosa marched toward the two, snarling at the man through bared canines. Her paw was outstretched, glimmering. _~Put one more hand on Papa, and yer gonna be sorry!~_

Proton turned his head with a glowering grin. "You wanna fight too, mutt? You'll make a nice throw ru-"

He tasted blood when his taunts were rewarded with a fierce punch to the jaw.

Ash's fist trembled. "I didn't catch that. You feelin' up to repeating it?"

The man smacked his lips, wiping his chin with his glove. "Still got a lotta spunk in you… Alright, I'll play along. I do love playing with my food." He reached for his belt, tossing three pokeballs.

A Beedrill, Tentacruel, and Gengar appeared.

"That's how we're doin' this? Alright." Ash reached under his jacket. "Meema, Heracross! Back Rosa up!"

The Stag Beetle and Illusion Fox were summoned alongside their teammate, opposing Proton's pokemon.

Meema eyed Gengar; she recalled this one. The one from the 'gym.' All the incentive needed to lunge at the specter, assaulting it with a violet-tinted Night Slash.

"Gen!" Gengar bounced out of harm's way. Happy to act on his own, he surrounded himself in a dark, eerie glow before recoiling in pain. "Gen… Gar…!" He hacked, staring down the Zoroark with a malicious grin.

Suddenly, the fox clutched her chest, suffering the mysterious assault of Curse. What sort of attack was this!?

Not one that would deter a protective mother. She tackled Gengar with Pursuit, brutally smacking him to the floor.

Gengar bounced, shaking his head, eyes and mouth flinging about with it. "Gen… Gar!" His claws were thrown outward, casting several dark rings towards Meema.

The dark type instinctively scrambled to the side, and Hypnosis missed.

Gengar stood stiff, the unfamiliar sensation of fear setting in. But, he was supposed to be the one doing the terrorizing! Alas, he'd spent a huge chunk of his stamina on Curse, and the furball was stubborn not to sleep.

With those thoughts in mind, Gengar scrambled to flee.

In the midst of this, Beedrill opened its assault with Twinneedle, chasing Heracross with relentless jabs of his stingers. The beetle did a remarkably good job of sidestepping the venom, but eventually, the former hit its mark. Several venomous jabs struck Heracross' torso, seeping it with poison.

"Cross!" Heracross croaked in pain, fluttering back with his buzzing wings. Hunched over, he rode the first wave of toxins nipping at his stamina. "Her…" He'd seen worse days. In fact…

Judging by the red gleam in his eyes, he was feeling more pumped than ever. Thanks to Guts, that was.

He took out his newfound vigor on Beedrill, smashing into its belly with a brutal Megahorn. The insect was flung ruthlessly into the air, whining to the tune of a high-pitched buzz. It retaliated, aiming a stinger at Heracross to fire a blast of green acid.

Venoshock doused Heracross, assaulting his body in sizzling pain. "Cross!" He cried, buzzing his wings to free himself of the goo to the best of his ability. Oh, Beedrill had gone and done it now…

Heracross took flight, launching himself at Beedrill. His adversary jabbed at him with Twinneedle, but missed its target when he swerved under it, returning upside-down to hook his horn around what passed for a neck.

Heracross dove for the platform, yanking Beedrill with him. Hoisting it by his horn, Heracross threw his head down with a roar, clotheslining Beedrill with a remarkable display of Reversal.

"Cruel…." Tentacruel slowly approached Rosa, cornering towards the railing like helpless prey.

Rosa swallowed, stepping from side to side in vain. Tentacruel was only drawing closer, and she wasn't looking to get close to that thing! With that in mind, she drew a paw back, charging an Aura Sphere.

It was flung at Tentacruel, exploding upon one of its large red jewels. The pokemon retaliated, reaching to ensnare the Lucario in its many tentacles. Wring Out mercilessly squeezed her torso, goading a pained whimper.

 _~I'm… I'm not… Losin'...!~_ Rosa squeaked, wriggling her arms free from the sea creature's grip. Her paws were held above her head, forming another brilliant orb. Aura Sphere was smashed into Tentacruel with a overhead throw.

It groaned in pain, quickly releasing Rosa to retreat. "Tentacruel…" Its tendrils lifted to summon Water Pulse, flicked forward to launch the attack at the Aura pokemon.

The water was summoned, and Rosa's eyes flickered blue. Detect gave her a clear prediction of its path, and she jumped over it with ease.

Gengar, meanwhile, scuttled backwards in terror, confidence completely undone by the encroaching Zoroark's gaze. "Gen…!" He swallowed. His opponent's forelegs were bathed in violet, and her teal eyes lit like wispy flames. Hunched over, she looked ready to go for the kill.

"Ghar!" the ghost squealed, casting Dream Eater in vain. Nightmare followed, likewise having no effect.

Meema howled, smashing her paws down upon the platform. An explosive dome of red engulfed Gengar.

"Hera… Cross!" Heracross unleashed a booming blast of orange energy, getting a direct shot on Beedrill.

The Poison Bee buzzed pathetically, just above ground. Bruised and charred, it hummed, loud and alert.

The Stag Beetle, meanwhile, hunched over, exhausted. "Her…" He huffed, staring down Beedrill.

Beedrill lunged, launching a single poisonous needle from his stinger. This would finish it off!

Fell Stinger struck a crying Heracross. Toxins bubbled in the pokemon's system for good measure, nearly crippling his ability to stand. Nonetheless, he did. They were dreaming if they thought that he'd fail Ash, here.

Rosa continued to bound and dodge attacks, occasionally scampering out of the way of Tentacruel's grip.  
Her agility served her, but finally, she stumbled. Consecutively, she was struck with a Water Pulse.

She howled, tumbling backwards. _~Ergh…~_ She whined, shaking her head to right her vision. But, tried as  
she may to regain her sense of balance, the Lucario found herself dazed and confused. Too disoriented to  
stand. A sensation that only grew worse when two extremities tightened around her body.

Hoisted up again by Wring Out, she squeaked, struggling to wriggle her arms. This time, to no avail.

Proton grinned, stalking over to his one triumphant pokemon. "Let 'er go."

Tentacruel hummed, dropping its prey carelessly at the Rocket's feet.

"If I can't get Ash yet, I'll just settle for the Lucario." He cackled, reaching for the dazed biped.

Amongst the chaos, Ash heard this. Color left his face, replaced by a cold sweat. "No…." He sprinted for Proton.

The villain in question yanked Rosa up by her aura bundles, ignoring her whines in protest.

"I hate to do this to you, mutt… Oh, who'm I kidding? I love doing this! I'll just- ack!"

A bright, blue explosion crashed into his chest, forcing him to cough and hack painfully for breath. Offset  
by the blast, he stumbled back towards the edge of the platform, forced to drop the Lucario.

"Ach… What…!" Proton looked ahead, and Ash was already upon him.

He threw a vicious punch, leaving the man with an overwhelming dull pain. Before he could register  
anything else, Proton have been tackled to the ground, pinned by Ash's arms and legs.

Through Ash's tunnel vision, Proton's nose had already been busted, a trickle of red crossing his lip.  
Burning tears cascaded down his cheeks, hissed breaths crossing the other man's face. His pupils were  
barely the size of a pin point. He slugged him in the face again, and once more. "I'm sick of it!"

Through tears, he violently shook the dazed Rocket. "I'm… So damn tired of you! All of you, threatening everything I love!" His heart pounded painfully in his rib cage, for every dreaded memory. Every terrified face.

A gloved hand feebly reached for Ash's face.

"Why're you such a lowlife, huh!?" The hand had barely gripped his cheek, and a punch to the chest left it limp. "Going after kids…" Pikachu flashed in his mind; the amount of times he'd truly feared they'd been separated. From when they were just beginning, they were just another buck. Just another pest to be squashed. To rot in some basement for getting in their way.

A punch to the eye followed, gloves stained with salty tears. "Why'd you threaten me and my friends!? My pokemon!?" Snarling, he drew his fist back again. "No one hurts Pikachu… No one hurts my little girl!"

"Ash!"

He hesitated, still gripping Proton's jumpsuit. Misty was calling out to him.

The leader's hands gripped the railing above. "If you keep this up, you might kill him!"

His fist fell loose, face falling in horror. His eyes fell to the sadist below him. Bruised, bloodied, and black-eyed, Proton hacked for breath.

The brim of Ash's cap hung over his eyes, and his arms fell limp. His heart still raced, and his blood still boiled. It didn't boil that hot.

Worse than hot blood, though, was that which was icy cold as the grave.

Sinking his proverbial teeth into this golden opportunity, Proton shoved Ash back, causing the teen to stumble back. Proton quickly threw down a smoke bomb, standing to his feet. Ash's eyes widened as the Rocket executive disappeared in the cloud of smoke.

Suddenly, his senses were screaming, the ghostly blue of predictive aura abilities floating at him from his left. A future phantom pain ran across his throat. But, that was all illusions of what might have been. As Ash jerked back thanks to his aura senses, instead, a real ripping, searing pain tore up from his jawline to just under the apple of his cheek.

"Gah!"

Ash stumbled out of the smoke, clutching his cheek. Above the platforms, Misty watched with baited breath. By now, Brock had finished his check-up on Dawn and both of them had joined her in watching. Ash pulled his hand back from his face, looking on it as if it were some alien attachment to the end of his arm.

He screamed.

"SHIT! SHIT! I'M BLEEDING!"

His hand, covered in blood, shook. He gripped the railing, feeling an uncomfortable warmth all over his face and a concerning metallic tinge within his own mouth. He barely processed Meema darting by. He looked up at her, watching in quiet, confused horror as she ran into the smoke. He looked back at where she had been. There, knocked out, laid the Gengar she had been battling. It was only then that he realized he was being called out to by his friends. He looked up at them, unable yet to answer.

He realized the metallic taste was from his cut. It'd gone through his cheek.

Heracross looked up from the Beedrill he had used a last, triumphant Megahorn on, decisively driving it into the ground. The Tenacruel lingered, unsure of who to attack between the confused Lucario and the shaking human. Heracross didn't give him the chance to decide, firing off a blindly bright Hyper Beam. Fatigued by satisfied with the now knocked out Tentacruel, the bug landed, waddling over to Rosa and Ash.

The clattering of the Tentacruel falling down seemed to snap Rosa out of her confusion. Giving her head one last shake, she gasped.

 _~Papa!~_

She ran to Ash's side, looking up at him with worry in her eyes. She touched him. He looked down at her, opening his mouth and then shutting it before putting his hand back over his cheek, keeping her from seeing the gore. She whined, hugging him close.

"Rosa! Is Ash okay?!" Misty practically screamed. With Dawn's throat too raw from the smoke and Brock wondering if he should jump down to first aid, she was the fastest to yell again.

Rosa spoke back without looking at anyone but Ash. _~He won't answer me, but he's… okay, I think.~_ Tears streamed down her face. Why had this happened?

Walking back out of the dark corridor at the end of the lowest platform, Meema stalked back to Ash. The garish light of Zapdos, still caged and nearly comatose, reflected off her dark fur. In her mouth was a long black belt, and a patch of equally dark cloth.

 _~Meema… What's that?~_ Rosa asked.

The fox raised her head. _~Leader… Forgive me. I had every intention of tearing the cur apart. When I bit him, he unbuckled his belt. He is slippery, like a worm.~_

Ash looked to Meema then, blinking. He finally spoke, reaching out to pet her behind her ears. "No… Thank you for…" Protecting him? Avenging him? He wasn't sure; he was just glad that she had made sure Proton was gone. He looked up. "... Let's get to the others."

 _~Okay, Papa.~_

 _~Yes, Leader.~_

After a precarious climb up a ladder with Rosa and Meema waiting to catch Ash, and Heracross hovering after the trainer, Ash soon found himself in the concerned embraces of his friends. As Brock began instructing Ash to get seated so he could check on his cheek and Ash's pokemon joined them on the main platform, Dawn looked to Dr. Zager.

"Hey, why are you still here?" she asked. "Release Zapdos."

The man only flicked his eyes at her. He released his Kadabra. "I just wanted to see how this played out." He pressed a button on the control panel that had long since had his attention. "Teleport."

With that, the scientist and the psychic type both winked away.

When Zager disappeared, Ariana laughed darkly from where Misty's Starmie held a now slightly looser grasp on her. "Good! This whole place is going down, you little brats! If it's for the glory of Team Rocket, I don't even mind going down with you!"

The pieces clicking together in her head, Dawn whipped her head around, blue eyes wide with fear as she gawked at her friends. "He activated a bomb!"


	75. Eye of the Storm

**We're back again with another chapter! And, we're thrilled and proud to announce that this story has made it past 1,000 favorites! Thank you, everyone, for taking the time to read our fanfiction, and we hope you stick around through the rest of the story! As always, feedback is very much appreciated!**

Have a good day, and enjoy!

* * *

"What do you mean, he activated a bomb?!" Misty yelled back, more frightened than confused.

"How are we gonna get all of the grunts out of here?!" Dawn said back, not bothering with Misty's rhetorical question. "I mean, they're bad, but they don't deserve this!"

Brock furrowed his brows, standing. Unfortunately, patching up Ash would have to wait. "I don't even know if we can! Between Archer using Earthquake and what I guess was yours and Petrel's battle, the basement's blocked off with rubble!"

Ash stood, quietly. He breathed deeply before walking forward, cap covering his eyes. He tried to hide the shaking in his knees. "Rosemary," he called out, "we gotta use some of our training."

The Lucario's jaw dropped, but she trailed after Ash.

Unsure of what Ash was about to do, but aware of the present danger, Meema rushed to pick up her cub, holding Rura tight.

Ash turned his hat, staining the brim with a bit of his own blood. "We're gonna wrap this thing in a layer of aura and hold it still while it goes off. Think you can do that?" he asked his daughter.

Rosa's tail was tucked between her legs. _~Papa… I'll try.~_

Both aura users held their hands out, focusing. Soon, a soft blue orb began to form around the control panel. The top half of it was sliced off and the air lost some of its electric charge. They floated the bomb above them, thickening the shield.

Brock grabbed Chansey and Misty's hands. She, in turn, grabbed Dawn's. Dawn, noting that Heracross watched worriedly, reached out to him. As rough as things looked right now, no one needed to be alone. Heracross even held Starmie's limb, though the purple water pokemon didn't necessarily react emotionally.

Ash looked down at Rosa, smiling. "I'm so proud of you!" he said, fighting back tears. "You're growing up into a great girl!"

Breaking down, Rosa struggled to keep focus, dropping to her knees. _~Papa, I'm so scared!~_

Ash felt her portion of the aura wavering. "I know you are. But, you're such a good girl, so freakin' strong, too! C'mon. Help me out, huh? We'll keep this thing pent up, and then we'll go get ice cream!"

Rosa stood back up. Though her ears were laid back in sorrow, she poured more of her energy into the ball, determined to protect her family.

Finally, the timer went off. A sudden expansion happened within the blue ball. White light was at first all that was visible, the pieces of metal that had once been in there all that were visible. Soon, the white light turned to black smoke. However, there was too much energy still contained. It had to go somewhere! The aura containing it began to crack.

Ash's eyes widened. He immediately let go of his supernatural grip, diving instead to shield Rosa with his body. The Lucario, seeing what was happening, used Detect.

In the distance, Rura realized was was about to happen as well. He jumped out of Meema's arms, rushing ahead of his friends and throwing up a shield with Protect.

A smaller, safer explosion rocked the main platform. Aside from heat and the wave of dust and debris, Brock, Misty, and Dawn's end wasn't any worse for the wear. The explosion did, however, send Ash and Rosa skidding a few feet, bruises on their sides from the impact with the floor.

For the doctor in training, the time of waiting was over. As soon as the coast was clear, he began unzipping his bag again, rushing to Ash's side. "Ash! Rosa!" he yelled. "Chansey, c'mon!"

Misty remained by Starmie, though she anxiously watched. She had to keep an eye on Ariana until the authorities arrived.

Dawn, meanwhile, walked slowly over, Meema supporting her as Rura and Heracross rushed over with Brock and Chansey.

"Well, I think you guys have about eaten up all of my pain meds," Brock said with a laugh as Chansey offered a Softboiled egg to Rosa. He felt satisfaction when the blue pokemon eagerly wolfed it down; she couldn't be too hurt if her appetite was intact!

Ash, however, struggled with the pill. He blinked. Had it… slipped out of the side of his mouth? He wiggled his tongue, going white when he realized he could poke it out of his cheek. "Brock!" Ash yelped, horrified at his own injury.

"Crap, he really cut you. Be still. Mew, you're gonna need stitches. Lots of 'em." He only had bandages at the moment, so he set about cleaning and plugging the hole in Ash's cheek.

"He cut you?" Dawn asked, sitting down to watch Brock work. She coughed a little more.

"Dawn, there's some water in my bag," Brock offered. "You and Ash should take it easy for a bit. You two have awful luck. I guess me and Chansey are lucky we got off as easy as we did." As Brock ignored Ash's whining at how the antiseptic stung, as doctors are wont to do, he looked back at Misty. "How'd you do?"

"Oh, I whooped her good," Misty said without a hint of wavering in her confidence. "I thought I'd have trouble since I was using water types with all this static crap, but it was fine." She looked at Ash now that he was done hissing through gritted teeth about how much the cleanser hurt. "Now, what wasn't fine was that crap you pulled with your hat, Ash. Who turns around their hat before something like that!"

With a patch now on his cheek, Ash shrugged. "Hey, if it went bad, I'm not goin' down not looking cool. If it went well, and it did go well, guess who has a badass new story?" He finally ate the pain pill Brock had offered him, satisfied that it went down his throat instead of out of the side of his face.

A large thump gathered the group's attention. Sitting on the railing was a huge, bright yellow bird. Specifically, it was Zapdos. The group grew quiet. Zapdos cawed, sounding friendly enough. It lifted a wing to gesture towards the group, almost signalling them to come closer. Hesitantly, they did so.

"Ash, what's he saying?" Misty whispered.

Ash furrowed his brows, listening with his aura abilities. "Uh… Zapdos says he was free the moment me and Rosa broke off the… oh! The control panel. That's called a control panel, big guy. Anyways, he wanted to stay to make sure we got out okay." Ash grinned as wide as he could without hurting himself. "Hey, that was nice! I was sweatin' bullets about what might have happened if we failed…"

The electric type puffed out his chest, looking down at the young trainer. _~If brother mine hath not lied to me, tis my understanding that thou art fond of sport battle!~_ Speaking in an airy manner, reflecting its long lifespan and perhaps theatric nature, Zapdos raised its beak high. _~Twas a few months ago when Moltres claimed thou bested him! Given thy eagerness then, am I wrong to assume my champion might enjoy a battle with the host of summer storms?~_

"Champion?" Ash echoed. He liked the sound of that!

"What's he saying?!" Dawn whispered.

Ash waved her off, giving her a look that told her he'd explain more later. "He's offering to battle me." He looked back up to the bird. "I'll definitely take you up on that!"

 _~Excellent! I hope in thine party there lies a fresh contender? It would weigh heavy on my heart if I were to battle a weary opponent!~_

Ash thought about it. "Nah, I got someone that hasn't been out yet!"

 _~Very well.~_ Zapdos looked to the rest of the group. _~What say these three, my champion? I am indeed a powerful pokemon! It would be my pleasure to bestow unto them a favor for their bravery.~_

Ash looked at his friends. "Hey, Zapdos wants to know if he can do you guys a favor."

Dawn shrugged, taking another sip of water. She honestly couldn't think straight right now. She wanted a nap, but Brock said she couldn't do that until she went to a hospital. "I'm okay."

"Well, you're not okay," Brock chimed in, "but I'm guessing you're saying you don't want anything."

"Right."

"Figured. Well… Honestly, I want a nap. So, whatever gets Ash his battle quickest is okay by me." Brock scratched the back of his head.

"Mew, on what planet am I going to get between Ash and a battle." Misty waved her hand. "C'mon, c'mon, I know you're biting at the bits to fight Zapdos. Go on, Ash."

A little concerned about the careful manner Brock had about Dawn and very grateful that his friends knew what he wanted, Ash fist pumped the air despite his sore sides. "Yes! Zapdos, let's battle!"

Zapdos cawed, slapping its large, jagged wings to take to the air, parallel to the higher platform. Surrounding it was their makeshift battlefield; a wide, open, long worn and rusted generator hall, with walkways, stairways, and concurring platforms to spare that lead to dusty old gadgets, hallways, and elevator shafts. A worn industrial scene, lit by several fluorescent lights, but most vibrantly by Zapdos, itself. It suited an encounter with the bird of lightning, to be sure.

"Ash," Brock intruded, clapping a hand on the trainer's shoulders. When he caught the trainer's sidelong gaze, he hurriedly explained. "Believe me, I'm not here to advise against this battle… I know you too well for that. But, be careful, alright? Yelling too much might not be the best thing for you, right now."

Ash paused, digesting the thought. "...You're right." He reached under his dirtied jacket, grabbing a pokeball. He tapped the button in the center, releasing his pokemon of choice.

"Glalie!" The Face pokemon growled, floating beside Ash. Given a moment to assess, though, the pokemon grew concerned, sending questioning looks at the group. This didn't feel like an ordinary battle scene at all. "...Glalie?"

Its distress was evident. "Don't worry," Ash assured. "Everything's fine… But, Glalie."

The pokemon cocked its head.

"We're going to battle Zapdos, alright?" Noting the pokemon's eager expression, he continued. "But, as you can see, I'm pretty banged up right now, I'm not supposed to be runnin' my big mouth a lot. So, I'm not gonna be leading you too loud. When you're out of earshot, I'm gonna reach you with aura, alright? I wouldn't wanna catch you off-guard with it."

The pokemon hummed a low growl. He still didn't quite get what this 'aura' stuff was about. But, he did trust Ash. "Gla!" He grinned, spinning about to face off against Zapdos. "Glalie!"

Sparks danced from Zapdos' hovering form, beckoning the first move.

Ash's brows furrowed. "Blizzard."

Glalie roared, unleashing a freezing burst of wind towards Zapdos.

The bird of lightning didn't budge; rather, it lit in a pervasive, golden crackling aura. Blizzard brushed over Zapdos and its electric aura, but neither seemed to budge in the face of the cold.

Ash's eyes grew wide. "What the… It didn't do anything? What kinda move is that?"

"That's Charge," Brock supplied. "An electric type move that powers up the next offensive electric type move the pokemon uses. The gathered electricity also provides a temporary boost to its special defense."

Well, that could be troubling. It was hardly, discouraging, though. "Gotcha… Glalie, Ice Beam. Right on a path to Zapdos!"

"Gla!" The Face pokemon roared, firing chilled rays that froze a sloping path towards the avian.

"Now, Gyro Ball."

Glalie spun into a sudden steep climb, riding the slippery, icy path until it came to a peak. With a silver coating and momentum to spare, he launched himself at Zapdos like a cannon ball.

Zapdos had been lying in wait. As its opponent came close, its intentions were clear. It dove to the right of Glalie, avoiding his assault entirely. It shrieked, turning to launch a vicious, blinding Thunder attack.

Ash swallowed. "Surround yourself with Blizzard," he'd instruct, this time speaking through his mind, along with his voice.

The mental prompt reached Glalie instantly. "Glalie!" He cried, spinning to spray a frosty cyclone around his body. He briefly hovered before he was jettisoned out of Thunder's reach.

The wild, spark-spraying Thunder went on to crash into the wall beyond where Glalie had been. A smoky explosion following the boom revealed a black, soot-ridden hole in the wall.

Witnessing the aftermath, Dawn clutched the railing closest to her. "What incredible power… Fitting for a legendary pokemon!"

Glalie, meanwhile, had been flung above, just above the guard rail to another elevation. Instinctively, it clamped down on the bar using Crunch.

"Grhl… Glalie," he grunted, flinging himself over the side to safety.

Misty's attention had been dead set on Glalie. "Ash," she started, awestruck. "How'd Glalie launch itself, just now?"

"I was wondering that, too," Dawn agreed. "It was gorgeous, but how?"

"It's a trick I found on Mt. Silver," Ash explained, eyes glued to the fray. He smiled to himself. "One time, Glalie'd fallen off a steep incline, and did something just like that out of instinct; it brought him right back up to the ledge, safe and sound. I asked Dexter about it, after; it said that Glalie float by puttin' out just a bit of cold air all of the time, automatically, to keep themselves floating. How that works, I'unno, but it does. So, we just gave that an upgrade!"

"Of course!" Brock chimed in. He coughed, realizing he hadn't explained himself, yet. "Hot air is always striving to rise above cold air, which can lift materials when their mass can be sustained; like a blimp, or a rocket! By isolating air that's relatively warm under its body with its own cold influence, Glalie acts on the same principle! Its body is built for that process to occur constantly, so it can sustain even greater heights with greater effort!" It all made sense now.

"Well, that makes sense… I think." Dawn held a hand to her chin. "Great job, both of you!"

Ash smiled to himself. "We try."

Zapdos' patience for their idling had grown thin. A formation of glowing stones were summoned around its body.

Ash's eyes flicked to Glalie. "Freeze a wall in front of you, with Ice Beam!"

Glalie froze the guard rails, and Ice Beam rose from them to climb higher, still. Before long, a solid guard had been summoned to obscure the ice type.

Just in time for Ancientpower to fire, blasting the barrier between the pokemon. Chunks of ice crumbled and caved, giving under the force of the hurled boulders. Frost and vapor dispersed.

However, the obstruction had given Zapdos no clear view of Glalie. Its sharp eye was short a target.

"Crunch."

Out of the mist came Glalie, hurling himself at Zapdos. Sharp incisors and a strong jaw gnashed down upon Zapdos' wing, making the legendary cry in pain. Irritated, it cawed, shaking its wing.

Glalie persisted, spinning once to roughly toss it away.

Ash grinned.

"A direct hit," Misty thought aloud. "Ash and Glalie are off to a good start!"

Perhaps she'd spoken too soon. Zapdos shrieked, launching a booming Thunder with a flap of its wings.

Glalie roared in pain, blasted by many, many shimmering volts. Overwhelmed, he was blasted back to his higher platform, smashing through the guard rail. He rolled, wincing in pain.

"Glalie…!" Ash's eyes grew wide.

"They both took damage," Brock observed, "but it looks like Glalie took more." He watched Zapdos, who briefly nipped at its wing to nurse it. It wasn't occupied for long.

"We'll have to fix that," Ash decided.

Zapdos cried, launching another round of Ancientpower.

"Gyro Ball," Ash countered.

Glalie launched into a spin, surrounded by a gleaming silver ring. He smashed through one of the boulders, and then through a second. The third slowed his momentum, and the fourth blasted him away with a groan. He landed on the next level down, shaking his head.

Ash grimaced. "I guess Zapdos is too powerful for conventional attacks… Our usual tactics ain't gonna cut it."

Rosa stood by Ash, reaching for his hand. _~Then, what're ya gonna do, now?~_

"Ash'll come up with some strategy that no one else'd think of!" Dawn winked. "Just like he always does."

"Someone's got a lot of faith," Misty teased.

Dawn shrugged with a smile, brushing a bang to the side. "I don't have the cheerleader outfit on me, so that'll have to do."

"The what…?" Misty blinked, not even bothering to process that. She turned back to Ash with a smirk. "...Anyway. I want to see what he comes up with. Whatever it is will be interesting, without a doubt."

"Cawww!" Zapdos cried, making a straight beeline for Glalie, wings tucked in. It began to barrel roll on its way down, the sharp end of its beak gleaming.

"Drill Peck…" Ash tightened a fist. "Hold it off with Ice Beam."

Glalie fired one cold burst after the next, but to no avail. Zapdos ducked and rolled around each one, quickly cornering the Face Pokemon. With plenty of momentum, it stabbed Glalie, knocking him brutally into the wall behind him.

Glalie groaned, rocked by the attack. Before he could recover, a wing struck him, knocking him skyward.

Ash's breath was caught in his throat, eyes wide with horror. Glalie was falling from a dangerous height, with no platforms below it at all. This could only end badly. He panicked. "Ice Beam!"

The ice type was hardly aware, until Ash called out. He quickly shot an Ice Beam before him, icing a path that he would glide down with ease. When he was finished, he slid to an elevation far closer to the ground, safe and sound. No longer in danger, Glalie chortled. He'd done it!

"Close call," Brock exhaled.

Ash smirked to himself. There was a glint in his eye. "Hey, Zapdos," he reached out, goading it with a taunting beckoning of his hand. "Come 'n get us!"

The bird of lightning grunted. Was the boy getting cocky, already!? It would be sure to remind them of its place on the pecking order, and it did so by circling in for another Drill Peck.

"Another round of Ice Beams," Ash ordered.

"Again?" Brock grimaced, folding his arms. Ash did remember how that went, last time, didn't he? He paused, humming to himself. There had to be something more to this.

"He's up to something," Dawn beamed.

"Even still, what about Glalie?" Misty watched the Face pokemon from their safe distance.

The pokemon in questioned fired another barrage, assaulting Zapdos with Ice Beams.

The Thunder pokemon surrounded himself in crackling energy, making use of Charge. The move was only so helpful when an Ice Beam managed to blast its wing, and then another struck its belly. Zapdos winced, beginning to succumb to a chill. It shrieked, diving under the next beam.

"Now!" Ash ordered.

The legendary pokemon squawked, caught off-guard by the displeasure of Glalie latching to its wing again with Crunch. He shot to the air, irritated. His wings flapped to shake the pokemon free.

"Hang on tight," Ash urged, with baited breath. A fist was clenched by his chest. His eyes followed the climb.

Zapdos squawked, haphazardly flapping its wings. It'd begun to near the ceiling, with no escape in sight.

Ash grinned. "Let go, now!"

Just as he was yanked for yet another nauseating lurch, Glalie surrendered, flung high by Zapdos' wing. He soared, landing on the highest elevation the hall offered, barely below a ceiling valve.

"Bingo." Ash snapped his fingers. "Now, back to using Ice Beam."

Zapdos hung below, stalking its pesky opponent. When another round of blue rays followed, it swerved, flying about the wide-open space. Spins, dives, and climbs dodged one beam after the next. None of the attacks did more than briefly clip one of its wings, outdone by Zapdos' agility.

"This isn't looking good." Brock wiped sweat from his brow. "Even from that strategic high point, Glalie isn't landing any attacks… The pressure might be getting to Ash and Glalie."

Dawn looked smug, watching with her hands on her hips. "I see exactly what Ash is up to."

Misty looked to Dawn, humming in thought. Her eyes flicked up, and she gasped.

Nary an Ice Beam had hit what everyone, including Zapdos, had assumed to be its intended target. Each one of them, however, had paved frozen paths and slopes spanning between floors, platforms, and staircases, essentially turning the plant into a showcase of ice sculptures.

"Pretty nifty, huh?" Ash put his hands on his hips, proud of their handiwork.

"Now, that's something I wouldn't have thought of," Misty admitted.

"It's a lot like my Ice Slide from my first Grand Festival," Dawn noted, a hand held to her collar in pride. "Did we inspire you?"

"That's _exactly_ where I got the idea," Ash affirmed, looking back to the coordinator. He flashed a smile her way. "Thanks for the spark!"

Brock and Misty's faces fell at the prolonged silence that followed.

"Will you two stop making eyes at each other!? Ash has a battle to focus on!" Misty barked.

Brock mouthed a 'thank you' to the redhead.

The duo chuckled, each sporting a blush, and Ash had looked back just in time.

Another crackling Thunder fired from Zapdos' body, aimed at Glalie.

"Slide on down!"

Glalie glided onto the slope, sliding safely out of Thunder's path.

"Take a turn, with Gyro Ball."

The ice type quickly downed a dip in the slope, nearing a branching path of ice. "Glalie!" He cried, spinning like a top into a sharp turn. The spin launched him down a steep stope, ending with a ramp towards Zapdos.

The dip gave Glalie momentum, launching him up and off of a climb. He launched right towards Zapdos.

The legendary cried out, sore and startled when Gyro Ball smashed into its chest. Zapdos spun and flailed for balance, knocked out of Glalie's path.

The Face pokemon soared on past, falling onto a ramp on the other end of the hall.

"Solid hit," Ash relayed, pumping a fist with a grin. "Now, watch out for Ancientpower."

Zapdos summoned another round of supernatural slabs, chucking them towards the platform Glalie had boarded. Simultaneously, a glow captured the legendary. Whatever mythic power summoned the move fueled its attributes.

Glalie burst through the guard rails, gliding just under a boulder that smashed the rail to bits.

"Ice Beam," Ash ordered, still relaying commands to Glalie's mind.

This particular ride scaled along the walls, allowing Glalie a clean shot with Ice Beam as he went.

A painful chill ran through Zapdos wing. It shrieked, surrounding itself with Charge.

Even still, a persistent stream of Ice Beam blasted it until Glalie reached a lower level.

"It's still using Charge…" Ash frowned, watching the sparks flicker. After a moment, his eyes grew wide.

"Ash!" Brock called out. "You might want to take a closer look at Zapdos."

"I know." The trainer smiled. It didn't look particularly injured yet. Though, its flight pattern was labored. It was nipping at its static-charged wings. Frost clung to them, despite its boosted defenses. "We're gettin' there, slow and steady. Glalie, keep your chin… Keep your head up! We've got this."

"Glalie!" The Face pokemon roared, spinning in place. The thrill of the battle kept his spirits high.

"Time to seize the moment." Ash grinned, closing a fist. "Use Crunch!"

Zapdos pecked away at the last of the frost, looking sidelong to Glalie. Suddenly, the ice type was upon it.

Once again, its teeth had crunched down upon its wing, this time, much closer to its shoulder. Zapdos howled. This pattern was getting extremely irritating. Enough to deserve punishment, it thought, hints of Thunder flaring to the surface.

Ash threw a hand out. "Blizzard!"

Glalie parted its wide, black void of a maw to unleash a frozen storm with a gurgling roar.

The hot, protective electricity coating Zapdos was its only refuge from Blizzard, crackling away as Zapdos was blasted back by the point-range attack.

The billowing winds blasted Glalie back to his previous perch.

"Yes," Ash beamed, brushing a finger over the edge of his nose. "A direct hit!"

"That ought to slow down Zapdos!" Dawn clapped her hands together.

"Maybe…" Misty hummed. Her brows clung low. "Ash, you might want to have another look at Zapdos."

"Eh?" Ash looked to Misty before turning back to the legendary. It hung in the center of the room, golden lightning hissing around its body. Gold wisps rose from its pin-point eyes, a low, angry hum breaking the hall's silence.

Static began to play at the atmosphere, frizzing hair and fur alike. Rosa felt her spikes buzz, and instinctively clung to Ash's arm. Ash pulled her in protectively. Sweat rolled down his brow.

"Gyao!" Zapdos' wings fanned, a shrill cry deafened by many wild flashes of Thunder.

Dutifully sculpted paths of frost burst, shards of ice twisting around crashing bolts. In but an instant, they were blasted into vapor that hissed into the air above. They went unheard in favor of the deafening bolts that blasted ice and steel.

Ash was pained to cover his own ears, but instead, he guarded the Lucario's. Dawn, Misty, and Brock were able to do so, wincing at the awesome storm that raged about before their very eyes. Meema crouched, goading Rura to remain insulated in her frizzing mane.

Seconds that had felt like minutes lapsed, bright colored spots harassed even eyes that were tightly shut, and ears rang, before the storm showed mercy.

 _~I-issit over!?~_ Rosa whined, attempting to rub the spots out of her eyes. She was shivering. All of the excess noise and lights had struck her nerves, just as Thunder had sizzled the room.

Ash blinked, irritated by the light. He gently stroked the pokemon's fur atop her head. "I think so… It seems like it's…" His face went pale. "Shoot… Glalie!"

Brock massaged his temples. "I hate to be a downer, but it'd be a miracle if it was still conscious after that. Zapdos must have been desperate."

"Would've been nice if it didn't throw a desperate hissy-fit," Misty deadpanned. She quickly covered her mouth. She could go without Zapdos hearing the peanut gallery.

"Do you remember Shamouti Island?" Ash shot back dryly, blinking his eyes while he scanned the room for his trusted pokemon.

"Please, don't tell me we're getting an encore."

"Shamouti, what-now?" Dawn tilted her head. "I'm missing something, but I'm guessing it wasn't a good thing."

"We'll fill you in later."

"Now, I've just gotta… Holy cow." Ash's irises trembled, finally taking the scene in. While Zapdos huffed and puffed center stage, its handiwork stood as a monument. Smoke and mist hovered about, barely obscuring the damage that had been done.

The ice ramps that Glalie had worked so hard to forge had been vaporized on all ends, leaving only puddles, icicles, and small chunks of frost that still clung to platforms and railings. Ash and Glalie's strategy had been snuffed out, just as the fruits of their labor.

"Zapdos must've been tired of that strategy." Misty brushed a bang aside. "And, it sure let us know it."

"And, Glalie worked so hard on it, too," Dawn pouted, crossing her arms.

"He'll be fine, just as long as he… Aha," Ash snapped his fingers. When Rosa whined, he hesitated. "Sorry… But, hey, there he is! Way to hang in there, tough guy."

Above, where he'd stood, the Face pokemon had sunk below a mangled, melted mess of iron that had once been a guard rail. He shuddered, shaking his head. The coast was clear, and he floated once more. "Gla… Glalie!" He hadn't been done in, just yet!

"Good work, Glalie," Ash relayed his thoughts. "We may've lost the ramps, but that means that we're getting close! Think you can hang in there, a little while longer?"

From the other end, the pokemon roared, and Ash felt his positivity, fueled to try harder, himself.

Another roar from Zapdos interrupted them. Glalie turned back, staring like a Stantler in headlights. Another blinding flash of gold was quickly encroaching upon him.

Ash swallowed. "Jump!"

Glalie launched himself over the mangled metal, soaring through open space. With a quick mental note from Ash, he fired Ice Beam again, drawing a path to a parallel level.

But, the ice bridge told another story. What started as a quick save from a fall was quickly deteriorating; tried as Glalie may to continue freezing a path, only crumbling frost came out of his mouth. He struggled, forcing out a beam. It flickered and dwindled. "Gla!" He yelped, plummeting for a fall.

Ash's heart was caught in his throat. "Glalie!" He reached for his belt, fumbling for Glalie's pokeball.

The ground was quickly drawing near, and the ice type braced for impact. That was, until he noted his surroundings. His jaw lowered, and he gnashed down on a still-intact guard rail. Whiplashed by the momentum of his fall, he yanked the bars with him, finding himself tangled in the outer rungs.

Ash exhaled, dramatically at that. He felt ready to collapse, and he wasn't even the one battling. "Close call… But, what was up with that Ice Beam? I mean, he's fired 'em off a lot, sure… But, he's thrown a lot more up at without running low on stamina."

A blue light flashed in the pocket of his jacket, and Dexter spoke. **"Zapdos' ability is Pressure. The strain of facing a legendary pokemon depletes a move's reserve more quickly than usual, as well as any other pokemon with the Pressure ability."**

"Ain't that just great… Thanks, Dexter." Ash looked back to his pokemon, who'd just rolled himself in to the platform, wrapping himself in more twisted metal before yanking them off. Ash smiled to himself. "So, we'll have to save Ice Beam if we wanna use it anymore… No sweat. I've got another idea."

Now, the enigmatic boulders of Ancientpower plummeted upon Glalie.

Ash swallowed. He clenched a fist at his side. "C'mon…"

The rubble trembled. The boulder on top was shrugged off, and Glalie emerged. He huffed, standing atop the pile. His entire body was sore, but hell if he was losing. Not after they'd come this far!

His eyes turned up. Zapdos had taken to the upper levels, circling like a bird of prey.

"Zapdos is way outta reach," Ash thought aloud. "Must be looking for another opportunity to attack us…"

"It's really too bad that Glalie's stuck without Ice Beam," Brock lamented. "Down there, he's a sitting duck. I'm not sure if there's a way out of this one, but if anyone'll come up with it…"

"It'll be me." Ash flashed a cocky smile, and a thumbs up, with it. "I've got it. If we can't get Glalie back up… Then, we'll just have to bring Zapdos back down to our level! Glalie, use Blizzard, way up high!"

Glalie roared, turning towards the ceiling to unleash another frosty storm. A chilly, misty fog drifted and swarmed the upper levels of the hall, creating something akin to a walk-in freezer. At least, that was what Zapdos felt.

The bird of thunder drifted uncomfortably through the fog, nipping at his wings again. But, it provided little relief. He reluctantly dove below, growing irritated at just how much air Glalie had covered. By the time his vision had cleared up, he was forced to swerve around the lower stairwells.

"It looks exhausted," Brock noted. "Zapdos was much more agile, earlier."

"And, it's really keeping its distance." Misty watched the Thunder pokemon swerve. "It must really not want any more close calls with Glalie." With the pride of a legendary pokemon in mind, that was a statement.

Zapdos hung low, hovering over the level where Ash and Proton had fought. It screeched, unleashing another Thunder attack.

"Use Crunch, 'n toss those bars at it," Ash relayed.

The Face pokemon did just that. Snagging the mess of metal in his jaws, he spun, chucking them towards the oncoming storm.

The mass was electrocuted, crackling and glimmering. But, its momentum wasn't slowed any.

Zapdos panicked, swerving under the electrified assault.

There was a glint in Ash's eye. He smirked.

Zapdos panted, hovering closer to its adversary. Likely growing low on power, he didn't relent. He fired another Thunder. A booming explosion followed, crowding the lowest level with thick smoke.

"Get ready," Ash muttered. "Now, show us your bird call!"

"Glalie!"

Zapdos jolted, turning to the source of the cry. Glalie floated just above the smoke, halfway up a staircase that led to a hallway exiting the generator room. The Face pokemon grinned, taunting it.

It had a lot of nerve. Zapdos shot towards Glalie, turning into a Drill Peck.

The smoke was dying away in its wake. Just in time for Zapdos to panic, turning into a sudden lurch towards the ground. A bent length of railing had been yanked and twisted outward, nearly clotheslining the legendary pokemon. It was forced to spin low, belly up. That had been painfully close.

Ash grinned, throwing a pointed finger downward. "Now, one last Ice Beam!"

Glalie lunged forward, soaring over the exposed, disoriented pokemon. "Glaaa!" He cried, unleashing the last of his frosty reserves in the form of a shimmering Ice Beam.

Zapdos quickly used Charge in defense, but found no refuge. Tired and belly-up, he was blasted towards and into the ground, frozen between a heavy mass of ice. Indignant, it shrieked and flailed.

"I think that's a wrap." Ash brushed his thumb over the bridge of his nose.

"Gyaooo!" Zapdos boomed, lighting up with a contained Thunder Attack. Slivers of light slipped through cracks in the ice, fracturing before the frozen prison was blasted to chunks and shards of ice. It wouldn't be taken down that easily, it was certain, barely hovering above the ground.

Electricity angrily circled its form.

"...Or not. Glalie, Crunch!"

Glalie hopped back down, gnashing his teeth into Zapdos numbing wing just one more time.

"Don't let it recover, and finish it," Ash instructed. "Gyro Ball!"

"Glah!" He grunted, turning his body into a quickly accelerating spin. The winded legendary was yanked for a ride long before it could process its condition, run dizzy by the spiral.

Against his better judgement, Ash punched forward. "Go, Glalie!"

With a crescending roar, Glalie let go, chucking Zapdos with it.

In a ground-rattling crash, the legendary bird was embedded in solid wall, unmoving.

Ash swallowed. He rushed on a limping leg to look over the railing. "...I think it's out!" Elated, he turned back to his companions. "I… Ow," he winced, clutching his leg. He smiled through it. "...We won! How's that for a battle, huh?"

"Incredible!" Dawn rushed over, offering a hand held high. "You really gave us a show!"

Ash chuckled, supporting himself on the guard rail. He held a hand up to slap against Dawn's in a long-awaited high five. "We did, didn't we? It wasn't easy, but we did it."

Dawn opted to support him, or at least try, pulling an arm around him. "But, now that you won, how about you take it easy on yourself?"

"That's a promise I'm not sure I can keep," he joked.

Dawn squinted.

"Kidding! I'm kidding," Ash waved his hands.

As quickly as Dawn had come to his aid, she disengaged, and Ash quickly learned why.

"Oof!" The trainer huffed, when Glalie crashed into his belly, regrettably pushing him up against the bars.

"Glaaaa!" The pokemon cheered in his gravelly voice, nuzzling his body into Ash's chest. "Glalie!"

"Easy, buddy… Man, you were amazing," Ash laughed. "I know I asked a lot of you to tough that out, but you came through with flying colors. I'm really proud of you, Glalie." He gently stroked the pokemon's icy shell. Admittedly, his cold body was a bit soothing on Ash's bruises.

"Gotta hand it to you, Ash," Misty interrupted. "You've come a really long way as a trainer. I had to see it to believe it, but you're in another league, now."

"Thanks for doubting me," Ash stuck his tongue out, before he retracted it, squicked by previous events. Supporting himself with Glalie's help, he flashed a more heartfelt smile. "Seriously, thanks."

"I couldn't have said it better, myself," Brock agreed, gently clapping a hand on Ash's shoulder. "...Come to think of it, I should probably check on Zapdos." With that, the doctor departed to aid the unconscious legendary.

Walking carefully and slowly as he could so as not to startle the bird, Brock reached the platform Zapdos was buried into the wall of. Inching forward, he cracked the Revive jewel in his hands. Holding it up to Zapdos, the bird first breathed in deeply, automatically opening its mouth. As much as Brock didn't want his hands near the bird's mouth, he tossed the medicine into its beak and then darted back.

Within seconds, the bird jumped forward, landing on the railing with enough weight to make the platform yield a little. Brock flinched back at the shuddering of the metal.

Zapdos looked the doctor's way. _~My apologies.~_ It looked down at Ash and Glalie, beak unable to show the smile that gleamed in its eyes. _~Moltres was right about you.~_ Content with the battle, the electric type turned towards the ceiling and took off, a bright charge overtaking its form. With a burst of electric bolts, it broke through the ceiling.

"I guess the fire alarms finally went off," Dawn mused as she lifted a hand, shielding herself from the debris.

"... That's not a fire alarm," Misty said after a minute, looking towards the entrance to the main room.

"Freeze!"

All four of our heroes stood still, hands in the air as a gaggle of officers led by Officer Jenny burst into the power plant's main chamber.

"The Cerulean Sister's Pikachu and Togekiss were right; something did go down." She spoke into her walkie talkie on her shirt. "Confirmed visuals on three of the four civilians and two Rocket members."

Ash furrowed his brows. "Two Rocket members?" He looked to Ariana, still held by Starmie after all this time. With slowly realizing horror, he looked towards Dawn. She was still in uniform and quickly being approached by several police officers. "Hey, no!"

"She's with us, she's with us!" Misty shouted, throwing an arm in front of Dawn as the girl yelped.

Brock spoke up from his platform. "She's in uniform because she helped us sneak in! That's Dawn; didn't they tell you about her at the gym? That was her Togekiss back there with Ash's Pikachu!"

Officer Jenny squinted. "You're the ex-gym leader Brock and the current gym leader Misty, right?" She hummed. "I'll trust you. Leave her be, officers."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Dawn breathed out a sigh of relief, releasing Empoleon. The big steel type embraced Dawn quickly, happy to see she was safe, especially after his partial witness to it all in his pokeball.

Just then, the pleasant cooing of Togekiss could be heard. She dove down from the ceiling, revealing Daisy and Pikachu both on her back.

"Whoa! What made this big hole?" Daisy wondered aloud.

Misty stomped her foot. "Daisy, why are you here after the cops?"

"Hey, like, we came as soon as the power came back on. They drove. Plus, like, you know, this thing's slow."

Togekiss seemed to only take mild offense.

Interjecting, Ash yelled up. "Hey, Pikachu! C'mere, buddy!"

"Pikapi!" the mouse yelled, jumping off Togekiss's back. Falling through the air without worry, Pikachu had complete faith that Ash would catch him.

And, he was right. Snuggling the electric type close, Ash soon found himself hugged all around. Meema and Rosa each hugged him, with Rura popping out of Meema's fur. Heracross came over, as did Glalie to hug the boy as well. Ash laughed aloud, ignoring the sting in his cheek. He nuzzled the better half of his face against Pikachu's, crowded in warmth. "Well, all's well that ends well, am I right?"

* * *

Sitting in the back of an ambulance with a shock blanket wrapped around his shoulders, Ash ignored the discussion behind him on whether they should let Dawn and Ash ride back together to get checked up or whether it'd be better to call a second one. The coordinator, though extremely tired, was not being allowed to sleep, so the non-driving member of the ambulance crew was busy helping her stay awake.

Pikachu kept throwing looks behind at her, but Ash had assured him everything was fine. Pikachu doubted it, since the trainer hadn't once lifted the bandage on his face, but he supposed he'd find out soon enough. He occasionally squinted at Ash before nuzzling into his shirt. "Pika."

Even without telepathy, Ash could feel his scrutinizing gaze. "Hey, I said I'd come out fine, and I did." He hissed, pressing his hand to the bandage.

Pikachu picked up on that, and frowned. "Pika, Pikachu."

"Okay, not _fine_ … But, it's nothing that won't heal up, alright? Besides… It's probably better you didn't come. Things got a lil' ugly." He felt the mouse's grip on his shirt tighten. "For them," he quickly corrected. "I, uh… got pretty heated when they got nasty on us. I'm okay with you missing that." He gently stroked Pikachu's fur, feeling it bristle.

"Again, nothin' irreversible…" _'Thank Arceus,'_ he thought. "I just don't like seein' you guys hurt." He hugged Pikachu tightly to his chest; about as closely as was comfortable, that was.

Misty, who was holding a styrofoam cup of hot water, sat down on the ground near Ash, a distant look in her eye. Brock was up with the medics, having joined in to argue that it was more important to get everyone back quickly.

"Hey," she said finally, "After your conference win, I think I'm gonna collab with some of the other gym leaders about, like, making active patrols or something. This was… stupid." She gestured at the whole power plant. "This was, what, fifteen miles from my gym? I shoulda known." She shook her head.

Ash looked down at Misty. "... You can't know everything." He grinned. The pain medicine at least took the sting out of smiling. "As much as you wish you did."

Brock sighed, walking back over. "Well, good news, bad news. The bad news is that because you and Dawn are going to ride in the ambulance together on both stretchers, Misty and I can't ride back with you. We'll follow in a cop car. The good news is that they've already got a surgeon waiting on you, Ash, and they've got a scanner waiting on Dawn." He gave a thumbs up. "You'll have great care."

"That's not too bad." He stood up, climbing into the ambulance to sit on the bed Dawn wasn't occupying and that Empoleon wasn't crowding over, watching his trainer intently. "See you guys there?"

"Absolutely," Misty agreed.

"You're just lucky I'm not gonna practice my stitching on you," Brock joked.

As the ambulance doors closed and the ride back into town began, Ash laid back, taking in the brightly lit space.

"Hey, Ash?" Dawn said, looking towards him.

"Yeah, Dawn?"

"That battle was great."

"Wasn't it?!"

"Mmhm! When we get better, it's gonna be fun training again."

"Oh, you bet." He grinned. With Pikachu lying on his chest, and Empoleon watching over the both of them, things almost felt normal. He reached over, taking the coordinator's hand. "Couldn't have done this without you."

"Heheh. Thanks. I mostly don't regret doing it with you."

"Hey! Couldn't have blamed you if you did. But, that's not what I meant." He looked at her intently, letting go of her hand to brush her dusty, sweaty bangs out of her face before taking her hand again. "My dream. Our dreams. We're only reaching them together as a team."

Dawn suddenly felt the same intensity she had the night Ash first started talking about their joint dream. She blushed, smiling at him. She squeezed his hand. "Us and our pokemon…! The best team in the world!"

"Always!"

The two smiled at each other, happy to just have their team.


	76. The Final Path

**And, we're back again! Enjoy the latest chapter, and let us know what you think with the review feature if you're excited for what's coming next! Thanks again for making it this far!**

* * *

The cold ice cream felt good inside of his mouth. He had to admit, the doctors were talented. Three days after being fixed up with the liquid stitch-artificial skin graft fluid, his cheek was mostly better. A bright, angry pink scar stretched along his side, and it was still very tender to the touch, but he could eat and talk as much as the outer bandage would allow movement.

Rosa had even gotten used to the white patch, understanding that it was meant to keep Ash's still healing face clean and protect it from sunlight to minimize the risk of complications in healing. She happily sat beside her father figure, licking her cone of ice cream vigorously.

So vigorously, in fact, that Brock got up to go get more napkins again.

"They're both in the zone," Misty noted, shaking her head at how Ash was ravenously darting back and forth between his chocolate scoop and his vanilla scoop.

Dawn just nodded. She was wearing shades; while she was mostly better, like Ash, she was taking protective measures for a while. Exposure to bright lights set off headaches for her right now, so she was wearing the sunglasses and Empoleon had insisted on sitting so that he could block most of the sunlight from her as the two ate their ice cream. "Well, if it's ice cream that's getting them so worked up, it's fine, right?"

Hearing the two girls, Rosa stopped eating, a bit of cookie crunch ice cream dripping off her muzzle. She looked back to Ash, touching his shoulder as he tried to politely turn down Pikachu's offer to slurp from his glass of chilled tomato juice. _~Papa, will you get too worked up again? Don't get too worked up again, Papa! That was scary!~_

Ash only understood what she meant because she had been speaking with aura. "Rosa, I'm not gonna get that excited. I was mad at Proton; really mad. I don't normally start fights like that, though."

Brock returned, setting the napkins down. "Ash Ketchum, I don't know what the context of this is, but we all know you absolutely do start fights."

Misty put her hand under her chin, giving the trainer a pointed look that marked her agreement with Brock.

Ash crossed his arms. "Well, look, I don't normally try to hurt people." Neither protested this. "I just love you guys, ya know? I'm not about to let anyone hurt you."

The coordinator let out a contented sigh. "Even if it is a little scary… That's the you I've always known. I met you by seeing you try to fight a giant robot. It's nice to know you'd go so far as to beat down some thug to keep your pokemon safe. You've always been dependable like that."

Brock bit his lip. "... You can't solve too many problems that way, and I wonder how that might reflect on your career if you do it at the wrong time."

The gym leader bit into her waffle cone, pointing it at Brock accusatively after. "He did the right thing! He didn't kill Proton, but he needed to be wailed on a little bit!"

"Pikapi!" Pikachu chirped, just now finding out what exactly Ash had done leading up to getting cut.

Ash laughed nervously. "Hey, hey, let's all just relax." He threw an arm around Rosa's shoulders, grinning. "It's Papa's job to keep his daughter safe, right?" He got no answer. "Right, Rosa? Rosemary?" He looked down.

The blue pokemon was pouting, her lower lip poked out. Her ice cream had been jostled when Ash wrapped an arm around her, smudging across the tip of her nose.

"Aw, jeez, that's my fault, huh? Well, hey, watch this." He made a point of eating his ice cream messily, wiping it on the sides of his mouth. After, he licked it all off. He ignored the disgusted sounds of protests from his other friends.

 _~Oh! Okay.~_ Rosa followed suit, her longer tongue letting her clean off her entire muzzle. She hummed happily. Now there was no wasted ice cream!

Ash stuck his tongue out as he saw Misty's disgust. "Hey, hey, this is useful stuff!"

"We've got napkins right here, doofus," she retorted.

"Yeah, but I'm teaching her how to have fun."

That got a giggle out of the group, save Pikachu.

Ash grinned. "Hey, buddy, you're not any better with ketchup. The only reason you don't spill is because you're too greedy."

The little electric type bristled a bit, embarrassed to be called out. "Pika!" he squeaked before darting over. He playfully nibbled at Ash's cheek a bit before licking off the excess ice cream there, grooming his friend.

"Hey, that hurt! And, tickled," Ash complained.

"You had that coming," Brock said with a laugh. "After all, Pikachu's just doing what you showed him, right?" He looked around. "Well, if everyone's done, we should head back. Eating outside's nice, but Dawn needs to get back in the dark. Empoleon, start helping her up, huh. Nice and slow."

"I'm not that bad off," Dawn insisted, but let herself be helped up.

He hummed in response. "Yeah, well, consider this a bit of pampering until the week-long observation period passes, huh?" He stood on Dawn's other side, helping Empoleon keep the coordinator in the shade under the parasol they'd brought for her.

"... He's gonna make a good boyfriend one day," Misty idly noted as she got up. As she did, Ash caught her elbow. "Aw, hey, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, don't tell me you're the jealous type."

"Huh? What? Oh, no, you're right, he will." He waved her comment off. "I wanted to thank you. For the other day." He flexed his hand now that he'd let go of her. He watched Rosa trail after Empoleon. Pikachu hung back at his side. "I needed someone to snap me out of… Well… Whatever might've happened, Proton wasn't worth it."

There was a long pause, a comfortable silence between the two.

Then, Misty clapped her hand on Ash's shoulder. "You've really grown up, huh? I'm proud of it. You're not the brat I used to know. You're really becoming a man, looking out for your family and keeping them safe." She turned away from him, walking to catch up with the others. "Maybe you'll be stronger than me one day, even!"

Ash scoffed. "I'll bet anything I already am! You've seen me slug!"

"I didn't say you weren't good! I'm just, you know, better."

"Arm wrestle me! Now!"

"Mm… Pass."

"Afraid you'll lose?"

"You know what?" She looked at him. "Maybe I am."

He startled. He'd been prepared to flex his muscles as proof. Instead, he grinned dumbly. "... Yeah, well, I always thought you were strong when we were younger. Nice to know I finally caught up."

Misty laughed. "You were bound to. You're incredible, Ash."

"Thanks, Misty."

* * *

A woman with auburn hair tied in a ponytail hummed, setting down a plate, with napkins and silverware to match. "Thank you, Mimey!" She chimed, accepting a teapot that was set in the center of the dining table, beside a vase of white daisies, their fragrance twisting with the nostalgic, savory scents of a home cooked meal.

"Mime, Mime!" Mimey hummed, wiping the kitchen counter clean with enthusiastic diligence.

"Now, we're all set for-"

A loud knock on the door interrupted Delia's thought, and she clutched her fist over her chest. "Coming~!"

Eagerness beat frightful anticipation to the door, and she turned the knob, pulling open her front door.

"Don't you have your keys?"

"It's not usually locked, so I wasn't thinking about it," Ash excused, shrugging off his backpack to check. By the time he'd done so, he looked up to see none other than his mother standing before him.

That hardly prepared him for the airtight embrace that followed.

"Ash, honey!" Delia held on for dear life, hiding her face in the shoulder that Pikachu hadn't occupied. "You had me worried sick!" So much for the composure she'd worked so hard to build before his appearance.

The trio of friends looked on, their smiles bittersweet.

Ash was silent, this time; he'd seen this coming. His only struggle was to breathe in the tight hold he'd been pulled into. "Sorry, Mom." He returned the embrace, careful not to graze the bandage covering his left cheek.

"Pi-pi." Pikachu clung to Ash's head, patting Delia's shoulder with his tail.

After what felt like an eternity, Delia pulled back, wiping her eyes. "I had to embarrass you, this time."

"Nah, I understand." Ash smiled, shaking his head. He'd been in her shoes now, sort of. He knew that fright. "Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I was told to keep my mouth shut for a little while." As soon as he let that sentence slip, he shot a look at Misty. A look that said 'not a word.'

The redhead caught this and only smirked.

Delia finally had a chance to stop and absorb the scene. Namely, her son. A few scratches on his arms hadn't escaped her notice, but they were hardly a concern. Ever since he was a boy, he tended to get roughed up. The large bandage on his face, however, wasn't typical. Under that white patch was certainly yet another scar. One after another took their toll. She sighed. "You just can't stay out of trouble, can you…?" Ash looked guilty, and she blinked. "Oh, what am I doing holding you all at the door? Come inside, if you want lunch! There's no way you all aren't hungry after the walk over."

Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, Misty, and Brock, all lit up, slipping by the matriarch.

"I appreciate you picking up the slack," Brock chuckled, lingering behind the rest of the group. "Don't get me wrong, I love cooking for the gang, but I'm sure you understand the value in a day off."

"Trust me, dear, between the Pallet House and Ash, I know it too well." On that, note… "Oh, honey! Don't worry about that bandage; I made everyone something soft and easy to eat!"

"Alright; curry rice!" Ash took a seat, his mouth watering. "No one makes it like you, Mom." He quickly swallowed, looking awkwardly to Brock. "I mean…"

"Hey, don't look at me next time I overcook yours." Brock smirked. Getting a look at Ash's mortified face, he chuckled. "Kidding! Every chef has their specialty. As long as my stews are still your favorite, you haven't broken any hearts, here."

"Unless I meet a soup chef, then, yours are my favorite," Ash teased back, scrunching his nose as he sat down and began to serve himself.

After a moment, Misty snatched the curry bowl, insisting that he didn't need that much for his rice. Brock assured Dawn that she didn't need to worry about the spice since there was also yogurt while Mr. Mime brought Pikachu a bottle of ketchup to put over his rice.

As she dipped a piece of bread into her plate, Delia spoke up. "So, Ash," she began, "I got a letter in the mail about your hospital visit. Will you need any more follow up care?"

Almost choking on his meal, Ash hurried waved his hands in front of him. "Mom, no, oh my gosh. You don't even need to worry about that. I thought I set up a payment plan before I left?! They're supposed to defer payment 'til after summer! It's fine; I'm going to pay for it out of my league winnings!"

She frowned, crossing her arms. "I am not going to let you use your spending money on a hospital bill. I'll start making payments."

"Mom, no! That's dumb! You already got the house and the restaurant! I'm grown! Lemme worry about this!"

"You're sixteen."

He whipped out his pokedex from his pocket, actually standing up and leaning across the table. "See?! See! I'm not a minor, I pay my own bills, I can pay this!"

As Ash and Delia fussed, Brock and Misty ate without a care in the world. Dawn, however, was wide eyed, looking out of the corner of her eye to Empoleon who was eating fish and fries with Mr. Mime in the living room. Was this normal?! The arguing, the issue with the bill?! She supposed Ash was two years older than her, so he might have felt the need to take charge whereas she'd just thoughtlessly had the bill sent home, but she'd never argued with her mother like this! They were more like brother and sister than mother and child!

"Just eat, Dawn," Brock interrupted. "They'll be fine in a minute. Delia's never been too much of an authority figure to Ash."

Hearing this, Delia spoke up. "Hey, I can boss all four of you around just fine."

As Brock scrambled to explain himself, Misty howled with laughter. She turned to Dawn. "What he meant to say before he put his foot in his mouth is that Delia talks very evenly with Ash. He loves and respects her, but, well…" She waved her hand. "They have at it."

Ash nodded, winking at Dawn. "Mom's super reliable but ultra-cool, and so am I!"

Noting his confidence, Delia put a hand under her chin, smiling sweetly. "Oh? Are you bragging to her about how reliable you are? How charming!"

"... Aw, Mom, I didn't mean it like that! C'mon, c'mon, don't embarrass me like that!" Ash whined.

As Delia and Ash started up again, Misty once again broke into laughter. Brock kept eating while Dawn only furrowed her brows. She supposed this was fine. What wasn't fine, however, was the timeline.

"Oh, yeah. Um, guys, since we're at Ash's house, what do we need to do to get to the Indigo Conference? The Lily of the Valley Conference was on an island, so do we need to book tickets on a ferry or something?"

Brock shook his head. "No. We're going to walk there. I suggest we ride some of our pokemon to get us to the casual trail up to Indigo Plateau, but there's only a train from the plateau to Viridian City, and it's always packed with regular commuters. Plus, if we go the long way, we can all train together with Ash!"

"Walk? But, there's only a week between the conference and now!" Dawn insisted.

Misty waved her hand. "It's fine. The casual path takes maybe a day and a half if you walk it. We won't be going on the real Victory Road. That's a nightmare, haha! It'd take about three days if you only walk in it, and you gotta pack right."

Ash seemed to catch onto Misty's words. He looked at Pikachu from the corner of his eye. "Three days, isolated on Victory Road, huh?" He focused on everyone else present. "No matter which way we go, it doesn't matter! I know I'm ready. … A little last-minute practice can't hurt."

The price of excellence of character and of skill was steep; it had cost Ash and his friends blood, sweat, and tears. But, he knew, very soon, he'd be rewarded handsomely for his efforts. He was glad they'd be there beside him the whole time.

* * *

The wages of the wicked were heavy with bones and gold, and thus Giovanni did not dine in anything less than opulence. Heavy hands with pinkie rings rested on the dark table cloth. As the salad course was placed before all of them, he picked up his fork and stabbed it down.

"I'm not about to get indigestion over you incompetent cretins," he said, voice heavy with contempt. "You know our big plans for the next year, hell, probably the next couple of years, are flushed. You got all got us flushed into the public eye, like a bunch of Rattata tossed into the street." He pointed an accusatory finger at Ariana. "You, especially. Arrested! You're damn lucky I still got favors owed to me by a couple of airports, or I'd leave your ass to rot in jail. Who knows what kind of legal weight I'm going to have to throw around to keep investigators from coming after you for your court date. And, the lawyers! Always, always, lawyers! You can't go out in disguise anymore! You're only for obvious missions now!"

He looked at Archer, then. "And, you. How did two gym leaders get in on this? Did you or did you not confirm to me that the power plant was dead in the water, as you put it?"

Archer took the chiding in silence, much the same way Ariana had.

The man looked around the table, glare landing on Petrel and an oddly empty seat by him. "Where's Proton? Licking his wounds, I guess. What a punk. Gets whooped by a kid and can't even be man enough to come to dinner with a black eye. Chump."

Giovanni bit into his salad.

"Zager, thank you for showing a degree of competence and fleeing before you could be arrested. You are a valuable asset to this organization and we cannot function without your efforts."

Being praised personally by the boss, Dr. Zager's pride swelled. "Well, thank you, Boss."

"Now, finally, the newest additions to our little inner circle. Jessie, James, and… Meowth." It felt odd to have a pokemon at his table, but James had begged the staff to get a little chair for Meowth rather than just having the cat in his lap. "You two… Three… Have shown excellent leadership skills and an unprecedented increase in success in the field. I'm going to wrap up all but absolutely vital operations here in Kanto, but we're going to be headed to Unova for a bit." He gestured to the professor. "You three will be directly working with Dr. Zager. What he needs, you give him. What he invents, you get first pick from. Understand?"

"Yes, Boss!" the three said in unison.

Jessie, James, and Meowth cast excited looks at one another. They'd done it! Their loyalty to the team hadn't been compromised, and neither had their morals! The eagerly dug into their meals, content to bask in the limelight that was Giovanni's approval.

* * *

Oak's laboratory sat on the edge of Pallet Town, fencing a vast, populated ranch that spanned grassy hills, dense woodlands, and shallow ponds. Pokemon owned by Pallet's trainers roamed freely, content to live quietly and simply train with one another.

Today, forests and ponds were quiet; many pokemon that normally went about their business had crowded on the hills, behind the laboratory. Huddled in a circle around one young man and his Pikachu.

"It's good to be back." Ash knelt on one knee, looking over his wide variety of companions. Charizard and Sceptile coolly hung back, content to project their tough facade. The leader of Ash's herd of Tauros butted his way towards the front. Heracross, Glalie, Rosa, and Meema hung close, having been released from their pokeballs moments before. Misdreavus opted to float in Ash and Glalie's vicinity.

They all waited quietly for Ash to continue speaking.

"I know it's a hassle to get everyone over here, but I wanted to say something to each and every one of you… Well, I guess I have two things to say." Ash brushed a finger over the bridge of his nose.

"First of all… I'm sorry."

Most of his pokemon looked on in perplexed silence, and others chattered in protest.

"Only some of you know what I'm talking about already, but this journey's been a wild one. We've had a lot of fun times, but we've been dragged into some pretty miserable stuff, too. Team Rocket's been more active than ever, and I couldn't just sit around and let them hurt people and pokemon. I never knew just how vicious they were, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

He reached to scratch gently behind Rosa's ear. Her unease could be felt without any extrasensory abilities.

"I'm sorry that some of you got dragged into that mess. You've been great companions, sticking through thick and thin."

Pikachu's ears pinned back, a scowl forming on his features.

Ash stammered. "A-anyway! That brings me to the second thing I had to say. I wanted to say thank you. In the past few months, a lot's changed. We've all changed, I think. Mt. Silver, the gym challenge, supporting Dawn, with her contests… And, going out of our way to do the right thing. I couldn't've done all of that without you." The boy sniffled, rubbing his eye. "You guys're… The best friends a trainer could have!"

"Bulba…" Hanging towards the front, the Seed pokemon soothed, extending a vine. The tendril reached past Ash's glove, wiping the tears from his eye. "Bulbasaur!"

Ash's lower lip trembled. "Bulbasaur… Aw, what're you all waiting for? C'mere!" He stood with open, waiting arms. He wasn't kept waiting for long.

Predictably, Ash ended up on the grass again, pinned and swarmed by his many pokemon. He bumped fists with Wartortle and Infernape, hugged Tyranitar, and took the usual punishment from Crawdaunt and Meganium; Glalie decided to hang back, aware of what had gone down just a few days ago.

After a lot of hugging and petting, Ash stood in the midst of his pokemon, once again.

"I'm sure you all've gotten to know the newer members of our group, by now. But, just in case, I'll introduce 'em!" Ash gestured to Misdreavus first. "Misdreavus helped me down Mt. Silver after Pikachu's battle with Moltres, where he totally kicked ass." He winked at the mouse on his shoulder, patting his head.

Pikachu squeaked, rubbing the back of his head at the loud wave of praise he got.

"And, she couldn't leave us hanging on that trail toasted, so she joined our group. You're happy to be with us, aren't ya?"

"...Misdreavus?" Where'd she gone?

"Mis~!" The ghost popped up in Ash's face, tickled by the chance to spook him.

"Very funny… You met Tyranitar during our training," he gestured to the Armor pokemon. "I met him years ago, in Johto, when he was still just a Larvitar egg. It's good to have you back!"

The large pokemon uncharacteristically chirped, filled with a warm, fuzzy feeling for being acknowledged.

"Two more old friends that only some of you knew, back in the day; Haunter and Primeape!"

"Oosh! Ooshi!" Primeape snorted, throwing a few jabs.

"Hau-hau!" Haunter spun about, his eyes and tongue spinning with him.

A few in the audience seemed disturbed, but Wartortle laughed, which was enough to satisfy the ghoul.

"Then, there's Rosemary. You joined us after our mountain training. But, that doesn't mean you're not one tough cookie!" The trainer winked, patting the top of her head.

 _~You betcha!~_ The Aura pokemon chimed; she'd hung back during the hug fest, but she was back to clinging to Ash's side.

"Last, but definitely not least," Ash emphasized, "Meema! She's a Zoroark from the Unova region; we met 'er chasing down a crook when we were over there, on vacation. She'll be a great friend to all of you… But, if you're a bad guy, watch out." He grinned.

Meema hung back beside Rosa, having mostly kept to herself. When Ash referred to her exploits, though, she lifted her head, sporting a proud smile. _~It's an honor to be part of this pack. I'll guard it with my life.~_

"Always gotta be dramatic, huh," Ash frowned. "Then again, I can't talk… Well, now, we're all introduced! That just leaves one more thing." The trainer stood tall, tipping the brim of his cap. "The pokemon league's only a few days away. And, I'll tell you one thing; we're going to win first place!"

Enthusiastic cheers drowned out Ash's voice, clamoring the very same sentiment.

"And, I guess I lied when I said I'll tell you one thing; there's something else I wanna tell you guys. I talked to Professor Oak, earlier, about the tournament. He ran some numbers through on you guys and the rounds; if we make it all the way to the finals… Then, there's just enough room for every one of you to have a chance to battle!"

Once again, he was met with enthusiastic applause.

"And, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm counting on you guys to give it 110%, and bring home the gold! Are you with me!?"

Another round of cheers was his answer.

"Ash! Ash!?"

"Eh?" Ash turned from his motivational speech back towards the lab. Professor Oak was poking his head out of the door.

"I admire your motivational speaking, but could you try to keep the ruckus down a little? I can't very well do my work with a static marching band in my backyard."

"Ahaha… Whoops. Sorry, Professor!" Ash rubbed the back of his head. He turned to Pikachu, next. "I've got a great feeling about this thing. Don't you, Pikachu?"

"Pika… Pikachu!" The mouse leaned over, nuzzling his cheek.

* * *

What Brock had said before proved to be true. Dawn gleefully saw that after a short ride on some of their larger team members, they'd reach the foothills that soon jutted into sheer cliffs before Indigo Plateau.

"Oh man, I bet the view is great! We could probably make it up in a day if we hurry, but let's camp one night, okay?!" Dawn enthused.

Brock laughed. "Well, we still need to make sure we get lodging, so we shouldn't spend more than three days out here, and knowing our luck, one night spent out here intentionally is pushing it."

Misty threw an arm over Dawn's shoulder. "Don't mind him. He's still biased towards rock types. This place is swarming with 'em even if we aren't on Victory Road. Don't worry; between you and Empoleon and me and my water types, we won't have a single worry." She pinched her thumb and index finger together smugly.

"Misty, you know that's not what I'm worried about," Brock insisted. "Let's just go up the easy trail already. I don't feel like arguing."

"We're going on Victory Road," Ash suddenly said, having spent the last-minute staring intently at the sign that marked the fork in the road.

"Ash!" Dawn chided. "You heard Brock."

He turned around, an intense look in his eye. "No. We're," he said, jutting his thumb at himself and then Pikachu on his shoulder, "going on Victory Road. If you guys go ahead and reserve a room, it's fine, right?"

Misty looked at him seriously, her lips pursed. "Is that a good idea?"

He nodded. "I've got eight gym badges and this time no one can contest them. The guys at the counter gotta let me through."

Brock sighed. "I wish you would have told me that before we left town… Here, I'll give you my supplies for medicine and half of my pokechow. Me and the girls are going quicker, so hopefully we won't need it." He unzipped his backpack and Ash followed him down, the two swapping supplies.

Dawn had been quiet after hearing his reasoning. As Ash stood back up with a fuller backpack, she reached out, taking his hand. "... I think I know why you're doing this, but… Don't push yourself, okay?"

Feeling happy to be understood, Ash pulled the coordinator into a hug. "Hey, no need to worry!"

"That's my phrase!" she whined.

"Yeah, yeah! But, listen! I need to make sure I'm in tip top shape for the league, okay? It's like when you and Clefairy went off by yourselves that night. You understand, don't you?"

"Yes! That's why I only want you to be careful. We can't come get you quick if you end up getting lost." She was teasing him now, her fears set at ease.

"It's a cave going up!" he spat back, playing along. He took his arms off her. "C'mon, I know up from down!"

Realizing Ash wouldn't be traveling with them, Empoleon squawked at Pikachu. "Empo, Empo!" he insisted, letting Pikachu know the water type would only be a Thunderbolt's signal away.

Comforted by Empoleon's offer, Pikachu let out a chiming cry. "Cha!"

With all parties understanding the situation, Ash tipped the brim of his cap to them. "See you guys in… two days?"

"I'm coming in after you on the third, so don't make me wait," Misty warned.

"There's no way he'd willingly stay in there three days when he's going to be going without real food," Dawn said with a hand wave.

"You've got good confidence in him, Dawn. On the other hand… Try not to get lost. Seriously. I'm not kidding with that. Trainers have gotten lost in there and needed to get rescued. Maybe try marking a trail or something," Brock warned.

Ash nodded. "A trail, got it. Okay, we're going! See you guys!"

"Bye, Ash!" "See you, Ketchum." "Take care!"

Jogging towards the gate barring entry into Victory Road, Ash felt happy none of the others had pried deeper into his reasoning. They probably knew it wasn't just to prepare for the league. After all the unfortunate happenings, the trainer just wanted a little one on one time with his team; Pikachu, in particular.

There'd be a narrow bottleneck at the beginning of the cave after the reception area, but soon they'd be on an adventure with just the two of them!

* * *

"About time we see some sunlight. I was gettin' cramped in here," Ash complained, a gloved hand trailing the walls of the cavern that had been their way in. He blinked, adjusting to the coming daylight at the end of the tunnel.

"Piiika," Pikachu agreed, dashing ahead; there was hardly any room on Ash's shoulder in there, anyway. Stepping out of the enclosure and into sunlight, Pikachu cooed, tossing his head back. The early summer's warmth was a welcome change. He turned back, waiting for Ash.

The trainer stepped out, next, finally comfortable to stand at full height. "So, this is Victory Road…" Ash lifted the brim of his cap. Before them was a long, bone-dry valley, with slopes on either side climbing high. "Guess we ought to get started." Ash walked on, with Pikachu waddling at his side.

The occasional Geodude floated by, giving the duo a suspicious look before going about their business. Diglett occasionally popped out of the ground.

"I've got a way to pass the time. Whoever spots a Diglett poppin' up first gets a point," Ash suggested. "You down?"

"Pi!"

"Aha! There's one." One had popped out of a small crack in the slope.

"Pika!"

"You beat me to that one… Oh, another!"

"Chu…"

The game went on for a couple of minutes, until the moles had all but disappeared.

"I think I lost count…" Ash folded his arms behind his head. "Let's just call that a tie."

Pikachu hummed in agreement, though he couldn't help but wonder if that was simply a cover for losing. Suddenly, he stopped, his ears perking up; he swore he'd heard a faint cry. "Pi?"

Ash turned to him, hands gripping the straps of his backpack. "What is it, Pikachu?"

The mouse tilted his head, black-tipped ears twitching. "Pikachu…" He wasn't quite sure. He tilted his nose up, sniffing the air. He caught a scent, and dashed forward. "Pika-Pikachu!"

"Hey, wait up!" Ash ran after his companion. "What's the big idea?"

"Dgooo!" A shrill wail caught his attention, and Pikachu's attention. "Pidgoo!"

The duo skidded to a halt, looking about for the source of the cries.

Ash swallowed. "Up there," he pointed, towards the top of one of the slopes.

A Pidgeotto flailed and cried, otherwise unmoving. Even beats of its wings didn't give it flight.

Ash squinted. He could soon see why. "...It's stuck!" There seemed to be a small boulder pinning one of Pidgeotto's feet to the ledge. Ash could feel his heart sink into his stomach at the sight.

"Pikachu…" Pikachu's ears fell. He squinted before leaping for the valley slope, scampering to climb the heights to rescue Pidgeotto. He sprinted and climbed with all his might, only to slide back down to the bottom. He sighed. "Pika."

"It's no good… The valley's too steep." Ash crossed his arms, impatiently tapping his foot. He rocked on his heels. There had to be a way to save it! "Come on, Ketchum, think…!"

Finally, he snapped his fingers. "Got it! Pikachu, I'm gonna need your help." The trainer held his arms out for the mouse.

"Pi?" Pikachu didn't follow, but he was willing to try anything. He hopped into Ash's arms.

"Neither of us can jump that high… So, I'm gonna throw you up there, so you can bust that boulder with Iron Tail! That sound good to you?"

"Pika… Pikachu!" Pikachu nodded frantically. It had to be done!

The teen stepped back, rearing his arms back, with Pikachu in a tight grip. "Okay… One… Two…!"

"Bombs away!" Ash spun, chucking Pikachu overhand into the air.

"Piiii!" Pikachu quickly climbed the heights, soaring through the air. He drew closer, and closer…

"Pi!" He was high enough, now! "Chua….!" Pikachu twisted his hips, tensing the muscles in his tail.

"Pika!"

Pidgeotto squawked, hiding her head under her wings. Iron Tail crashed into the heavy stone, suddenly slicing it in two. The halves fell off the ledge, rolling harmlessly down the slope.

"Piii…" Pikachu landed, holding a paw out to the bird. "Pika!"

"Pii…" Pidgeotto whimpered, lifting a wing from her eyes. "Pi-dgooo!"

Both yelped, finding themselves with no ground to stand on. Iron Tail had split the ledge!

The startled cries of both caught Ash's attention, and he narrowed his eyes, turning his cap around. "I've got you! Don't worry!" Backing up several steps, he held his arms out.

"I gotcha!" Leaning back on the balls of his heels, he yanked the mouse and bird in alike. Their fall brought Ash down to the ground with them, with a thud.

"Ergh… I got ya," he laughed, hugging both pokemon to his chest.

"Pikachu…" Pikachu shook his head, regaining his bearings. "Pikapi!" He cheered, nuzzling into Ash's cheek.

"Good job, bud!" The trainer lifted a fist, bumping his with his companion's.

"Pidgoo…!"

The bird's whining regained Ash's attention. "That must've been scary… How're you…!" He gasped. One of the pokemon's toes was a deep blue. Ash winced. "Yeowch… You musta gotten your talon stuck under that rock, huh… That's gotta hurt." With care, he pulled the pokemon in, lightly stroking its feathers.

"Pidge," she whined, pecking at one of Ash's stray bangs.

"I didn't recruit ya for a haircut, but thanks," Ash smiled. He recalled Pidgeot trying to straighten his wild mess of a bedhead more than once; it was apparently a sign of affection or gratitude among the evolution line, but he couldn't help but wonder if they just mistook it for a nest.

"Now, let's get you fixed up-"

"Pidg!" Pidgeotto cried, throwing her wing out.

"Huh? What's up? I can't help you if you don't stay still."

"Dgoo!" She gestured frantically forward, further down the path.

"You got somewhere you wanna go…? Alright, you've got it. We were heading that way, anyway." Ash stood, continuing down the path. Pikachu walked at his side, occasionally watching Pidgeotto.

The tan monotony of the dry, rocky path eventually lightened into patches of green, and soon after, a vibrant woodland environment that lined the cliffs and caverns. Pidgeotto frantically chirped when they neared the trees, wriggling around in Ash's arms.

"Hey, take it easy! You can't wrestle around like that in your condition," he huffed.

"Pikapi!"

Ash looked up, and gasped.

A swarm of Pidgey had crowded the trio, shrieking and chattering at Ash.

"...Oh!" Ash looked between the frantic flock and the larger bird in his arms. He raised a hand. "It's not what it looks like; we didn't- ah!"

The Pidgey had begun to peck and kick at Ash, even pecking at his jacket. When he guarded his face with his shoulder, they went for his arms and hands. The commotion knocked Ash over on his rear with a thud.

"Yeowch…" Ash hissed; but, with Pidgeotto in his arms, there wasn't much he could do, but scoot back with his feet! "Hey, take it- ouch… Easy! I'm not gonna hurt ya!" True to his nature and his word, defending himself was out of the question.

"Pi-Pikaaa! Pikachu!" Pikachu intervened, waving his arms. He hopped atop Ash's head. _"Cut it out! Hear us out; he isn't a bad guy!"_ He frowned, waving his free paw. Maybe they'd listen to another pokemon!

The squawking stopped, and the Pidgey lurched back, hovering a safe distance away. Their feathers had bristled at the sight of the Pikachu; an electric type was something they knew instinctively not to mess with. Still, they chattered angrily at Ash and Pikachu.

Ash hummed, puzzled. How were they going to calm them down?

"Pidgooo!"

Silence followed, everyone looking to the bird in Ash's lap.

"Piiii-Pidgoo! Dgooo!" She cried, gesturing to the Pidgey, and then to Ash and Pikachu.

The Pidgey landed, shrinking in stature. Their gaze avoided Ash, Pikachu, and Pidgeotto alike.

"Well, that was easy…" The trainer sat up, looking down at the second-stage pokemon. "Thanks, Pidgeotto. You must know 'em, huh…" His gaze lingered. Something was off about Pidgeotto's mouth. There was a smear of purple painting the hook of the beak. Ash's nose twitched. "...Berry juice?"

He snapped his fingers. "I get it, now! Pidgeotto's a mother, and you must be her babies, right?"

A couple subdued coos, and a louder whine from Pidgeotto were his answer.

"And, she was just trying to get some food for you… That's why you were up on that ledge?"

Pidgeotto nodded, easing into Ash's chest.

"Well, I can promise you that I'm only here to help your mom, not hurt her… But, I guess I really gotta earn your trust, huh." For all they knew, he could be a poacher; recent unfortunate events solidified that case in Ash's mind. The thought sickened him, but he chased it away, shrugging off his backpack. "Pikachu, could ya get into the berry pouch?"

"Pi!" Pikachu saluted his trainer, nudging the bag onto its side, poking around before unbuttoning a pouch. Oran Berries began to roll out, and he'd hold one up to Ash.

"Thanks," Ash accepted it, holding it up to Pidgeotto's mouth. "Down the hatch!"

She took a bite into the fruit, pausing before leaning forward in Ash's lap. She hummed without opening her mouth, and several of the young Pidgey approached. Initially to the trainer's confusion, she hung over his arms, spitting munched up berry into their mouths.

"That was for you…!" Ash scratched his cheek. "You really needed your strength… But, that's a mom for you, huh." His own mother came to mind, as did Meema and her Rura. "I'll save one for ya… Babies first, it is, then!" He reached for another Oran Berry, holding it in his hand.

He looked between the fruit, and Pidgeotto feeding several of her children. A few still stood waiting for their turn as she took another bite to feed. Ash looked back down at the berry in his palm.

"Pikapi."

A stern call of his name, resembling a scold, caught Ash's attention, and he looked to Pikachu. The mouse was staring him down. A stare that said, _'I know what you're about to do, and don't.'_

"I wasn't _really_ gonna do it!" Ash insisted, sounding offended at the accusation. He totally hadn't thought of imitating the parent and assisting her children in much the same way. He huffed indignantly, before squashing the Oran Berry in his palm, instead. "C'mere, guys."

He fed the remaining hungry pokemon with mushed fruit pinched between his fingers. With their mother's nods of approval, they pecked at the meal with care. Their hostility towards Ash had faded.

The family was soon sated, loud with content chirps as Ash handfed Pidgeotto a Sitrus Berry. "You're the one who needs to heal up, so here."

The bird reluctantly accepted, feeling this a stain on her pride. But, it would be rude to turn down an offering from a boy who'd saved her from a nasty situation.

"...Speaking of healing up. Show me that toe of yours? We're gonna need to fix that up, so you can get back to walkin' and flyin' on your own."

The avian shifted uncomfortably in Ash's lap. She cried, putting weight on the wrong spot. Getting comfortable was difficult.

"There, there," Ash soothed, running a hand along her head feathers. "I'm gonna have ya sit belly-up, okay? It'll be easy to reach your foot, and you won't have any weight on it."

Pidgeotto whined, and allowed Ash to lift her, sitting her back down in his lap.

Her offspring watched, uttering the occasional worried chatter.

"Could ya scoot the medicine pack over, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" Pikachu dragged the bag closer, lifting it upright to expose one of the larger pockets towards the front. Zippers weren't really his strong point, so he opted to gently pat Pidgeotto with his tail. "Pika-Pika!" She'd be feeling better in no time!

With one free hand, Ash undid the zipper, grabbing a small first-aid kit. He popped it open. "Where's the… Aha!" He grabbed the small bottle of antiseptic. "Alright, I'm gonna warn ya, this is gonna sting a bit, alright? It's gonna clean out whatever wound this gave ya, so it won't get infected and end up hurting worse."

Pidgeotto instinctively flinched, the talons on her healthy foot digging into Ash's arm.

"Hey, I know, I know. Well, not long ago, I had to deal with the same thing; only, I had it a lot worse! You're getting off lucky," he teased, winking at the pokemon in his lap.

"Pidgoooo." The pokemon stared him down. She seriously doubted it.

"Y'callin' me a liar?" Even as he said this, he flashed a playful grin, pointing to the sliver of discolored skin running across his cheek, with the hand holding the antiseptic. "I needed _that_ cleaned up. And, I was just fine, so you will be, too!"

Pikachu kicked the dirt, averting his eyes to avoid saying anything. According to Brock, he'd actually whined a lot. But, the last thing they needed was a frightened injured pokemon.

The bird silenced, genuinely impressed. Not only was this young man compassionate, but he'd seen his share of battles, too. She chirped a low coo, signaling her trust, and she held up her foot.

"Alright…" Ash gently lifted her leg, spraying a light mist on the injured toe.

Pidgeotto shrieked, and her babies were worked back into a clamor.

"I know, it hurts… That's the worst of it, I promise! Just think about how you'll recover quick, and get to fly through the sky with your babies again," he'd lull, quietly switching the medicine for a Max Potion. He gently sprayed another round on, before the initial sting had numbed.

Pidgeotto had tensed, but didn't seem to notice the difference.

"Far as I've heard, a broken toe ain't like a wing or an arm; all y'can do is keep it straight so it can heal on its own. So, that's what we're gonna do." Ash was incredibly grateful, right now, that he'd spent so much time with Brock. Not that he hadn't seen his share of mishaps on his own, but the man's ever-present expertise had turned out to be a vital asset.

Pidgeotto listened, silent, watching Ash pull something else out of his kit; a roll of fabric, unfamiliar to the pokemon. It was a small wrap of gauze, that Ash held up to Pidgeotto before snipping it with a small scissor.

"Hold your tongue 'n think of something y'really like. Whenever I've gotten patched up, I like to think of a sunny day out with my pokemon, or a home-cooked meal from my mom, or winning a Pokemon League," he'd narrate, while gently tying a tiny snippet of gauze around the avian's broken toe. A sliver of medical tape was lightly pressed on, keeping the makeshift cast steady.

"...And, we're done!" Ash winked, flashing a thumbs-up.

"Pidgoo!" The bird trilled, trying to sit up. She wasn't having much luck.

"I'll get ya settled, but first," Ash prefaced, his voice stern. "You're gonna need to walk and sit, so lemme warn you; keep your weight off the front of this foot, alright? Take it easy until it really feels healed."

Pidgeotto nodded.

"Second, try 'n keep the cast from getting wet. Third, once you're 100% again, grab it with your beak and pull it off. 'Till then, leave it alone so nothin' goes wrong. Sound good?"

"Pidgoo."

"Good. Pikachu, lend me a hand, here?"

"Pi!" Pikachu walked over, watching while Ash carefully hoisted the bird right-side up, slowly lowering it to the grass. He supported her weight on her weaker side, allowing her to gently step down.

Pidgeotto hissed.

"Easy, easy," Ash warned. "Let Pikachu get ya steady and remember what I told ya."

With a bit of balancing from both parties, Pidgeotto stood. She took several steps forward with care. She held her wings out for balance, keeping her grounded.

"Great!" Ash snapped his fingers, victorious. "You're good to go." The trainer packed up his supplies in succession, zipping up his backpack. Then, he stood. "But, we gotta go; Pikachu and I have something coming up soon that we just can't miss! So, take care of yourselves, alright?"

Pidgeotto trilled, happily raising a wing to the duo in thanks. "Pidgoo!"

"Pikachuuu!" Pikachu approached the Pidgey, chattering his best wishes before running to scale Ash's shoulder. "Pika-Pika~!"

Chatter among the Pidgey voiced their thanks, and they began escorting their mother, with full bellies and quelled fears.

Ash, meanwhile, continued between the trees on his way forward. He looked to Pikachu, and the two exchanged a smile, their hearts full of joy for the experience.

The walk went on in comfortable silence, how long exactly, Ash wasn't quite sure. The soothing sounds of rustling bushes and chattering Nidoran kept him and Pikachu company. Trees and tall grass went on for what felt like miles.

Suddenly, Ash's brisk walk slowed to a halt, his head turned towards the sky. "Holy cow… What a giant!" The giant in question was a towering coniferous tree, with thick branches climbing the skies.

"Piiika," Pikachu hummed, looking up in awe.

"Dare ya to climb it with me," Ash grinned at Pikachu.

The mouse stared at him, wide-eyed. "Pika!" He scolded, pointing upwards. They were going to climb _that!?_ After Ash just got out of the hospital? He refused to see him get hurt again!

Ash hummed, resting his hands on his hips. "I didn't mean climbing _all_ the way up!"

Pikachu's gaze didn't waver.

"...I know, I know. Tell ya what. I've got Charizard right here." Ash hoisted a pokeball from his waist before clipping it back to his belt. "If things get hairy, I'll call on him, alright?"

"Pii…. Pikachu." The mouse nodded, before jumping to scale the bark. Soon enough, he hopped atop a branch, himself! "Pika-Pika!"

"Already getting a head-start, huh? Alright!" Ash grinned, wrapping his arms around the trunk of the tree to scoot himself up. He reached the first branch soon, not quite as quickly as Pikachu, but he did, nonetheless. "I'm right behind you, bud! Try not to fall behind."

"Pi… Pika!" Pikachu took the bait, leaping up to the next.

"You're lucky we trained you so well…" Ash huffed, moving on to repeat the cycle.

Their game of Ash-and-mouse went on and on, until the view from above was beginning to make Ash dizzy. He clung to a particularly wide branch, clutching a branch just above for balance. "I think we're high enough… Yeah, we're definitely gonna need Charizard, for this one."

"Pikaaa." Pikachu whistled, scooting into Ash's lap. He was definitely grateful he'd made Ash make that promise. But, with that put aside… The view was absolutely incredible.

"Holy hell… Check that out." Ash lifted the brim of his cap with his free hand. Copper hues grew at the breathtaking sight beyond and below. The caverns and slopes of Victory Road rose and fell below, peppered with trees, rocky terrain, and sparkling bodies of water.

The large lake bordering the path to the Pokemon League could be seen over the ledges, waters calm as could be. Beyond that, was the prize they'd had their eyes on for so long. The jewel on the horizon.

"Piii." Pikachu hummed, leaning back into Ash's torso. He saw it, too; the Indigo Plateau.

Pokemon League Village sat just past the lake, and among its residential and commercial buildings was Indigo Stadium, itself. The colosseum, where pokemon trainers and their partners tested their ambition against one another. Where Ash and Pikachu would test their mettle.

"Looks so small from up here… But, it still feels so big. Y'know what I mean?"

"Pika," Pikachu nodded. Even from up here, he could feel the pressure. Their pounding hearts, already anticipating the battles to come. All the powerful trainers.

And, it was barely a speck on the map.

"Really makes the world feel huge... I mean, duh, but still. Y'never really realize it 'till you get a good look… Hard to believe we've seen so much of it. Since the first time we were here, after winning eight badges. Imagine thinking that was all there was for us to see," he laughed.

Pikachu nodded along. He didn't have anything to add; the view had him occupied. It was breathtaking, and humbling.

"...I don't wanna stop seeing it."

The mouse looked up to the teenager.

"The world, I mean. I know we put travelin' to new places aside for this adventure... So, we could really grow stronger. I'm glad we did, don't get me wrong! I've got no regrets. But, once we're done… I wanna see more places. More pokemon. More friends and rivals. Even if we do win the Championship."

"Pika. Pikachu!" Pikachu cooed, nuzzling his head into Ash's chest. He'd like nothing more!

"We'll go somewhere new again… We'll have the chance to feel small again in this big ol' world of ours. But, first… Before that… We're gonna make our mark. We're gonna shine big and bright, like the brightest star in the sky!" Ash removed his free hand from atop Pikachu's head, pointing forward.

"At the Indigo Plateau!"

"Pi-Pikachu!"

Ash and Pikachu's loud claim echoed, to be heard by the city on a hill ahead, they hoped.

Ash couldn't help but notice the shadows far below them shift. The skies were showing just the faintest tint of gold. "Looks like the sun's on its way out… Whaddya say we cover a lil' more ground before setting up camp for the night?"

"Pika!"

* * *

"Huh. This place ain't bad." After another long stroll, Ash stopped in his tracks, resting a hand on his hip. A small lake spanned out before the duo, crystal clear. Ribbons of gold vibrated gently on the surface from the slowly dipping sun, occasionally rippled by the rise and fall of a busy Poliwag. More flat lands spanned passed the lake, bordered by tall, rocky slopes.

And, lastly, a cluster of trees gathered towards the slope. Ash smiled. "Those'll give us some shade for when we doze off… That sound good to you, Pikachu?"

Pikachu smiled, his ears twitching. It looked like a pretty, cozy spot. The gentle scents of nature made his body feel at ease. "Pika, Pikachu!" This spot was perfectly fine with him.

"Great. Then, we can set up camp… But, whaddya say we go for a swim? Wouldn't wanna eat first and get cramps!"

"Pika!" Pikachu walked over to the edge of the lake, dipping the end of his tail in the water. He cooed. It was still pretty warm! That was one thing he truly loved about the few months of summer.

Ash, meanwhile, changed out of his traveling gear and into a swimsuit he'd brought along, just in case. Bundling his clothes up inside his backpack, set near the edge of the body of water, he walked beside Pikachu. "And, I'm set!" Hands on his hips, he looked down. Ash whistled.

"I can see what Misty meant when she said it looks like I went through a blender…" And, now he had that mark on his face, too. What a mess.

Pikachu's ears lowered, and Ash felt guilty. "...Aw, it's fine! I'll think of 'em like Gym Badges. Or, one of those 'I survived Gyarados Cove' t-shirts. They're bragging rights."

Pikachu smiled at Ash's optimism. That was one thing that'd never changed. It was nice to see him taking all his hardships in stride, at least. If he could do that, then Pikachu could, too! "Chu!" Content to leave the subject behind, he dove into the water, head-first.

"Don't leave me behind!" Ash took a running start, leaping into a cannonball. He hit the water, leaving a loud, resounding splash in his wake. Pikachu was doused.

Moments later, Ash emerged, his many wild bangs damp and hanging. For once, his tresses were tamed. "Pretty good cannonball, huh?"

Pikachu responded by shaking out his fur, splashing Ash back.

"Oh, so it's like that!" The teen guarded himself with his arm before swiping back, splashing Pikachu again.

"Pika…" Pikachu smirked, brushing water off his face with his paw. He turned, smacking the surface with Iron Tail. "Pika!"

Ash coughed and sputtered, wiping stray fringes out of his eye. "Now, you're using Iron Tail? That's totally cheating. You gonna level with me or wh- ghrbl!"

Ash had gotten a mouthful of water. "Pika, Pikachu!" There would be no cop-outs, here!

Ash coughed and sputtered, spitting up water. "You wanna play rough... Alright! You're mine," Ash announced, lunging to grab Pikachu. "If you're using Iron Tail, I'll use my Tackle attack!"

Pikachu gawked at his trainer before scrambling to paddle off.

Ash collided with the water, face-first, emerging to shake the hair out of his face. "A slippery sea dog, are ya? Then, just call me Kyogre!" He dove forward, paddling towards his fleeing companion.

"Pi…?" Pikachu stalled his doggy paddle to look back. Ash was quickly approaching! "Pikaaa!" He yelped, eyes nearly the size of his own head. He opted for a frantic breaststroke, holding his tail straight to reduce resistance.

But, it was no use; Ash was gaining on him, fast!

"You may be fast on the battlefield," Ash huffed, swimming ever closer. "But, y'haven't got your sea legs, yet! Sorry, buddy- ah!"

"Poli!" A Poliwhirl popped out from under the surface, only to dive back in. It seemed that Ash and Pikachu weren't the only ones swimming laps; Ash had been made aware of this the hard way, exhaling heavily. That'd been a jump scare… And, Pikachu was getting away!

"You got lucky, Pikachu, but I've got you now! Just wait till… I… Uh… Pikachu?" The teen kept himself afloat, looking every which way for the deserting mouse. "Where'd ya go?"

There was a bubble in the water. Ash squinted, turning his eyes on the disturbance. He smiled to himself. "Oh, I see. You think you can hide from me?" He reached for the bubbles.

Suddenly, something popped out of the water, making Ash hesitate. It was a pointy yellow fin!

"What kinda pokemon…? Could it be a Carvahna? But, why would they be in Kanto!?" Ash swallowed, keeping his distance. "Hey, whoever ya are, there… I'm not your enemy, alright? Just keep swimming, and I'll-"

There was a break in the lake. With a mighty splash, a terrifying creature emerged from the depths, towering over Ash, with a fearsome roar!

"Ahhh!" Ash yelped, springing back from his attacker, blue in the face.

The vicious attacker was… Pikachu!?

"Pikaaaaaaaa!" Pikachu had sprung from the deep, tiny canines bared, and paws held over his head as he made his entrance with a predatory gait.

He watched Ash fall backwards with a splash of his own, and held his gut, laughing to himself.

Ash surfaced, his tan cheeks lit with a bright red. He pouted. "Whaddya know… The infamous Shark Mouse. Alright, alright, you got me." Even as he complained, he smiled. "Well, then, if you're _so_ _scary_ , then, take this!" Ash swung both of his arms, splashing Pikachu.

The mouse guarded his eyes, and once he felt the waves come to an end, shook out his fur. "Pika-chu…. Pikapi?" It was his turn to flick his head about, to no avail. Only the occasional air bubble.

...Wait. Pikachu's eyes narrowed. "Pika." He wasn't falling for this. Smug, he went underwater, once more. The water didn't seem particularly deep, and only a few pokemon obscured his view, here and there. Ash had to be somewhere… He paddled, keeping his eyes peeled. The lack of sea salt or chlorine made his underwater surveillance easy.

He turned, and was greeted with a terrifying sight.

A dweller of the deep, with mean, pin-pointed eyes, pushed down by mean, long brows, and a wide-open mouth with terrifying fangs, gurgling bubbles in a growl that rumbled the deep.

Pikachu yelped a gurgled yelp, fleeing for the surface immediately.

"Ahahahaha! Got you!" Ash emerged as Pikachu heaved for breath. Long, green weeds stuck to Ash's forehead, forming the angry brows of a Gyarados. He clutched his gut, sore with laughter. "Oh, man, you should've seen your face!"

Pikachu pouted, squinting at Ash. He cracked a smile, then hollered.

The duo's laughter echoed through the valley above all else, resounding even after the laughing had stopped.

Ash and Pikachu floated atop the calm waters, coasting on their backs. Their smiles spanning to the marks on their respective cheeks. Their faces were coated in a vibrant orange from the setting sun. Reds, yellows, and blues joined it in the skies, following the receding star in the sky.

A long silence followed before Ash sighed. "Back during our early adventures, we used to do stuff like this a lot. Pull jokes on each other, run our mouths… It's fun. I wonder how we ever stopped."

Pikachu nodded. His ears waded about behind his head as if they had minds of their own. "Pika-chu, Pika Pika Chu."

"Yeah, I guess you're right… We did some growing up. Once we started hanging out with rookies, we had to set an example…" Especially with someone as young and snarky as Max around. "But, still. Times like this… It doesn't hurt to be childish, now 'n then. I feel a lot better, cutting loose… I guess you can take the Master out of Pallet Town, but you can't take the Pallet Town out of the Master."

"Pi."

Ash smiled, turning to his companion. "You know, you were pretty devious, back in the day."

Pikachu blushed. Some of that history, he didn't like to think about. "Pika, Pikapi!'

"Yeah, I wasn't any better," Ash laughed.

Only one thing could be heard, then. Or rather, two things.

Two _very_ loud rumbling stomachs.

"Well, that's one thing that definitely hasn't changed." Ash held his belly.

Pikachu sat up. "Pika! Pikachu?"

"Yeah, dinner sounds pretty good. It's getting dark, anyway."

* * *

The campfire roared and crackled over roasting twigs and branches, now the greatest source of light on Victory Road, pardoning the moon in the sky. The cradle of trees was illuminated by the flickering flames, giving Ash and Pikachu the chance to polish off their meals.

Refrigerated croquettes, kept cold by a cooling pack in Ash's backpack, had been heated up by the fire, and now, they were nearly gone. Ash munched into one with joy, savoring every bite.

Pikachu had cooked an apple over the fire, squealing occasionally after a bite from his sweet treat.

"Well, I think I'm full…" Ash pat his belly. "Better get some shut-eye before I get hungry again… It's…" He was interrupted by a loud, prolonged yawn. "Been a long day."

"Chaaaa," Pikachu yawned, craning his head back. "Pikachu."

The embers that remained were singed, and Ash sat under the foremost tree, back against the bark. "C'mere, bud." The teen opened his arms, waiting until Pikachu crawled into his lap. The mouse nuzzled his face into Ash's chin.

"Hey, that tickles," Ash chuckled. He embraced his companion. His starter pokemon. With that pleasant thought, he smiled to himself, leading his heavy lids fall. "We've got a big challenge waiting for us."

"Pi…"

Ash's lips pursed. He gently stroked Pikachu's fur "Both of us," he reiterated. "You'll be at my side… One way or another."

"Pika," Pikachu hummed. His eyes fell shut, and his paws clung to Ash's t-shirt.

"G'night."

"Pikachu."

* * *

One would think that a cozy coat of fur and cradling arms would be ideal for a peaceful night's rest. Ordinarily, that would be the case. Tonight, Pikachu squirmed, shifting about to find comfort. Ash's tight embrace made this nigh impossible, and the mouse stirred.

With a sleepy blink, he let out an irritated sigh. The sun showed no signs of poking over the horizon; it was still late at night. So much for resting up.

Resigning to a sleepless night, Pikachu wriggled his way out of his trainer's arms, flopping upside-down into the dirt, rolling as quietly as he could before sitting up. "Pi…" He stood, and began to walk. Maybe he'd tire himself out and doze off again. Hopefully.

The perimeter of the lake was a nice enough path, he decided, toeing the line. It was a mindless enough activity to allow Pikachu to space out, walking alongside the water with a blank stare.

In what'd probably been a couple of minutes, his ears perked. An otherwise open space was marked with craters and cracks running through. Split boulders littered the edges. The occasional faded white line lay amongst the debris, and Pikachu followed its course. In many spots, it had all but faded out. But, the general shape of a rectangle spanned the dirt. "Pika!"

It must have been a battlefield, at one point!

A field where daring trainers sharpened their skills before reaching the pokemon league. To prepare themselves for the test to come.

For the battles.

Pikachu breathed a heavy sigh. "Chuuu." The pokemon league was only days away. He hardly had much time left, and he still hadn't seen one battle, since _that_ happened. He poked his paws together, anxious.

Would he even be in shape by now, if he _did_ decide to try?

"Couldn't sleep, huh?"

"Pi?" Pikachu tensed, the fur on his back bristling. Only when he felt a familiar hand atop his head did he ease. Gentle fingers attentively massaged his scalp. The mouse cooed, turning his chin up. When the hand retreated, he looked up to Ash.

The trainer crouched down, sporting only his jeans and t-shirt, backpack slung over his shoulder. "You alright, buddy?"

"Piiika! Pikachu!" Pikachu plastered on a wide, playful smile, rubbing the back of his head. Of course, he was alright!

Ash squinted.

Pikachu's ears drooped. "Pikachu…" He bowed his head. He regretted lying.

"C'mere," Ash gestured a thumb towards a small pile of boulders. He walked to sit atop one, and watched Pikachu follow.

The smaller of the two friends sat atop a smaller rock, a couple of feet away from the larger, if he had to guess. Pikachu idly kicked his feet, staring at the dirt.

Ash's fingers drummed an incoherent rhythm on the rock he sat upon. "It's the battles coming, isn't it."

"Pikachu." The mouse's head hung. The usual gleam in his deep brown eyes had dried up, like a well in a drought.

"I know what you mean… I'm trying to stay positive. But, it bugs me a bit, too. Doesn't feel right… The idea of taking on the league without you fighting alongside me." Ash paused to swallow heavily. A closed hand brushed over his eye. "I miss battling together."

"The rush I get when I say, 'use Thunderbolt.' My pride when your speed confuses even my eyes." He clutched the edge of the rock, to the point of whitened knuckles. "Getting to see your face when we win a difficult match… Stuff like that… It's gonna sound crazy out-loud, but those are some of the things that make life worth living."

"...Pikachu?"

Quiet, squeaking sniffles caught Ash's attention. In that moment, his heart broke.

Salty tears dribbled down rosy cheeks, swept away by fuzzy paws as quickly as they came. Pikachu's body shuddered with each sob. "Piika… Pi….Pika-chu…" He whined, all of his might focused on quieting his tears. He'd turned from Ash, swiping with each sniffle.

Ash's lip trembled. "Pikachu…" His face felt hot with shame, and his fist trembled. He smashed his fist into the rock. "Me and my big stupid mouth!" He regretted the smack when the pain in his fist returned. That regret hardly compared to this. "What kind of idiot," he hissed.

"...What kind of idiot trainer does that!" Ash rubbed roughly at his cheeks, removing any stain of tears as they came. He wasn't the one who deserved to spill them. "To be that selfish… I'm sorry."

Pikachu turned to send Ash a glare.

Ash flinched. What a way to be disarmed. He breathed a heavy sigh, slowly reaching a hand out, to cup his companion's cheek. "Pikachu… I'm so sorry. I was being totally selfish; I'm supposed to be supporting you, not-"

Ash's hand was smacked away.

"Pika-chu!" Pikachu shrieked, standing atop the rock. "Pika-chu! Pika!" He tossed an arm out, little canines bared.

Ash recoiled. If there ever was a time to understand Pikachu, it was now.

 _~You aren't being selfish!~_ Pikachu shouted in his head, over his usual syllables. He pulled back, crossing his paws. _~At least, not in the way you think you are. You're still doing it,~_ Pikachu stopped to sniffle, his inner voice cracking with it. _~You're taking everything as a burden on you! By yourself; just like you did at the base, just like you did at the Power Plant!~_

Ash's eyes trembled. Every word sunk in like a knife. "B-but, the Power Plant… We agreed that-"

 _~Everyone else agreed on it. I listened, because it did sound like the smart thing to do… Until I saw you in the hospital. Until I heard what happened to you. That someone pushed you so far that you really hurt them… That you got hurt. I should've been there, and I wasn't! We're supposed to share our challenges! That's what we've always done. Nothing's stopped us before.~_

"...I just wanted to help you." Another wave of frustration was felt, and he stammered. "B-but, I get it… I'm sorry; I mean, I'm sorry for not considering your feelings… I've wanted to protect you, but… I guess that's only part of the picture."

Pikachu exhaled heavily. He toed the rock between their perches to stand closer, clutching Ash's t-shirt. _~I'm not hurt that you don't like the fix we're in… I'm more hurt you kept it from me for this long. I know you're trying to do the right thing,~_ he prefaced, wiping the tears trailing his cheeks into Ash's shirt. _~But, sometimes, you just put too much on your own shoulders. Especially lately.~_

Ash opened his mouth to speak. No words could come out. Only a crack in his voice came, and he simply nodded. He hesitantly reached to place a hand on Pikachu. He was permitted, and gently stroked his back.

 _~I'm just as angry with this situation as you are, Ash. I hate being babied. I hate missing out on the action. I hate how… Disgusted I feel.~_ Pikachu buried his face in the familiar cotton cloth. _~With myself. We've never let anything keep us from fighting as a team.~_ Pikachu pulled back, only to tug on the shirt. He forced Ash to make eye contact. _~I've been failing at that. You said you were sorry for ignoring my feelings… Well, I'm sorry for letting you down. For letting us down.~_

"Apology _not_ accepted." Ash cupped Pikachu's cheek, stroking the rosy pouch with his thumb. "You don't owe me one. Neither of us owes each other anything. Like you said, we're a team. We conquer our challenges together, and that's what we'll continue doing."

Pikachu showed the first hint of a smile since he'd been here. He lightly nuzzled into Ash's hand. _~Thanks for hearing me out. That's exactly what I want.~_

"Then, that's what you'll get." Ash sniffled, scrunching his nose in disgust. "Ugh, we're both a slobbery, snotty mess," he laughed, hauling his backpack over to stick his hand in. He pulled out tissues, for himself and Pikachu. "Here, clean yourself up."

Both did so, and Ash smiled to himself. "Right now, you're not a Pikachu, you're a Pik-a- _choo!"_ Ash hollered, mocking a sneeze.

Pikachu's squeaky laugh returned. That was so corny. But, that was Ash.

He was grateful he'd lightened the mood. "...So, down to business. What exactly is it that keeps you from battling?"

Pikachu sat, crossing his arms. _~It was the Rocket base… I think I said something about it at the time; they were trying to make me battle. Battle pokemon that were more afraid than me. More helpless. Who probably didn't have a trainer waiting in the next room, right then.~_ He shuddered just thinking about it.

 _~Seeing them so terrified, being afraid of me… I think of it whenever I try to battle. I see those pokemon instead of my opponents. That's what hits me hardest.~_

Ash frowned, nodding along. He crossed his legs. That did sound dreadful. "Ouch… I'm sorry, Pikachu. I had no idea." No wonder it'd been hard. "But, don't forget; the base was captured by Officer Jenny; those pokemon were definitely rescued! I'm sure they're recovering now, just like you are."

"Pika." Pikachu nodded. Not a very convincing answer. He knew that; well, he did need to remind himself of that, every now and then. But, it only chased the memories so far.

Ash hummed, holding a hand to his chin. "I've got it."

Pikachu looked up.

"If you can't battle pokemon out of fear you'll hurt 'em… Then you can battle me!"

"Pikapi?" Pikachu tilted his head. What was he on about?

"I mean it. You _know_ I won't be afraid. Besides, if anyone can take your Thunderbolts like a champ, it's me!"

"Pii…" The mouse stood. "Pikachu, Pika…" Hurting Ash was the last thing he wanted to do; plus, would it really beat his anxiety? He wasn't sure about this.

"Hey, remember what you said; we committed to work together as a team, to conquer our problems. What better way to do that than to fight 'em off together?" Ash stood with a raised fist, flashing one of his trademark smiles. With that offer, he extended his hand.

There was a pause before Pikachu turned, offering his lightning bolt tail to Ash. "Pika, Pikapi!"

Ash laughed, giving Pikachu's tail a handshake… A tail-handshake.

"It's a good thing I brought my backpack with me… Let's get your vest."

With haste, the black Thunder Vest was retrieved. "Turn around and hold your arms up, bud."

Pikachu did so, and the protective vest was slid on. Pikachu turned back around, and Ash struggled with the buckles before clipping them shut. "...There! Now, let's get started!"

"Pika-chu!"

* * *

Ash and Pikachu stood on the long since worn battlefield, each on a side opposing the other. Ash crouched, guard raised, while Pikachu stood on all fours.

"Y'ready?" Ash smirked, leaning forward.

"Pikachu…" Pikachu nodded, though he didn't move from where he stood.

So, he was still uncomfortable. "In that case… I'll break the ice!" The trainer shifted towards his side, pulling both of his hands past his torso. Cupped together, they tense, summoning a flicker of light. That light quickly became a vibrant ball of energy. "Aura Sphere!" Ash cried, throwing his arms forward.

Pikachu's ears perked. He jumped forward, charging his tail with metal. "Chuaa… Pika!"

Pikachu swung his hips, smacking Aura Sphere back to where it came.

The orb's natural tendency to follow life energy brought it back hurling towards Ash.

Ash pulled a fist back. "Not happening," he shouted, backhanding the Aura Sphere.

The blast was knocked off to the side, crashing into one of the valley's rocky walls, followed by a bright explosion.

"See? I'm fine," Ash boasted, turning a thumb towards himself. "Now, bring it on, Pikachu!"

"Pika… Chu!" Pikachu sprinted towards Ash, trailed by glimmering silver.

"A Quick Attack, huh... Alright, bring it." Ash crossed his arms over his chest.

Just as he jumped, Pikachu hesitated. A great deal of his momentum was lost as he kicked into Ash's arms, sending the trainer skidding back. The mouse sprung off his arms, launching himself into the air.

"Guess you need more encouragement…" Ash pulled a hand back, charging another blast. "Then, have this! Aura Sphere!" Ash chucked the fighting type move.

The blast was quickly approaching Pikachu. Instinctively, he cried, firing a Thunderbolt in return. The electric attack sliced through Aura Sphere with ease, closing in on Ash.

Pikachu froze, color draining from his face. His chest tightened when smoke shrouded the field.

"Pikapi!"

A teal glow shone through the smoke, before fading with it. Ash stood with a hand outstretched, sporting a grin, despite his heavy breathing. "Looks like I can use Protect!" With another huff, he stood. That was tiring. "Told ya I'd be fine."

Pikachu exhaled, relieved. "Pikachu…" The worst of his fears hadn't come to pass. "Pika-Pika," he grunted, standing on his hind legs. Maybe he was ready for more, now!

"I'm coming at you, Pikachu!" Ash sprinted forward, rearing a fist. "Here comes a Mach Punch!"

"Pika!" Pikachu leapt towards Ash.

With his opponent at arm's length, Ash swung.

Pikachu instead landed atop Ash's arm. Perching himself, he smirked at his trainer. "Pikachu!"

"Oh, you think you've outsmarted me, huh? Well, get ready for my Seismic Toss!" He snagged Pikachu with both hands, spinning before chucking him into the sky.

"Come on, buddy. Lemme see that Iron Tail!"

"Chu!" Pikachu righted himself, exhaling. This was Ash… He was tough. He'd asked to fight. Pikachu could do this! "Chuaaa…!" He fell into his descent, his tail glimmering silver.

"That's more like it!" Ash drew both arms back, cupping an Aura Sphere. Pikachu was drawing ever closer, and he lurched forward, throwing both hands outward, met at the palm.

"Aura Sphere!"

"Pika!"

Solid metal crashed into bubbling life energy, first meeting with a crash, then a loud boom.

Dust scattered, and both combatants were blown back by the explosion.

Ash was violently thrown back, landing on his rear.

Pikachu skidded back on his hind legs. "Piiii… Pika!" He smirked, standing upright. He really did miss this rush. The rush of a good battle. Even as his heart pounded, he took solace in his Thunder Vest, constantly reassuring him with its warm embrace. He could bear this.

"Great stuff," Ash praised, picking himself up. "You're just as tough as ever… So, I'm coming at ya again!" He ran at his starter pokemon, throwing his foot at him. "Low Kick!"

"Chu!" Pikachu sprung over Ash's foot, tucking into a forward roll. "Piii!"

Ash yelped, stumbling back to barely avoid an Iron Tail. He struggled to catch his balance with each successive step, before finally standing still. His shoulders slumped, and he was panting.

"Pikachu…" Pikachu landed, once more. He couldn't say that he felt completely at ease, but he was far closer to it than he would've dreamed. But, it was exactly what he'd hoped for.

Ash, meanwhile, was struggling to catch his breath. His body felt weary. "I wanna say I just need more sleep… But I'm gonna guess that you've tired me out." The trainer laughed, leaning forward, again. "So, let's make this a big finish!"

With that, Ash sprinted towards Pikachu. "Pikachu, use Volt Tackle!"

"Pika!?" Pikachu flinched. He wanted him to use _that!?_

"Chu…" He resigned, sprinting towards Ash. He obviously wouldn't use his full power, but he wouldn't let Ash down, either! "Pika-pika-pika-pika-pikaaa…!"

Electricity surrounded Pikachu's body, lighting the dark landscape with a glimmer of gold.

Ash charged him with a shoulder tackle, holding nothing back. "Show me what you've got!"

"Pika!"

Bolts and sparks flew, tearing at the ground.

Ash was sent flying, skidding across the dirt. With a grunt, he collapsed.

"Pika…" Pikachu blanched. "Pikapi!" Panicked, he rushed to his trainer's side, shaking his shoulder. "Pikapi, Pikachu!"

"Ergh… Wuzzat…?" Ash was laid out, covered in static electricity, his hair frizzed from the impact. A few spots of ashes and scratches marked his body, but nothing more.

"Pikapi!"

"Ugh… Holy crap," Ash whispered, sitting up. He shook his head, regaining his bearings. His little yellow companion was right beside him, and he smiled. He pat Pikachu's head with a wink. "I'd say that's a job well done!"

"Pika…" Pikachu's round eyes shone. "Pikapi!" He squeaked, leaping into Ash's arms.

Ash laughed, embracing his best friend. Warm arms enjoyed the comfort of soft fur, and vice versa. The two sat in comfortable silence.

"So, how do ya feel about battling?"

"Chu…" Pikachu hummed, pulling back to look up at Ash. "Pikachu…" He did feel a bit better; that had been fun! But, regular battles… Well, he'd have to see. "Pika."

Ash smiled. "Well, you've got a whole league ahead to think it over. If we plan on winning, we'll make it to every round! You don't have to decide this second."

"Pikachu!" That sounded like a plan to him!

"But, I have a pretty good feeling about things… The timing feels right."

"Pikachu!"

"Now, whaddya say we get some sleep? We're gonna need it for tomorrow."

"Chu!"

The two would drag themselves back to the campsite, where they would both rest easy, tired and content.

* * *

Daylight went as quickly as it came, the next day. A long day of traversing Victory Road ate up hours for Ash and Pikachu, and the sun was beginning to set. Bright hues of pink and orange lined the skies.

The faintest of which could finally be seen by the duo at the end of a long tunnel, which had been previously lit by Pikachu's crackling cheeks. And, not a moment too soon.

Ash blinked, slowly adjusting to the bright skies as he neared the exit. "Looks like we made it!" His legs felt like jello, and his eyes were heavy, but still, he laughed, stepping out of the eternal shadow of the caverns. With that step forward, they had left Victory Road.

"Pika-chu!" Pikachu chirped, pointing forward.

To their destination.

"The Indigo Plateau… We're here. We beat Victory Road." Ash's gaze became stern. He reached for his cap, slowly turning the brim to the back of his head. "And next, we'll beat the Indigo League."

"Pi-Pikachu!"

A gentle breeze swept past Ash and Pikachu, ruffling the former's messy black hair, and the former's lightning bolt tail. Leaves from nearby trees swept past Ash's feet.

"This is our moment, Pikachu. Our time to shine."

"Pikachu."

"Aaaash! Pikachuuu!" Dawn's voice hollered, breaking the two out of their trance. She was waving from further down the path, with Brock and Misty beside her.

Ash laughed, sprinting towards his friends, jelly legs be damned. "Hey, guys!" When he neared them, he stopped, if only to catch his breath. "Told you I'd make it," said the hunched, heavily breathing teen.

"What're you two looking so serious for? This isn't a cartoon," Misty teased.

"We were being dramatic," Ash huffed, while Pikachu initially blushed. He quickly joined his trainer in looking tough. "This league's a _really_ big deal!'

"Pika!"

"Well, then, I'm certainly glad that someone holds the Pokemon League in such high regard!"

"Huh!? Where'd that voice come from?" Ash flinched, looking about, hand held above his eyes to block the sunset… While wearing his cap backwards, naturally.

"You're getting colder!"

"Uh… Oh!" Ash finally looked the only direction he hadn't yet; down. " !?"

A tiny, stout old man with a backwards cap, long wild grey hair reaching past his back, and a bushy mustache and beard crowding his face stood beside Misty. Through his beard, he smiled.


	77. Starting Off Strong

**It's the moment you've all hopefully been waiting for! The pokemon league is here, and ready to knock your socks off! We hope you enjoy the show, and please, let us know what you think of this installment! Hope all you spectators enjoy!**

* * *

"That's right, Ash!" Worn old fingers, barely the size of baby carrots twirled the elderly man's pale gray mustache. "I have to say, it's been quite a while; I'm flattered you still recognize me!" Charles squinted, briefly stalking around Ash, as if the youth had dropped something.

Ash perplexed, and for once, silent.

"Or, even see me from way up there! You're not the stout young lad you used to be."

"It has been a while, huh?" His height acknowledged, Ash felt his pride swell, a finger brushing over his nose. "Well, you know how it is. Time flies when you're training hard!"

Goodshow hummed with a solemn nod. "So I've heard, from your friends."

"Hm…?" Ash looked back to his group, and then back to Goodshow. "Oh, that reminds me! What're you doing here, anyway?" Realizing he sounded rude, Ash swallowed. "I mean, shouldn't you've delivered the torch, by this time of day?"

"That was, indeed, the plan. But, just a few minutes ago, I happened to run into Misty, Brock, and…"

"Dawn," the girl quickly interjected.

"Ah, of course, Dawn! I couldn't quite pass without saying hello."

"We were waiting for you guys to come out," Misty explained. "And, he and the torch committee just happened to be passing by! Though, I do feel a little bad about holding them up…"

"Oh, nonsense. The ceremony doesn't start until tomorrow," the elder waved off. "It did my spirits good to see you all. Plus, I couldn't help but wonder where you," he pointed to Ash, "had run off to!"

"We caught him up on what you were up to," Brock explained, clapping his hand on Ash's free shoulder. "About Victory Road, just now, and a few of your other exploits!"

"My… Exploits?" Ash pointed a finger towards himself, his face flushed.

"For starters, how hard you'd been training, up at Mt. Silver! It'd be silly to leave out something that showed that much dedication," Dawn chimed.

"I'd say I was startled that anyone actually climbed its peaks, but if any young trainer has the enduring spirit to make their training ground, it'd have to be you, Ash!"

"Aw, please, you're embarrassing me!" Ash stammered, waving his hands in front of him.

"And, the Gym Challenge," Misty brought up. "That battle of ours was one of the best I've had in a long time; I have no doubt the others were _almost_ as amazing! I'm actually a little jealous."

"And, like I said, Victory Road," Brock brought up. "Taking that extra time to bond with your pokemon was a very mature move!" The man's narrow eyes flickered with a mischievous glint. "Especially coming from the trainer who used to skip town at the first scent of a Gym Badge."

"Hm." Goodshow hummed. "I've always said that the most important thing about our competition was spirit. But, what I didn't mention was the importance of sharing that spirit with your pokemon! A trainer who can inspire his companions to fight with all of their own determination is one that's destined for greatness!"

"Please, I think I'm burning up here!" Ash stepped back, turning his cap back around to lower over his eyes.

"Piiiikachu!" Pikachu agreed, sporting a blush and a bashful, uneasy smile.

"Suddenly you're deciding _not_ to be a glory hog?" Misty teased, nudging his ribs with her elbow.

"I have my limits," Ash quickly shot back.

Dawn and Brock chuckled at the back-and-forth. "Well, that's a surprise," the latter quipped.

"Very funny."

"Any who," Mr. Goodshow coughed, regaining the group's attention. "I was touched by your growth as a Pokemon Trainer, and decided to wait just a bit longer to make you an offer; how would you like to carry the torch, once more?"

"No kidding?" Ash lifted his cap, eyes wide. He grinned. "Yeah, I'd love to!"

"Then, let's get moving~!" Dawn chimed, pointing towards Indigo Plateau.

"We'll meet up with the rest of the committee, and, um, 'pass the torch,' as they say, eheh!"

There was a collective stumble and groan at Mr. Goodshow's joke.

Ash recovered first, turning his cap backwards once more. "What do you say, Pikachu? Ready to get a move-on?"

Pikachu leaned back, his ears bouncing in the wind. "Pikachu~!"

Catching up to the truck, tailed by an Officer Jenny on her motorcycle, the group came to a halt.

"Alright, we're here! Ready whenever you guys are," Ash announced.

"Weren't you just complaining about being exhausted?" Misty quirked a brow.

"That was then, and this is now!" Ash protested. "This is a special occasion."

"I think that's his new catchphrase," Dawn thought aloud, scratching her cheek. She watched Ash approach the last athlete, who handed him a torch lit by a roaring red flame. She cocked her head. "So, this is something they normally do for the Indigo League? I don't remember any prelude to the torch lighting at Lily of the Valley, they seemed all set up for it already."

"I think we missed it, when we were searching for Ash's pokemon after they got scattered," Brock guessed. "Usually, it's handled by a small certified group."

"But, we broke that tradition a couple of years ago," Misty sheepishly explained. "We came across the commotion, and Ash butted in, right away."

"And, I bent the rules, and let you three carry the torch! With your eager spirits, I couldn't say no," Goodshow chuckled, folding his arms behind his back.

"Ash has actually carried the torch a couple of times. Here, as well as the Silver and Evergrande Conferences!" Brock explained. "Once he heard 'Flame of Moltres,' that was the end of it."

"Flame of Moltres?" Dawn paused, then gasped. "Oh, I've heard of that! In one of my mom's old books about foreign legends; the flame used to light the torches at big events are said to come from Moltres, itself!" She beamed, clasping her hands together. "How exciting! I wonder if it's true…"

"I wouldn't be surprised." Misty smiled, looking to her friend, who was chattering giddily with Pikachu. "If there's something supernatural out there, Ash is bound to get involved."

"Don't we all know?" Dawn chuckled. "Not that I'm complaining." Seeing the endless wonders of the world of pokemon never got old. If a little chaos at Ash's side was what it took to see it all, she wouldn't have it any other way.

"Heyyy!" Ash called, waving to the group. "Are we movin', or what?"

"Yes, let's!" Goodshow agreed, climbing to the top of the truck. "On to Indigo Stadium!"

* * *

 _I want to be the very best, like no one ever was~_

The first stretch towards the stadium was led by Ash, hoisting the torch high, its steady flame burning with vibrant reds and yellows, much like the sky above.

 _To catch them is my real test, to train them is my cause~_

Pikachu dashed beside Ash on all fours, and Rosa sprinted on her trainer's other side, eyes glued to the torch. Her ruby eyes shone with amazement; something about its presence felt simply amazing!

 _I will travel across the land, searching far and wide~_

The Flame of Moltres was passed onto Misty next, who continued the path with complete ease - constant swimming made light aerobics like this a breeze.

 _Each Pokemon to understand, the power that's inside~_

Noticing the emptiness in her free hand, however, wasn't so easy. Last time they'd made this run, she'd been holding Togepi securely in her grip along the way. She could almost hear his jubilant chirps, now. She sniffled, reaching to wipe a tear with the hand that wasn't carrying the torch. Her red brows furrowed. Togetic would want her to make the best of this. Today was a new day, for her, as well as Ash.

 _Pokemon, gotta catch 'em all~_

Misty passed the torch on to Brock, who reached for his belt, calling on Chansey.

 _It's you and me, I know it's my destiny~_

The young man jogged on in his friend's stead, holding the flame high and steady. He watched Chansey skip and twirl alongside him, chanting a merry tune. Brock chuckled. It made him proud to see that his very own pokemon was finding as much joy in the tradition as he was.

 _Pokemon! Oh, you're my best friend, in a world we must defend~_

Dawn was next, after being cheekily reminded by Ash to not fall victim to her clumsy nature. She'd returned the favor by pinching his cheek, reminding him that there was no need to worry.

And, there wasn't, as she jogged along with Empoleon, making sure to maintain a steady pace. Shiny, ocean hues glimmered with wonder at the contrasting red-hot ember that she was sure to hold high. Its mythical nature made her heart race; what a ceremony!

 _Pokemon! Gotta catch 'em all~_

Her luck had held until then; but, Empoleon was about to test it. Stumbling with heavy breaths, the portly penguin had drawn his head back, ready to fire an Ice Beam. Dawn frantically scrambled to hold her starter back, chiding him. He couldn't draw an ice path with a large vehicle right behind him!

 _A heart so true, our courage will pull us through~_

The penguin resigned, and returned to his pokeball to rest. Buneary replaced him, hopping joyfully along. Not without spinning in her leaps to strike a pose for Pikachu of course. The mouse chuckled and waved, and lit a fiery determination in her heart. She'd accompany Dawn without fail!

 _You'll teach me, and I'll teach you~_

Dawn ended up passing the torch to another athlete along the way, returning to the top of the truck, where she sat beside Ash and Misty. The former threw an arm around her shoulder, pulling her in.

"Whaddya think? Pretty cool, huh?"

"I'll say! I never thought I'd get to be part of a Pokemon League ceremony… I guess we'll call that your good luck charm!" Dawn winked at Ash, leaning back into his torso. She was happy to watch Indigo Stadium grow ever closer in their view.

 _Pokemon! Gotta catch 'em all! Gotta catch 'em all! Yeah~_

"Bun-Bun~!" Buneary was all too happy to pile on, leaning against Pikachu in her trainer's lap.

"Pikachu…!" Pikachu rubbed the back of his head. Well, they had agreed on cheering one another on! "Pika-Pika!" He pat Buneary's back with his tail.

 _Every challenge along the way, with courage I will face~_

Mr. Goodshow chuckled, looking back to the youths. "A little camaraderie is good for keeping spirits high! But, love's glow could distract you from the flame of victory, if you're not careful, heh!"

"Y-you don't have to worry about that…!" Ash stammered, nervously waving the elder off.

"Why does everyone tell us that!?" Dawn complained, her cheeks a solid crimson. "We're not _that_ bad." She took pride in not falling into gushy tropes. They were friends first, and boyfriend and girlfriend second.

"When your only frame of reference is Brock, I can see why you'd think that," Misty deadpanned.

Brock huffed, but a look from Dawn silenced him.

"But, you're _worse_ about it on the battlefield."

 _I will battle every day, to claim my rightful place~_

Brock coughed into his hand. He'd already been put in his place, commenting on Ash and Dawn. "The point is, in crucial moments like this, you need to stay concentrated. Keep your mind on your strategies, and your eyes on your opponents."

"Misty and Brock have the right idea. Just keep your focus, Ash. And you, Dawn, in your endeavors!" Goodshow advised, though, he couldn't help but grin under his bushy beard. Stern as he tried to be for Ash's own sake, seeing the trainers of today so filled with enthusiasm filled him with hope. "And, I don't think I have to remind you to keep your hearts focused on your pokemon!"

 _Come with me, the time is right, there's no better team~_

"You don't have to worry about that." Ash leaned forward, a hand resting atop Pikachu's head. "I'll never turn down the support, but I know why I'm here. No goofing around, this time; Pikachu and the others are in it to win it, and so am I! Right, Pikachu?"

"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu hopped up to stand in Ash's lap, throwing jabs at the air to pump himself up. They had their hearts and minds set on victory.

 _Arm in arm, we'll win the fight, it's always been our dream!_

"And, that goes double for us! Our first priority is our pokemon." Dawn held Buneary close to her chest. "Ash knows that; right, Buneary?"

"Bun-Bun~!"

"It looks like we're almost there!" Misty leaned forward, using a hand to shield her eyes from the setting sun.

"Mhm. We've made it!" Brock smile on, his spiky hair drifting in the wind. The finish line was within sight. "...It's not quite as crowded as I remember, though."

A small crowd did line the streets, but in the dragging hours, it'd dwindled. But, the sight of the truck lit their spirits ablaze, cheers ringing out for the committee, and the unfamiliar athlete up front.

"The last time we were here, it was still the late afternoon," Brock recalled. "I… Guess we held you up."

"Nonsense! It's no harm done, really." The president dismissed. "We're here, and that's what matters!"

Applause boomed as the man upfront broke through the finish line, the Torch Committee's truck following soon after. Amongst the fanfare, Goodshow climbed down to meet the athlete.

"I present you with the Flame of Moltres," he gleefully announced, crouching to hand the flame to the President.

"Thank you!" Goodshow looked to the crowd around him; what was left of them, anyway. Many had gone their separate ways after the torch had crossed the finish line. "Ahem… We apologize for the long wait that you've so graciously stuck out. Your love and enthusiasm for the Pokemon League is appreciated, as always! Tomorrow, the flame will be lit in the stadium, marking the beginning of this year's competition! So, look forward to that! And, please thank the torch bearers who ensured its safe return!" He gestured to those responsible, selected athletes and Ash's group of friends alike.

Another modest round of applause and hollers answered. Ash, Pikachu, Misty, Brock, Dawn, and Buneary waved to the audience below.

The scene grew sparse and quiet quickly, and the youths had left the truck to see their company off.

"I guess we'll see you tomorrow." Ash addressed the old man, hands on his hips.

"Pikachu!'

"Indeed, you will, Ash, Pikachu." Goodshow's old, charcoal eyes scanned the group. "It was a pleasure reuniting with you all. I'm sure that Moltres was honored to have its flame hoisted by such promising trainers!"

"It was the least we could do," Misty excused, scratching her cheek. This guy really liked to layer on the praise; it was a little embarrassing.

"Speaking of Moltres," Ash interrupted, "I have a good feeling about its flame. Like luck is on our side."

"A good feeling?" Brock quirked a brow.

"Now, don't tell me you're getting superstitious on us," Misty crossed her arms.

"Well… I dunno, it's probably dumb." Ash kicked the dirt. "But, like… You guys know the big burn mark on my back? The one you saw on the beach?"

Misty and Brock winced, nodding along. Where was he going with this?

"I wanted to ask you where you got that!" Dawn pouted. Somehow, it'd slipped her mind, back then.

"I earned it, battling Moltres."

He was greeted with blank stares and pale faces.

"Pikachu and I battled it together, and I got hit by one of its Flamethrower attacks in the middle of it all. It hurt like he…" Looking to Goodshow, he trailed off. "Like heck, but we didn't give up, no matter how tough the battle got on either of us. We beat Moltres together."

Ash and Pikachu met eyes, and shared a smile before bumping fists.

"Seeing that flame… it feels familiar. I'unno, almost like, a blessing from Moltres, I guess." Ash rubbed the back of his neck, feeling sheepish. "I know that sounds bold… But deep down, I really feel that way. That it's a sign that this time, we have what it takes to win the Pokemon League."

The silence that followed made Ash swallow heavily.

Dawn spoke in a passionate rush. "You're right!" She took Ash's hands in her own, absolutely star-struck. "The parallels…! The symbolism…! The ancient subtext…! Oh, Ash, that was absolutely poetic! And, you know, they say life imitates art! I'm so glad you saw the connection! It **has** to be a sign!"

"I think it's the other way around," Misty mumbled.

Brock recalled how adamant Dawn was with poetry before chuckling. "You feel free to correct her if you want. I'm not touching that."

Neither of the Luvdisc had apparently heard the others. Blushing at Dawn's praise, Ash's chest swelled with pride.

"Well, you know, I've got my moments," he said with a surprisingly sincere smile. He was clearly trying to pass himself off as cocky, but he couldn't quite muster it under Dawn's heartfelt gaze.

"Well, since you've hyped yourself, you girlfriend, and both of us up," Misty interrupted, trying her best to not admit directly that she was riding on Ash winning for the sake of her gruff persona, "on top of invoking some old magic crap to supposedly be in your favor, don't let none of us down. I'm sure Moltres would especially be mad that you're invoking him like this." She finished with a teasing grin.

Brock let out a content sigh before crossing his arms behind his head. "Ash, you know we've got all the faith in the world in you. If you think this is a sign, I think that's great."

"I don't just think it's a sign," said Mr. Goodshow, taking command of the conversation, "I know it's a sign. Why, when Moltres lit this flame for us, it began a revolution in human-pokemon relationships worldwide! Just as the League was blessed, so have you been! Ash, I think it might actually bring good luck to this year's conference if you light the opening torch! You might draw a huge crowd or light the fires of competition in your new rivals' hearts!" The man balled a fist. "Why, I dare say, if you truly believe what you're saying, you're obligated to complete the circle!"

Taken aback by Mr. Goodshow's enthusiasm, Ash considered it for a second. He looked to Pikachu before nodding. "The first fire brought a revolution to how people and pokemon interact, huh? Well, if that's the case…" He looked dead at Goodshow. "Pikachu's gonna light it with me! This is our fight and our story! We're gonna share everything no matter what!"

Touched by Ash's words, Pikachu let out a happy chatter before latching himself onto his trainer's chest in a hug. "Cha~!"

Mr. Goodshow nodded, smirking. "It's a deal."

* * *

Just over two hundred competitors stood in the middle of the stadium, facing forward with hungry, ambitious expressions. Brows furrowed, lips drawn thin or stretched into smiles, and the lust for the gold of a trophy swirling in their eyes, each of the eight badged wannabe conference winners waited in the flat battlegrounds in the center of the Indigo Stadium. Ash was just one of many in the crowd, but the comforting, familiar weight of his Pikachu on his shoulder was enough to make him think he was truly destined to be here.

He was certain that there were others who wanted this as bad as he did. Knowing that made him all the more eager to battle and beat them; they'd be good competition.

Ash was snapped out of his assessment of his new rivals when he was called up. He stepped forward, feeling the weight of many eyes upon him as Mr. Goodshow waited on the podium. As he walked among the crowd, he spotted Koda. That meant Max was here, somewhere. He saw the telling flash of yellow of a Pikachu's tail, but wasn't sure if it was Sparky and therefore Ritchie. He didn't have much time to search. Soon, he was upon the stage.

"Here," Mr. Goodshow said, passing the torch to Ash.

Holding Pikachu in one arm, trainer and pokemon alike put a hand on it each. He stepped forward. Ten steps until he would open the conference.

His mind's eye wandered, playing memories for him. The twin union badges he and Dawn shared flickered through his memory. That joint battle with her had helped him get here. His battles with her in general had helped him so much.

Nine steps until he would open the conference.

Though she was not presently out of her pokeball due to the crowd, his mind wandered down into his heart and brought back memories of Rosa as a freshly hatched Riolu. He could taste the salt of the ocean again as he recalled how she'd learned to swim in the seas just off Iron Island.

Eight steps until he would open the conference.

As he felt the weight of his gym badge case in his pocket, he remembered the luxurious metal that was his Brave Symbol. He'd been so proud of himself for defeating Brandon. He was skilled enough to be a Frontier Brain, wasn't he? Then, surely, he could do this!

Seven steps until he would open the conference.

His memories darted suddenly much further back, to when he was still a young boy. The clammy wetness and a sense of fear came back as he recalled his first meeting with Misty. A sense of sympathy and steadfastness was coupled with the recollection of how Brock had become his traveling companion. The two of them had helped him grow so much, as both a person and a trainer.

Six steps until he would open the conference.

He had tangoed with legendaries, perhaps more than most people had a right to even know beyond a shadow of a doubt truly existed. But, he had beaten many of them. He'd come close to even beating a whole team of them. Despite it all, he couldn't find it in himself to resent Tobias. First, he'd prove himself here in Kanto and claim the championship he'd wanted since he was a boy. Then, he'd repay Tobias for the inspiration to better himself the man had given him. It had been a lesson; both of those battles had been lessons!

Five steps until he would open the conference.

His heart swelled with pride as he looked at the flame. Moltres aside, he had his own incredible fire type. That was one who had indeed defeated legendary pokemon. Charizard was one of Ash's prides. Raised from a feeble Charmander and into a Charizard that he had to win back the respect for, the flying type was now a rival even to one of Lance's famed Dragonites! He couldn't let that respect down, not here, not now!

Four steps until he would open the conference.

He wondered where Samurai was. He could still feel the deepened bond between himself, the bug type user, and Dawn from her inspiring speech back at the cabin. Surely, he'd get to show off his improved growth now!

Three steps until the opening.

With a slight phantom pain aching in his burned shoulder, Ash recalled his battle against Moltres and then against Zapdos. He'd defeated all three of Kanto's legendary birds. Wasn't it time he won a conference? If for no one else's sake but his own?

Two steps.

No; not his own sake. He looked down to Pikachu. He thought of the pokeball he never used but always kept in his backpack. He thought of their first meeting. He wasn't doing this for his own sake. He was doing this for his best friend's sake, too. It was for all of his pokemon! They'd worked so hard for him! He wouldn't let them down by losing now!

One step.

Ash and Pikachu's eyes met. Nodding, they reached out, together lighting the embellished torch. A flame danced up, impossibly larger than the flame which had ignited it. A flash of left and right to the flame unfurled like wings and a long, slender section of flame jutted up before it all collapsed into the amorphous energy that was a fire.

 _~You saw that, right?~_ Ash asked Pikachu, using his aura to convey the question.

 _~Well,~_ Pikachu replied, equally as physically quiet, _~it was definitely not natural fire.~_

Satisfied that the flame was lit, Goodshow stepped forward to the microphone. "Thank you. Please, take your spot," the man said before beginning his opening speech.

* * *

Indigo Village was crowded and lively. In the outdoor seating area of a sports bar, our heroes unwound after the opening ceremonies. Ash tossed a boneless chicken wing in his mouth as he watched the broadcast covering some of the top picks for this year's conference winners. Brock sipped a frothy glass of something that was decidedly not orange juice, but given that he was five years older than sixteen-year-old Ash, it was fine regardless. Dawn, meanwhile, gushed to Misty about the merchandise.

"I've never seen so many different items for sale!" she gushed. "Kanto really is on the cutting edge of all things Pokemon League related, huh?" She squealed. "I'm tempted to go back to that guy who customizes battle items! Empoleon's got this Mystic Water item, but it's just on a plain silver chain, you know? I was thinking it'd look nicer if it matched him! Maybe more like a brooch or something to go in his feathers!"

Misty nodded. "I get what you mean! It's hard to use items that don't fit properly. I think it's a good investment, especially since it'll look good in a contest!"

"Don't go getting anything important," Brock warned. "We've only got the cabin we rented until a day after the conference ends. If you order anything and the guy can't find you to deliver, you'll be pretty upset, won't you?"

"That's true," Dawn mumbled. She looked to Ash. "What do you think, Ash? You think he'd ship it to your mom's house? Would your mom mind if I shipped it to her house?"

Snapping out of his intense watching of the sports cast, Ash blinked. "Huh? Oh! Nah. Mom'd love to help out! Just let her know if you do order it so she can call us when it gets there!" With that, the trainer went back to watching the program. He furrowed his brows.

The limited information on one of the competitors was concerning. Hailing from Blackthorn City, the dark-haired dragon tamer was, by all accounts, a powerhouse. Though she didn't have a perfect battling record (who did, really?), they'd analyzed all her losses and she'd only lost to people who had particularly bulky, defensively oriented teams. That might spell trouble for Ash. He'd have to start thinking of strategies for -

He looked down. His eyes widened.

"It's her!"

"Her?" Misty echoed.

"Her?" Brock repeated.

"Her?" Dawn continued.

"Rival, Conference, strong, be right back!" Ash yelped before grabbing Pikachu and sprinting for the little fence that closed off the Tauros Big Peck's outdoor eating area. He promptly hurdled the fence.

"Deidra!" Ash yelled, running to catch up with the girl. She looked just as intimidating in person as she had on the television, dressed in dark colors with a short black cape and a bang covering one eye. "Deidra! Wait up!"

She turned, looked at Ash, and then scowled. She did, however, wait for him, though her fists were balled at her side while she did such.

Ash grinned as he caught up. "Oh, man, nice to meet you! I'm Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town! Hey, good luck out there, not that you really need it!" He shrugged. "I mean, unless you battle me! Kidding, haha! No, but seriously, I wanna battle you! You seem super strong."

The dragon tamer regarded him for a moment before turning her nose up. "I am strong," she corrected. "And, I hope whatever sort of favoritism you were shown today won't get in the way of my conference ambitions. I'm quite tired of old men playing favorites screwing me over, thank you." With that, she began to walk off.

"... Favoritism? Old men?! W-What the heck's she talking about?!" Ash babbled, taken completely off guard.

Pikachu's tail drooped. "Pika…"

Dejected, Ash trudged back to Tauros Big Peck's. He stepped over the fence, heart not in it to jump.

"Aw, I know that face."

"... May?!" Ash said, shocked. He looked up, blinking when he saw her. She was wearing another new outfit, but this time it more like the one she'd worn in Hoenn, but with a bow? Or, was it a headband? He didn't know. He wasn't good with fashion. But, he did know he was supposed to compliment a girl's hair if it was different. Or, so he'd recalled a few of his friends telling him. "Uh, you got a new hair cut?"

May pouted. "It's actually longer now!" she insisted. "Look, look, it's in a ponytail!"

"It looks like the tip of a turd," Koda said flatly.

Max burst into laughter as May looked horrified.

Dawn turned to Ash. "We saw them coming to get a table out here while you were gone! So, we all decided to sit together!"

"... Oh." Ash said after a moment. "... Hey, what'd you mean by you know what this face means?!"

"You looked the same when Drew would tell you to buzz off," May said simply. "Or, anyone else you wanted to battle but rejected you."

"She's got you pegged," Brock agreed.

"It's not too bad," Misty said, trying to comfort Ash. "At least you're upset you didn't get to try. Some people are big babies when they lose."

"Hey, I cried once when I lost! And, you weren't supposed to talk about it when Ash got here!" Max hissed.

"Misty didn't tell Ash you cried over a gym battle," Koda corrected, "You said that."

"Shut up!" the boy whined.

Ash laughed. "Hey, crying's fine, isn't it?" He looked around. The table had gotten crowded, but weren't they missing one? "Hey, you said something about Drew? Where is he?"

"May's stupid boyfriend's sleeping back in the cabin," Max answered.

"Hey, be nice!"

"Whoa, whoa, you said you were traveling together still, but you didn't say you were dating!" Brock noted.

"I didn't?" May asked, feeling suddenly stupid. She laughed. "Gosh, sorry! I was so excited to brag about my first Grand Festival win that I didn't even think to talk about that! It feels so unimportant!"

"I'll be sure to tell Drew that," Misty teased.

Ash stood up. "You won?! Why didn't you lead with that?! Congrats, May!"

"We all already heard," Dawn clarified. "You just decided to go chase… A rival? Something like that?"

"Yeah, well, guess I made the wrong choice," he said with a sigh, sitting back down. "... How'd you and Drew get together, even? I know you two traveled together, but isn't he your rival?"

"... Oh, gosh, I forget he still wants to act like a turd around you," May noted. "Um, honestly, we haven't been dating that long. You and Dawn got together before we did. He asked me out after I beat him in the Grand Festival. He said if I lost he'd let me eat to my heart's content on his dime. If I won, I'd pay."

"Oh. Okay- … Hey, no, wait, how'd you know me and Dawn were together?" Ash questioned.

Koda let out a loud groan. "Oh my Mew, keep up! We all talked while you were gone! We caught up! Everyone's on the same page!"

"Koda." May chided.

He crossed his arms. "I'm frickin' hungry, man. I just want my quesadilla."

Ash nodded. "I feel you. Hopefully our food arrives soon."

"Right! Food soon!" May gleefully noted.

Dawn smiled. "Heheh… They've got that in common, at least."

* * *

"Huh, doesn't look as crowded as it was earlier," Ash thought aloud, approaching the open dome where the preliminary match-ups were randomly decided. Trainers still hung around, some still applying for their first rounds, but they no longer packed the building to the point of discomfort.

"Well, we did stop to eat before signing you up, so we missed the big rush." Brock flipped through his Pokemon League handbook, skimming for anything Max might want to know.

"No complaints, here!" May waved with a big goofy grin. "I don't think I'd be able to focus on your matches if I went in with an empty stomach, haha!"

"Thanks a lot, sis," Max deadpanned.

"I mean, I can't blame her," Ash interjected. "I can hardly battle when I'm hungry, either."

"Of course, you'd agree with her." Max snorted. His glasses shone over, then. He saw an empty booth! "Be right back!"

"Ditto!" Koda rushed afterward.

"By the way," Misty tapped Ash on the shoulder. "Remember how Brock and I coached you during your first conference?"

"Yeah?"

"We definitely won't be able to do that anymore."

Brock nodded, flipping through his pamphlet. "There was an incident a while back, where a competitor was getting a little _too much_ help from their coaches; they didn't get disqualified, since there technically wasn't a rule against it at the time, but there was an uproar in the competitive scene, after the fact."

"If we do it now, we'll all be thrown out for cheating! Even worse, my Gym Leader license would come under question!" Her face scrunched at the thought. "So, sorry, bucko, you're on your own, this time. Well, at least when it comes to tips."

"I'm surprised that was ever allowed at all." Dawn quirked a brow.

"It was a courtesy offered to younger trainers who might get nervous during the earlier rounds," Brock explained.

Ash smiled, giving a thumbs-up. "Hey, that's fine. I don't really need the help anymore, anyway. I'll do this all on my own!"

Misty's face twisted in a huff. "You don't need the help, huh?"

"Hey, those're the rules, right?" Ash turned back with a cheeky grin.

Misty relented. She couldn't really argue with that, she admitted to herself with a smirk. "You really ought to register. No hand-holding, now!"

"Oh, right." Ash rushed after Max and Koda; the latter had just been assigned, apparently. But, Ash was cut off by another trainer who looked to be about his age. He'd pressed the large red button on the counter, and the screen featuring the four fields flashed in a spiral between each corner of the screen. Gradually, the spinning slowed, and finally stopped on the water field.

"You'll be battling on the water field!" The attendant chimed. "Now, the system will randomly choose your opponent."

A 'ping' could be heard from the screen, and the trainer's image was mirrored by none other than…

"It's me!" Ash gawked at his visage on the screen above, beside the contestant in front of him. "Hey, what're the odds? Looks like we'll be facing off, first!" He grinned, holding a hand out to the other.

His prospective opponent turned around. A young man with spiky dark hair, sporting a red, stylish outfit, with three pokeballs at each of his hips. He blinked, quickly processing who he'd be facing. "Looks like we will… Ash Ketchum."

"Yeah, that's me." Ash blinked, retracting his hand. "Guess you already know who I am, huh?"

"I wouldn't take myself seriously if I didn't study my competition. But, since you're asking, I'm guessing you're going in blind?"

"I've… been busy," Ash trailed off, a hand absently brushing the mark on his cheek.

"I'd hope so. I'd be insulted if you think you could have a chance against me, riding on pure luck."

The rest of Ash's friends caught up at that point, stopping short of speaking. The tension in the air was hard to miss.

"Oh, yeah?" Ash's brows knit together. "What makes you think I'll do that?"

"Don't be modest. Your record's pretty extensive; before you get flattered, that includes all of your bad calls. I don't want to babysit any of your fresh, first-stage pokemon."

Ash's eye twitched, and he stayed silent.

"And, I thought I was harsh." Max hung back by Misty's side.

Brock scowled. "I don't like this."

"Maybe I won't have to, if they get bored and decide the match for me." He only remembered bits and pieces, specifically, but his Charizard throwing his first league for him? That detail was pretty hard to forget. "Or, should I prepare for you to use Pikachu against one of my ground types?"

Pikachu's ears pinned back. "Pikachu…" Even in his state, he carried quite the urge to smack this guy across the face.

"Poor Ash," May muttered. "He might pop a blood vessel, at this rate."

"Maybe…" It was no secret that Ash was hot-headed; Brock knew that better than anyone. "And right before his first match, too."

Dawn, meanwhile, was looking ready to bust a vein, herself. She clenched a fist, teeth grit and bared. She stepped forward. "Listen here, you-"

"Maybe you should." Ash tilted his cap, showing the stranger a calm smile. "If you think you've got me all figured out."

Dawn quieted, and watched on with the group.

The male cocked a brow, then snorted. "There's not a whole lot to figure out. You fight straight-forward and expect guts to carry you to victory. A real waste of some talented pokemon, really. In someone else's hands, they might've been champions, already."

"Pikaaa…!' Pikachu hissed. Electricity crackled off his cheeks. The nerve!

A gentle gloved hand cupped Pikachu's cheek, stroking it. "Yeah? Well, what you've done, in my shoes?"

The trainer cocked his head; that response hadn't been on his list of expectations. "Hmph… I can't say I have a list on hand. But, for starters, I would've brought fully evolved pokemon to a conference, and actually put some focus on conventional strategy. Rather than just throwing out whatever pokemon crosses my mind." He smirked, confident in his recovery.

"Show me how that works out for you on the battlefield." Ash threw his opponent a two-finger salute, holding a cool, confident smile.

Complete silence got its grip on the small circle, between Ash's startled companions, and his speechless adversary.

Pikachu regained his composure, joining in Ash in flashing the trainer a cocky smile.

The trainer squinted at Ash and pursed his lips. But, no words came out. "Hmph." Frustrated, he turned to walk away from the scene. "Be careful what you wish for, Ash."

"That was… different." May was the first to speak.

"I'll say." Misty, to her own surprise, was initially speechless. Ash… Something about him felt unfamiliar. The cool way he'd handled himself, most of all. "I think he's finally grown into that big head of his." That wasn't a rookie's cocky bluster. That was sure confidence.

"I was a little worried he'd let it get to him," Brock thought aloud. "That never ends well."

"You held together better than I would've!" Dawn folded her arms behind her back, one leg crossed behind the other. "I was ready to feed that guy his own teeth for the crap he gave you."

Ash chuckled, brushing his thumb over his nose. "He wasn't worth it. Anyone going that far out of their way to make me feel dumb can't be that impressive. If he wants to scare me, he's going to have to bring all that skill to our match." He folded his arms, looking up to Pikachu. "If his bark isn't worse than his bite. Right, buddy?"

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu gleefully pumped a fist.

"Actually pretty cool," Koda remarked. Maybe he had Ash pinned wrong, as a corny adult.

"...Yeah." Max swallowed, messing with the frames of his glasses. "It was cool."

"Speaking of that, how about it? You wanna take a crack at this guy?"

"Pi…" Pikachu hummed, then shook his head. "Pika." They did have just enough rounds available to let every pokemon try; he'd hate to waste his awaited return on a crummy opponent, especially when he wasn't completely mentally prepared.

"That's fine. Then, let's go call Professor Oak and get our team prepped!"

"...You do that. I've got a match on the grass field in a couple minutes, so I better split!" Max turned to leave.

"Mine's on the rock field, later, so I'm gonna watch." Koda followed.

"And, I'm going to cheer Max on!" May chimed. "Make sure to give me the play-by-play, guys~!"

Misty waved the group off. "It's been awhile since me and Max got to hang, so I'm gonna give him my best. Brock, you good to babysit?"

"I'm not a baby," Ash mumbled before yelling back: "Right back at you!" He turned to head for the nearest PC, with Dawn and Brock in tow.

Thankfully, it was unoccupied. Ash dialed in the familiar number, waiting for the old man's visage to pop up on-screen.

It never did. Instead, Tracey had answered the phone. "Hello, Ash!"

"Tracey?" Ash tilted his head. "Oh, hey. Not to be a jerk, but where's the Professor!"

"Hey's, uh, very busy," Tracey dismissed. "If you need to switch pokemon for your matches, I'll be happy to handle it!"

"Huh… Alright! Thanks, Tracey! Then, I've got a few pokemon I need you to find, on the double."

* * *

"Exeggutor! Zen Headbutt!"

"Exeggutor!" The Coconut pokemon charged Kingler, smashing into its body with its three glowing heads.

Kingler slid back across his round, marooned platform, seeming none the worse for wear.

"Use Crabhammer!"

"Kuu-kiii!" Kingler swung back with a vengeance, smashing Exeggutor with his muscular, oversized claw. The grass type was sent flying across the water field, skidding to a halt on his own platform.

 **"** **Oooh, and that's a nasty counter from Ash's Kingler,"** a booming voice shouted over the stadium's loudspeaker. **"So far, Blake hasn't had much luck with physical attacks, nor has he been able to control the field. Will the trainer from Cherrygrove stage a comeback?"**

A majority of the stage had been frozen over by Kingler's Blizzard, leaving thick sheets of ice to stand on. Frost clung to Exeggutor's feet and leaves, as well, making the grass type shiver.

Blake grimaced. _'Leaf Storm might be my best bet to do Kingler in… But, if I use it now, it'll only get weaker as the match continues. Alright, Ash, you've pushed my hand.'_ A devious smile spread across the Ace Trainer's lips. "Exeggutor, use Trick Room!"

"Torrr!" The pokemon droned, his eyes flashing a faint teal. The arena full of ice and slush was surrounded in the faint glow of a translucent box.

 **"** **Blake has employed Trick Room! With his reputation for excelling in speed and agility, will Ash be able to counter the vexing field-adjusting maneuver?"**

"And, not to flatter you, but don't think that was a coincidence."

"Thanks! It'll make the battle last a little longer." Ash smiled.

Blake's eye twitched.

* * *

"Now, that could be trouble… Ash beat Trick Room last time, but barely." Brock held a thumb to his chin. "How will he, this time?"

"This guy tries to talk like Conway, but I don't feel like he matches up to the real deal." Dawn leaned forward, smiling wide. "Ash'll outsmart him in no time."

* * *

"Kingler, Crabhammer!" Ash pointed forward.

Kingler crouched, hoisting his pincer high.

"Exeggutor, Egg Bomb!"

A barrage of explosive eggs quickly followed, crashing into Kingler in an explosive barrage before he could close the distance.

 **"** **Ooh, and there's the power of Trick Room! Egg Bomb struck before Ash's Kingler even had a chance to counter!"**

The smoke settled soon, and Kingler stood atop the ice bordering his platform. "Kuu-kiii." He sported several scratches and burns, but he hardly looked to be in any pain, so far.

"You doing alright, Kingler?" Ash called out.

"Kiiii!" Kingler waved to Ash with his smaller claw.

"Thought so. Hyper Beam!"

"Exeggutor, Leaf Storm!"

As quickly as Kingler had raised his large appendage, Exeggutor unleashed a storm of sharp leaves. They'd closed in before Hyper Beam could even be launched.

Ash threw an arm to the side. "To your left!"

"Kiii!" Kingler swerved, firing the glimmering blast to the side. The explosive recoil sent him sliding across the ice, avoiding Leaf Storm by merely a hair. Skidding to a halt, the crustacean huffed. He'd grown accustomed to Hyper Beam's recoil, but it never fully faded away.

"Not bad, Ash. Not too bad. Your quick thinking will be a nice warm-up for the later rounds."

"I was thinking the same thing!"

Blake scowled. "You're real mouthy, aren't you?"

"Hey, when it comes to trash talk, I go for quality, not quantity."

"Trash talk…" The trainer's face went pale. "You were stalling!"

"Who, me?" Ash held an open palm to his chest.

His opponent growled. "Zen Headbutt!"

"Kingler, use Harden!"

"Tor!" Exeggutor stomped onto the ice, sliding along the slick surface with his three heads ducked. Psychic energy was focused through each skull, sure to deliver a devastating blow to Kingler.

Within seconds, it smashed into its target.

Kingler, however, didn't budge. A bright glimmer glazed over his tough exoskeleton.

 **"** **What's this!? Kingler seems unaffected by Zen Headbutt! Somehow, it successfully defended with Harden!"**

"How!?" Blake's voice cracked. "I'm certain that Kingler's speed should be superior to Exeggutor's, not accounting for a massive level difference. Trick room couldn't have run already."

"It's still here." Ash smirked. "I just made it work for me, this time." He didn't wait for Blake to ask again, continuing. "Trick Room gives the edge to whoever's slower; but, you didn't count on Exeggutor becoming faster than Kingler, did ya?"

Blake was silent for a moment. His eyes grew wide. "...The ice! Exeggutor slid across the ice to use Zen Headbutt… You'd set this all up?"

"It just came to me." Ash's eyes flicked to Kingler and Exeggutor; they were still within inches of one another. "Grab it and toss, with Crabhammer!"

"Ki!" Kingler reached for Exeggutor's many leaves, getting a solid grip. Ignoring its many cries, the water type roared, rearing its claw back to roughly toss his adversary.

"Exeggutor...!" The pokemon's three heads groaned, thrown for a loop before they were lucky enough to land upon their original starting point. It struggled to stand.

"Now, Hyper Beam!"

"Leaf Storm!"

A typhoon of leaves barraged Kingler, scraping his tough skin. He persevered, firing his attack.

The glimmering beam shot across, exploding violently where Exeggutor stood.

Mist and chunks of ice were thrown about amongst the inky smoke that quickly dispersed.

Exeggutor laid on its back, swirls in each of its six eyes.

The referee observed, raising a green flag. "Exeggutor is unable to battle! Victory for the green trainer!"

 **"** **Blake put some pressure on Kingler with Trick Room, but with some quick thinking from Ash, it persevered! Now, his opponent must choose his next pokemon!"**

* * *

"What'd I tell you? The guy's not shabby, but ordinary strategies like that won't hold up to Ash's quick thinking!"

"Hey, you were right! Guess I didn't need to worry." Brock let a smile show, before descending into thought. "Hm… Still, it's remarkable."

Dawn turned to him. "What is?"

"This match-up… Kingler against an Exeggutor. That's the exact match-up Ash had in his very first battle in the Indigo League; Kingler was a Krabby, before it evolved at the end of the battle, but still… What a coincidence."

"Wow. No kidding. But, this battle's just getting started!" Dawn clapped her hands together, turning her eager eyes back to the match.

* * *

"Thanks, Exeggutor." Blake recalled it, tossing another pokeball. "Go, Magneton!"

"Ton!" The trio of magnets appeared with a screech.

"Magneton, eh… Great job, Kingler. Return!" Ash reached for his next pokeball.

"Go, Pidgeot!"

The large bird shrieked, orbiting the field. She kept her attentive gaze on Magneton.

"Switching a water type for a flying type against Magneton…?" Blake snorted, smacking his palm to his forehead. "You're irritating. You almost had me worried about this match, but you're already throwing me a bone!"

"Think what you want." Ash grinned, throwing a hand out. "Heat Wave!"

"Magneton, Light Screen!"

Trick Room aided Magneton, quickly erecting a translucent shield that covered its body. The scalding winds crashed into the screen, blistering off to each side.

"Ton…" Magneton groaned, taking on the remaining heat.

"You can forget turning around Trick Room when you're using Pidgeot." Blake smiled to himself, confidence bolstered. "Gyro Ball!"

A spinning blur of silver shot out of the embers, smashing into Pidgeot's chest.

"Pidgeot can take it. Steel Wing!" Ash ordered.

Pidgeot recoiled with a grunt, spinning around to strike with a vengeance. Steel-covered wings smashed into Magneton one after another, each bouncing about with a loud 'clang.'

Each head had been knocked in a different direction, surrounding Pidgeot.

* * *

"That was a good strategy," Brock thought aloud. "Trick Room plays into the hands of slower pokemon, and Gyro Ball does more damage, the slower you are compared to your opponent."

"It wasn't bad," Dawn agreed flippantly. "But, he practically set Ash up for this."

"What do you mean?"

"Pidgeot fought another Magneton recently, twice." She smiled, leaning back in her seat. "He's got plenty of counters. And, letting her knock a Magneton's heads apart was a big mistake."

* * *

"You're surrounded," Blake boasted. "Magneton, Tri-Attack!"

A crackling orb appeared before each of Magneton's eyes; one red, one blue, and one yellow.

Ash's gaze traced the field. Trick Room's barely visible hold… It'd been flickering.

"Dodge it, with Agility!"

"Are you dense!?"

Tri-Attack's three components fired. A stream of flames, a ray of ice, and a bolt of electricity all encroached upon the alpha. The blasts collided.

 **"** **What a devastating Tri-Attack, and from all angles! What will become of Ash's Pidgeot!?"**

Blake waited patiently for Pidgeot to drop in a heap. At least, he thought he was patient. "...Well? Don't tell me it tanked that attack!"

"She could've," Ash boasted. "But, she didn't. Look behind you!"

Blake turned his head and flinched. Pidgeot was hovering just overhead. As quickly as she'd appeared, she vanished, zipping across the water field in a tan blur.

"But…!" He scowled. "Trick Room… That was a bold move."

"I just kept my eyes peeled." Ash brushed his thumb over his nose. He was enjoying this.

"Magneton, Thunderbolt!"

The Magnet pokemon reunited, firing a bolt that cut through the air, blasting the spot where Pidgeot had just been.

"Magneton, behind you!"

"Mag… Ton!?" The pokemon turned. It was faced with a large, leering bird of prey, dwarfed by its large, encroaching wings. Magneton panicked, firing another Thunderbolt.

Pidgeot was already gone. She hung towards Ash, cawing in triumph.

Bolts and the concurring scent of o-zone sprayed every which way, snapping and crackling at the water below, which was now more slush than ice.

"Time to wrap this up," Ash proclaimed, throwing a finger towards the sky. "Hurricane!"

"Pidgooo!" She screeched, beating her wings rapidly. A brutal wind tore through the waters, kicking up an airborne whirlpool that quickly surrounded Magneton.

Ash braced himself for the spraying mist and hail. The little that splashed his arm was numbingly cold.

"Mag….!" Magneton moaned, descending from the winds. The three heads floated amongst the slush, sending sparks through the waters. All three eyes had turned to swirls.

The referee raised the green flag, once more. "Magneton is unable to battle! Victory for the green!"

 **"** **What a tremendous show of power and speed! In the wake of Trick Room's disappearance, Blake will, once again, be forced to think of a new strategy, if he wants to win this match!"**

* * *

"Now I see what you mean, Dawn." Brock smiled to himself, holding a thumb and finger to his chin. "He didn't back up his confidence, but Ash sure did. He's not letting anything slide, so far."

The doctor-in-training promptly plugged his ears with his fingers. "But, you don't have to cheer so loud!" He winced, drowned out by the girl's loud hollering and cheering. She was starting to make a scene!

* * *

Blake recalled Magneton. "...I'll give you some credit. Your pokemon are fully evolved and fully developed. I can see why you came to this conference so sure of yourself."

"There's more to it than that, but thanks." Ash recalled Pidgeot, quietly thanking her for her hard work. "Let's show 'im, Haunter!"

The pokeball flew through the air, spitting out a long, ghastly wisp. It zipped about the frozen wreckage, barely a sliver before popping up in Ash's face with a cartoonishly long tongue. "Hau-hau!"

Ash chuckled, a bead of sweat dripping down his cheek. "Let's save the jump scares for your opponent, eh, Haunter?"

"Hau!"

"...Every time I try to give you credit, you disappoint me." Even as he said so, the experienced trainer wiped sweat from his dark brow. Evidently, Ash's prowess couldn't be judged merely by appearances. "Go, Quagsire!"

"Sire." The water/ground hybrid stood atop his very own platform.

Ash ignored Blake. "Haunter, Shadow Ball!"

Haunter conjured a crackling orb of darkness, chucking it at Quagsire.

"Use Amnesia!"

"Quag?" She tilted her head, opting to space out, even as she was pummeled with Shadow Ball. She slid across the wet flooring, otherwise unperturbed.

"So, Amnesia buffs up your defenses. Good to know!" Ash fiddled with the brim of his cap.

"You didn't know? Are you sure you didn't use Amnesia, too?" Blake squinted at Ash.

"Ahaha, just needed a reminder. I like learning from experience."

"Hmph. Quagsire, Muddy Water!"

"Haunter, use Shadow Punch!"

Quagsire belched a torrent of mucky water at Haunter, who launched his ghoulish fists.

Quagsire was struck, stumbling back towards the edge of her platform.

Haunter, in turn, was doused in muck. "Hauch!" He coughed up some of the muddy water, his face shriveling in disgust. What's more, he was squinting! The ghost could barely see two feet in front of him.

Ash grimaced. "Haunter! You alright?"

"Haunter…" The ghoul grumbled, floating hands floating and grabbing about, as if they belonged to an elder grabbing around for their spectacles. He couldn't even figure out where Ash's voice was coming from!

"Of course… Muddy Water." Ash frowned. "...Hey, just throw some Shadow Balls down at the water!"

Blake quirked a brow. "What's he up to?"

That, he could do. "Hau!" A Shadow Ball was conjured in each of his hands, chucked down below, one after the next. The blasts came nowhere near Quagsire, instead drenching Haunter with water and mist.

The water settled, and Haunter blinked. Hau… Haunter!" The ghost cackled. He could see again!

"He just needed to wash his eyes out," Ash boasted. "We're back in business!"

"Quagsire, use Ice Punch!"

The Water Fish pokemon jumped at Haunter, her fist glimmering with frost. "Quag… Sire!"

The blow struck true, sending Haunter spinning like a top.

The swirl of purple and blue finally slowed, and Haunter was chilled, clad in frost. He hugged his claws to his amorphous body, teeth loudly chattering. A bitter blue colored his visage.

"Heh." Blake smirked, resting a hand on his hip. "Your Haunter's really feeling that Ice Punch."

"Is he?" Ash snorted, barely able to hold back from snickering.

"Hm?" The methodic trainer squinted.

Under the cartoonish facade, Haunter was… Grinning? He even erupted into laughter, shards of ice dropping from his form like hail.

 **"** **How… Unusual!"** The announcer's voice cracked; muffled laughter could be heard from the booth before he coughed, regaining composure. **"It seems that Haunter is having the time of his life, turning this high-stakes battle into his very own comedy routine!"**

The ghost type was satisfied with the chuckles that could be heard from the audience. "Hau!" Clawed hands clasped together to shake about, basking in the approval.

Blake growled, stomping his foot. "Use Yawn!"

Quagsire tilted her head back, loudly yawning. In her sloth, she spawned a large, pink bubble that hovered towards Haunter.

"Haunter, look out!" Ash shouted.

It was futile; the bubble popped, startling the ghost. "Hau…?" What had that been about?

Ash grimaced. "Alright… How're we gonna work around this one."

"Now, Amnesia!"

As the water type made herself oblivious to the fight once more, Haunter yawned loudly. He was beginning to lose altitude.

"We're not knockin' out without a fight," Ash insisted. "Shadow Punch!"

The laxing Haunter launched his fists towards Quagsire. Pitifully, they veered safely out of its way.

With that, Haunter's gassy form formed a snoozing puddle that floated atop the water.

 **"** **The Shadow Punch misses, and Haunter's been put to sleep! Ash is facing the pressure, now!"**

* * *

"Now, that's bad." Brock folded his arms. "Ash is lucky he has two other pokemon left."

"Still, I'd hate to see Haunter miss out on getting his 15 minutes of fame…" Dawn rested her cheek in her palm. "I wonder what Ash plans on doing."

"I'm sure he'll come up with something. Let's hope it's not too late."

* * *

"Quagsire, Muddy Water!"

The Water Fish assaulted the water field with another mucky torrent.

Haunter was tossed about, his purple form oozing across the dirty water.

"Now, Ice Punch!"

Quagsire dove into the water, slipping through the grimy deep.

Subsequently, Haunter was launched into the air by a rising uppercut.

 **"** **Haunter's taking a beating! How much longer will it last against Quagsire!?"**

The water/ground hybrid returned to her platform.

Blake ran a hand through his hair. "Still trusting your instincts, Ash?"

Meanwhile, the purple, oozing puddle that was Haunter began to stir.

Ash smirked, standing tall and sure as ever. "One hundred percent!"

"Your loss. Quagsire, Muddy Water!"

Ash's brows knit low. "Grab it and pull!"

Two barely visible spectral hands seeped through the stage, gripping Quagsire's feet.

Just as Quagsire spit up Muddy Water, she was promptly yanked on her back, yelping loudly. She was drenched with her own Muddy Water.

"What in the world!?" Blake recoiled, looking between Quagsire and Ash. "What just happened!?"

"Haunter woke up at just the right time! Awesome job," Ash praised, before turning back to Blake. "Remember that Shadow Punch from earlier? Haunter never got his hands back, so they just chilled over there while Haunter was snoozing."

"Hauuu!" Haunter rose, shaking himself free of the mud. He retracted his clawed appendages, patting his face to fully wake himself up.

The opposing trainer froze, eyes glazed over. "You're…!" He stepped forward, throwing a hand out. "Ice Punch!"

"Will-o-Wisp, on the water," Ash countered.

Just as Quagsire righted herself, fist frozen, Haunter conjured several floating blue flames. He cackled, tossing them towards Quagsire's end of the field.

They ignited, surrounding Quagsire in a hissing wall of steam.

"Sire…?" The lazy pokemon tilted her head, looking about. There was no Haunter in sight to punch.

Ash smirked. "Now, Haunter, do your stuff!"

Inside the hot vapor, a dark, gaseous figure crawled about, only barely caught by Quagsire's eye. It promptly vanished afterward, allowing the pokemon to rest easy.

"Figures! After that comedy routine, you're gonna hide in the fog! Quagsire, go in there and chase Haunter out!"

The water type, as obedient and gentle as its trainer was arrogant, stepped forward, peering deeply into the vapor but daring not to touch it. It squinted, spotting a patch of darkness. It was very small! How far back into the vapor was Haunter?

The dark dot blinked out of existence. Two hands shot out of the vapor, grasping with wicked claws for Quagsire's shoulders. The water type had been staring dead into Haunter's face the whole time!

If the amphibian's eyes could shrink any further than the tiny pinpoints they were, she would have. Faced with a dreadful, heart-stopping scare as it was, she wailed in fright.

"Now's our chance! Shadow Punch!"

The ghoul's claws retracted, only to slam into Quagsire's abdomen, carrying her high above the steam.

Blake gasped in horror, watching his pokemon tumble through the air. "Use Muddy Water!"

Ash threw a hand forward. "Grab it!"

Shadow Punch gripped its sides.

"Giga Drain!"

A brilliant green light zipped through Haunter's hands and body, sapping Quagsire of its strength.

Within moments, the flickering stopped, and Haunter's detached hands lowered to the platform, laying the unresponsive Water Fish on its back.

The referee raised the green flag a final time. "Quagsire is unable to battle! Victory goes to Ash and Haunter!"

 **"** **It's over! Ash Ketchum has made a stunning entrance, winning his first match without losing a single pokemon! Even under pressure, he proved to have a cool head!"**

Stunned silence turned to roaring cheers, many shouting Ash and Haunter's names.

* * *

"Yes! Alright, Ash! Way to knock that jerk down a peg!" Dawn whooped, pumping a fist in the air.

"Blake must feel pretty foolish, right now. Ash, on the other hand… He must feel like a million bucks." Brock beamed, folding his arms. "Even I didn't see that sleeping trap coming!"

"I know I didn't~!" May sing-songed, leaning over Dawn and Brock's seats.

Brock yelped, recoiling from the girl's sudden appearance. "Where'd you come from!?"

"You nearly pulled a Haunter on us!" Dawn exhaled, holding her chest.

"Just got back from Max's first match~ He's moving on to the next round!"

"Good for him!" Brock beamed. "So… How much of that did you see?"

"I caught the last minute or two, scrambling through the crowd to find you guys! That Ash… I can see why he was so cocky!"

"Well, _I'm_ not surprised," Dawn smugly proclaimed.

"He's your boyfriend, of course you're not," May deadpanned.

"I was still right!"

* * *

"...Hm." Blake quietly returned Quagsire, exiting the arena.

"Excellent job, Haunter! You put on a real show!" Ash high-fived Haunter; for what it was worth, as their hands slipped right through one another. They both paused, looking down at their hands before laughing. The happy ghoul was returned to his pokeball afterward.

Just as Ash was ready to return to the main hall, he was ambushed by reporters with cameras.

"Mr. Ketchum! How do you feel about coming out of your first match with no losses?"

"Uh, pretty great!" The teen reached to rub the back of his head; he always hated having a camera thrown in his face. Pikachu, meanwhile, clung to Ash's hair.

"Can you tell us how you managed to keep a cool head and maintain your advantage, despite numerous upsets from your opponent?"

"Hm…" Ash held a hand to his chin, the opposite hand coddling Pikachu. "I guess the best advice I can give, is to not tie yourself down to one strategy working out! Working everything out on paper sounds nice, but battles are never that predictable; you're better off being ready to go with the flow!"

Approving hums and chatter followed, and the last to question Ash spoke up. "Advice that any trainer listening to this is sure to benefit from! Thank you, Ash!"

"No problem! But, uh, we've gotta get going, bye!" Ash waved them off, exiting the arena.

* * *

Still in the competitors-only section of the stadium, Ash tried to spot out a nursing station before he met up with his friends. While he was eager to celebrate, he wanted first to reward his team with a good rest.

"See anything promising, buddy? I maybe shoulda turned left when we left the field," Ash said to his starter.

"Pi…" the mouse replied, standing atop his friend's head as a lookout. "... Chu! Pika!"

"Good eye! Let's go!"

As the two jogged over to the secluded nursing station, they saw another figure waiting at the counter of the tiny booth. Arms resting on the flat surface and his palms under his chin, their briefly contended rival Blake looked to be rather discontent.

"Hey!" Ash called out, all hint of previous sass drained. "How's the team?"

"Don't patronize me," Blake spat, looking at Ash from the corner of his eye.

The teen frowned, crossing his arms. "Hey, I'm askin' seriously. You might have a crap attitude, but your pokemon were giving it their all, you know? I wanna make sure they're okay."

A tense silence ran between the two. Ash settled on handing over his pokeballs to the attending nurse when she came over to him. Before she returned with Blake's tray, he spoke up.

"... Why'd you win? You put so many handicaps on yourself, and you still won! You're my age, so it's not just experience. I've studied strategies from all the greats. You've been rumored to be illiterate. I don't get it! No offense, but you shouldn't have won! My team's better! Just, statistically speaking!"

"People think I'm illiterate?" Ash quipped, brows quirking. "Where'd that even… Ugh, anyways, back to your actual question." He scratched the back of his head before plucking Pikachu down to hold in his arms. "Well, I don't spend much time asking why this or the meaning of that! I mean, sometimes stuff makes sense, but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work! As a friend of mine says, no need to worry! Just work with how things are! Don't throw a fit, you know?"

"That's so halfhearted," Blake lamented. "That's not motivation."

"Yes, it is!" Ash insisted. "It's not taking any excuses! You see my buddy Pikachu here?! I wasn't really supposed to get him! But, I decided to make the best of it, and now we're best friends and he's one of my strongest pokemon!"

"Pika," the mouse chirped proudly before climbing onto Ash's shoulder, a paw on his chest.

Blake hummed. "He is statistically one of our highest performing, if I recall. Plus, I've heard species specialists theorize his physical power output is-"

"See! That's the kinda thing I mean! You're thinking about it too much! You're questioning stuff that doesn't matter too much! My Pikachu doesn't matter to you! You should focus on your own team and how to bring out the best in them!"

The other hummed, putting his pokeballs back on his hip. "... I suppose it couldn't hurt to spend some time just focusing on the strengths of my own team instead of what everyone else does. But, what if it doesn't work out…?"

"Hey, do you think your team goes around asking what if your instructions don't work out?"

Blake's eyes widened. "Right! Well." He adjusted his collar. "I'll be going. Do me a favor; don't win in a weird way here. It'll embarrass me."

Ash leaned against the counter as Blake walked off, frowning. "I just told that jerk what I do doesn't matter for him."

* * *

"Max! Max!" Ash called. He'd ducked outside earlier to meet up with everyone else, but May, Dawn, and Brock said that they hadn't seen Koda or Max. May was a little worried that, given Koda's sudden avoidant nature after Max's first match, he might be getting antsy about the league. "Koda? Max! Koda!"

"Ash?" both boys said in unison, poking their heads out from around a corner.

"Where have you two been?" he chided. "May's been worried. I mean, I think it's kinda dumb, because we were all this age walking around by ourselves, but she said something about you and crowds? Anyways, she's worried."

Koda pointed forward. "I came back to hang with Max when May went to go watch you. We found this spot. Check it out. You can see the monitors but it's not in the stadium seating area."

Ash looked forward, blinking dumbly. Sure enough, right across from the little break in the wall, almost like a balcony, was the monitor! He wondered what this area was for.

"Uh, you always have this stupid look whenever you're wondering stuff!" Max snapped.

"Hey, be nice! You're not too little for me to noogie!" Ash hissed back.

Max straightened up and sniffed before explaining. "I'm pretty sure it's for the staff around here. Before electronics were around, they'd have to hear the old-fashioned announcements. This'd let sound in from an Exploud making an announcer louder, all around the backstage area."

"... Boring," Ash said before looking across.

Plainly ignoring Max's irritation and Koda's mild amusement, Ash looked to the monitor. He grinned. He had seen Samurai earlier! There he was, completely in control of the battle on the grass field! As he scanned the rest of the screens, he couldn't help but quirk his head. The name Jimmy ran familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place why. He wondered if he'd battled the boy on the rock field before, or if he was just a high enough ranking trainer that Ash had seen his name around. Finally, he spotted Deidra. He was shocked, really, to see how intense she looked. Somehow, he'd expected her to have a dignified, restrained demeanor. Instead, she was going so far as to stomp the ground as she called for the final blow in her match on the ice field.

"A couple of other trainers have gotten three to zeroes," Koda said after a moment of silence. "A lot of 'em got big, cool teams. There are big grown-ups like you, too."

Ash looked down. "You think I'm a grown up?"

"He's only like sixteen," Max corrected.

Koda blinked. "Whoa, really?! But, you're so tall! And, like, jacked! I kinda thought you were maybe, like, a fighting type specialist before Max told me what was up!"

If only he'd heard these compliments when he was ten and shrimpy and short. A hand under his chin, Ash absolutely beamed. "I can see why you'd think that. I am super jacked. But, no, I'm not a grown up. Most of the people here are probably teenagers or really young adults."

"Don't get worried, though. If a ten-year-old Ash could beat them, then we'll definitely do fine, Koda."

Ash cut his eyes at Max. Max looked up at Ash.

Max immediately tried to run away. "MAY! MAY!"

"I told you!" Ash yelled.

Pikachu jumped from his trainer's shoulder as Ash grabbed Max around his shoulders with one arm, the other fist digging into Max's scalp.

"Say uncle, say uncle!"

"Koda, help me!" Max whined.

Koda shook his head, squatting by Pikachu to let the electric type sniff his hand. "Dude, no. His bicep's like two of my arms. Shut up next time."

"Traitor! MAY!"

As our hero released his young friend, he felt certain this league would be interesting as well as challenging. Fiery, passionate anticipation to prove his mettle burned within his heart, and Pikachu's, as well!


	78. The Good, the Sparkles, and the Sparky

**Welcome back, everyone! It's time for the Indigo League Conference to continue! We hope you enjoy the battles, and please let us know what you think with a review, if you'd be so inclined! Happy reading!**

* * *

"...Today, on the Grass Field, we have Mark from Viridian City taking on Ash from Pallet Town!"

A light breeze was blowing across the field, there were a few clouds in the sky, the sun was warm… it was perfect. Ash couldn't hide his grin as he tipped the brim of his hat upwards a bit, looking over at his opponent.

Mark seemed fairly young at a glance, but he had to have had some skill to get to this point, he figured. The boy dusted off his yellow shirt, tilted down the brim of his blue hat, then turned it backwards, taking one of the Pokeballs from his belt, which got a double-take from Ash.

"...Huh…" He barely noticed the announcers' speaking.

* * *

"Did he just-"

"Yeah, I think he did."

Both Misty and Brock just looked at the youngster. That was… just a bit surreal to see. It certainly brought some memories back, at the least.

* * *

 **"** **On one end, we have a fairly experienced Trainer, and the other, one in his very first League. This ought to be a match worth watching!"**

"Begin!" The referee threw his hand up, signaling the start of the match.

"L-Let's go. I-I won't give up. Go, Marowak!"

With a flash of light, the Ground-type emerged, spinning its bone staff around in its hand, giving a challenging shout. "Marrrrro!"

"All right, then. Primeape, I choose you!"

Primeape slammed his fists together as he looked at Marowak. "Pri!" He even seemed to be grinning like his trainer was.

"A-Alright, Marowak. Let's do this quick. Bonemerang!"

Marowak grasped its bone club tightly before hurling it outwards, the projectile hurtling towards the Fighting type quickly.

"Keep moving, Primeape. Don't give 'em a chance to get better aim!"

With a nod, the Pig Monkey began to run, ducking under Bonemerang as he took off. Fortunately, the Grass Field was fairly wide and flat, making it much easier to keep moving.

"Don't let up, Marowak!"

The instant the weapon returned, Marowak threw it again, and again… each time, however, Primeape still evaded it.

" **It seems that Primeape is simply too fast for Marowak to hit with Bonemerang. What will Mark do now?"**

The youngster hesitated for a moment at making a call, even as Marowak looked at him over his shoulder. "A-Ah…"

"Guess it's our turn now. Primeape, give 'em a Power-Up Punch!"

Mark's eyes shot wide open and he hurriedly shouted a command as Primeape closed in with a glowing fist. "R-Rage!"

As Primeape's fist collided with his skull-clad face, Marowak let out a roar, his body steaming and glowing red. He returned fire with a punch of his own, though Primeape didn't seem to be too winded from the blow.

 **"** **And with this, both parties are going to be making themselves stronger with each blow. How will this battle progress?!"**

Ash just chuckled. "Too bad… Marowak can't use any other moves… but _we_ can. Primeape, go in for Close Combat!"

"Uuush!" Primeape dashed in, ducking another of Marowak's enraged attacks, fists snapping out as he pummeled the Ground type. Duck, weave, jab, hook, uppercut; Marowak took blow after blow from Primeape, staggering backwards.

"Finish it! Seismic Toss!"

That move was always a crowd pleaser. Snapping his arms out, Primeape grappled Marowak, jumping in the air and spinning, flipping them both over. When the two slammed into the ground, a huge plume of dust erupted... And when it cleared, Primeape was standing tall, fist in the air, Marowak knocked out on the ground beside him.

The referee raised a flag up. "Marowak is unable to battle!"

Marowak's symbol greyed out on the monitor over the field, and Mark shakily recalled the Ground type.

" **And with that, Ash has taken an early lead in this battle. Primeape is still empowered from Power-Up Punch… how will Mark adapt?"**

"Nnh…" The youngster seemed rather shaken, even as he pulled a Great Ball off his belt. "...Fearow!"

The bird trilled out as it emerged, staring down Primeape warily.

Ash didn't seem fazed. "You did well, Primeape. I'm sure you want to keep fighting, but can ya give the others a chance, too?"

The Pig Monkey frowned, but relented, letting Ash recall him.

" **Ash seems to be giving up Primeape's boosted power. Who will he use next?"**

"Tauros, I choose you!"

The bull bellowed out, stamping the ground.

" **Fearow and Tauros; a pair of Normal types usually means a straight-up test of power. How will this matchup fare?"**

"Begin!"

Mark seemed to gain some of his confidence back as he called out the first move. "Fearow, hit him hard and fast. Drill Run and Drill Peck!"

With another loud trill, Fearow began spinning towards Tauros, beak glowing brightly.

 **"** **It seems that Mark is attempting to use Fearow's Sniper ability here, if those moves are any indication…"**

Ash had to hold back a chuckle. "Brace yourself, Tauros!"

Tauros didn't make _any_ attempt to dodge the attack, skidding backwards as he took the blow.

 **"** **And with no attempt to evade, what is Ash planning?"**

Tauros' eyes snapped wide open, and the bull let out a loud bellow, echoing over the arena. A loud snort came from him as he tossed his head, glaring intently at Fearow.

Mark's eyes widened.

Ash just grinned.

 **"** **Anger Point! Ash used Mark's strategy against him through Tauros' own ability! Tauros' power has skyrocketed!"**

"Our turn! Tauros, use Double Team!"

Tauros' body seemed to flicker as the area around Fearow became filled with copies of the bull, the bird losing its cool as it tried to keep track of the real Tauros.

Mark didn't seem to be faring much better, biting down on his thumb anxiously. "F-Fly higher, Fearow! Don't let Tauros hit you!"

Tauros and his copies began to move, like a one-'Mon herd.

"Wild Charge!"

Fearow and Mark had both lost track of the real Tauros, so neither could tell that the real one was right behind the bird. The electrically charged slam knocked Fearow from the sky, and the bird had fainted even before it hit the ground.

The referee raised his flag again. "Fearow is unable to battle!"

Mark's cool had definitely vanished entirely after having his strategy used against him so decisively. The youngster recalled Fearow, throwing another Great Ball out. "A-All right. Ninetales!"

Ash smiled brightly. "Way to go, Tauros. You've earned a rest." It'd give Tauros a chance to calm himself a bit, too. Recalling the bull, Ash pulled out another Pokeball. "Alright! Muk, I choose you!"

Some of the audience members groaned at the smell as Muk appeared, but Ash didn't seem fazed in the slightest by it.

Mark coughed a bit, holding a hand up to his face. "Ninetales, are you going to be alright?"

The fox cooed softly and nodded, though its nose wrinkled a bit.

* * *

"What's their problem?!" Dawn huffed, offended on behalf of the poison types.

Brock shook his head. She sure was easy to stir up. "It's the smell, Dawn."

She looked perplexed. "Are that many people really not used to Grimer and Muk?" She turned towards the others, hoping for an answer.

"I couldn't tell you. You wouldn't think that'd be the case, but I guess they're not," Brock replied, shrugging.

* * *

"Begin!"

"We'll start this one off," Ash shouted, gesturing outward. "Screech!"

Muk let out a loud shriek, startling Ninetales; the fox seeming a bit dazed from the loud sound.

"Now, Brick Break!"

At the command, Muk oozed his way over, raising an arm aloft, bringing it downward.

"Ninetales, dodge! Jump back and use Psyshock!"

The fox just barely evaded the blow, eyes glowing blue as orbs of psychic energy coalesced around Muk. With a shake of its head, the orbs hit the Poison type.

"Yes!" Mark pumped a fist. "Again, quick!"

Again, the attack struck Muk… But, he didn't seem too badly damaged.

 **"** **It seems that Muk is quite durable. Psyshock's physically-striking nature appears to be working against Mark here…"**

"U...Uh oh…" The wind seemed to leave the youngster's sails as it sunk in. "Try Overheat!"

"No other Psychic moves, huh…? Alright then. Muk, use Sludge Bomb!"

"Muuuuuk!" Muk drew himself in slightly even as the fox built up a powerful blast of flame, firing the Sludge Bomb upwards.

"And Minimize!"

As Overheat's blast hurtled his way, Muk shrunk himself down, the gout of flame flying harmlessly overhead.

Ninetales was so focused on the attack that Mark's command to dodge didn't register fast enough. Sludge Bomb crashed down on it, leaving it coated in the sticky gunk. The impact and poison left Ninetales fainted fairly quickly.

The referee raised his flag one more time. "Ninetales is unable to battle. The winner is Ash from Pallet Town!"

Ash pumped a fist up in the air. "Way to go, Muk! You guys all did great today!" He didn't have much time to brace himself before Muk joined in the celebration the only way he knew how… with a tackle of a hug.

Mark just turned his hat back around, tilting it down and hiding his face a little as he recalled Ninetales. The youngster turned, leaving the arena.

Ash finally got Muk off of him and headed out as well, meeting back up with the others.

Dawn was the first to speak up. "That was great, Ash! It was really cool seeing Muk in action, too."

Brock nodded. "Using Tauros' Anger Point against Fearow's Sniper was really clever, as well. You handled that excellently."

Ash was about to respond when he saw his opponent out of the corner of his eye, sitting on one of the benches. He seemed pretty down… "Right… hey, hold on a moment, if ya could."

Walking over, Ash sat down next to Mark. "This was your first League, yeah?"

Mark actually jumped a bit; he had been kind of dead to the world around him. "Y-Yeah… I just started my journey this year. You're tough. I didn't stand a chance…"

Ash just gave the kid a pat on the back in response. "It's a bummer when you lose… trust me, I know that pretty well. But hey. You made it to the League your very first year. That's something to be proud of. And I'm sure your Pokemon gave their all for you to get this far."

"Y...Yeah. You're right…"

"There's always next year. I bet you and your Pokemon'll get a lot stronger for next time, right?"

"...Yeah. We will. I'll be watching your matches, too. I wanted to win, but I'm just not ready yet… you better win! I'm givin' my dream to you!" Mark lifted up his hat, nodding with a much more intense look in his eyes. "I know you can do it."

Ash grinned widely in response. "That's the spirit. And we're gonna give it our all, too; count on it."

* * *

"It still hasn't come in," Dawn whined, walking away from the counter of the in-stadium nurse's station.

"What hasn't come in?" May asked, slipping on a slushie.

"It's something important," Dawn answered.

Koda scoffed. "Well, that's vague. Whatever. My next match is coming up. Max, you gonna cheer for me?"

"Duh!" the kid responded, standing up. "C'mon, guys! Let's cheer for Koda!"

"I'm excited to see your Skuntank again!" May hummed. "It's so big and fluffy, but it looks kind of sad, too…"

"It's not sad! It's melancholic! Like a good band!"

"Like The Antidote?" Brock said to Koda.

"Yeah!" the moody youth agreed.

"Never heard of 'em," Ash added. "Well, you guys go on without me, okay? I gotta make sure they know I won my match so nothing screwy happens. Can't really trust 'em to do it on their own, you know."

"Geez, you have had a bad track record in Kanto," Dawn noted. "But, sure! We'll tell you later. Be safe!"

"Pikaka!" Pikachu chimed, knowing what she meant by that. He noted that she'd left Pachirisu out of her pokeball rather than Empoleon out of his; help would only be a Thunderbolt away if they needed it.

"Right. See you guys!" Ash said with a wave. Once the group disappeared after Koda, he put his hand down. "... Alright, time to make sure my stuff's set up."

* * *

Sighing, Ash walked out of the little booth that had been set up for contender concerns. "Well, I guess I worried for nothing. Better safe than sorry though, huh, buddy?"

"I think you mean no need to worry, uh-huh!"

Hearing the vaguely familiar voice, Ash looked down the hall. There, he saw a pair of his friends! One was about his height with auburn hair and a cap. Over his pale skin were clothes of teal and yellow. On his shoulder sat a Pikachu with a distinct ruffle of fur on his scalp. Beside the boy was a slightly shorter girl with impossibly long black hair. A rosy blush marked her dark skin. She wore a form-fitting tank top and skirt, along with a cartoonishly large cap, all with a matching red and black color scheme. Another Pikachu was on her shoulder, though this one wore a large, red bow around her neck.

"Ritchie! Himashi!" Ash called out, recognizing them. "What timing! Himashi, I'm gonna battle you next!"

All illusions of her being calm disappeared. "You're gonna battle me?!" she squeaked, eyes sparkling.

Ritchie smiled, patting her head. "Hey, your wish came true! You get to battle your idol!"

Himashi leaped forward, taking Ash's hand and enthusiastically shaking it before skipping away to twirl. "I'm gonna battle A~Ash! I'm gonna battle-"

Her Pikachu Sparkles shocked her to put an end to that.

"Is she alright?" Ash asked, though not only about her being shocked.

"She'll be fine if she can get a minute to relax first," Ritchie assured him.

"Well, we've got about an hour. We could grab a bite to eat and relax. Oh, hey, if the line isn't too long at the concession stand, we might can catch the end of my friend Koda's match!"

"I've gotta swap my team first, uh-huh!" Himashi insisted. "Then, we go get lunch."

"But, the nurse's station with the transfer machines is on the opposite side of the stadium from the concession stands!" Ash whined.

Ritchie shrugged. "You did say you have an hour."

"I see we're gonna have to use it," he grumbled. "Alright, let's go! Hurry!"

* * *

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three…"

"Go!"

Ash and Himashi both bit into their taiyaki. The Magikarp shaped pastries didn't stand a chance. As Ash ripped the face off his poor treat, Himashi tried to shove the entirety of hers into her mouth.

Meanwhile, Ritchie watched them both with equal parts disgust and fascination. "They're on their third…" he mumbled to himself, still on his first. He looked down to the trio of Pikachu. "Sparkles isn't like her trainer at all…"

That much was true. Eating slowly, Sparkles took small bites out of her taiyaki. Pikachu looked over, licking a smear of filling off his cheek.

"Pika?" he asked, wondering if she wasn't feeling hungry.

Sparky's ears flipped back and he rolled his eyes before placing a paw on the belly of the bread Magikarp and biting into its back, lapping at the now exposed filling. "Pikachu," he explained. She was just weird.

Sparkles' cheeks let off a few crackles of electricity. "Chu…" she growled, insisting that he was the weird one. He was absolutely covered in crumbs!

Meanwhile, Ash and Himashi practically spat crumbs at each other, both rushing to claim victory.

"I win! Huh?" they said in unison.

Himashi reached over to her milkshake to wash down the treat while Ash bumped his chest a bit to clear his throat.

"Dang, that's another tie," he noted.

"We could try best three out of five, since the last two were ties," Himashi suggested.

"You've already eaten three!" Ritchie finally interrupted. "Call it off!"

"Fine," Himashi said with a pout.

Ash sheepishly grinned. "It's probably for the best. Battling on a full stomach sucks."

"You two aren't already full?" Ritchie shook his head, amazed.

"I'm a big guy, I've gotta eat!" Ash insisted. "... Hey, about earlier. Whatcha mean about me being Himashi's idol?"

"Eep!" Himashi whimpered, hiding her face in her hands for a second before giggling like a schoolgirl. "Oh, gosh! I saw your battle with Dome Ace Tucker a while ago, haha!"

"You saw that?!" Ash sucked in a breath through his teeth. "That wasn't my most graceful victory…"

"No, it was great! Your spirit was incredible! Even against those odds, you never gave up!" she seemed to swoon.

"She wasn't the only one keeping up with your battles," Ritchie explained. "I guess they confuse us, because I've run into people looking for you. And, boy, are they a handful."

"Hey!" Himashi whined.

"Not you!" Ritchie shot back, part teasing her, part too used to her antics to be concerned about her feelings.

"A following?" Ash finally asked, floored. "Wow… Hey, speaking of old stuff, why are you two here again? You said you're rangers, right?"

"Uh-huh!" Himashi nodded. "But, me and Ritchie talked, and we wanted to give it a try after that little tournament!"

Ritchie shoved his hands in his pockets. "Well, you know those symbols I showed you back during the tournament?"

"The Johto Frontier Symbols, yeah," Ash said with a nod.

"Well, Himashi pointed it out to me later, but you've got a full set from Kanto. If you're here, other good battlers are gonna be here. It'll be a good challenge!"

"I don't have any frontier symbols," Himashi admitted. "But, I do have all the gym badges for Kanto! I just… always kept missing the conference opening date! Well, until Ritchie came with me."

"Well, you lucked out, didn't you?" Ash said with a smile. He looked to Ritchie, then. "If you're looking to measure up, I'm happy to test you."

Himashi huffed, tugging on Ash's sleeve. "Your opponent is me first!"

"Don't worry! I'll give you a good battle, too!"

She let go of his shirt, letting out a happy huff. "That's all I want. No hard feelings between any of us! I'm just happy to battle you, Ash!"

Startling by the sincerely of her words, Ash scratched his cheek. "Aw, shucks! You're about as sweet as a skitty!" he said with a laugh.

With that, Himashi was over the moon. She bound out of her seat, shaking Ritchie's shoulder. "Did you hear that! Did you hear that?! He said I'm sweet as a skitty!"

"Himashi, if you keep shaking me, I'm gonna vomit!" Ritchie whined.

"Oops, sorry!"

* * *

 **"** **And now, it's time for our opening battle of the third round of the Indigo League,"** the announcer boomed over the loudspeakers. **"With Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town, facing off against Himashi Sierra, from Littleroot Town! This will be a three on three battle, taking place on the Ice Field! Substitutions are allowed for both trainers!"**

Pikachu hopped atop the railing of his trainer's platform, only to retreat to the elevation beside Ash when the cool railing chilled his toes. Being this close to the frosty battlefield, unfortunately, had its downsides.

"Ash!" The twin-tailed girl waved from the other side of the stadium, happy as could be. Sparkles sat on her shoulder, grooming herself and adjusting her ribbon. She wasn't battling this time, but she was in front of an audience nonetheless!

Even if she was just a yellow speck from the stands, she was going to be a damn cute speck.

Ash stood beside his own companion, adjusting the brim of his cap. He waved with his free hand. "Hey, Himashi! This is the first time we've had a one-on-one battle; let's make it a great one, huh?"

"For sure! Ya better not lose, uh-huh!" She squealed, still waving. An odd thing to say to one's opponent, but then again, Himashi was the definition of odd.

"Uh… Yeah? I won't!" Ash hesitated, taken aback. That _was_ an odd thing to say, but, that said, he planned on winning, anyway!

The referee, ignoring the ongoing conversation, raised a hand. "Begin!"

"I'm not goin' easy on you, though!" Himashi continued. "I'll battle like the universe depends on it! First up is my rock-solid support - gooo, Ronno!" She chucked a pokeball, a large, sturdy Aggron appearing from the flash of light.

"An Aggron…" Ash smiled. "Then, I'll come out swinging with a heavy hitter of my own!" He grabbed a pokeball from his belt, chucking it forward. "Tyranitar, you're up first!"

The Armor pokemon stomped onto the ice, rattling it with a loud roar.

 **"** **The match will start with Himashi's Aggron against Ash's Tyranitar! Talk about a clash of titans!"**

"Hope you don't mind if I go first," Ash taunted, resting a fist on each of his hips.

Himashi waved. "Bring it, uh-huh!"

"You asked for it… Tyranitar, use Dark Pulse!"

Tyranitar threw his head forward, launching a flurry of violet rings at Aggron.

"Ronno, hit that Dark Pulse with Surf!"

"Aaaag…" The Aggron ducked his head, a blue ball of light forming between his steel horns. He jerked his head back and then forward, releasing a rushing wave of water in Dark Pulse's path.

Himashi could only hope that once the dark-type move hit something, it would lose effect. Unless a Dark Pulse could go through anything? That would be bad. But, at least the move wasn't very effective against a steel type, right?

Dark Pulse crashed into the coming wave of Surf, blasting a hole through the middle. Surf, meanwhile, crashed down on either side of the Armor pokemon.

Tyranitar tensed, relieved when it amounted to little more than puddles at his feet.

"Surf… That could be bad," Ash muttered. Tyranitar was hardy, but in the long run, it could be an issue. "Well, the best defense is a good offense. Dragon Claw!"

Tyranitar followed Dark Pulse, charging across the ice, gaining momentum as he went, thanks to the slick surface below. A bright blue glow captured his nails, forming three extended claws on the end of each arm.

"Grooohn…!" Ronno shook his head after the Dark Pulse hit, in an attempt to fend off the evil aura. Before he knew it, the other rocky reptilian was coming at him with a Dragon Claw.

"Ronno, duck an' get 'im with Iron Head, uh-huh!" Himashi shouted, face scrunched with intensity.

Ronno did just so; while the Dragon Claw swiped at his steel body, he slammed his hardened head into Tyranitar's lower jaw.

The rock type groaned, stumbling back from the super-effective move.

"Ouch," Ash winced. "Hang in there! Go for another Dragon Claw!"

Tyranitar continued to hold his head, attempting to right his footing.

"Looks like he flinched…" Ash frowned. "But, it's not over yet!"

Sparkles, meanwhile, gripped at her trainer's shoulder, wide eyes watching the battle. This was getting good!

Himashi quickly decided she'd take the chance while Tyranitar was flinching. She'd use what worked the first time, and try for the same results! "Iron Head, go for another Iron Head!"

"Groooar!" Again, Ronno's head glowed with a metallic shine, and this time, he charged to slam into Tyranitar's belly.

"We don't wanna take another one of those… Dragon Claw!"

Tyranitar'd had a moment to recover, now. He raised his arms, waiting for his opponent to draw near.

The moment came, and he struck, slamming artificial claws into Aggron's skull.

Momentum won out, though, and Aggron pushed Tyranitar across the ice, making for an easy glide to the end of the field. The rock type roared, smashing his claws down upon Aggron's shoulder.

Explosive recoil put distance between the two, once more. Tyranitar, though, was cornered at the edge of the ring.

"You're doing great, Tyranitar," Ash encouraged. "But, Aggron's got a bit more armor 'n muscle… We're gonna have to use our heads."

* * *

"Looks like they're starting out strong! How intense." Dawn leaned forward in her seat.

"Yeah. But, I wonder what that's going to mean for Ash." Brock frowned. "They look even, but…"

"Tyranitar's losing ground," Misty finished. "If he keeps the brute force up, it could be bad."

Ritchie's eyes flicked between the two opponents, and their trainers. "It could definitely be a problem. But, I think Ash knows that. If he's the trainer I think he is, he'll come up with something."

"What about Himashi?" Misty leaned towards the auburn-haired teen. "Won't she catch on?"

Ritchie instinctively recoiled, leaning back into his seat; Misty still gave him the creeps. "Himashi's really strong… But, I don't think she thinks the way Ash does. For now, she doesn't need to. She still has the type advantage."

"That's never held Ash back all too much," Brock quipped.

* * *

Those Dragon Claws, however dull on his steel frame, were starting to whittle at Ronno's energy. But, he was far from done with this battle.

The distance between them would make Iron Head too slow, Himashi figured. Ronno was a big, bulky guy- his physical defense was great, but speed? Not so much.

"Ronno, use Surf!"

The Aggron unleashed another powerful wave from between his horns, this time aimed directly at Tyranitar.

"Uh-oh," Ash swallowed. Dark Pulse wouldn't likely shoot that down without a head-start; they needed another way to block. But, there weren't any outcrops larger than Tyranitar, naturally, on the ice, and only water laid beneath-

There was a glint in Ash's eye.

"Use Dark Pulse on the ice, between you and Aggron!"

Tyranitar was not one to doubt his trainer - the boy who'd hatched and raised him. He fired a continuous stream of destruction with haste, sweeping across the frozen arena.

Loud explosions and shattered ice filled the air, and smoke filled the air between the pokemon.

But, Surf never came.

 **"** **What's this!? Tyranitar has obscured the field, and has somehow stopped Surf!"**

"Wait for it," Ash spoke with confidence.

The smoke did dwindle, and all could be seen. An entire strip of ice had been blown apart in the middle of the ring! Huge slabs of ice floated lopsided in the moat, lathered with the brine of Surf.

 **"** **It seems Ash and Tyranitar blew up the ice to serve as a shield!"**

"Whoooooooa!" Himashi's jaw fell. That was so cool!

Annoyed, Sparkles, whapped her trainer on the cheek. "Pika pika pikachu! Pika!" This was no time to be impressed! What happened to battling like the universe depended on it!?

"Ah, you're right, Sparkles!" Himashi pat her cheeks. Back to the battle!

"How do ya like that? It's gonna take more than brute force to beat us," Ash boasted. It was time to take momentum back. "Now that we can't reach you anyway… Use Stone Edge!"

Tyranitar roared, slamming a fist into the ice, spurring a crack. The battlefield below rumbled, and Aggron would soon find himself ambushed; huge, pointed slabs of stone would jut up from underwater, smashing right through the ice. If Aggron wasn't careful, he'd suffer the same fate.

"Ronno, Iron Head on them rocks!" Himashi yelled, pumping her fists into the air.

That didn't work out, though - a stone pillar erupted below him, slamming Aggron in his metal-plated stomach, making him stumble backwards on the ice.

"Oooh. Or not, I guess. Ronno, you're okay, right!?" She called out to him, and he grunted in response. "You're really impressive, Ash, uh-huh! But, we're not done yet!" Himashi pointed towards Tyranitar. "Okay, Fire Blast 'em!"

First taking a deep breath in, Ronno blew out a big star-shaped blast of fire at Tyranitar. "Grooohn!"

"Ahaha, pretty awesome, huh?" Ash brushed his finger over his nose. Himashi was just buffing his ego, now.

"Pikapi," Pikachu butted in, tugging Ash's pant leg. That _had_ been impressive, but Ash getting overconfident was never a good thing.

"I know, don't sweat it. I'm keeping my eye on 'em!"

Just in time to hear Himashi call for a Fire Blast, even.

"Use Hyper Beam!"

"Argh!" The rock type threw his head forward, launching a booming blast of energy into the flames. Tyranitar's recoil was eased by the slippery ice, and the flames parted by the burst of energy.

"Well, we steered clear of that… But, maybe it's time for a change in strategy. Tyranitar, return!"

An outstretched pokeball recalled the tired pokemon, and another capsule replaced it.

"Lapras, it's your turn!"

Lapras was summoned onto the ice, staring down Aggron.

 **"** **Ash has swapped Tyranitar for Lapras; a pokemon much better suited for the ice field! How will Himashi respond to this turn of events!?"**

"How will she? Well, we'll see," Himashi thought aloud. "Ronno, hang in there!"

The Aggron slapped his tail on the ground and grunted, ready to go.

Himashi, meanwhile, thought between each of his moves for the better choice. Surf and Earthquake wouldn't do much damage, and it was too far away to get a solid Iron Head in. So, for the part ice-type Lapras…

"Ronno, Fire Blast, uh-huh!"

Ronno took a deep breath in and exhaled another large star-like stream of fire.

"Use Surf," Ash countered.

A high-pitched howl summoned a tidal wave below Lapras, hoisting her above the field. The rolling Surf carried her forward, and above Fire Blast.

The burst of flames didn't go without leaving its mark, though; the intense heat blasted through the center of the wave, evaporating it within seconds. Lapras felt a brief discomfort from the heat, before what was left of her momentum chucked her towards Aggron.

"Now, latch on, with Body Slam!"

"Alright!" Himashi cheered. Just what she was hoping for - Lapras went and got close all on its own! "Iron Head on her tummy, Ronno!"

"Grahhh…!" Ronno bent his knees, bracing for impact, then sprung up to slam his head into the water pokemon's soft belly - careful, though, not to pierce it with his sharp horns. That would be… bad. Really bad.

"Shoot," Ash hissed. He could see where this was going. "Hang in there, and grab on!"

A devastating strike knocked the wind out of Lapras, forcing out a pained howl.

But, the Transport pokemon wouldn't go down so easily. She threw her large flippers forward, wrapping the wide limbs around Aggron's arms.

"Ronno, Fire Bl- Ah! Thunderbolt!?" Himashi recoiled, forced to watch the attack unfold.

A high-pitched wail was drowned out by crackling flashes of light coursing through Aggron.

Himashi could only watch as Ronno was electrocuted like a fork in a wet toaster. She didn't know that Lapras could even learn electric type moves!

Aggron collapsed, unconscious, ice splitting beneath his heavy form.

The referee raised a flag. "Aggron is unable to battle! Victory for the red trainer!"

 **"** **And, Aggron is out, after a deadly, point-blank Thunderbolt! Himashi is now left with two pokemon!"**

"Aaah… Ronno, return!" Himashi held out his pokeball, calling him back with a flash of red light. She held the ball out in front of her, beaming. "Ya did good, uh-huh!"

"Great job, Lapras!" Ash, meanwhile, flashed a thumbs-up to his companion, who crooned in return. "Bring it on, Himashi! I know there's more where that came from!"

"For sure, uh-huh!" Himashi pulled out another pokeball and gave it a quick peck before throwing it. "Let's go, Grassy!"

A Sceptile appeared on the battlefield from within the red light. Consequently, a Sceptile appeared on Himashi's end of the stadium's large scoreboard.

The ranger threw a hand out. "Start off with a Giga Drain, uh-huh!"

Glowing vines stretched out from the bulbs on Sceptile's back, reaching towards Lapras to absorb her energy.

The vines latched to Lapras, surrounding her in a vibrant green glow as his energy was sapped away.

She cried in pain, throwing her head about. This was really irritating!

"Hang in there," Ash encouraged. "Ice Beam!"

As much as the super-effective move hurt, she endured, firing a freezing beam from her mouth in return.

The freezing beam hit the grass type hard, bringing him down to one knee.

 _'_ _Darn, I knew he'd use Ice Beam!'_ Himashi grimaced. She readied Sceptile's pokeball to call him back, but she noticed that he wasn't on the floor, quite yet.

The reptilian had stubbornly held onto his last bit of energy, refusing to get done in by just one move. He wasn't Hima's first trained pokemon for nothing!

"Okay, Grassy, get another Giga Drain in!"

"Sceptiiiiile!" Grassy let out his glowing vines again, the rest of his body captured in a green glow, with them.

"Ah!" Himashi gasped, holding ah and to her mouth. "That's right, Overgrow!"

"Uh-oh," Ash swallowed. If Lapras took a boosted Giga Drain…

"Into the water!"

Lapras slid forward with ease, diving into the moat that divided the ice.

Giga Drain's tendrils crashed against the surface, spraying a cold mist. Lapras had escaped.

"Now, Ice Shard!"

A chunk of ice shot out of the water towards Sceptile.

"Dodge it!" Himashi shouted.

Sceptile hopped clean out of the attack's range, landing atop one of the remainders of Stone Edge.

"Thunderbolt!" Ash threw a hand out.

Lapras' horn emerged from the water, launching a current at Sceptile.

The Forest pokemon escaped with another leap, soaring high above the water.

"Now's our chance," Ash prompted. "Ice Beam!"

Lapras emerged with a splash, firing a freezing ray into the sky.

"Look out, Grassy!" Himashi gasped, clutching a fist to her chest. "Giga Drain!"

Sceptile came within inches of an icy defeat, spinning out of harm's way. Lapras was safely within his sights now, even as he fell. "Tile!" He shrieked, launching his parasitic rays.

They wrapped around Lapras, painfully draining the Transport pokemon.

 **"** **Oooh! Just moments ago, it seemed as if Sceptile was on the brink of defeat! But, Sceptile's speed is giving Ash and Lapras a run for their money!"**

"You're telling me…" Ash grit his teeth, watching Lapras be sapped of her strength. When she was finally shown mercy, she huffed, head hanging. It was obvious that the loyal pokemon was doing her best to hold it together under pressure.

"Lapras, return!" Ash held out the water type's pokeball, calling her back. He beamed at the pokeball held up to his chest. "You already got us our first win of this match; I'm proud of you. Let the rest of us take over from here while you rest!"

Ash clasped Lapras to his belt, chucking another pokeball overhand. "Tyranitar, you're back in!"

Lapras stomped on the ice, rejuvenated from his time out. He roared loudly, ready for more.

 **"** **Ash has made yet another switch! But, will the bulky rock type Tyranitar be a match for Himashi's speedy Sceptile!?"**

"Wait and see," Ash spoke under his breath. "Tyranitar, show us your Sand Stream ability!"

"Ragh!" Tyranitar stomped his foot. Suddenly, gravelly gusts sprayed from the many holes in his armor, kicking up a raging cloud of dust and sand. The icy field was quickly obscured.

* * *

"That's weird." Ritchie's nose scrunched. "Cruise doesn't do that."

"Cruise?" Brock quirked a brow. "...Oh, that was your Pupitar, right?"

"Tyranitar, now," he corrected. "Usually, Sand Stream activates right at the beginning of a battle. But, it didn't show it off at all when the match started. I wonder why it waited until now?"

"Shouldn't you know, Brock?" Misty butted in. "You were the rock type expert."

The man shrugged. "I've used Sandstorm, but never Sand Stream. But, it is supposed to occur right at the start of a battle."

"Ash filled me in, about that!" Dawn chimed. "He said that it usually did, when he caught Tyranitar, but he taught him to use it only upon command, so it wouldn't be inconvenient for them! It was part of their private training routine."

"Hmm." Brock hummed. "It would've had no benefits against Aggron, since, being rock types, they're both immune to Sandstorms. Saving it for an opponent that's vulnerable was a smart move; particularly a faster one that they can't afford to take hits from, like Sceptile."

"I wonder how Himashi'll handle that?" Misty laid her chin in her palm.

* * *

"Darn, we can't see a thing…" Himashi pouted. "Grassy, Giga Drain!"

Sceptile did his best not to squint as he was barraged with coarse sand. He could vaguely make out Tyranitar's pale green shape. "Tile!" He roared, firing the grass-type move, once more.

"Block it, by breaking Stone Edge!" Ash ordered.

"Tar!" Tyranitar roared, smashing his gargantuan tail into a nearby pillar, smashing it to pieces. Jagged boulders flew towards Sceptile, intercepting Giga Drain.

"Dodge that, and use Leaf Blade!" Himashi countered.

Sceptile barely ducked the incoming rocks, charging into the storm to slice Tyranitar with the glowing sickles on each of his forearms.

"Counter it, with Dragon Claw!" Ash threw a hand out, tightly closing his fist.

Unlike his reptilian opponent, Tyranitar was oh-so-used to his dusty surroundings, and striking back was no issue. Teal claws smashed into Leaf Blade, holding steady against the super-effective move. His arm tensed, shoving past Grassy's defenses.

A sudden arc of teal slipped out of the dust clouds for the audience to see.

"This looks like it'll be tough, uh-huh…" Himashi's brows knit low. "Keep attackin'!"

Sceptile dropped to all fours, ignoring the sting of several slashes grazing his side. He quickly launched a counterattack, Leaf Blade slicing across Tyranitar's torso. He heard the Armor pokemon roar in pain, and didn't relent. A Leaf Blade slashed across his forehead, and another across his side.

The Armor pokemon groaned, stumbling back. He felt fortunate that his tough hide protected him from the worst.

 **"** **It looks like a fierce battle is unfolding inside that Sandstorm!"** The announcer boomed, only able to see what the audience could; glimmers of emerald crackling from the debris. **"How long can Tyranitar hold up against what could only be a persistent assault!?"**

"Long enough," Ash answered. "You can handle it! Dragon Claw!"

The hurting rock type growled, lunging forward. "Gahr!"

"Achk!" Sceptile gagged, pin-eyed, as a gargantuan set of claws smashed into his gut. The slash followed through, launching the grass type with such ferocity that he smashed into a stone pillar, leaving it to crumble and cover him in debris.

Stones and dust flew out of the peak of the storm, earning gasps from the audience.

 **"** **We can't quite see what's going on inside, but that was surely a display of power like few we've seen! I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I'd love to see the action up-close!"**

"That's bad," the ranger swallowed. "...Hey, Grassy! You alright!?"

"Scep..." The pokemon hissed, shrugging off a boulder. "Tile!"

"Good on ya! Now, use Screech!"

An ear-splitting shriek rang out from within the clouds; thankfully for Pikachu and Sparkles, the rushing sand mostly drowned it out. Their ears pinned back in response, regardless.

Tyranitar whined, covering his ears. In that moment, he was effectively defenseless.

"Good!" Himashi praised. "Leaf Blade!"

Ash swallowed. "We can't afford that… Hey, Tyranitar! Push off one of the stones and slide!"

The frightening glimmer of Leaf Blade drew near, startling Tyranitar. He did as told, shoving against the sharp stone. Even while coated by sand, the slick ice allowed the Armor pokemon to slide out of Leaf Blade's range.

Sceptile only sliced through the last of the pillars on Ash's end of the field. He jerked his head left and right, eager to hunt down his larger opponent. He hissed at the roughness of the wind, falling vulnerable before spotting Tyranitar again. "Tile! He roared, lunging once more.

Pikachu's ear flickered from the pokemon's cry, which caught Ash's attention. "Crap… Tyranitar! Stone Edge! Right in front of you!" Ash called, punching downward.

Tyranitar did just as told, striking the ice.

Sceptile howled, knocked breathless by a sharp pillar smashing into his stomach, sending him soaring above Sandstorm.

 **"** **Sceptile has briefly resurfaced above the storm, and seems to be in pain!"**

Another emerald aura from within confirmed it.

"Oh, crud… Grassy!" Himashi gasped, cupping her face. "That's gotta be Overgrow again… He's in trouble!" Sweat trickled down her cheek, dark brows knit low. "Use Solarbeam, uh-huh!"

Sceptile leaned forward onto all fours, the bulbs on his back beginning to glow. Tiny particles of sunlight gathered upon Sceptile, at a remarkably slow pace.

"Nothing's happening…" Ash blinked. "Right! It must be tough to charge up sunlight in the middle of that sandstorm. Now's our chance!" Ash smirked, throwing an open hand forward. "Tyranitar, Hyper Beam, now!"

Tyranitar threw his head forward, blasting through the dust with a booming stream of violet.

"Eh!? C'mon, grassy!" Himashi trembled, shaking her fists.

The will to fire finally came to Sceptile - but, it was a moment too late. Just as he opened his mouth, a colossal blast slammed into his body.

A marvelous black explosion burst through Sandstorm, tearing the weather effect in two.

Sceptile, meanwhile, was launched out of the fray, sent flying into the stadium wall behind Himashi. Embedded in the concrete, he lay unconscious.

"Grassy!" Himashi gasped, hands held to her face.

The referee turned, raising his red flag. "Victory for the red trainer! Sceptile is unable to battle!"

"Poor Grassy…" Himashi recalled her partner to her pokeball. "You almost had 'em- you did great, uh-huh!"

"Phew," Ash breathed a sigh of relief. That'd been a close one. "Great job, Tyranitar!"

Now visible, Tyranitar raised his head, answering with a weak cry. He'd won, but exhaustion was the price. Hunched over, he struggled to regain his breath.

"You're really feeling it, huh... Alright, Tyranitar, return!" Ash recalled the rock type.

"I choose you, Snorlax!"

"Laaaaax." Snorlax yawned, laying down upon the fractured ice. Sandstorm had completely dissipated, by now.

 **"** **Ash has switched out his tiring Tyranitar, who's already fought two battles, for Snorlax! And, Himashi is down to one pokemon, to Ash's three. Will she stage a fierce comeback!? Or, will her opponent keep his momentum and claim a decisive victory!?"**

* * *

"Whoo! Go, Tyranitar! Go, Ash!" Dawn hollered, pumping her fists.

"That was some bad luck, with Solarbeam," Brock mused.

"I hope Himashi's not too discouraged. It's a great battle and all, but Ash is giving them a beating." Misty brushed one of her orange locks away from her cheek.

"Aren't you guys here to root for Ash?" Ritchie tilted his head. "But, nah, she'll be fine. If I know her, she's having too much fun to care.

"Of course, we are! What kind of question is that?" Misty defended, relenting when Ritchie flinched.

He didn't want his feet stepped on, again.

* * *

"This is lookin' bad for us, huh?" Himashi looked to Sparkles with a bittersweet smile. She did want Ash to win, but… To not be able to beat a single one of his pokemon…

Sparkles frowned, patting her trainer with her tail. Now wasn't the time to give in!

Suddenly, an excited grin spread across Himashi's face. It just went to show just how good her idol was, after all! So of course, she was having a blast! With a big windup, she chucked her final pokeball onto the field.

"Awright, Flamina! It's on you, now!"

"Aaaape!" An Infernape was summoned, leaning forward on her fists.

Sparkles shrugged. That was a quick change in mood.

"An Infernape…!" Ash grinned. On its face, this looked like an awful match-up; but, for Ash, this only made things more exciting.

"Cloooose Combat!" Himashi yelled, punching the air.

Flamina quickly closed in, pummeling Snorlax's huge belly with fierce blows. The pokemon groaned in pain, irritated by the barrage. But, he wasn't nearly fast enough to outmaneuver Infernape.

But, Close Combat did give them an opening.

"Use Ice Punch!"

"Lax!" Snorlax swung a fist coated in frost in an uppercut, aiming towards Infernape's gut.

"Ape!" The uppercut knocked the wind out of Flamina, sending her flying backwards across the field - the pain was more from the direct hit than the type of the move. She staggered before standing back up, awaiting her trainer's next command.

"Fire Blast, uh-huh!" Himashi thrust another punch in the air, almost causing Sparkles to lose her footing on her shoulders.

"Aaaape!" She bellowed out a huge stream of fire that branched out into a star shape, straight at Snorlax.

It crashed into Snorlax, barraging it with sizzling heat. The pokemon grumbled, scratching his belly. The assault did feel rather uncomfortable, even if his ability cut the damage roughly in half.

"He's holding, but that won't work for long," Ash thought aloud. Pikachu nodded along in agreement.

"Hey, Snorlax! Use Body Slam on the ice!"

The gargantuan pokemon jumped into the air, coming back down with what could only be described as thunderous force. Snorlax's weight crashed onto and through the ice, shattering the thick frozen layer with ease. The water inside the ring rippled, and the ground below even trembled.

Snorlax was now mostly submerged in icy, sandy water. Surprisingly, he seemed content.

 _'_ _What's Ash planning?'_ Knowing him, he probably had some sort of trick up his sleeve, but Himashi couldn't figure it out. Well, best to worry about the here and now!

"Flamina, Thunderpunch the water!"

"Aaaape!" The monkey thrust a crackling fist at the water.

Electricity coursed through the icy water, sending many volts of electricity through Snorlax. The giant cried, unable to resist the same way he buffered the heat or cold.

"Crap… That was smart." Ash grimaced. "Snorlax, use Shadow Ball!"

Luckily, Snorlax was ever-hardy. He fired a large, ghoulish blast from his mouth.

In Ash's mind, this was a win-win; if it hit, they'd do damage, and if it missed, the ice would be destabilized or even shattered below Infernape. This was a gamble he was willing to take.

"Use Fire Blast to slow it down!"

Flamina aimed another Fire Blast, at the Shadow Ball this time, causing a big explosion that made waves in the icy water. She struggled to keep from slipping off the slab of ice she was standing on, managing to hold on by gripping at the edge with her long arms.

"Infernape's tough," Ash thought aloud. But, she seemed desperate to hold onto the ice. And, that gave him an idea. "Hey, Snorlax, swim on under the ice, alright?"

"Snorrr!" Snorlax dove into the slush, swimming beneath the broken surface and around slabs of rock. Thick Fat guarded him from the chilling temperatures, and huge, full lungs allowed him to stay submerged.

"It might surprise you, but Snorlax is a great swimmer! I learned that a few years ago, in Johto." Ash boasted, tipping his cap. With its incredible lungs, he had a bit of time to stall, and to try to goad a response from Himashi, to boot.

Flamina's slab of ice was now wobbling around from Snorlax's dive; she could slip, any second now.

"Thunderpunch the water again!"

Flamina gripped tighter with her free hand, the other forming electricity. Her fist flew towards the water, once more.

"Not again," Ash hissed. "Ice Punch, right on up!"

Infernape had gone for the water again, but not before the ice below her began to rise and split. With a booming roar, a frozen fist smashed through the stage, smashing the ice to pieces.

"Ah! Too late!" Himashi gasped.

Flamina was equally shocked, having been suddenly flung up in the air by the chunk of ice below.

Himashi was starting to panic. "Um, um…"

While the trainer was floundering, Flamina fell into the icy water with a splash. At least its flames weren't like Charizard's - Infernape's flame never goes out, so she'd be okay - but the monkey never learned how to swim!

And, Thunderpunch wouldn't work this time; Flamina'd get shocked, too.

Meanwhile, the Infernape flailed her arms around in the attempt to push herself above the water - she managed to poke her head out, at least.

Ash hesitated, his breath caught as he watched the pokemon struggle. "Snorlax, go and help-"

Flustered, Himashi mimicked a doggy paddle. "Flamina, get to the edge of the ice! Like this!"

Flamina tried what her trainer was doing, and somehow managed to hold to what was left of the field. Though, she tried to climb up, she kept slipping.

Ash felt a wave of relief. "Alright… Since, Flamina's alright… Snorlax, let's blow this out of the water! Hyper Beam!"

Snorlax paid no heed to Ash's pun, opening his mouth wide. Violet energy formed before him, gathering into a bubbling orb of energy. With a toss of the normal type's head, a burst of power fired across the stage, with Flamina squarely in its sights.

"Flamina, watch out-!"

Just when she'd managed to get herself up on the ice, she looked behind and saw the big blast coming right at her!

Before she knew it, the Hyper Beam slammed her right into the stadium wall.

Gasps in the audience would be heard, if not for the explosive power of Hyper Beam deafening everything else. The referee watched the wreckage carefully, walking over to get a better look at Flamina, once the dust had settled.

"Infernape is unable to battle, leaving the green trainer with no pokemon remaining! Ash and Snorlax win the match!"

"Alright!" Great job, Snorlax!" Ash addressed the normal type… Who'd fallen back into slumber atop the slushy waters, as soon as the verdict of the match was called.

The trainer chuckled, recalling the pokemon. "You've definitely earned a nap."

Himashi, meanwhile, rushed to Infernape's side, crouching by her. She recalled the pokemon to her pokeball. "Ya did good, uh-huh! I might wanna teach ya how t'swim, though."

After sticking Flamina's pokeball in her bag, Himashi put her hands on her hips and let out a low whistle. "Whee-ee, that was tough stuff!" She waved at Ash from her side of the battlefield. "That's Ash for ya! I knew you'd win! Didn't think it'd be 3-0, though, uh-huh! Bye!"

Ash couldn't quite hear her from the edge of the stadium, but he waved, all the same. "See ya!"

* * *

"Was it this way? Or, to the right? I know they had concessions off to the right, so it's probably that way…" The dark-haired ranger drooled at the idea of snagging a few donuts, before a tail whacked her in the face.

"Pikachu," Sparkles scolded, giving her trainer a disappointed look. She'd just stuffed her face with sweets less than an hour ago, honestly!

"Alright, alright," Himashi huffed. "I think it was down the hall…" She gave the other path one last heartbroken look before skipping off down the perimeter of the stadium.

"Thank you, Nurse Joy!"

Himashi's ears perked at that familiar voice, bringing her to none other than Ash, who stood at a small counter towards the end of the hall.

The Pallet trainer was handed three pokeballs, clipping them to his belt. "...Oh, Himashi!" Ash spotted his opponent and grinned, walking over. "Hey, great battle! You made me work for that one." Now that he had the chance, he extended his hand to shake.

"Ash!" When presented with his hand out to shake, Himashi just… stared at it. Looking frantically between his face and his hand, she finally reached out, hesitating a bit. Then, with a serious expression, she grasped his hand and shook it stiffly, like a robot. "I, uh… I really…"

"Uh, you okay?" Ash awkwardly rubbed his neck. "If it's about the battle, you really didn't…"

"You're my favorite-"

Sparkles promptly whacked her trainer on the back of the head.

Startled, Himashi shook her head. "You're my favorite trainer, uh-huh!"

"Your favorite…?"

"Pika?" Pikachu tilted his head.

"Oh!" Ash slid his hands into his pockets, swallowing to regain his will to speak. "Look, if you're paddlin' up the creek I think you are, here, this Slowpoke's found a Shellder."

Besides, he didn't need anything else like this after Giselle.

"Aaaaah!" Himashi waved her arms around, stumbling to correct herself. "I just mean, I'm a big fan of yours! So, I'm really happy I got to battle you, uh-huh! And I got to see you win right up close, so, like, double bonus, y'know?" She linked her arms behind her back. "I, uh, so… Good luck in the rest of the tournament! I really, really, really hope you win, uh-huh!"

Sparkles huffed, shaking her head. What a close call.

"Uh, right…" Ash forced a laugh. Either he'd been right, and let her off the hook, or he'd made a fool out of himself, there. But, that didn't seem to matter, now. "Well, thanks, then! I'm glad ya had fun. I know I did!"

He could get used to having fans, probably. But he hoped he didn't have to repeat this scenario, too often.

"As for winning…" Ash nudged up the brim of his cap, cupping Pikachu's cheek. "No need to worry. We plan on it!" He flashed his signature grin, before another thought occurred.

"But, you should probably spend some time rooting for our friend Ritchie."

"A-ahh, of course!" The ranger sputtered. "I mean, I want him to do good, too, uh-huh!"

Ash laughed, naturally, this time. "Don't worry! I won't snitch on you. Speaking of that, we should probably go catch up with him, and the others. We've kept 'em waiting, long enough!"

"Right!" Himashi beamed, before she overheard Nurse Joy calling her. "Just let me grab my pokemon, and I'll be right with you!"

* * *

Ash and Himashi found their way to the outside of the stadium, Pikachu and Sparkles chattering from each of their shoulders. The trainers peered left and right, tipping their caps for a better view.

"Aaaash! Himashi!" A familiar voice called out; it was Ritchie! And, the rest of the gang had tagged along with him!

"Ritchie!" Ash called out, sprinting over, carefully dodging any other bystander that came close to colliding with him. He stopped in front of his rival, bearing a grin. "Whaddya think?"

"It was awesome! You both were great." Ritchie placed a hand on each of their free shoulders.

"I thought so, uh-huh!" Himashi chimed, spinning on her heel once her companion let go. Poor Sparkles had to hold on for the ride. "Ash was incredible!"

"Aw, c'mon." Ash rubbed the back of his head, growing sheepish.

"Don't play yourself down!" Misty flashed a smile at the twin-tailed trainer. "I think that was the best match I've seen so far!"

"Yeah, no offense, a lot of the other matches've been duds." Max chimed in.

"Ditto," Koda agreed.

"Max? Koda? When'd you guys get here?" Ash tilted his head.

"Well, just like you, I won my match! So far, it's kind of a cakewalk."

"Don't worry. It'll get harder," Ash teased. "Misty's right; you were the first real challenge I've had!" Ash turned to Himashi, flashing a grin.

"Aw, shucks!"

"You were both fun to watch! Tyranitar battling Sceptile…." Dawn started, trailing off mid-sentence. Her gaze had gone elsewhere.

"Dawn?" Brock tapped her shoulder.

Ritchie blinked, but paid her no mind. "I'd love to chat, but I've got a battle coming up in a few minutes! I'll catch you guys later!" With that, he turned to rush back towards one of the arenas.

"We'll be right with you!" Ash promised, waving his friends off. "Let's hurry and get the good seats."

"Running off so soon?"

Ash stopped in his tracks. Turning, he quickly understood why Dawn had done quiet.

A young man stood before them, clad in traditional feudal armor, a sword's sheath strapped to his side. Eyes as dark as coal met the trainer from Pallet's, a smirk on the man's lips.

"Samurai!"


	79. At Swords' Points

An explicit tension in the air silenced the group. Ash clenched his fists, eyes locked on the disciplined warrior. Finally, he smiled. "I was wondering when I'd run into you, here. Didn't think you'd get out of facing me, did ya?"

"It's not like you to act like we're enemies, Ash." Samurai smirked. "And, it's been months since I've seen you."

"Just setting the mood." Ash grinned.

Misty blanched, pointing a finger. "I remember you! You were that bug type trainer who attacked us in the forest. But, that was a lot more than a couple months ago…"

"Attacked you?" Brock quirked a brow. He didn't remember this guy at all. "Not to be rude, but who are you, exactly?"

"Forgive me. I am Samurai!" Wooden sandals clacked against the pavement as he took a dramatic stance, his hand hovering over the sheath of his blade. "A bug type trainer who recently came out of retirement, to test his might at the Indigo League Conference!"

"Why is everyone here so cheesy?" Koda scoffed, wrinkling his nose.

"This is a pokemon league, not a fight to the death," Max agreed.

"It's a little thing called 'style!'" Dawn defended, clasping her hands. "It's good to see you, again! I knew you'd be here to compete!" The fact that her speech had inspired a fellow trainer to climb the plateau made her heart swell with pride.

"It's good to see you again, Ash, Misty, Dawn." He ignored Max and Koda. "And, Dawn, I have you to thank for bringing me here! I'm confident I'm not the only one who's improved."

"Not at all!" Dawn boasted, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Ash and I have powered up!"

"Yeah, so watch out!" Ash teased, lifting the brim of his cap.

"Pika-chu!" Pikachu goaded as well, smiling wide at their potential opponent.

"I'm happy to hear that." Samurai reached low, drawing his blade from his hip, pointing it squarely at Ash. "...Because you are my next opponent!"

"Hey, watch where you point that thing!" Brock blurted, throwing a hand defensively on Ash's shoulder.

"Are you nuts!?" Max blurted, even as he hid behind May.

"I am!?" Ash blurted, pointing towards himself.

"Pika!?" Pikachu gawked.

"No way!" Dawn cooed.

"You are." Samurai held his weapon steady, ignoring the worried shouts and hushed whispers of passersby. "I already drew my lot, and I was fortunate enough to have you selected as my opponent! Your fortune, however, isn't so great."

Ash smirked, suppressing any uncomfortable feelings he had with the blade. He had to look cool here. "In that case, I won't disappoint you!" He reached for his own belt, drawing a pokeball to point towards Samurai, passing his blade.

"Oooh, hold still, hold still!" May cooed, sliding over towards Ash and Samurai, her index and pointer fingers held in front of one eye. "Because it's time for a long-awaited return of May's Expeditions!" She winked, turning her 'camera' between Ash and Samurai.

"Today, at the Indigo League Conference, we're bearing witness to a burning rivalry between two old friends, pitted together in a battle to decide who gets to move on towards the gold!" She narrated with zeal, hopping back and forth for different angles. "The bug trainer, Samurai, points a shimmering sword towards his opponent, Ash Ketchum, but he shows no sign of fear! This is bound to be a match for the ages!"

Ash chuckled, dropping his dramatic act. "I haven't seen _that_ in a while…" He blinked, then pointed at Samurai. "Hold on! How come you waited so long to tell me that we're paired up in the next round!?"

The trainer sheathed his sword, folding his arms. "I was withholding it for dramatic effect."

The rest of the group nearly collapsed in exasperation.

"I swear, all you _know_ is drama." Misty sighed, resting her hands on her hips.

"It's a way of life. Anyway," he turned to Ash, "our match is tomorrow. So, be prepared."

"Nothing to worry about." Ash smiled, brushing his thumb over his nose. "See you then."

"Until then." Samurai turned, disappearing into a crowd. "Farewell."

"Oh, excuse- get out of the way!" May barked, shoving past a pedestrian to snap a few more imaginary shots of the man's retreat. "What a dramatic exit~! The atmosphere for the coming match is as heavy as a generous bowl of noodles after a long day! That's all, for now, of May's Expeditions!"

"Well, I don't think anyone's changed too much." Misty smiled, crossing her arms.

"May certainly hasn't," Brock agreed. "Now she's got me hungry."

There was a pause. Everyone had looked to Ash.

He turned around, growing self-conscious. "...What?"

"You're not gonna agree about wanting to stuff your face?" Max prodded.

"Oh, yeah. Sure." Ash shrugged. "Right now, I'm just fired up for my match."

"Wow. He's _really_ excited." Dawn cooed. "This is going to be so much fun!"

* * *

It'd been awhile since she got to genuinely relax. So, sitting on the front lawn of the rented Indigo Village competitor's cabin, Misty enjoyed a little sunbathing in one of the available lounge chairs.

"This is the life."

"Psy!" her little water type agreed, holding up his own little mirrored sun enhancer.

She lowered her shades. "... I'm gonna let that pass." Just as she was about to raise her shades back up, she caught a glimpse of two old friends. Well, one was quite literally old, but the other only figuratively.

Misty stood, giggling.

"Oh my gosh! Professor Oak! Delia! Welcome! You didn't tell us you were headed up!"

"Well, we meant to get here in the morning as a surprise during one of Ash's matches," Delia explained, stepping inside the fenced yard. She put down the basket of food she was carrying, embracing Misty briefly.

Oak huffed. "Well, you see, one of my old students caught up at the Viridian train station. We meant to arrive on the morning commuter train from the Viridian shopping district to Indigo Village, but we missed that, so we had to wait for the evening train."

"It was so nice to see an old classmate, though!" Delia said. "Oh, gosh, that reminds me! I think Molly starts her journey next year, right? I should start planning my trip to Johto! Someone's going to have to watch the restaurant for me."

"Molly? You mean that Molly?" Misty inquired.

Before anyone could answer, Brock and Dawn stepped out of the doorway.

"Delia!" Brock said.

"The poetry man!" Dawn cheered.

"Hi, kids!" Delia waved to the two.

Professor Oak snorted with pride. "Ah, there's my favorite little literary aficionado!"

"Your… favorite?" Dawn squealed before darting to Professor Oak's side, practically bouncing around him.

Ignoring Dawn's stars truck behavior rather admirably, Brock walked up to Delia. "Welcome! I just picked up some groceries. We're probably having salads tonight. All the restaurants around here are really fatty."

"And, the ones that aren't have suckish atmosphere!" Misty interjected.

"Yes, the ones that don't have fatty food have suckish atmosphere," Brock echoed with a roll of his eyes, however visible that might be. "Anyways, if you'd like to join us, I can set some spots at the table for you."

"That sounds delightful!" The woman looked around, hand under her chin. "Though… Where's my son?"

"Or, Pikachu for that matter?" Oak asked, looking up from the book he and Dawn had been pouring over.

"They went to this lake just outside the village," Brock explained. "He said something about doing some training."

"I think he just didn't want Max to see. They're booked in a cabin somewhere around here." With that, Misty flopped back onto her lounge chair.

"Well, I wanna go see my boy!" Delia insisted.

Professor Oak closed his book. "Right. I'd like to check on his pokemon, too."

"But… But… He'll be back for dinner!" Dawn whined. "Why don't we all just wait on him?"

"Dawn?" Delia began, knowing exactly how to solve this problem. "You know, the woods around the Indigo Plateau are so pretty… I'm sure if Professor Oak goes with me to find Ash, he'll get inspired… Maybe after a good dinner and a little rest, he might even write a poem about his walk in the woods!"

That was all it took to get Dawn to straighten up. Slamming the gate open, she pointed in the direction Ash had gone. "It's about a mile outside of the village!"

As Delia and Samuel set off, Brock let out a huff of exasperation.

"Delia played her like a fiddle…" he noted, somewhere between impressed and frightened.

Misty put her shades back on. "What did you expect? That is Ash's mom. As much as I love them both, they're the same kind of moron. If Delia can handle Ash, she can handle Dawn."

* * *

A gentle breeze stirred the lake outside of Indigo Plateau, giving birth to the occasional ripple in the glimmers of moonlight that touched the water's surface. A Magikarp occasionally surfaced before diving back under.

A perfectly serene background for a trainer and his two pokemon.

Ash sat in front of the lake, legs crossed, with Pikachu on one side of him, and Rosa on the other. All three had shut their eyes to the world in quiet meditation, drawing slow, easy breaths. Their minds were clear, for the most part. The gentle buzzing of nocturnal pokemon going about their business didn't so much as stir them.

That, after all, was their goal.

Pikachu put his trance on hold to wipe sweat from his forehead, breathing a bit heavier than the rest. "Pika…"

His voice made Rosa's ear twitch. _~P-papa?~_

Ash opened one eye, directing it towards the Lucario. "What's up?"

 _~You sure I shouldn't do some training, too? Pikachu already did!~_

"Pikachu had his reasons to train." The faint scent of smoke and ash still occasionally lingered, from charred dirt and grass, not far off. "And you have your reasons to meditate. Right now, you just need to conserve your energy for tomorrow. Besides," he reached over, scratching behind her ear. "All you need to do is make sure you're calm and psyched for tomorrow!"

The Lucario tilted her head. _~H-how can I be both?~_

"Well, that's easy! You…" Ash started, trailing off as his nose started to twitch. He smelled something savory.

"Calm as a Slowpoke, vigorous as a Primeape, you're sure to succeed." The voice of an old man chimed in.

Ash jolted around, startled. "Professor Oak! Mom!"

The elderly man, sporting his usual lab coat stood before him, along with Delia, who was wearing a short-sleeved jacket and blouse. She had two plastic bags hooked on one arm.

"Sorry we took so long~!" Delia excused, twirling one of her dark locks. "Oh, you don't have to stand up, honey." Delia knelt to the group, setting down the bags. "I brought you three something to chow on; you can't train on an empty stomach!"

"Oh, thanks!" Ash opened the bags - he found one large bowl of instant ramen, heated, and several smaller bowls of the same, designed to be sipped, for a pokemon's convenience. He handed the latter to Pikachu and Rosemary. "But, I didn't know you guys were coming to watch… But, now that I think about it, it was kind of weird that Tracey was the only one at the lab, the other day."

"We wouldn't miss it for the world!" Delia intertwined her fingers. "Not your big break."

"I have a good feeling in these old bones about your outcome." The pokemon authority folded his arms behind his back. He looked off, towards the scorched earth nearby. "Either you've been busy, or a disgruntled trainer must've let off some steam."

"Pikachu and I have been training," Ash explained, giving Pikachu a gentle pat on the back.

The mouse yelped, nearly spilling his ramen. "Pikaaa," he complained, going back to slurping.

"Sorry," Ash apologized. "We've been working super hard to make up for lost time. Can't go into an event this big without a few tricks up our sleeve!"

"I take it that he's making great strides to recovery, then. That's great news." Oak's lips creased into pleased, dimpled smile.

"He sure has! We had a real heart-to-heart on the way up here." Ash smiled down at his companion, reaching to more gently stroke his ear.

"P-chuuhh!" Pikachu enunciated in the middle of a slurp, his ears laxing, lopsided.

"And, Rosemary? You look a bit on edge." Oak knelt to the Lucario, staring into her ruby hues.

She quickly turned away, flustered by the eye contact. _~Just a little…!~_

"Rosa's not good with crowds," Ash explained. "Even getting her to be comfy sitting in one is a challenge. So, she's a little worried about tomorrow. Too much commotion going on at once is overwhelming for her, and you know how big that stadium is."

"I see. Stage fright would be a fatal handicap in the middle of a battle." Oak placed a gentle, wrinkled hand on the pokemon's shoulder. "And, a Lucario's natural sensory abilities would make it that much more difficult. But, they can work to your advantage."

 _~How's that gonna work?~_ Rosa relayed through her thoughts as she slurped her noodles.

"Well, your senses are acute - I'm sure you, as a pokemon, know that better than anybody. Especially with your ability to track aura, overstimulation could be quite the problem… But, if you focus all those great senses on one thing, and one thing alone, the rest of the world will seem insignificant. Keep your senses keen on your opponent. Let them be the object of all of your intuition. Ahem," he coughed into his fist. "Lucario's pride, lies in its greatest treasure, a keen eye for life."

Rosa was momentarily silent. With glimmering eyes, she nodded. _~R-right! I'll try and stick to the battle!~_

"That's the spirit," Ash praised, setting down his bowl with a content sigh. His eyes turned up towards the many stars in the sky. "Tomorrow's going to be a good day… This match is more than just a match."

"I thought Samuel was the one who spoke in riddles," Delia quipped.

"Seriously. Samurai was the first trainer I battled on my journey. Back then, I made a fool of myself - he was right; I was a novice. And he was Rosa's first real opponent, too. Back then, she wasn't ready." He caught Rosa's sideways glance, and continued.

"But, now we have another chance. This'll be our big moment - a chance to test just how much we've improved, since then!" Ash flashed a big, toothy grin.

"You'll do just fine." Delia knelt, lightly ruffling Ash's dark, messy hair. "You've come a long way."

"I don't have a doubt in my mind," Oak agreed, standing back up. "You've learned and grown plenty since you left home, Ash, and that's an understatement. I'm sure the same is true for Rosemary."

"Pikachu, Rosa," Ash started, holding a hand out between them, palm down. "Let's give it our all, together!"

 _~Y-yeah! We'll beat 'em!~_ Rosa chirped, placing her paw atop Ash's hand.

"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu cried, putting his paw atop hers.

* * *

Sunlight had barely slipped through the cracks of the blinds. Ash, Pikachu, Misty, and Brock laid sound asleep, nestled up in their cots. Nary a sound could be heard, except for gentle, calculated steps along the wooden floor.

Dawn turned the doorknob as slowly and quietly as possible, quietly tip-toeing out of the cabin's bedroom, with a bag slung over her shoulder. Rura trotted behind her, barely holding back a snicker as the door slid shut.

Back in the room, Ash continued to doze, his limbs stretched about the mattress, pardoning the arm that held Pikachu to his chest. With his mouth wide open, it was a miracle he wasn't snoring.

His and Pikachu's peaceful slumber would continue for several more minutes undisturbed, until finally, a single finger tapped Ash's shoulder. He didn't respond.

The culprit pursed her lips, and tapped again, twice, this time. Ash stirred, but did little more.

Dawn uttered a quiet huff in frustration, instead reaching to gently nudge Pikachu.

"Pi…?" Pikachu squirmed, stretching out for a high-pitched yawn. "Cha…!" He blinked, rubbing his eyes. "Pikaka?" What was Dawn doing up so early?

"Sorry, Pikachu, but I need your help for just a moment," Dawn whispered with a mischievous grin, a finger held up to her lips. "I need to give Ash a lil' wake-up call. You think you could help me? For old time's sake?"

"Pi…?" Pikachu tilted his head. He soon understood. "Pika-Pikachu!"

Dawn cupped her hand over her mouth to keep herself quiet. "Then, let's see that Thunderbolt Alarm Clock!" With that, Dawn tip-toed back from the bed, as did Rura.

"Pikachu…" Pikachu sported a mischievous grin, his cheeks crackling. "Pika… Pikachu!"

The room illuminated with a loud, crackling bolt, only to be outdone by a loud, pained yelp from Ash.

Misty and Brock jolted up, and Ash collapsed in a crackling heap.

"Ergh…" Misty groaned, rubbing her eyes. "What's the big idea, Pikachu!?"

"He might've had another…" Brock yawned, "nightmare." With a grumble, he stood to flip the light switch.

"It's way too early for that, Pikachu…" Ash complained, sitting up. He rubbed his eyes, forced to adjust when light filled the room. He dropped his fist, and his jaw hit the floor.

"It's never too early for a little shock and awe!" Dawn grinned, standing tall with a pom-pom raised towards Ash, her opposite pom-pom resting on her hip. The bluenette was clad in a brand-new cheerleader's outfit, rather similar to her old top and skirt, boasting more white trim bordering the traditional hot pink. Her hair was clipped back into a ponytail, and Rura hopped atop her shoulder, sporting Piplup's old matching outfit. He couldn't help but snicker at Ash's face.

She had a moment to soak in Ash's speechless gaze, and reveled in it, looking smug as could be. "Thunderbolts and Hydro Pumps, He'll leave his opponents stumped! His team's the best, there's no doubt, they'll blow the competition out!" Dawn chanted, waving her pom-poms high. "Goooo, Ash!"

The trainer whose praises were sung was, indeed, speechless, left with a big, dumb smile spanning from cheek to cheek. Before he could open his mouth, someone else did.

"Dawn, your enthusiasm's nice," Brock grumbled, "but it's barely seven in the morning."

"You could've saved this for the stadium," Misty agreed.

"...Oh. Whoops!" Dawn threw a pom-pom behind her head with nervous laughter. "Sorry! I guess I was just so excited that I couldn't stay asleep!"

"I don't know about you guys, but I feel pumped already!" Ash flew to his feet, both of his fists pumped. He suddenly paused. "...Hey, how come you didn't say anything about this, sooner?"

"If you can keep secrets about your training, I can do some plotting of my own!" Dawn tutted, her hands on her hips. "Besides, Rura really wanted to cheer for his mama!"

"Well, he looks great," Ash praised.

 _~Duh!~_ Rura snickered, raising a paw. _~She's the best!~_

"And, I know _you_ can't complain!" Dawn snagged Ash by the shoulder, reeling him in. "There's no way you can lose, with a _gorgeous_ cheerleader rooting you on!" She winked. She was chiefly just building up her own vanity, but it didn't hurt that it doubled as flirting.

"I can't argue with that!" Ash grinned, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Victory's on its way!"

Misty groaned loudly, reaching to snag Brock roughly by the ear. "This is your fault, for influencing Ash! I told you all of your skirt chasing would get to him, one day!"

"A-ahhh! Oww!" Brock yelped, struggling with Misty's grip. "Hey, whatever happened _definitely_ went down in my absence, so don't blame me!" Finally, he wrestled his ear free, tenderly rubbing it. "Well, I'm glad you two are pumped up - a little extra enthusiasm never hurt. But, if you're going to follow in my footsteps, don't fall for your heart's weakness during the competition. You remember what Mr. Goodshow said. You'll need a clear head at all times."

"Yeah, yeah. My head'll be clear by then; the match isn't for a few hours." Ash waved his hand. Pikachu had managed to slip between his cheek and Dawn's, sitting atop both of their shoulders. "Besides, it'll be pretty cool hearing a cheer routine just for me, again!"

Misty huffed. There was no use in staying grumpy. "Just don't turn out like Gary was back in the day, alright?" She cast Ash a cheeky smirk.

"Hey, hey, it's a once in a blue moon thing! I don't have a gaggle of girls following me."

" _The_ Gary Oak!?" Dawn gasped, holding a pom-pom to her mouth in offense. "There's no way that that Gary would act that way!"

* * *

Somewhere, in Sinnoh's wilderness, a man in his teens patiently watched the battling methods of a western Shellos. In the midst of his quiet observation, he sneezed.

"Achoo! Ugh," Gary complained, wiping his nose with a handkerchief. "Someone must be running their mouth about me. I blame Ashy-boy."

* * *

"Anyway, I can't lose!" Ash pulled Dawn in closer, his face smushed against Pikachu's. "...But, just to be safe, let's catch breakfast so I don't go in on an empty stomach."

* * *

 **"** **And, we're here on the rock field, for the last of the preliminary rounds! Between Ash and Samurai, one of these two formidable trainers will move on to the final rounds! The fight to move on is sure to be fierce!"**

Two elevated boxes towered over each side of the craggy, uneven terrain.

The red box hosted Ash, who clutched a pokeball tightly in his hand. Pikachu stood atop the railing beside him. With furrowed brows, he watched his opponent step towards the edge of his own. "You heard 'em. I'm not going to lose!"

"Hmph." The other teen smirked. "I admire your confidence, Ash. But, today, I intend to succeed, no matter my obstacle!"

 **"** **The tension is already building between the competitors! Is this a friendly rivalry, or a fierce showdown!? Let's watch and find out!"**

The referee threw his hand up. "Begin!"

"Go! Butterfree!" Samurai started, tossing a pokeball off of the ledge.

"Free~!" The bug type swept across the rocky field, showing off its speed, before returning to Samurai.

Ash grew quiet, watching the butterfly circle about.

"I thought this would be fairly poetic for our battle. You, yourself, showed me how formidable a Butterfree could be, when we first met! And, after our last encounter, you inspired him to grow far stronger than ever before. You ought to be proud, Ash. You and your Butterfree were an inspiration to us both."

Ash averted his eyes, playing with the brim of his cap.

"The red trainer must send out his first pokemon, or he will be disqualified!" The referee chimed in.

"Pika… Pikapi!" Pikachu waved his arms about. Talk about bad timing. But, Ash needed to get his head back in the game.

"...Right, sorry!" Ash winded up, chucking his own pokeball.

With a bright flash, a Garchomp appeared.

"Flamethrower!" Ash barked, throwing a hand out.

The Mach pokemon threw its head forward, launching the stream of heat.

"A clever start, but not enough. Dodge, with Quiver Dance!"

A bright glow illuminated Butterfree, leaving faint afterimages as the pokemon buzzed about in the air, safely dodging Flamethrower's wrath.

"That move again." Ash squinted. He could see where this was going. "Use Night Slash!"

Samurai squinted, unsure whether his helmet had obstructed his hearing. "Did he say, 'Night Slash?'"

Garchomp lunged at Butterfree, slashing at the bug type with violet-tinted claws.

Butterfree, however, slipped comfortably out of harm's way.

"Excellent work. Use Tackle!"

Butterfree zipped in with ease, smashing into Garchomp's side in mid-air.

The dragon was swiftly knocked back towards the earth, where it dug its claws into the dirt.

"Quiver Dance is making it one really fast Butterfree… Use Agility, then Night Slash!"

The Mach pokemon lived up to its name, sporadically disappearing and reappearing from one spot on the field to the next. Even jagged boulders perched the speedy pokemon that refused to stay in one place.

"Free!?" Butterfree floated about frantically.

"Keep a sharp eye on it!" Samurai instructed. "Don't fall for its mind games!"

"Too late," Ash boasted.

Garchomp lunged at Butterfree, tinted claws ready.

"Once again, you're the fool!" Samurai smirked. "Use Psychic!"

"Free!" Butterfree trilled, swiftly turning towards Garchomp. Surrounded in a blue glow, he countered the attack with a potent psychic blast.

Garchomp slashed across Butterfree's abdomen, showing no signs of slowing down.

"But, how!?" Samurai gawked, sweat dripping down his forehead.

Butterfree plummeted, roughly bouncing off one of the rocks. "Free…!"

 **"** **What's this!? Somehow, Garchomp doesn't seem to be affected by Psychic, whatsoever! Is Ash's pokemon simply that powerful!? Things might be looking bad for Butterfree!"**

* * *

"Oh, dear." Delia cupped her mouth with her hand. "I hadn't realized Ash's pokemon had gotten that strong!"

"Curious." Professor Oak thought aloud. "It's true that Ash's pokemon are a cut above the rest, but I have a hunch that there's more to this battle than a mere difference in power."

"Ash is doing a good job keeping a lid on it, that's for sure," Misty smiled.

"Is there something I'm missing?" Delia looked to Brock.

"Just wait," Dawn replied, holding Rura snugly in her lap. The Zorua only stared, for once, silent.

* * *

"Suspicious." Samurai grimaced. "Very suspicious…"

Ash's brow twitched. "I think he's catching on," he whispered to Pikachu. "But, he's never met her before. And what he doesn't know, _will_ hurt him."

"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed, an ear bouncing.

"Butterfree, use Bug Buzz!"

The bug type had regained flight, and he countered with a loud, shrill sound wave, carried with its greatest intensity by a series of red rings. This time, the attack hit its mark, pulverizing the defending pokemon.

Garchomp roared, smashing into a large boulder behind it, leaving a rather large dent.

But, the pokemon hunched over wasn't Garchomp. Certainly not, judging by the sleek, skinny grey body, or the blood-red claws, or the flowing scarlet, black-tipped mane.

 **"** **What's this!?"** The announcer hollered. **"It seems Ash's Garchomp wasn't truly a Garchomp at all! I'm not sure what exactly is going on, but I would like to believe that this isn't involved in some form of cheating!"**

The crowd buzzed loudly with confusion and clamor, awestruck by the sudden change.

"Cheating!?" Ash's face fell. "Get with the program. I registered her already."

 **"** **...Oh! My apologies, onlookers; I was wrong about this one! This is a Zoroark! Its ability is Illusion, allowing it to take on the appearance of other pokemon during battle! It's giving us some technical difficulties, but we'll have them corrected shortly."** Ash's end of the scoreboard was filled with static, where Garchomp's image had been. **"But, hey, I guess I can't give spoilers, huh?"**

* * *

"Oh, so it was Meema!" Delia beamed, folding her hands in her lap. "I should've known."

"Well, my hunch was correct!" Professor Oak proclaimed, proudly folding his arms.

 _~That's my Meema!~_ Rura grinned, waving his paws. _~Kick some bug butt!~_

"Now, you'll get to see how tough Meema really is!" Dawn raised a pom-pom to cheer. "One! Two! Three! Four! Who's the fox that we adore! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! One thing's for sure; you're doing great!"

Rura scurried up atop Dawn's head, finishing the cheer with a loud howl. _~Gooooo, Meema!~_

"So, you're playing with deception now. Well, color me impressed." Samurai smirked. "I've never seen that pokemon before, but I promise to defeat it, regardless! A Samurai won't fall to such simple tricks."

"We've got more than tricks up our sleeve. Right, Meema?"

The Zoroark was standing by now, hunched forward on all fours. She responded to Ash with a howl, icy eyes locked on Butterfree.

"Good. Flamethrower!"

A stream of fire was spit at Butterfree.

"Use Psychic!"

"Free!" Butterfree illuminated, willing the fire to stop with telekinesis. With a flap of its wings, the assault was thrown back towards Meema.

"Block it, with Night Daze!"

Meema briefly stood on all fours, her forelegs lit with eerie streaks of violet. With a roar, she slammed her paws into the ground, rattling the field with a booming, scarlet shockwave.

Flamethrower collided with the burst, clouding the battlefield in a dark explosion.

"Night Slash!"

A streak of scarlet and grey launched out of the smoke, slashing Butterfree's abdomen.

"Stay strong, Butterfree! Use Bug Buzz!"

Butterfree launched another assault of sonic rings at the Zoroark.

"Dodge that!" Ash ordered.

Landing atop a rock, Meema did just that, jumping to the next elevated point. Meanwhile, the first shattered under the pressure.

"Flamethrower!"

Meema kept her perch, throwing her head to launch another blaze.

"Dodge, with Quiver Dance!"

Butterfree shone once more, swerving about. But, this time, the incoming inferno was too large to duck. Butterfree shrieked, barraged by the heat.

"Yes!" Ash grinned, pumping a fist. "Direct hit!"

Smoke turned to grey wisps, though, and Butterfree endured, despite the occasional burn on its wings. "Free!" It chattered, blowing the smoke away.

"It tanked it!? Quiver Dance really is impressive." Ash smirked. "You raised it well, Samurai!"

"Only the greatest for my bug types." Samurai smiled in return. "Use Bug Buzz!"

"Free-eee~!" Stubborn, the bug type launched another sonic assault.

"Counter, with Night Daze!" Ash called out.

Meema stood, chilling eyes trailing wisps of teal. Her forelegs hung high above her head, brought down to pound the ground with a thunderous roar. Swirls of red and violet expanded in a dome, bursting rocks and boulders about it to pieces. It met its challenger in Bug Buzz, the malleable dome giving in shape.

The colliding attacks exploded, sending hot and cool hues in every direction.

The after-effects faded. Butterfree was embedded in a large boulder, unconscious.

The referee raised a red flag. "Butterfree is unable to battle! Victory to the red trainer!"

* * *

 _~Awriiight, Meema!~_ Rura yipped, bouncing atop Dawn's head.

Dawn didn't even think to fret about her hair, loudly whooping herself. "Way to go, Meema! You're the best!" With that praise, she pumped her pom-poms in the air.

"I knew she had it in her!" Misty smirked. "Never underestimate a momma."

"You've learned from the best~!" Delia teased. "Oh, she was wonderful!"

"A bit of a close call," Professor Oak remarked. "But, they came out fine, all the same."

* * *

"Yes!" Ash punched the air, elated. "Excellent work, Meema!"

"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed.

The Zoroark huffed, shaking the dust out of her fur. She turned to Ash with a smile, doing her best to imitate a 'thumbs-up.' _~Happy to be of service, Leader.~_

A bead of sweat rolled down Ash's cheek. "Ahaha, don't sweat it. Now, let's win this thing!"

"Return, Butterfree!" The bug's shape disappeared into a red flash, retreating to its pokeball. Samurai smiled down at the capsule. "You fought well. Now, I'll call on… Beedrill!"

The Poison Bee pokemon appeared, hovering above Samurai's end of the field. Its beating wings buzzed, and eerie red eyes stared down the Zoroark. It smashed its two needles together, like knives ready to be sharpened.

"Beedrill, again… I know you're not familiar with 'em, but their attacks are dangerous, so be careful," Ash warned.

The Illusion Fox nodded. _~Noted. I don't intend to become prey.~_

Ash shuddered. "Does she really have to talk like that…?"

"Piiika." Pikachu frowned, rubbing behind his head. He'd been feral, once, but she was truly wild.

"Anyway, use Flamethrower!"

Meema complied, spitting up another roaring flame at Beedrill.

"Use Agility!"

In the wake of the attack, Beedrill vanished.

"It's gone…!" Ash gawked. That was real speed. "But, he's still around here. Do your stuff, and hunt 'im down!"

The Illusion Fox did as told, lithely stalking about the rocky terrain. She clung to larger surfaces when possible, doing what she could to stay out of sight. Now, she knew she could smell the scent of venom….

But, flickering black and yellow images continued to buzz about the arena, never quite staying in one place.

Beedrill leered over with its birds-eye view, circling the fox. She'd pinned herself to a rocky surface in an attempt at stealth. But, all she'd done is given him an easy target. Beedrill was sure to stay silent. Slowly, he crept up upon the cornered creature… Slowly, until he lunged.

Suddenly, he felt an intense pressure on his abdomen. In but a blink, he was pinned up against the rock, a tough, unforgiving paw pressing against him. Tried as he may to squirm, he couldn't move.

All he could do, was gaze into the eyes of his attacker, who loomed over him, staring daggers with her icy hues. He couldn't see the sunlight past her large, methodically frayed mane.

 _~In this pack, I do the hunting.~_ She stared down the insect, pressing him further up against the rock.

 **"** **Wow! Beedrill used its Agility to come in for a sneak attack, but it seems that Ash's Zoroark has claimed the upper hand, pinning it against the rocky field! What a turn of events!"**

"Good job," Ash praised. "Night Slash!"

Meema's free claws smashed into Beedrill, then.

The rock behind them cleaved in two, parted by a sharp arc of red. Beedrill was sent crashing through the boulder, buzzing in pain.

"Pikaaa! Pikachu!" Pikachu hopped back and forth on the stage, cheering loudly.

"Don't give in, Beedrill!" Samurai encouraged. "Counter, with Twinneedle!"

The bug type did just so, retaliating by jabbing his needles into Meema's torso.

The Illusion fox yelped, brought to her knees by the super-effective move. Her chest felt numb from the potentially poisonous attacks, her breaths hasty.

"That's gotta hurt…" Ash grimaced. "Meema, hang in there! Use Night Sash!"

Meema grit her fangs, and lunged. She slashed at Beedrill.

The Poison Bee pokemon was well out of her way by the time she struck.

"Use Fell Stinger!"

Beedrill zipped by, jabbing a poisonous needle into Meema's side.

The fox gasped, eyes reduced to a pinpoint. Her lids fell heavy, and her body to the ground with a thud.

The referee leaned forward, squinting. He raised his green flag. "Zoroark is unable to battle! Victory goes to the green trainer!"

* * *

 _~Awwww.~_ Rura whined, slinking down into Dawn's lap. _~Meema lost…~_

"But, she put up a great fight!" Dawn consoled, stroking the large tuft of fur atop Rura's head.

"I think Samurai's a little shook. She really left her impression before going down!" Misty insisted. "Especially after having to fight all those bug types…" The gym leader shuddered.

Professor Oak chuckled. "With similar woes, Misty and Meema grow closer, through weakness to bugs."

"Thanks for pointing it out," Misty pouted.

"Oh my gosh, that was a poem, wasn't it!?" Dawn beamed, leaning over Misty's seat. "And, you came up with it right on the spot!"

Misty grunted, shoving Dawn's cheek back towards her own seat. "You're here to cheer for Ash, not Professor Oak!"

* * *

"Meema!" Ash gasped, leaning over the railing. Her body had, indeed, gone limp. "..." Ash's brow twitched. Finally, he smiled. "You did great." He recalled the Illusion Fox.

"Pika-Pika." Pikachu leaned over Ash's shoulder, patting Meema's pokeball.

Beedrill, meanwhile, was briefly surrounded in a purple glow.

"Your 'Zoroark' was most impressive, Ash. I was honestly worried that I'd lose two pokemon, taking it down. I've got the suspicion that it's not quite home grown."

"She's a bit more wild than the rest," Ash boasted. "Chasing opponents down is her specialty."

"It's no wonder she gave Beedrill trouble. But, he is also a natural predator. Fell Stinger is a sure sign - when it takes down an opponent, the user's attack stat increases! The strength of a bug pokemon is hidden, behind a deep well of potential! With moves that increase their natural speed, offensive stats, and defensive stats, they're nigh unbeatable. With that strength, we'll defeat you here, today, Ash!"

"So, that's your strategy…" Ash smirked, reaching for his belt. "Well, if you're trying to steamroll us with power and speed, then we'll just have to fight fire with fire!" Ash chucked a pokeball. "Go, Garchomp!"

The Mach pokemon appeared, for real, this time. Garchomp was hunched over, with a blank, glazed stare. Much unlike Meema's illusion, it was a mystery whether he knew if he was meant to be battling at all.

"Your Garchomp looks… Unusual," Samurai stammered.

"He's a bit of a space case," Ash admitted. "But, he's reliable. Garchomp, we're gonna need speed for this one!"

The dull look in Garchomp's eye vanished. His postured changed completely, streamlined body leaning forward, with the blades on his fins raised and ready. "Gahr!" He growled, poised and prepared.

Ash noted the perplexed look on Samurai's face. "He's really flexible - one battle style he knows is my Sceptile's! So, you can forget being sure about your speed. Garchomp, Dual Chop!"

Garchomp lunged forward, gliding low before kicking off of the terrain, making a streamlined charge for Beedrill. His fins flickered with emerald, swung swiftly like blades on the end of his arms. Each strike smashed into Beedrill, sending it flying.

"Counter, with Twinneedle!"

Beedrill quickly zipped back in, jabbing Garchomp's chest with both of his needles.

The Mach pokemon retreated, landing smoothly on the rocky terrain.

"Dual Chop, again!"

"Twinneedle, again!"

Both pokemon charged to meet center-stage. Garchomp struck with his fins, and Beedrill with his stingers. The limbs collided, one after the next, pushing one another back consecutively in a swift, mid-air brawl.

"Gah! Gahrrr!" Garchomp roared, fending off a stab, swinging the same limb back to crash into both of Beedrill's stingers. The other resisted in futility, bounced off by Garchomp's superior strength.

"He's still stronger…" Samurai grimaced. "Beedrill, pull back! Toxic Spikes!"

"Crap," Ash hissed.

Beedrill pulled away, launching several poisonous bullets from his main stinger, barraging the terrain below. Bolts of venom seeped into the surface.

Ash wiped sweat from his brow. "That's bad… Now, we can't touch the ground. This battle's gotta stay airborne. Hey, Garchomp! Keep gliding and flying, alright!? We can't touch those Toxic Spikes!"

"Gah!" The pokemon agreed, suspending himself with a smooth, easy glide.

* * *

"Not that move, again." Dawn frowned, crossing her arms.

"I don't think I've ever seen that move," Delia remarked.

"Toxic Spikes is a lethal trap for any victim - if they happen to touch the ground, then, they're infected with poison. Samurai just put Ash in a very compromising position. Now, he's free to put all the pressure he wants on Ash and Garchomp, while they have to be careful just not to land."

"It gave him a lot of trouble at the Lily of the Valley Conference," Dawn explained. "But, he found a way out of it then, and he'll do it again, here!"

* * *

"Garchomp, switch to Charizard's style and keep your distance! Flamethrower!" Ash ordered.

Garchomp circled around, eyes glued to the buzzing Beedrill. He tossed his head back, firing a roaring jet of flames.

"Don't let him keep you at bay! Twinneedle!"

Beedrill buzzed around the flames, jabbing at Garchomp with his stingers.

"Dual Chop!"

Garchomp came in swinging, opting for brutal, full-body strikes, rather than Sceptile's swift swiping. Within several clashes with Twinneedle, Garchomp struck gold, smashing Beedrill brutally through the air.

"Keep on the pressure," Samurai ordered.

Beedrill was quick to zip back around, jabbing relentlessly at the Mach pokemon.

Dual Chop continued to defend, but Beedrill's speed was beginning to show. With every few jabs that were blocked, one slipped past Garchomp's defenses. With a third, Garchomp was knocked back.

"They're pressuring us…" Ash frowned. "Garchomp, use Sandstorm!"

"Gahhhgh!" Garchomp threw his fins out, summoning a torrential gust of sand and dust.

 **"** **Sandstorm has swarmed the field! Perhaps Ash is hoping to use this to fend off Beedrill from making use of Toxic Spikes!"**

"Beedrill! Keep watch, and use Twinneedle, when you spot Garchomp!" Samurai shouted.

The bug type buzzed about in the abrasive storm, growing irritated by the gravel. It hurt just a bit. But, his concentration was supreme. He'd just have to spot that dragon.

A flash of navy poked out of the dust, and Beedrill stabbed.

It hit nothing but stand.

"Dual Chop!" Ash countered.

A glowing fin shot out of the dust, smashing Beedrill over the head.

Beedrill jabbed in return, but found no resistance. Garchomp had escaped again.

"With Sand Veil, they're not gonna have much luck." Ash smiled to himself, crossing his arms. "You're doing great, Garchomp!"

"Pika-Pikaaa!"

"Hpmh." Samurai frowned. Judging by the lack of cries from Garchomp, he could only deduce that Beedrill was having no luck at all, so far. "Ash has created quite the cover. But, I doubt his pokemon are half as observant as my own." He held a hand beside his mouth, shouting into the storm. "Beedrill! Watch the storm carefully! The shifts in the sand and winds are no different than a branch, rustled by fleeting prey!"

Beedrill lurked, its many red eyes observing the storm at a variety of angles. Though, the passing sand forced it to squint painfully, once more. It would be delighted when this condition faded away…

But, a break in the current caught its squinted eyes. "Bzzz!" It cried, stabbing into the sand.

"Gahr!" Garchomp cried, swinging wildly in self-defense.

Another stab came to the back, sending it plummeting.

"That's a problem." Two different complaints from Garchomp clued Ash in. He grimaced. "Garchomp, use Flamethrower towards the ground to keep you up!"

The Mach pokemon was plummeting, surely mere feet from the tainted field. He did as told, spitting a roaring jet of flames below him. Boosting off of the heat expelled, Garchomp soared.

The flames let Ash breathe a sigh of relief. "Good, now turn them on Beedrill!"

Garchomp lifted his head, launching the remainder of the flames towards the bug type.

"Retreat, behind the sand clouds!" Samurai ordered.

Beedrill pulled back into the storm, feeling the effects of Flamethrower, nonetheless.

He hovered, burnt and hurting, but free of any damage that was beyond superficial.

"I thought for sure that would've worked…" Ash frowned. He didn't see any signs of success, yet.

"As if flames are going to deliver their full potency, wisped around by dirt and wind." Samurai boasted to himself, looking smug. "Twinneedle!"

Beedrill smashed his needles into Garchomp's back, stubbornly shoving it down through the storm.

A flash of violet inside the storm sunk Ash's optimism. "He's poisoned… Crap. Guess we can't play defensive, now." He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey, go after Beedrill with Flamethrower! Don't hold back!"

Shrugging off the bubbling poison, Garchomp roared, launching back into the fray. Spotting the end of a pointed stinger, he launched another flame.

"Agility, Beedrill! Stay out of its reach!" Samurai ordered.

The bit of Beedrill that could be seen vanished, the bug zipping about the storm. Unfortunately, as Garchomp suffered from poison, Beedrill had been enduring Sandstorm for far longer. Its wings were a bit weighed down with sand.

"Use Dual Chop!"

Garchomp soared about the storm, keeping a sharp eye out.

A hint of a beating wing caught his attention, and he lunged with teal wings.

A sudden sickening bubble of poison halted him, forcing him to return to the ground. "Gahr…" He huffed, drooling toxins. Subsequently, the ruthless winds of dirt and gravel began to die out, dispersing over the rocky battlefield. Sand coated rocky outcrops, rendered harmless.

Beedrill hovered above, covered in sand and dust. It looked weary, worn down by the abrasive storm, coupled with Garchomp's assaults. It was determined to will itself to win against the weakening Garchomp.

 **"** **Sandstorm has finally died down! And, from the looks of it, both Beedrill and Garchomp are worse for wear, whittled down by a long exchange of blows and status effects! Which will come out on top, now that we can see the action!?"**

"I think that's enough of that…" Ash huffed. "Garchomp! You doing alright?"

"Gaagh!" Toxins seeped through the Mach pokemon's nerves, bringing him to his knees.

 **"** **It looks like Ash's Garchomp is on the edge of defeat! How will he handle this!?"**

"I'm afraid this round is over, Ash." Samurai pointed towards Garchomp. "Fell Stinger!"

A purple glow overcame Beedrill's stinger, aimed squarely at Garchomp. The bug type dive bombed towards its ailing target, ready to deliver the finishing blow.

"We're not done yet…" Ash bared his teeth, throwing a hand across his body. "Dragon Rush!"

The Mach pokemon launched from his crouched state, quickly building momentum.

Beedrill found itself face to face with a mad, speeding dragon, and a blue, draconian aura to match.

It was utterly swallowed by the flashing light.

Beedrill plummeted, crashing into solid rock. Its segmented body hung limp, dual needles hanging towards the ground.

Garchomp soared low to land, hunched over in a heap.

The referee raised his red flag. "Beedrill is unable to battle! This round goes to the red trainer!"

Samurai recalled his pokemon, pocketing its pokeball. "I stand corrected, Ash. But, this is my last pokemon, and my first partner! Together, we'll persevere!" He chucked a pokeball. Pinsir! Assume battle mode!"

The Stag Beetle pokemon appeared on the field, promptly infected with the violet influence of Toxic Spikes. He shook off the irritating poison, gnashing his horns together.

"You've fought your fair share… I think you could use a rest." Ash recalled Garchomp, reaching for his last ball. "It's funny you say that… I know you and Pinsir have worked hard together. But, you're not the only ones!" Ash winded up, chucking his pokeball. "Rosa, I choose you!"

The spinning pokeball bounced off a boulder, spitting out its captive creature. A bipedal jackal appeared, crouching on one knee. With a press of her paw, she stood, casting a bold look at her opponents. Her posture was tense, a low growl marking a deep breath. The roaring crowd - all of the faces, all of the aura. It made the nerve bundles on the back of her head twitch.

"Deep breaths," Ash coached.

She did just that. She tuned out the world. Only Ash, Samurai, and Pinsir were a part of hers, right now.

"Good!" Ash smiled, looking back to Samurai. "You remember Rosa."

Taking in the sight of Pinsir, she grinned, leaning forward in a fighting stance. With a howl, she greeted her familiar opponent. A 'come hither' wave of her paw egged on the Stag Beetle.

Pinsir hissed, clashing his horns together atop his head. It stepped forward, the claws on its feet digging into the dirt.

"Indeed, I do. She tried her hand at challenging Pinsir, last we met. I see that she's grown."

"She has, and so have I." Ash gripped the brim of his cap, turning it behind his head. "You were my first ever trainer battle in my journey to become a Pokemon Master, all those years ago. Pinsir was Rosa's first ever trainer battle. As far as I'm concerned, this is a test. A test to show just how far we've come together!" Ash pointed a finger towards Samurai. "Samurai! We're giving you all we've got! You and Pinsir better do the same!"

"Piiika! Pikachu!" Pikachu waved his paws, clamoring in agreement.

* * *

"So much for Toxic Spikes!" Misty beamed.

"Ash was indeed lucky to come into this battle with a steel type pokemon - his poisonous perils are over!"

"I don't think it was an accident," Dawn rebutted, as much as she hated to contradict the Professor. "Ash knew Samurai for using poison type pokemon. That might've been part of the reason that he chose her for this battle. Then again…" She pondered, holding a fist to her chin. "Rosa had her first real battle with him, so it might've been sentimental."

"Oh, that's just like Ash." Delia looked on with pride. "He's always been that way."

* * *

"Your conviction inspires me, Ash, as always." Samurai reached past his hip, drawing his blade to point it towards Ash. He ignored the cries from the crowd. "You and your friends were the ones who encouraged me to look past the vastness of the forest, and beyond any of my expectations! That will be rewarded with a battle worthy of your name!"

"Then, let's get started! Ready, Rosa?"

"Arh!" The Lucario raised a fist to Ash.

"Then, use Aura Sphere!"

The Lucario cupped her hands at her side, charging a sphere before firing it.

"Pinsir, X-Scissor!"

Pinsir charged headfirst, a green, gleaming cross heading his assault.

The two attacks collided, obscuring the field.

"Again!" Samurai ordered.

A second glimmering cross shot out of the smoke, smashing into Rosa's torso. She gasped, losing breath as Pinsir continued to shove, sending her skidding back across the terrain.

"Use Vital Throw!" Ash ordered.

Rosa loosened her limbs, turning to the side with Pinsir's momentum. Her right foot crossed over her body, tripping up Pinsir's leg. With a roar, Rosa followed through, slamming the bug type into the ground on her arm.

"Use Superpower," Samurai shouted.

"Gh…!" Pinsir growled, slamming a glowing fist into the Lucario's exposed stomach.

"Achk…!" Wide-eyed, Rosa was sent soaring. She landed pitifully on all fours, short of breath.

"Don't waste an opportunity! Use Thrash!" Samurai pointed with his sword.

Pinsir charged the Lucario with reckless abandon, throwing frenzied hits, regardless of whether Rosa was in his path or not.

"Quick, get up! Watch out!" Ash shouted.

Rosa stood, but not before taking a punch to the jaw. Blindsided, she stumbled back.

"Stay focused!" Ash coached. "Use Detect!"

The bundles on the back of Rosa's head rose, and her eyes glimmered. The next frenzied punch was ducked in a step backwards, and another sidestepped. A jab of Pinsir's horns was dodged with a leap over his head. Landing on the other side, she failed to avoid a blow to the head.

"Detect's wearing off," Ash mumbled. "Try and start dodging normally, now! Remember your training with Riley!"

The Lucario swiftly turned, leaping backwards out of Pinsir's range.

Pinsir lunged again, this time with a full-body tackle.

Rosa shoved his skull, bringing the rampage to an end.

Pinsir huffed, staggering drunkenly. He'd worn himself out.

"Now's your chance," Ash hurried. "Bone Rush!"

Rosa lowered her paws, conjuring a glowing staff. She roared, smashing Pinsir across the face with it. After that, she turned her arms to deliver an uppercut. She soared with it, jumping to spin and deliver a strike to the back of the head. "Agh! Rahh! Ah!" The Aura pokemon roared, gaining more and more ground in the merciless assault.

Bubbling with afflicting poison, Pinsir winced, unable to defend himself.

 **"** **Ooh! And, Lucario seems to have Pinsir on the ropes! Things are looking bad for Samurai!"**

"So you think," the warrior muttered. "Vicegrip!"

Rosa brought the bone down overhead, only to howl in pain.

"Rosa…!" Ash gawked, his teeth gnashed.

Pinsir's spiked horns had crushed down on the Lucario's left arm, holding it firmly in place. Bone Rush had already vanished.

"Aargh…!" Rosa yelped, yanking her arm back to no avail. Even with her feet dug into the rock, she found no relief.

"Rosa, don't!" Ash shouted. "You could mess your arm up, that way…! It's not worth it!"

The pokemon whined, pressing her free paw against one of Pinsir's horns. She shoved and shoved, but her arm was securely clamped.

 **"It looks like I spoke too soon! Pinsir has Lucario in a bind!"**

* * *

"Poor Rosemary." Delia frowned, a thumb held to her chin.

"This looks bad. I know I wouldn't want to be in her spot right now," Misty shuddered.

"Not many would." Professor Oak crossed his arms. "A Pinsir's grip is strong enough to break logs, and the thorns on its horns prevent escape. She and Ash are in quite a bind."

"Come on, Rosa! Go, go, go!" Dawn hollered, furiously waving her pom-poms. "I know you won't lose!"

 _~C'mon! Rough him up!~_ Rura barked, hopping up and down on Dawn's head.

* * *

"Ash, you know as well as I do that there's a point where a trainer must surrender, for the sake of their pokemon." Samurai re-sheathed his sword, crossing his arms. "Your Lucario can't escape from Pinsir."

"I've had it with people making threats to surrender!" Ash barked. "My pokemon have more pride than that, and they're not going to lose!"

"You have no other choice!" Samurai grimaced. "Pinsir's grip is unbeatable! You're just torturing your pokemon! Detect will do you no good, she's held too tightly for Vital Throw, and she doesn't have the momentum to use Bone Rush. And, with one arm useless, she certainly can't use Aura sphere!"

Pinsir, meanwhile, fell to one knee, yanking Rosa with him. With bubbling poison, his grip weakened just a bit.

Ash smirked. There was a glimmer in his eye. "You wanna bet?" His expression turned stern, a hand held high above his head. "Rosa! Blast him off, with Aura Sphere!"

"But, how!?" Samurai stammered.

Rosa bore her fangs, digging her feet into the ground. With a shout, she summoned an Aura Sphere above her head, and slammed it directly into Pinsir's face.

A concussive explosion sent a gust of wind in every direction, the air laced with flickers of blue.

Pinsir bounced back across the terrain, blind-sided.

"Great work!" Ash grinned, flashing a thumbs-up.

The Lucario giggled, turning to raise her paw to her papa.

Ash beamed, quickly regaining his serious air. "Aura Sphere, again!"

The smoke cleared, and Rosa stood, chucking another teal blast with her good arm.

"Remarkable…" Samurai's dark brows knit. "Knock it back, with Superpower!"

Pinsir stood, smashing his fist into Aura Sphere with a roar. The blast bent and caved, malleable. With an extra push from Pinsir's end, the attack was sent flying back towards its user.

"Block it, with another Aura Sphere!" Ash threw a hand out.

"Agh!" Rosa shouted, tossing another blast overhand.

The two collided, rattling the field a second time

"X-Scissor!"

Pinsir charged the fray again, his skull hidden behind a large emerald 'x.'

"Block that, with Bone Rush!" Ash shouted.

Rosa raised both of her paws, guarding with a bone staff held diagonally. X-Scissor crashed into the defending object, pitting Rosa and Pinsir in a struggle to exert their weight.

Rosa grit her teeth, shoving back. With strong legs stationed, she started to pressure Pinsir.

"Ahh!"

"Rosa!" Ash gasped. The pained yelp clued him in - her grip on Bone Rush had gone weak.

The Lucario struggled, still, pushing back against Pinsir's horns. But, her left arm had nearly gone limp - sore and bruised, it simply couldn't hold against Pinsir's weight.

There was a gleam in Samurai's eye. "Now's our chance!"

Pinsir grunted, ducking under Bone Rush's influence. He smashed his head into her chest, setting off an explosive X-Scissor.

Ash's fists dug into his palms. "Don't give in! Use Vital Throw!"

The Lucario stumbled back, waiting for Pinsir's approach. He emerged from the smoke, charging still.

With narrowed eyes, she watched its movement very carefully.

A foot extended, kicking Pinsir's legs out from under him. An arm wrapped around his body, slamming him into the ground with a roar.

Rosa growled, pressing her knee and arm into the pokemon's back. Without the use of other arm, she pressed down upon Pinsir with all of her weight. Feeling resistance, she doubled down.

"Pinsir!" Samurai gasped.

"It's been great, Samurai, but this is over!" Ash raised a palm over his head. "Rosa, let's finish this! Aura Sphere!" With his command, he threw his hand down.

Rosa focused another blast of energy, slamming it down into Pinsir's back.

Blue-tinted smoke flooded the battlefield.

Ash closed his fists tight.

Samurai squinted.

The audience fell into a dead silence.

The debris cleared. Rosa sat atop Pinsir, her knee pressed to his back.

The Stag Beetle was motionless.

The referee leaned over. "...Pinsir is unable to battle! This makes Ash and Lucario the winners of this match!"

 **"** **Wow! What a battle! Rosa took a lot of damage from that Vicegrip, but she returned with a come-from-behind victory! I certainly didn't see that coming!"**

* * *

"Wooooh! Alright, Rosa!" Dawn hollered, waving her pom-poms about. "Way to give it to 'em!"

"Empolll!" Empoleon squawked, waving a wing.

"What a thrilling battle, too!" Delia chimed, snapping one picture after the next. "Ash is doing so well!"

"Way to give it to 'em!" Misty punched the air.

"A true testament to perseverance," Oak praised.

* * *

"Rosa!" Ash laughed, gripping the guard rail to hop over it, falling several yards to land on one knee. That hardly held him back from sprinting onto the field to embrace the Lucario, who'd rolled off of Pinsir, already. "You were amazing!"

"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu cheered, sprinting after his trainer.

 _~Papa!~_ Rosa cried, throwing an arm around the trainer. She nuzzled her muzzle into Ash's chest, embracing him with her good arm. _~We did it, Papa!~_

"We sure did." He nuzzled his cheek into her forehead. "I'm really proud of you. You fought hard, right to the end."

 _"_ _That was a great battle!"_ Pikachu chirped, joining in on the hug.

 _~Th-thanks…! It was so much fun!~_ Rosa yipped, only to yelp shortly after. _~Ouch…~_

"That Vicegrip got you bad, huh…" Ash smiled, cradling the pokemon. "We'll get you patched up soon, okay?" With that, he held up her pokeball, recalling her in a red flash of light.

He then looked up to Samurai, who'd recalled Pinsir. The young man flashed him a smile before turning his back, leaving the arena.

"Guess we should head backstage to… Oh!" When Ash stood, he found himself face-to-face with a camera. A reporter with a microphone leaned forward.

"Ash Ketchum, you've made it past all four preliminary rounds! And, with plenty of style to boot! How does it feel?"

"It feels pretty great." Ash grinned, holding his arm out for Pikachu to scale. "The battles have been a lot of fun, so far! But, I can't wait for more!"

"As expected!" The man coughed. "And, you came through in this last match, after being in quite a bind! Do you have anything to say about your comeback?"

"It was a tough one, not gonna lie." Ash looked to Pikachu with a cheeky grin, then looked back to the camera. He flashed a victory sign. "I guess my answer is to be flexible! And, being able to use Aura Sphere with one hand doesn't hurt, haha!"

* * *

Far away, in the northern-lying region of Sinnoh, Ash's voice echoed over an old television set, in a small log cabin, secluded on Iron Island.

Riley sat on the modest carpet in his living room, arms and legs crossed. "Hmph." The man's brows twitched in annoyance. Despite this, he couldn't keep himself from smiling.

Lucario sat beside him, voicing a thought that, to most, would come off as incoherent. His tail was wagging behind him - an oddity, for sure. But, brotherly pride swelled in his cold, steel heart.

"That Ash… I suppose, no matter the discipline, he'll always be a rebellious spirit." Riley laxed, letting his hands rest on his knees. "But, some spirits aren't meant to be tamed. I'll be wishing them the best of luck."

Lucario barked in agreement.

* * *

"Your pokemon are doing just fine, Ash!" Nurse Joy assured, sliding a tray of pokeballs across the counter. "They'll definitely need their rest, especially your Lucario. Her arm was a bit bruised up, but as long as you keep it bandaged, it'll be healed in no time."

"That's a relief!" Ash exhaled, taking the three pokeballs from the tray. "Thanks a lot, Nurse Joy!" Ash smiled, saluting the caretaker, before heading down the hallway. "That was the toughest match, yet! I get the feeling things are only gonna get tougher, from here." Ash thought aloud, scratching behind Pikachu's ear.

"Pika!"

"I'd certainly hope that won't be discouraging you."

Ash stopped in his tracks, turning to catch the source of the familiar voice.

Samurai leaned against the wall of the inner corridor, his arms crossed over his chest. "I'd hate to lose to someone who'll lose nerve so easily." He didn't elaborate, his pride was too great.

But, Ash understood. He smirked, walking over to his opponent. There was no need for Samurai to re-live the shame of doing just that. "Don't worry. I fight best under pressure. I'm winning this thing, no matter how tough it gets."

"Then, I have no regrets. I may not have made it quite as far as I'd like. But, the top 32 is quite the improvement over the last. Now, I know that my options are boundless. I'll keep fighting honorably, until I find my place." The teen extended a hand to Ash.

Ash grinned, reaching to give a firm shake. "Just what I want to hear!"

"It was an honor battling you again, Ash." Samurai pulled back, turning to walk off. "Oh, and that reminds me; I'm hoping to deliver the message personally, but just in case… Give Dawn my gratitude. Without her advice, we wouldn't have had this battle, today."

"Hmph." Ash smiled, turning to walk in the other direction. "I'll definitely do that!"

* * *

Misty's eyebrow couldn't help but waver a bit as she stared down the two Luvdisc. "The match is over already," she hissed, exasperation coursing through her veins. It wasn't fair that Dawn had someone to latch onto and fawn over! But, more than unfair, it was obnoxious how much the two inflated each other's egos!

Ash, blushing all the while, walked with an extra skip in his step as Dawn rested her head on his shoulder. "Aw, come on, Mist! We're just celebrating! That was an important battle, you know!"

Humming in agreement, Dawn spared a look back at the water specialist. "Besides, didn't you see how happy it made Samurai to get to show his stuff like that! It was good for everyone! So, we should be happy!"

"Oh, I know! Let's go get cha siu bao!" Ash suggested.

"I love those!" Dawn enthused.

Misty let out a long sigh. "You two…" As she was about to sulk after them, she caught a battle on screen. Her eyes widened. "No way… Ash! Get over here! Isn't this that girl you were excited to battle?"

At once snapping out of the lovey dovey moment, Ash and Dawn alike bolted over, vying for best view of the screen. The camera quickly cut away from a calm, in control looking Deidra.

Ash's jaw dropped. "That Psychic!" He was in awe.

On the screen, Deidra's Metagross stood its ground, creating a Barrier-mimicking shield out of its Psychic attack. Its opponent, a rather flashy looking yellow Arcanine, rushed straight into it, trying to break down the Flamethrower deflection with Extreme Speed. Metagross, however, was having none of that. With only a low, metallic groan, it thrust the shield forward, pushing back against the massive canine. Arcanine was thrusted so roughly by the shield's movement that it even skidded outside of the ring!

"Talk about getting the most yank for your yen," Dawn noted. "She used the same Psychic to defend and attack! She's not the type to waste a single move, huh?"

"You're telling me. She's going in for the kill," Misty noted with a cluck of her tongue. "She's not even letting her opponent know her other moves… She's using Psychic again, and Arcanine can't do a thing about it!"

Both girls seemed to recall that Ash was there and remarkably quiet. They shared a look before Dawn put a hand on Ash's shoulder, rousing him from his quiet contemplation.

"Are you nervous?" Misty asked.

He breathed out before standing up right. "Honestly? A little. She's… something else." He gripped his fists tight, raising them even with his shoulders. "But, I'm not shaking with fear! It's excitement! Yahoo!"

"Pika!"

Ash looked over to the sudden weight added to his shoulder. "Oh, hey, buddy! Where's-"

"Empoleon!" the big penguin greeted, hugging Dawn from behind.

Dawn giggled, turning to hug her starter back. "Hehe, glad to see you, too, big guy! … Did you wash your flippers, though?"

"Empo…"

At her starter's guilty admission, Dawn huffed, looking over to Pikachu. "I asked you to go with him so he'd act right, Pikachu! Did you wash your paws, either?!"

Huffing, Pikachu fussed back at Dawn. "Pika! Pikaka Pi! Pikapi!"

"Hey, don't throw me in this," Ash warned, holding up his hands. "I've learned my lesson on washing my hands after I get 'em dirty."

Misty rolled her eyes. "Alright, now that your kids have come back from playing in the mud, can we please go, Mr. And Mrs. Battle Buffoon?"

"... That's Mr. The Battle Buffoon," Ash pouted before following Misty towards where they planned to eat lunch.

Dawn giggled as she followed. "We'll wash your flippers when we get there, Empoleon! Still, I guess I can't blame you for getting them dirty - you've got to cool down one way or another, huh?"

* * *

The navy-blue dragon raised his head, letting out a bellowing roar as he claimed his vittles. He dragged the huge egg closer to his mouth. Opening his mouth so wide his jaw unhinged, the ground dragon forced the huge, pearl pink egg down his gullet. Satisfied with his endeavor, he licked his lips…

Before immediately turning to look at Ash, head cocked as if asking for more.

Looking back up at his behemoth dragon, Ash could only blink. "... What the hell?" Absolutely stunned by Garchomp's massive appetite, Ash only waved down the waitress. "Hey! Hey! Another Soft Boiled Egg, please!"

"I don't see how he's eating more than one…" Max grumbled. "Soft Boiled Eggs are full of energy."

May slammed her fist down on the table. "I completely understand Garchomp's heart!" Before anyone could look twice, she was out of her seat, holding the dragon's claws gently in her hands. She spoke gently to him. "You want to taste the good things in life, right? That's why you travel with Ash! Seeing exciting places, meeting wonderful people, tasting delicious food…!"

"Is she tryna bond with that Garchomp? Thing's dense as a brick," Koda mumbled.

Ash took off his hat, whacking Koda over the head for his comment.

"Ow! Hey!"

"That's my Garchomp you're talkin' about," the teen warned.

"But, Ash, Garchomp really is… kinda dense." Dawn gave Ash a sympathetic look.

"... Not anymore. Look at it and May," Misty pointed out, taking a sip of her milk tea.

The table looked, watching in slight shock as Garchomp actually smiled back at May. Was it blushing a little?!

"You understand! Someone else who enjoys nice things would naturally understand me!" She laughed. Garchomp moved his head lower and May moved her nose upwards, expecting a nose bump. "What a good boy!"

Ash jerked up in his chair, seeing Garchomp's mouth open. "Oy! May, move, he's gonna!"

 ** _Clack!_**

Garchomp's teeth came down over empty air.

"He was trying to eat something good, alright," Drew grumbled. "I step outside to talk to a fan for five minutes and you almost get eaten by Ketchum's dragon."

May stuck her tongue out, snatching her wrist out of Drew's hand before pouting. "Hey, hey, hey, Brock said Ash's Garchomp bites to show affection! Don't be mad that I'm popular!"

"Who'd be jealous over being bit!" Drew snapped.

Max groaned. "The atmosphere's always like this when they're together. They flirt with battles even when it's not a real battle!"

Noting the interaction, Meema flicked an ear before looking to Ash. _~Battles are really important to your people, aren't they?~_

Reaching out to pet her, the trainer nodded. "Yep! By the way, you did great today, Meema!"

Hearing Ash's side of the conversation, Dawn jumped in. "Yeah! It was incredible. Ash, you, and the rest of the team are doing great! This really helped Ash with his goal!"

Rura popped his head out of Meema's fur, a piece of toast between his teeth. _~That's my mom for you!~_ he bragged. _~She's super strong!~_

Meema gingerly nibbled on the apples that Rura had refused. _~I didn't even last the whole way through, though…~_

"That's fine! I'm gonna keep helping you get stronger so you can one day, but for now, you just need to do your part!" He gestured to Garchomp, who was now trying to stuff the entirety of his second Soft Boiled Egg down his throat. "Garchomp did his! And, so did Rosa!"

The pup looked up from where she was trading fruit slices with Empoleon. She passed him her orange slices while he passed her his apple slices as she processed what Ash had said. Realizing he was praising her, she yipped once in glee before going back to organizing her food with her fellow steel type.

Ash continued. "That's all you have to do! We're a team, so we can support each other."

Satisfied with what Ash had said, Meema nodded. _~Relying on a pack is easier than doing everything by yourself…~_

"Speaking of doing a good job, have you seen how close you are to winning?!" She threw her arms up in the air. "Four more rounds! I'm so proud!" She put a hand under her chin, looking rather smug. "Gonna be pretty cool bragging about you after this." Pretending she was talking to someone else, she flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Hi! Nice to meet you! I'm Dawn of Twinleaf Town! Top coordinator, fashion icon, queen of the cuties. And, dating Ash Ketchum, hall of famer."

Ash laughed. "You were complimenting yourself a lot there…"

"I've gotta be good if we're a couple!" Dawn whined.

"Uh… Excited to have an excuse to ruin this gross love fest, but…" Max fumbled with his fork, running it over his plate until Koda grabbed his hand to make him stop. "Right! Well, Ash, first you have to beat me to win!"

Sensing how nervous Max was, Ash nodded. "Right. That'll be a hard battle. You've really come along as a trainer."

The kid smiled. "You think so?"

"I know so." He looked towards Misty. "She's not fond of handing out badges to just anyone, so there's someone else who can vouch for you."

Looking down at his plate, Max laughed. "Right! This'll be good. I'll be able to see how far we've both come. I'm excited."

"Me, too," Ash agreed.

Dawn practically cooed, clasping her hands together. "You're gonna be a great role model! I can see it! Taking your championship team everywhere to greet all sorts of aspiring and newbie trainers! Oh, oh, we should do double appearances at schools and stuff! It'd be great for inspiring kids to become trainers and really bond with their pokemon!"

While Dawn was going on about the idea of the two of them going places to inspire children, Ash just stared at her. After a second, he stood, pulling Dawn out of her chair and stepping onto the grassy lawn of the cafe they were eating at. He span her once, holding her above his head and laughing.

"Ash?!" she gasped.

He brought her down, letting her feet touch the ground before he touched his forehead to hers, arms wrapped warmly around her. "You're just great! I'm so happy we're sharing our dreams! You're gonna be a great top coordinator! I can't wait to go do all that with you!"

May and Drew, unfazed due to their own coupling, actually ignored the couple, giving them a bit of privacy. A bit jealous, but otherwise happy, Brock only smiled before shaking his head. Misty had half a mind to say something, but figured the two had earned this one; plus, the thought of Ash going to mentor kids was pretty cute. Professor Oak, pleasantly surprised at how mature both could be, only let out a low, muttering comment on the blossoming of youth. Delia, meanwhile, subtly got out her camera, whispering something about this being an important moment.

Naturally, this left only Max and Koda to share their disgust.

"Can you two get a room!" he whined.

Koda nodded his head. "It's… really gross."

Rosa, becoming embarrassed that her parental figures were displaying so much affection in public, actually wiggled her way between them, pushing them apart slightly. _~Papa! Mama! That's too much! It's uncool!~_

Dawn only smirked. "Oh? What? Is this uncool?" She immediately hugged the Lucario before bringing Ash into the hold as well.

Taking Dawn's cue, Ash hugged both girls, snickering at Rosa's clear whines of embarrassment.

 _~Aw! Come on! What if someone sees?!~_

"You're really growing up, huh? Being concerned about whether you're one of the cool kids?" Ash teased. "It doesn't matter! You're my little girl, so I'll always make sure you know I love you!"

Meema cocked her ears, smiling at the scene. ~Leader, you and your mate will truly be excellent parents whenever you have a litter. You're already an excellent father to Rosa, and a good leader for the rest of the team!~

Dawn, stunned into silence, spoke only after a brief pause. "W-What did I tell you about calling us mates?!"

Delia, meanwhile, only let out boisterous laughter, rushing to Meema's side. "They are cute, aren't they?! You're a mother, so you understand what I'm talking about!"

While Dawn desperately tried to get Meema and Delia to stop conspiring together, Brock took the opportunity to get the rest of the group's attention. It was time for a change of subject.

"We should get the checks, soon. The Magikarp fishing event is coming soon, and it's how you decide your opponent for the final rounds. Your skill matters most, but it doesn't hurt to get there early and psyche yourself up to fish up something fortunate!" Brock explained.

On cue, Ash, Koda, and Max stood, raising their hands in the air. "Check, please!"

May sighed, looking at the crepes she hadn't finished. "Oh… Drew, couldn't we please stay a little longer?"

He shook his head. "This is the first time I've felt good enough to hang out between matches. Let's get something to eat at the stadium. My treat." He looked to the side. "... It'd be nice to spend more time with your brother and your friends. We should all get along, shouldn't we?"

Practically squealing, May nodded. "Aw! You're doing your best to be nice, aren't you?!"

Not arguing, Drew nodded. A faint blush dusted his cheeks.

Professor Oak laughed as the waitress headed over with the bills. "It's certainly lively around here."

* * *

The dome, spotted with registration counters, was sparsely populated, compared to the earlier stages of the conference. A few competitors wandered for a booth, still, with presumably a few friends and companions tagging along. A glass tank full of Magikarp stood next to every registrar, equipped with a fishing pole, each.

"Looks like most of the top 16 already got their pick." Brock observed the bracket hanging on the wall, sporting several familiar faces.

"Deidra's up there," Ash picked up quickly. "And, there's that trainer with the backwards hat… His name's slipping me." Ash spotted a teen looking just a bit older than him on the bracket, with a red and white hoodie, and a long, black messy bang hanging out of a black and golden cap.

"I swear I've seen him somewhere before, too…" Dawn held a thumb to her lip.

"Ditto," May agreed.

"Ash, look!" Misty grabbed her friend's arm, pointing at the bracket. "There's-"

"Hey, guys!" A familiar voice called, earning the group's attention. Ritchie stood before them, a wide smile on his face and a hand on his hip. "About to get signed up for your rounds?"

"I can't wait, uh-huh!" Himashi bounced on her heel beside Ritchie, holding Sparkles securely on her shoulder. "It's just you guys and a couple o' other trainers, now!"

"Yup! Back at the top 16. Feels familiar, huh?" Ash brushed his finger over his nose.

"Mhm." Ritchie nodded. "The same round where we faced off during our first league. Could you imagine getting matched up that way again?"

"Yeah, right," Ash laughed. "Either way, we'll end up battling, sooner or later!"

"You might want to get signed up before you get excited about that." Brock nudged Ash's shoulder with his elbow. "Max and Koda are already ahead of you."

"C'mon…!" Max grunted, jostling around his lure inside the tank. "Take the bait, already!"

"You gotta take it easy, brainy. You'll scare the pokemon away, like that." Koda criticized.

"Right…" The boy from Petalburg exhaled, waving his lure more gently in the water.

"I got a bite!" Max cheered, yanking his rod away from the water. A Magikarp was pulled up with him, calmly hanging onto the bait. 'B-3' was printed on its side.

"B-3!" The registrar announced. "The B-3 bracket is currently empty, so please wait patiently to learn the identity of your opponent!"

"The next trainer will be Ash Ketchum," a voice chimed nearby. From the next desk over, the attendant announced over the loudspeaker.

"Good luck, guys!" Ash saluted Max and Koda, rushing over. He wasted no time tossing his lure in the tank.

"Let's see who I get." Koda mused meanwhile, gripping his fishing rod with all the impatience he'd scolded Max for. He could feel his fists trembling… Or, was that a bite!?

"Got it!" Koda yanked his Magikarp out of the water.

However difficult it was to tell, his face paled.

Max stared, breathless.

"B-3! Your next opponent will be…!" The attendant gestured to the counter's screen.

Max's visage appeared beside Koda's.

The boys met eyes, finding no words. Breaths barely registered, even, between the companions.

"Things are heating up…!" May cupped her hands over her mouth, finding no will to narrate an expedition.

Ash, meanwhile, pulled up his Magikarp with a calm ease. The pokemon's hide read 'B-4.'

"B-4!" The attendant named, gesturing to Ash's own screen. "Your next opponent will be…!"

The fishing rod slipped from his fingers, rolling onto the floor, as the Magikarp returned to its tank with a splash.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Misty gawked in disbelief, jostling Brock's shoulder. "Look at this!"

The man's expression turned stern. "Well, what do you know."

"Oh, man!" Himashi gasped, her head turning between the chosen competitors.

Next to Ash's face on the screen, appeared Ritchie's.

Ash turned on his heel back towards the group.

The brunette, clad in teal and navy, stood before him, with Sparky nestled into his shoulder. Ritchie stared, breathless. A stunned expression softened into a smirk, and his Pikachu did the same.

Ash smiled wide, as did Pikachu.


	80. The Rivals

**Thanks for coming to read our 80** **th** **chapter! This story's come a long way, in part, thanks to everyone's support and feedback! We hope you enjoy the action, and please leave your thoughts and feedback, if you get the chance! Happy reading!**

* * *

The cozy, toasty comforts of rented cabins were traded for grassy hills, a crackling campfire, and a gentle summer breeze, tonight. Outside of Pokemon village, Ash, Ritchie, and Himashi sat in the quiet wilderness at the bottom of a slope, roasting marshmallows over a flame.

Pikachu and Sparky sat between their trainers, doing the same with smaller sticks. Sparkles munched neatly on an uncooked marshmallow - they got so messy over a fire.

"You've seen that in person!?"

"Sure have." Ash snatched a bite of a marshmallow, flashing his Pokedex to Ritchie with his free hand. A small, orange specter appeared on the screen, surrounded by limbs formed by sparks of electricity.

 **"** **Rotom, the Plasma Pokémon. Rotom plays practical jokes, which it carries out by embedding its plasma body in electronic devices."** Ash's Pokedex droned.

"What an interesting pokemon…! I'd love to see that in person."

"You sure?" Ash deadpanned. "It's not so nice when you've got a weed wacker chasing you."

"No way," Ritchie laughed.

"Piiikachu," Pikachu agreed with a pout. That Rotom was terrifying!

"A pokemon that can take over gadgets… It still sounds really cool, uh-huh!" Himashi leaned over from Ash's other side to get a good luck at the Pokedex entry.

"Well," Ash bit into another marshmallow, "you said you had some pictures from your time in Fiore, right? Let's see 'em!"

"Oh, right!" The other young man pulled his backpack over, searching through its content. "...Here! Check these out!" Ritchie pulled out a small collection of photos, handing one over to Ash at a time.

"Pretty cool lookin'." Ash observed the first; a large stone structure, not unlike a pyramid, fraught with moss and cracks, but otherwise untouched.

"That's the Fiore Temple," Ritchie explained. "Apparently, it was built in ancient times by both people and pokemon!"

"No kidding… That's amazing. Something created by people and pokemon working together. I like that a lot, don't you?" Ash smiled down at Pikachu, who quickly picked up.

"Pi…? Pikachu!" Pikachu cheerily agreed with a wave of his paw.

Ritchie handed over a second photo of the same scene, with Himashi taking up half of the shot, flashing a peace sign.

"Way to photobomb," Ash laughed.

"Just trying to make memories!" The dark-haired girl grinned.

"Speaking of making memories…" Ritchie handed another photo to Ash.

"Woah, is that Raikou?" Ash's mouth hung open. Pikachu's ears twitched, and he joined his trainer to peek.

The Thunder pokemon could be seen dashing off into the distance, its purple cape billowing in the wind. What looked like a corner of the ruins could be seen behind it.

"It sure is. Entei and Suicune were there too, but I didn't get to take pictures of them…" Ritchie trailed off, slightly disappointed.

"There were a couple of creeps that tried to capture them, there." Himashi pouted.

"That figures," Ash rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, they called themselves the 'Go-Rock Squad,'" Ritchie continued. "Had some big scheme set up to hypnotize them with capture styluses. They're supposed to be used to befriend pokemon, though."

"Leave it to another one of those gangs to mess that up." Ash took an angry bite into a marshmallow, smearing it across his lip.

"But, we gave 'em a good pounding, uh-huh!" Himashi chimed. "Entei, Raikou, and Suicune got out just fine!"

"That's why we're Pokemon Rangers, after all, right?" Ritchie turned to Himashi, holding a fist out.

She stared at Ritchie's gloved fist, beaming after a moment. She held her own fist out to bump against his. "Right! No one's hurting any pokemon on our watch!"

Ash smiled wide, wiping his mouth clean with a handkerchief. "I bet you guys make a great team, looking out for pokemon in the wild! You should be proud."

"Well, we do our best." Ritchie blushed, brushing a finger over his nose.

Himashi giggled, her face turning scarlet. "C'mon, now…" She regained composure, folding her hands in her lap. "Oh, yeah. Are you guys excited for your match, tomorrow? Nervous at all?"

"Nah." Ash shook his head. "Maybe we were the first time."

"But, we got that out of our system," Ritchie finished. "Now, I'm just excited to see how strong Ash is, now!"

"Ditto!" Ash grinned, raising a fist. "It's funny, sometimes, battling a friend. You don't want either one of you to lose… But, you'd feel even worse if you didn't go in, giving it your all." His match with Morrison, all those years ago, was still a clear image in his mind. "We put our all into preparing for this league, and we plan on winning, no matter what. Hope you're ready, Ritchie!"

"Definitely!" The brunette agreed.

"Piiika! Pikachu!" Sparky bolted up, pumping his paws in the air. He grinned, letting his cheeks crackle. His eyes were squarely on Ash's Pikachu. "Pika!"

"Looks like Sparky's excited to face Pikachu!" Ritchie chuckled, petting behind his partner's ear.

"Piiii... Pikachu." Pikachu turned away from Sparky, rubbing the back of his head.

"Pika?" Sparky tilted his head.

"What's wrong with Pikachu?" Ritchie did the same.

"Oh, right… I think Pikachu wants to save his turn for the finals," Ash explained.

"Save his turn?" Ritchie echoed.

Himashi butted in. "Whaddya mean?"

"Well, the thing is, I've caught so many pokemon over the years that I'll only able to use each pokemon in this league once. I get the feeling that Pikachu wants to be there for our victory, in the finals."

"You've caught that many!?" Ritchie gawked, leaning forward. A marshmallow slid off his stick, which Sparky just barely managed to catch with his mouth. Sparkles tutted, shaking her head.

"Uh-huh. When you catch a new team in almost every region you travel to, they really stack up."

"That's a lot of pokemon to take care of…" Himashi hummed. "I'm so jealous!"

"Yeah, it's really rewarding, making new friends everywhere you go!" Ash folded his arms behind his head, his stick free of any treats it'd hoisted. "But, it must be nice to spend all your time with the same pokemon, too, huh?"

"Yeah." Ritchie smiled, hugging his legs to his chest. "With my free time, I've focused on training hard with the few pokemon I have. I think it makes up for all the lost time!"

"Hey, I bet it does! I can't wait to see your oldest friends in action." Ash grinned at the thought. He hummed, then. The thought made him content in his choices for tomorrow's battle.

"Something wrong, Ash?" Himashi, leaned forward, poking his cheek.

"Oh, it's nothing!" Ash raised a hand with a bashful smile, before suddenly looking more serious. "But, I've gotta admit… There's another reason Pikachu won't be involved, tomorrow."

"Pikachu…" Pikachu's tail flicked. He felt embarrassed, but explaining things might alleviate his guilt in declining a battle with Sparky.

Ash's two friends leaned in, curious, and he continued.

"I don't wanna go into the nitty-gritty, for both of our sakes," Ash started, patting his lap, before Pikachu hopped into it, curling up. He resumed, stroking the pokemon's fur. "But, we had a really bad encounter with Team Rocket, a couple of weeks ago, maybe a month. It messed both of us up, but Pikachu got the worse end of the stick." Ash could feel himself getting angry. He kept himself level with a measured deep breath.

"That's awful!" Himashi gasped, brows knit low in offense. "I hope you beat them up, uh-huh!"

"It came a lil' late, but trust me, we did." Admitting that alone was cathartic, Ash found.

"I was wondering where you got that," Ritchie hesitantly pointed at the mark on Ash's cheek. "Am I on the ball, here?"

"Uh-huh." Ash gingerly traced the sliver of light skin. "It was pretty bad at the time, but as far as I'm concerned, it's a badge of honor, now." A reminder that Team Rocket couldn't do them in.

"That's actually pretty cool, uh-huh!" Himashi's eyes sparkled. "That must've hurt, though."

"Yeah, but anything to keep my friends and pokemon safe." Ash smiled gently.

Pikachu scaled Ash's chest, climbing atop his shoulder to nuzzle into his cheeks. "Pika!"

"Right, right," Ash chuckled. "And they'd do the same for me! Anyway… Ever since then, Pikachu's had a hard time battling at all. We were told he has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder." Feeling his partner shrink in shame, he continued. "But, we've been working hard at it! So, Pikachu's working up the nerve for his big comeback."

"Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed. They'd win the league together, no matter what!

"Working as a ranger, I'm not surprised," Ritchie bitterly recalled. "It's not entirely uncommon for pokemon to be traumatized by inconsiderate thieves…" His knuckles were whitening. "But, with the right care, they always recover. And, you guys look like you've been doing a great job." The brunette's expression softened. "I know you're strong enough to beat 'em!"

"Of course, we are!" Ash cradled Pikachu with one hand, another pumped in a fist. "Hey, let's make sure we go all-out, tomorrow. So, we can keep getting stronger, than any threat we run into!"

"For the sake of the pokemon we love!" Ritchie finished Ash's thought, agreeing. "I'll agree to that." He held a hand out to shake.

Ash clasped his hand in Ritchie's, giving it a solid shake. "It's a deal!"

"Pika-Pika! Pikachu!" Sparky chimed in, jumping up to smack their hands with his paw, before addressing Pikachu. "Pi-Pika!"

"Pika… Pikachu!" Ash's Pikachu agreed, crawling down Ash's arm to slap his paw down, as well.

"I wonder what they said," Himashi thought aloud.

"I think I have an idea... "Ash hummed. "Pikachu and Sparky agree, and Sparky wants to battle Pikachu, after the tournament's over. Just for old time's sake!"

The two Pikachu nodded.

"How'd you know that?" Ritchie looked between the three.

"Just a feeling," Ash shrugged, winking at Pikachu.

Pikachu looked back to his trainer, a knowing smile curving onto his animalistic features.

* * *

This was as inevitable. Max knew it; he'd known it from the start. It was as certain as the eventuality that he wouldn't have his sister there to comfort him when he cried on his journey and as irresistible as the setting of the sun every day. But, just as he'd insisted May annoyed him and as much as he squeezed every second of sunlight out of the day, he'd ignored the reality of this battle.

They shared a dream. It bonded them together.

It also made them rivals.

"No hard feelings!" Max called out as the announcer began their introductions.

 **"** **Here, we have a pair of promising rookies! Max, a Johto native and son of Gym Leader Norman in Hoenn! And, Koda, a Sinnoh native hailing from Pastoria City!"**

On the other side of the field, Koda merely nodded. "Don't get sentimental on me now, egghead."

"Let the match begin!"

Permission granted, both boys withdrew a pokeball from their belt.

"Poliwrath, let's go!" Max called out.

Koda tossed his pokeball. "Fearow."

Koda's feral, shaggy Fearow flapped its wings, huge wings beating savagely as Max's stalwart Poliwrath stood his ground, white gloved fists tightly clenched. Familiar with each other, neither pokemon showed any signs of hesitation or of backing down. Yet, Max calculated the risks here, and found he was the one in want of the odds to change. Fearow's typing and maneuverability might prove difficult for Poliwrath.

But, he knew Koda's battling style. That might be an advantage if Koda was straight forward as always, not thinking of Max's own strategies.

"Don't stall!" Koda snapped as soon as he saw Max flinch at the sight of Fearow. "I'll start, then! Fearow, Growl and then Leer!"

* * *

"He's still using such basic moves after all this time?" Misty wondered aloud, quirking a brow.

Drew crossed his legs. "I've heard of coordinators doing that for strategy. Why is this guy doing it, though?"

"He's debuffing Max," Professor Oak explained. "Even if it doesn't do a lot, lowering Poliwrath's drive to attack and making it feel scared and therefore opening up sloppy vulnerabilities can help. And, in high stakes battles like these, those little differences add up!"

"Hm. About like picking a weaker move that's flashier in a contest battle, then?" Drew asked.

"Right," Professor Oak agreed.

* * *

Back on the field, Poliwrath had done just as the professor said. His guard and drive to fight were beginning to be compromised. Max noted bitterly that Koda had picked up a bit of strategy from their time traveling together; the old Koda would have gone in straight for an attack. So, Max figured he should use his time wisely, too.

"Poliwrath! Mind Reader!"

Koda frowned. "Aerial Ace!"

A single flap of its wings brought Fearow down on Poliwrath. It battered the water type over the rear with its ragged wings.

"Water Gun!" Max yelled.

Poliwrath hit Fearow's fleeing form dead on with the Water Gun, forcing the bird to slow its ascent due to the sudden water weight.

"Drill Run." Koda shifted his weight, keeping calm and composed.

Fearow glided back around, building up speed for a brutal beak-first attack.

"Mud Shot!" Max gritted his teeth as he watched Poliwrath shoot the glob. It hit Fearow, bursting uselessly. "Dodge!"

Poliwrath dove to the side, barely able to escape the temporarily blinded flying type's aim.

"Fee!" the bird cawed.

"Leer and Growl," Koda ordered. "That was smart, Max."

"Thanks!" he said back. "But, Fearow's really getting to be a problem for me, so I'm gonna take him out."

"If you can," Koda smugly shot back.

"I will! Poliwrath, Mind Reader!"

Koda huffed. "Aerial Ace!"

Twice as rattled as before, Poliwrath stood his ground, eyes aided by premonition trained onto Fearow's every wing flap as it dropped down towards Poliwrath. His muscles ached from the tension of waiting for Max to give the other.

"Now!" the boy called, fulfilling his pokemon's wishes. "Circle Throw!"

"What?!" Koda snapped. "That crap again?!"

Just as the first wing beats pummeled Poliwrath, the water type snatched Fearow's legs and began spinning on his heels. Fearow soon was thrown off balance, at Poliwrath's mercy to be twirled around like a sack of potatoes. Unceremoniously, Poliwrath let go, sending Fearow sailing.

"Darn it!" Koda growled, returning Fearow before it slammed into the stadium sides. "That tactic's for cowards, Max!"

"But, it works," Max smugly noted, adjusting his glasses.

"Whatever… Machamp, let's go!"

The fighting type landed on the field with a thud, cracking all four of its knuckle sets in turn.

Koda tossed the now empty pokeball up and down. "Seismic Toss!"

Machamp sprinted forward. Grabbing Poliwrath with two of his hands, the Machamp began to tuck in, pulling Poliwrath against himself. Rolling forward and flipping, when he untucked, he slammed Poliwrath towards the ground.

"What kind of Seismic Toss was that?!" Max yelped.

Koda scratched behind his head. "Well, he can't fly, so we had to figure out how to do it somehow."

"Still! Gr… Poliwrath, use Mud Shot!"

On Max's command, Poliwrath looked up, supporting himself with trembling arms. Flinging a scattering of wet earth forward, it struck Machamp hard enough to make the brute stagger and try to clear its eyes.

"Tch… Tryna blind us. Fine! Machamp. Bulk Up." Koda knew better than to waste time with his rival.

"This is our chance!" Max yelled. "Poliwrath, we gotta Circle Throw him out!"

The amphibian got up, rushing to try to grab Machamp.

"Fat chance," Koda snarled. "Machamp! Vital Throw!"

With a longer reach and greater size, Machamp's arms snapped out, grabbing Poliwrath and stopping him in his tracks. Lifting the squat blue pokemon, Machamp threw him like a weight.

"Follow up with Cross Chop!" Koda ordered.

Machamp bolted forward.

"Why's it so fast?!" Max snapped before thinking it over. "Oh, right, it's all muscle…"

In short order, Machamp was upon Poliwrath, even before the pokemon could land! Hitting the water type with all four hands, it knocked Poliwrath out.

The referee raised a hand. "Poliwrath is unable to battle!"

 **"** **And, with that, Koda has gained the advantage!"** the announcer called out.

Max grit his teeth. "Right… Time to take care of business. Gengar, let's go! Start off with Mean Look!"

As the ghost exited its pokeball, its eyes glowed. Machamp staggered backwards, but found itself unwilling to even look back at Koda. It was trapped.

"Well, crap," Koda muttered. "We're trapped… Bulk Up!"

"Ma!" the pokemon answered, kneeling down and tensing its muscles.

"Since you already know how this goes…" Max adjusted his glasses. "Gengar, keep using Shadow Ball!"

* * *

"This wouldn't work in a contest at all," Drew mumbled.

"Yeah, but it works for a battle," Ash noted. "Kinda brute force for Max, though."

May shrugged, laughing. "He did what he needed to, though! That Machamp can't touch Gengar; it doesn't know the right moves! So, Gengar can attack Machamp without a care in the world!"

"So, Koda's just trying to see how much energy he can make Gengar use up on Machamp, huh?" Ash rubbed his chin. "Kinda desperate. I would have tried flipping some of the field to improvise a rock type move!"

"Koda's still young," Brock said with a shrug. "You're kind of exceptional with improvising moves, Ash. Koda probably doesn't realize he could have Machamp use Cross Chop to cut out some of the field to throw or defend with."

"You would have thought Max would have told Koda, since we traveled together…" Ash muttered.

May winked. "That's just it! I think Max was being a stinker and keeping that info from Koda! They're friends, but Max can still be a little jerk!"

* * *

 **"** **Machamp is down for the count! Our trainers are now neck and neck!"**

Koda returned Machamp, brows furrowed. "Alright… Time to get real. Skuntank, give 'em a taste of your Flamethrower!"

Hissing, the purple behemoth landed with a twitch of her tail. She did a handstand, spraying out what might as well have been dumpster fire.

Struck, Gengar recoiled a moment.

Max lifted his shirt to cover his nose and mouth before speaking. "Gengar, use Hypnosis!"

Luckily, the move landed. With a wave of his hands, the ghost type lulled the vicious dark type to sleep.

"Good! Now, use Shadow Ball!" Max ordered.

* * *

"Mean Look, Shadow Ball, and Hypnosis… I guess Max didn't teach Gengar another attack move." Ash rubbed his chin.

"That's gonna screw him, because Skuntank's gonna wake up eventually, and I don't think tank's in the name for nothing. That dark type isn't getting hit too hard out there," Misty noted.

* * *

Sure enough, Skuntank's sleep was short lived.

"Night Slash!" Koda called out, earning an ear twitch from the slumbering dark type.

She arose, yowling a battle cry before charging forward. Her long claws were coated in a black aura before she scratched at Gengar.

"Shadow Ball!" Max called again.

It was useless. Skuntank's Night Slash burst the Shadow Ball like a blade through a soap bubble.

"Alright!" Koda raised a fist. "Now, another Night Slash!"

Skuntank darted forward, readying the second attack.

"Destiny Bond!" Max ordered.

Gengar glowed red, and, soon, so did Skuntank. As Skuntank struck down Gengar, the ghost fainted, melting down through the air to the ground like a sad, deflated balloon. And, for a moment, Skuntank stood, grinning at her victory. Then, the cruel red glow took hold of her, knocking her out as well.

Then, she let off a pungent explosion.

"Alright! Got rid of her Aftermath ability!" Max cheered through his shirt. "I win! You don't have any more pokemon!"

"Get your eyes checked!" Koda yelled, pointing at the stadium screen.

The referee threw both arms up. "Gengar and Skuntank are both unable to battle!"

The announcer spoke up, just then. **"In a clever tactical sacrifice, Max has put himself and Koda on even terms, with Max having a slight edge for fresh pokemon! How will this battle end?"**

Max gulped. "Oh… Right. You've still got your Fearow."

* * *

"Ha!" Ash yelled, standing up in the stands again. "How's it feel to get embarrassed over a silly mistake?!" He knew Max was just a kid, but he couldn't help but recall all the times Max had rubbed his mistakes in his face when Ash was just a kid, too.

* * *

Max looked to his last pokemon. "Scizor, let's go!"

"Fearow, let's try again," Koda said.

The two pokemon regarded each other briefly. The bird squinted its eyes while the bug lifted a claw in threat.

Koda ended the stalling. "Drill Run!"

With the same intense speed as before, Fearow was upon Scizor, who'd thrown its claws up in defense. The bug was pushed back and even down, leaving a skidding row in the dirt as proof of the struggle.

"It's doing so much damage!" Max exclaimed.

Koda nodded. "Even if Scizor's steel typed, it's still a bug going up against a bird. So, let's show 'em Iron Head!"

"Iron Defense!" Max ordered, eyes widening.

It was just in time. A silver gleam overcame Scizor as Fearow headbutted it. A metallic clang rang out through the stadium, but Scizor had successfully deflected Fearow's attack.

"Fine… Aerial Ace!" Koda ordered.

"You, too, Scizor! Use Aerial Ace!" Max copied.

The two pokemon separated. Fearow circled around to gather up speed. Scizor jumped up, reading for impact. The two collided, stalling for a moment before Scizor was flung back down.

"Drill Run!" Koda yelled.

Max frowned. He had to figure out something. This was going south fast. Neither pokemon was going to last much longer! A light went off in his mind, soon, and suddenly. "Fury Cutter, but hit it to the side!"

Holding back, Scizor tensed. Fearow drew closer, and he jabbed. It knocked Fearow off course! The Drill Run missed, and instead, Fearow crashed into the ground.

The flying type bounced off of the field, collapsing into an unconscious pile.

The referee threw a hand up. "Fearow is unable to battle! Max and Scizor are the victors!"

"We won!" Max cheered.

Scizor looked back, wearily raising a claw in celebration.

The announcer concluded the match. **"What a stellar management of an attack! Our winner for this round, Max of Hoenn, has done fantastic!"**

* * *

She crumpled the shiny wrapper up, tossing it in the trashcan as she followed Dawn into the makeshift market tent. The promotional Cynthia ice cream bar had been too great a temptation for May to ignore. She bit into the strawberry-and-rocky-road ice cream bar, teeth far too used to harsh meals to be bothered by the cold.

"Whatcha lookin' for?" May asked around a mouthful of strawberry bites.

"Wallace," Dawn said with determination. "I'm gonna find something cute with his face or I'll die trying."

"Don't get dramatic."

Ignoring May, Dawn began digging through the little bin with pokedex charms on it. Various champion's prize pokemon were within, all wearing said champion's signature accessory. Bypassing a Garchomp sporting a black coat with a twinge of guilt, Dawn's hand darted furiously for a Milotic in a white beanie.

"Yes!" she cheered, pulling the charm back…

Only to realize the charm's cord was tangled up in the cord of another charm, in the hand of another girl. The other charm was a Lance Dragonite, sporting a rather dramatic looking cape.

Dawn looked down at the tangled charms, at the other blue haired girl, back at the charms, and then snatched.

"Gimme that!"

"What?! No!" the other girl yelled, tugging on her side of the tangle.

Neither giving up, the two girls glared each other down.

"Gimme the charms! I'll untangle 'em!"

"Fat chance! This is the only Dragonite in the bin! I'm not gonna let you run off with Lance's cape!"

"Who cares about Lance's stinky cape?! I want the Wallace charm!"

"Who cares about… Girl! It's Lance's cape! The Lance! With THE cape!"

May, who had watched all of this about as passively as one could imagine, stepped to Dawn's side, blue eyes wide in curiosity. "Hey, aren't you Marina? Like, as in Marina the top coordinator and idol superstar?"

Dawn's jaw dropped and her grip on the charm loosened. "What?! You're that Marina?!"

Satisfied to have the charm tangle, Marina immediately set about untangling the two. "Yep! And… Here you go. Here's your waterboy." She handed Dawn back the Wallace charm. "Ehehe! What a pretty cape…!" Looking more closely at the two girls, she snapped her fingers. "Hey! You're the new top coordinator, May! And, you're that big upcoming runner-up from Sinnoh, aren't you? What was it? Dane? Donna?"

"Dawn," Dawn corrected. She'd been called worse, though.

May mockingly bowed, winking as she rose. She waved her empty popsicle stick as she spoke. "The Princess of Hoenn now has a real title to claim! It's cool you know who we are, though!"

"Chyeah!" Marina whipped out her phone. "Hey, you girls mind taking a pic with me? I run a picture blog, so it's good to have photos with other celebs on there! Keeps the traffic flowing, good for my image and all."

"Oh, I'm down!" May adjusted her headband.

"Me, too!" Dawn smoothed her hair down.

Soon, all three girls were crammed close, posing sweetly for a selfie on Marina's phone.

"Nice! Thanks." She clicked away on her phone, uploading the picture on her blog.

"Hey, wait, you don't even coordinate anymore. Whatcha tryna keep up your image for?" May asked.

Marina smiled. "Oh, I just became a top coordinator for the fame, honestly! About like when I entered the Silver Conference way back when! I'm, like, a professional influencer! I do promotional work and exhibition battles! In fact, I'm gonna help draw in new performers in these things called Showcases in Kalos!"

"A Showcase?" Dawn and May echoed in unison.

"Here, it's easier to show you. Watch this! It's called a Pokevision. This is the Kalos Queen; she's the current top performer in Kalos!"

"Whoa…! Pretty!" May cooed.

"... It's like an appeal. Where's the battling?"

"There isn't any," Marina said as she finally put her phone away. "It's all about aesthetics."

Dawn frowned. "... I don't think that's for me."

May snickered. "You can't even dance! Of course it's not for you! Did you see all the twists and turns she was doing?"

"Hey! I can do, like, slow dances and stuff!" Dawn insisted.

"Yeah, but you can't do anything cool!" May said with laughter. "Face it, you're a huge klutz!"

Dawn blushed, groaning. "I'm just unlucky…"

"You two are a riot!" Marina giggled. "Well, I gotta go! I'm sure my boyfriend is wondering where I am… I promised him I'd help him train." She waved goodbye to the girls as she headed to the counter to pay.

Dawn looked down at her own charm before clutching it tightly. "... Marina's really talented, but I definitely wanna be a coordinator for a while longer. Like, at least until I'm too old to be traveling all the time, you know. I want as many trophies as my mom!"

* * *

 **"** **The match between Ash Ketchum and Ritchie Jayne in Indigo Stadium will begin in five minutes! We ask that both competitors be ready to enter the arena on time, prepared with your pokemon!"** A booming voice blared over loudspeakers, across the Plateau.

Standing near one of the hallways leading to the inner stadium, Ash winced. "That felt kind of like a personal call-out."

Ritchie smiled, resting a hand on his hip. "Well, you remember last time-"

"I know," Ash cut him off. "That's not happening again… Nothing's stopping me from facing you here, today!" He grinned, holding the end of his cap between his thumb and index finger.

Ritchie unconsciously mirrored his gesture. "Right!"

"Good luck, you two." Brock offered, stepping forward.

"You'll do great!" Misty encouraged.

"I'll be cheering hard!" Dawn winked, holding out a pom-pom. "For both of you!" Even with her implicit bias, she could tell in Ritchie's face that he appreciated the gesture.

"For both? I guess I'll do the same… Aw, this is gonna be confusing!" Himashi whined, clutching both of her fists. "Both of you better not lose!" Even with her tearful determination, she faltered. "Uh, wait…"

"I'm sure they know what you mean," Professor Oak interjected, from the back of the group. "Give it your all, Ash, Ritchie."

"I'll get plenty of pictures~!" Delia cooed, already taking snaps with her camera.

"I do," Ash agreed with Professor Oak, giving the group a thumbs-up. "Now, I've gotta split. Gotta do something real quick, before the match starts!"

"Ash!?" Ritchie stammered. "I just said…!" He huffed. "He's already gone."

"I hope he's using his head," Brock frowned, crossing his arms.

"No need to worry." Dawn turned back to the group, her blue eyes shimmering. "I bet Ash is just getting psyched up for the battle, that's all! You know how he is."

* * *

Ash silently thanked fate that the locker room closest to his end of the stadium was completely empty, right now. He stepped into the open space, lined with metal-lined compartments and benches. "Time for a quick pep talk," Ash spoke aloud, to Pikachu in particular. He retrieved three pokeballs from his belt.

Three flashes of light followed, one after the next. First was a small shape that took a stout, quadrupedal form, with a large bulb on its back. "Bulba," Bulbasaur croaked.

The second was somewhat taller, sporting a round shell, fluffy ears, and a similarly soft, swirly tail. "Wartortle!" He cried, boasting his trademark sunglasses.

The last was much larger than the previous, rattling the room with a roar. With a flick of his fiery tail, Charizard stood beside Wartortle.

"Alright, guys. It's crunch time, now, so I just wanted to talk to you, real quick."

The starters from Kanto tilted their heads, save for Pikachu.

"The three of you were some of the first pokemon to ever join me on my journey. You've been with me through thick and thin, beginning to end, no matter what we've asked of each other."

Ash eyed Charizard, who stubbornly avoided his gaze. "And, that's what's gotten us this far. We're back at another crossroads, against Ritchie, for the first time since our match, in this same spot, years ago. I believe in all of you, and I know that, this time, we'll win!"

"Bulba, Bulbasaur!" The grass starter cried. Bulbasaur was determined. This time, he didn't carry the shameful burden of exhaustion; of being too tired to fight Ritchie. He was fresh, and sturdier than ever.

"War, Wartortle!" The water starter clamored, pounding his fist against his hardy shell. He'd gone down pitifully to a Sleep Powder, before. He remembered his humiliation upon hearing the news, when he'd woken up. This time, he'd teach this guy what-for!

The fire starter huffed a fiery breath. His tail flicked, leaving a heavy dent in a nearby locker. No matter how much he tip-toed around it, he didn't plan to repeat his shameful behavior.

Ash winced. "Hey, no long faces, here. Let's win this match, and win this tournament!" The trainer crouched, holding a hand out, palm-down. "Let's win it as a team!"

"Bulbasaur!" The Seed pokemon extended his vine atop Ash's hand. Wartortle's hand came next, and Charizard's large claws piled reluctantly on top. Pikachu scaled Ash's arm to put his paw down last. "Pika!"

 **"** **The match between Ash and Ritchie will begin in one minute, and counting! Both competitors must enter the arena on time, or penalties will be dealt!"**

"We must've made a hell of an impression…" Ash winced, quickly recovering. "Let's prove them wrong!"

* * *

He remembered a night sky, nearly pitch-black., lit only by the blaring stadium lights. Sweat-stained clothes, and the shame of thousands of eyes locked on him, leaping from the tattered remains of Team Rocket's balloon. He recalled his legs feeling like jelly, and his eyes like lead weights, from his grueling escape. He remembered his iron will to begin his match, regardless.

Only that last detail escaped the long-stowed confines of the past. Today, Ash breathed in fresh air with no struggle. Sunny skies blanketed the battlefield and stadium over. Roaring cheers of excitement left no uncomfortable silence. His mind was clear, his pokemon were fresh, and his heart was raring for action. He stepped onto his box at one end of the battlefield, opposite of Ritchie.

His friend, clad in blue, had already been waiting for him. Ash watched his expression soften as he stepped out into plain sight. Sparky seemed to be bouncing on his shoulder.

 **"** **Both trainers are on the field, and ready to battle! Now, we'll be starting the seventh, and second-to-last match of the first of the final rounds! Most of those watching may not remember, but for some, this is a blast from the past! These two trainers have met in this arena, once before, many years ago! And, beyond that, in the very same round! Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, and Ritchie Jayne of Frodomar City battled to advance to the quarterfinals, where Ritchie advanced! I'm sure that goes without saying that this will be a heated battle! No doubt, Ash will fight hard to settle the score!"**

"They really dug deep for this one, huh?" Ash remarked, unnerved. "Hey, Ritchie! Let's not let any of that get in our heads, alright?"

Ritchie beamed, flashing a thumbs-up. "Definitely not!"

"This will be a three-on-three match, until all of either trainer's pokemon are unable to battle. Both contestants can change pokemon at any time." The referee stood to the side of the flat field, raising a hand. "You may begin!"

"Bulbasaur," Ash started, chucking a pokeball. "I choose you!"

"Saur!" The Seed pokemon appeared.

"Then, I choose Sparky!" Ritchie pointed forward. Sparky hopped off of his shoulder, dashing to oppose Bulbasaur.

"I'll start," Ash began. "Bulbasaur, Sunny Day!"

An orb of light launched from the bulb on Bulbasaur's back, hanging high above the fray. Its effects amplified the sun, casting a lamp of solar heat upon the stadium.

 **"** **At the very beginning of the battle, Ash's Bulbasaur has used Sunny Day! What could be up their sleeves!?"**

"Sunny Day, already… They must be setting up for Solarbeam." Ritchie's brows furrowed. "Sparky, use Return!"

"Pika!" Sparky cried, charging the grass type. He lunged with a full-body tackle.

Bulbasaur swiftly vaulted over Sparky with little trouble, landing on all fours. "Bulba!"

"It's so fast!" Ritchie gawked. Was he really battling a Bulbasaur!?

"That's his ability," Ash explained, "Chlorophyll. When he's soaking up sun, it gives him a big boost in speed. Pretty handy, huh?" Not waiting for an answer, he pointed. "Solarbeam!"

Without hesitation, Bulbasaur fired a sudden burst of light from his bulb, kicking up a tunnel of dust.

"Dodge, and use Return!" Ritchie ordered.

"Pika!" Sparky charged again, leaping just out of Solarbeam's range. He didn't stop to acknowledge the booming explosion behind him, slamming into Bulbasaur's skull.

"Saur!" Bulbasaur cried, thrown airborne by the physical assault. He felt his head throb - just how powerful was that Return!? It was something he didn't have time to ponder, forced to land roughly on all fours.

"That hit hard," Ash mused aloud. "I've never seen Return before."

"Return is a special attack that gets stronger, the better a pokemon's bond with their trainer," Ritchie explained. It was really more of a boast. "It's the perfect move for us; I know you understand that, ash!"

"I like it." Ash's lips curved into a smile. His heart was already racing. "We'll show you our bond, too!"

"Use Charge Beam!"

Sparky channeled golden electricity on each of his cheeks, firing a thin, focused beam at Bulbasaur.

"Dodge it," Ash ordered, "and get in close!"

The Seed pokemon charged, leaping over the beam with relative ease. He barely felt the cling of static brush his underbelly.

"Now, Power Whip!"

"Bulba… Saur!" Bulbasaur threw his body around, firing two glowing vines from his bulb. His tried and true extremities whipped across the fray, smacking harshly into Sparky's right cheek.

The Electric Mouse cried, bouncing roughly off the terrain.

 **"** **A brutal hit from Power Whip! But, Pikachu doesn't look like it's close to giving up!"**

"Pika…" Sparky stood on all fours, bearing his tiny fangs with a grin. "Pikachu!" He shook his head, freeing his characteristic tuft of fur free of dust. He was ready for more.

"Your Bulbasaur's strong, Ash." Ritchie praised, his demeanor hardening quickly. "Double Team!"

Sparky began to dash again, this time, running circles around Bulbasaur. Then, there were two Pikachu, and three. Four. Ash admittedly lost count after six, as a near-cohesive ring of Pikachu enveloped Bulbasaur.

"So's Sparky!" Ash beamed. "I don't think it's all too often I see a Double Team that impressive."

Ritchie smirked. "Use Return!"

Several copies of the Pikachu charged out of the ring towards Bulbasaur.

"Dodge them," Ash shouted. "Behind you!"

The Seed pokemon had no time to turn, relying on his trainer's coaching. A backflip avoided the flanking charge, and a leap to the side avoided the second charge. A third and fourth came, each dodged with impressive footwork.

* * *

"Bulbasaur's gotten so fast," Misty marveled. "He's always been impressive, but he hasn't been taking any hits, even when he's surrounded!"

"It's funny," Brock started. "I was pretty sure that all starter pokemon either had Overgrow, Blaze, or Torrent. Bulbasaur having Chlorophyll as an ability wasn't something I expected."

"That is usually the case," Professor Oak replied. "But, as I'm sure you know, most species of pokemon have a hidden ability, in addition to the primary one they carry. Bulbasaur's, of course, is Chlorophyll. I don't recognize Ash's Bulbasaur as one I've given out, so he must have been bred with that ability by chance."

* * *

"Whaddya think? Bulbasaur's pretty impressive huh," Ash boasted.

"He sure is," Ritchie agreed. "Sparky, use Charge Beam!"

Rather than Pikachu clones charging wildly into the fray, quick bolts of electricity fired from the stampede surrounding Bulbasaur.

"Bulba!" Bulbasaur jumped over one bolt, only to be struck by another. Irritated, he landed on all fours, blowing on the slight burn on his bulb. Another Charge Beam struck his side, startling him.

"Bulbasaur, be careful!" Ash called out.

"Saur!" The Seed pokemon ducked another, but this left him open to another, striking his forehead.

"Bulbasaur's too tough to go down to attacks like that… But, they're only getting stronger." Ash grimaced. "If this goes on much longer, he'll be overpowered… Hey, Bulbasaur!"

"Bulba!" The grass type stood at the center of the Double Team, craning his neck to Ash.

"Let's blow this problem away! Leaf Storm Counter Shield!"

"Bulbaaa!" Bulbasaur cried, tossing his head about. What started as a small cyclone of leaves erupted into a full-blown storm, worthy of its name. Countless leaves, blooming with natural energy, tore at the battlefield in every direction. Powerful winds rustled the clones, wiping them out, one by one.

"Pikaa!" Sparky cried, caught up in the storm, before he was launched across the fray.

Leaf Storm died away, afterward, leaving only Bulbasaur at the center, who was breathing heavily.

 **"** **Wow! What a counter from Ash's Bulbasaur! All of Double Team was wiped out, and Ritchie's Pikachu took damage, to boot! Impressive power, from a first-stage pokemon!"**

"Are you alright, Sparky?" Ritchie leaned forward, as Sparky tumbled towards his end.

"Pika… Pikachu!" The Electric Mouse pushed himself to his feet with a grin. Despite his scratches, he was still ready to rumble!

"I thought so." Ritchie smirked, gazing across the battlefield. "That was really impressive, Ash! Your Bulbasaur's really powerful."

"This is just the beginning," Ash assured, beaming with pride. The former protector of the Hidden Village was reliable as ever.

"Bulba!" Bulbasaur croaked, blushing from the praise.

"Just what I wanna hear. Sparky, Return!"

"Pika!" Sparky charged Bulbasaur, again.

"Dodge that," Ash coached.

Bulbasaur was way ahead of his trainer, leaping high above the ground, clear out of Return's reach.

"Got you," Ritchie smirked. "Thunder!"

"Pika!" Sparky shrieked, enveloped in a blinding flash of electricity. Golden lightning tore through the air, striking with Bulbasaur with innumerable, unforgiving bolts.

"Bulbasaur!" Ash gasped, eyes turned to pin-points.

 **"** **What a tremendous Thunder attack! Bulbasaur may have met his match!"**

The Seed pokemon dropped towards the earth, hitting the stadium with a thud. He croaked, sizzling with grey wisps of smoke trailing from his body. Many of his nerves were numb, others sore from Sparky's scorching attack. "Bulba… Saur…" He groaned, unmoving.

Several silent, tense seconds passed. The referee leaned from his vantage point. "...Bulbasaur-"

"Bulba!"

Bulbasaur struggled to stand on all fours, glaring daggers at the referee. He wasn't going to give in, just yet. He wasn't leaving this league without a win. Not after all of their hard work.

"Bulbasaur won't go down that easily," Ash boasted. "Bring it on, you two!"

"You asked for it!" Ritchie tensed his features, throwing a hand out. "Use Return!"

"Pikachu!" Sparky charged in, once again, with all of his might.

"Catch him, with Power Whip!"

Bulbasaur's vines shot from his bulb, snapping across the field to wrap around Sparky's body.

Sparky coughed, flailing against the glowing, constricting vines. Tried as he may, he was yanked into the air above.

"Now, slam 'im!" Ash called, throwing an open palm down.

"Bulbasaur!" The vines jerked downward, smashing Sparky brutally against the arena.

"Cha!" Sparky squeaked, the breath knocked from his lungs.

"Sparky…!" Ritchie grit his teeth. "...Use Thunder!"

Sparky howled, and unleashed his wrath. Lightning shot through Bulbasaur's vines, frying the Seed pokemon with haste.

Bulbasaur cried, hastily retracting Power Whip.

"That's bad… That was the same way Bulbasaur lost to Pikachu, back when we first caught him." Ash frowned, standing up straight. "...That was back, not long after we started our journey."

"Pikachu!" Pikachu cooed. He remembered that battle well. Determined, he raised a paw in support of his teammate. "Pika-Pikachu!"

"Bul… Ba…" Bulbasaur groaned, pushing on his two front legs. His breaths were heavy, and his body was sore and charred. He wasn't sure how much more he could take, after Thunder.

Sparky faltered on his hind right leg, favoring his left to stand, with rapid, squeaky breaths. His body had grown sore. The conclusion to this match was right around the corner, he was sure. And, he was going to win! "Pikachu!"

"Ritchie," Ash addressed his fellow trainer. "I know that Sparky's been with you from the very beginning… I know he has no plans to give up. He's shown how sturdy he is, already. But, I can say the same for Bulbasaur! We've been partners, through thick and thin."

"Bulba…!" Bulbasaur cried, forcing himself on all fours. All of those years ago, he'd had no love for trainers. He'd only seen abandoned pokemon who weren't good enough for humans. Ones they'd hurt out of frustration. But, Ash had proved himself different, then and now.

The Indigo League, the Orange League, the Johto League, even the Battle Frontier. And, most recently, Mt. Silver. No obstacle was too great for Bulbasaur's hardiness and Ash's wit.

"Hey, I believe it!" Ritchie beamed, adjusting his cap. "I never had the chance to battle Bulbasaur, back then, but from what I've seen today, you two are a great team! But, so are Sparky and me! Our goal is to keep getting stronger, just like yours!" With a hand outstretched, Ritchie shouted. "You'll see that bond, now! Sparky, use Return!"

"Pikachu!" Sparky shrieked, dashing towards Bulbasaur with all of his might. "Pika, Pika, Pika…!"

"Bring it on," Ash goaded, "Stop him with Power Whip!"

Bulbasaur launched his vines, the glowing tendrils slamming into Sparky's skull.

The Pikachu pushed onward with vigor, dust kicked up with every step closer.

"This is it!" Ash called, throwing a hand outward. "Bulbasaur, Leaf Storm!"

Ritchie did the same. "Sparky, Thunder!"

A furious storm of leaves collided with a burst of electricity, capturing the field in a loud, ground-trembling explosion. Sparks and ashes blew out of the thick, black smoke.

Ash clenched his fists to the point of hurting his palms. Ritchie did the same.

The crowd watched on with baited breath as the smoke began to wisp away.

Bulbasaur and Sparky each laid in the center of the field, on their sides, unconscious.

The referee raised both hands. "Pikachu and Bulbasaur are both unable to battle!"

 **"** **Wow! What an explosive battle! Pikachu and Bulbasaur gave it their all, and showed their determination in droves!"**

Ritchie paced onto the field, scooping his companion into his arms. "Hey, you did great. Thanks, Sparky!"

The Pikachu stirred, nuzzling into Ritchie's arms. Meanwhile, Bulbasaur was absorbed in a flash.

"Awesome job, Bulbasaur." Ash looked down upon the pokeball with pride, smiling wide. As sappy as he felt, he didn't have time to revel in that, now. "You did great. Now… Wartortle! It's your turn!"

A second pokeball was chucked, and the Turtle pokemon appeared. "Wartortle!" He cried, sporting his signature sunglasses, posing with crossed arms.

"Wartortle's not as big on the sappy speeches, but we're still coming at you with our all!" Ash declared.

"I'd hope so!" Ritchie threw a pokeball forward. "Go, Happy!"

"Free~!" Happy fluttered forth, hovering opposite of Wartortle. "Free!"

"Now that I think about it… This is how we opened our first battle," Ash smiled, nostalgic. "Back then, Sleep Powder took Wartortle down… Come to think of it, that was a pretty bogus call." Ash's face scrunched. "But, that's in the past! We'll be careful, this time!"

"Wartortle!" The water type retracted his shades, poised for battle.

"We'll see how far that gets you," Ritchie taunted. "Butterfree, Acrobatics!"

"Free~!" Butterfree zipped haphazard patterns through the air, its speed leaving several after images trailing behind its approach.

"That's fast…!" Ash's expression hardened. "Use Skull Bash!"

Wartortle launched himself at Butterfree, tucking his chin into his shell.

The two pokemon clashed in mid-air, Wartortle's tough skull crashing into Butterfree's. He heard the bug squeak in pain, but its momentum shoved the water type back, skidding across the ground.

"War! Wartortle!" The water type postured, crossing his arms. He'd like to see it try that again!

"You wanna give that another go, huh?" Ash smirked. Well, he wasn't one to deny his pokemon's preferences. "Okay, let's try Skull Bash, again!"

"Free!" Butterfree chirped, floating back and forth, as if he were ready to box. He felt the same!

Ritchie picked the same up, quickly. "Acrobatics, again!"

Wartortle and Happy spent a moment tracking left and right, sizing each other up. A sprinting head-charge met a blinding show of acrobatic prowess, bashing each competitor against the other, and then again, and a fourth time.

 **"** **Wartortle and Butterfree are stubbornly having it out, with head-to-head collisions! And, neither seems to be giving an inch!"**

Wartortle skidded across the battlefield, stubbornly standing upright. "War!"

Butterfree hovered back towards Ritchie. He was beginning to sport a bruise on his forehead, and he was confident he'd seen the same on Wartortle. That'd been a sufficient test of wills.

"Happy's gotten really strong!" Ash complimented, smiling from cheek to cheek. His fists were closed tight with excitement. "You must've trained really hard. But, we're not losing! Ice Beam!"

Wartortle cried, firing a freezing beam towards the Butterfree.

"Thanks, but I can say the same for Wartortle." Ritchie threw a hand to the side. "Dodge, and use Psychic!"

Happy veered to the side of the chilled air, picking up a subtle glow.

Wartortle found himself being chucked brutally through the air, disoriented by the merciless show of telekinesis.

"Use Hydro Pump, to launch yourself at Happy," Ash countered.

The Turtle retreated to his shell, turning into a wild spin, aided by a forceful torrent blasting around him. His momentum slowed, and was then reversed by the jet, sending him flying back towards Happy. The gushing water continued, quickly closing in on the bug type.

"Happy, Whirlwind!"

"Freee~!" Butterfree furiously beat his wings, summoning a powerful gust. Winds reduced Hydro Pump to scattered mist.

Wartortle was blasted with Whirlwind, tossing him back towards Ash. He landed on all fours, dragging himself to a halt. "Wartortle…"

"Holy crap… That's some Whirlwind." Ash gawked, wiping sweat from his brow.

* * *

"It stopped Hydro Pump, like it was nothing!" May gasped, holding her cheeks in her palms.

"From Wartortle, even…" Misty found herself pouting. "You're not losing out there, after beating my gym, Wartortle, c'mon!"

"It's 'cause he uses Happy so much, uh-huh!" Himashi chirped up, answering the group's unspoken thoughts. "When you're a ranger, you're not allowed to catch pokemon you meet on your patrols. Heck, we weren't even supposed to use our own! But, we battled a lot with the pokemon we already had, off the clock."

"I wondered how Ritchie kept up with Ash, with all of his work on the side," Brock mused. "No offense; being a ranger is a really noble career, but it doesn't sound like it leaves much room for battling."

"Nah, you're right. If we didn't bend the rules a little, we'd be out of luck!" Himashi rested her chin in her palms. "There's only one thing Ritchie loves more than battling; meeting and taking care of pokemon."

"Just like Ash." Dawn smiled to herself, keeping her eyes glued to the battle.

* * *

"Happy, use Sleep Powder!" Ritchie resumed.

"Free!" Happy flapped his wings, secreting a cloud of spores meant to lull the target to sleep.

"We can't fall for that again… Aqua Tail!"

Wartortle sprang high, pointing his fluffy tail at the incoming attack. A roaring twister launched from his tail, blasting away the powder, and striking Butterfree, to boot.

"Looks like it'll be harder, this time," Ritchie remarked, more excited than he was dejected.

"A lot harder," Ash answered. "Skull Bash!"

"War!" Wartortle charged, launching his body at Butterfree. The bug type swiftly dodged.

"Got you," Ash smirked. "Ice Beam!"

Wartortle popped his head out of his shell, firing a freezing beam in mid-air.

"Shoot!" Ritchie clenched his teeth. "Psychic!"

Happy exerted his telekinesis once more, bouncing the incoming Ice Beam back towards Wartortle.

Falling towards the ground, he was a sitting duck. Ice Beam struck, flooding him with a painful chill.

"Acrobatics!"

Happy zipped in, smashing into Wartortle's shell.

Ash kept his cool as Wartortle slid back, brushing his thumb over his nose. "Wartortle's defenses have always been top-notch!"

"Wartortle!" The turtle pounded his fist on his shell. As much damage as he'd endured, he was ready for more!

"Then, we'll just have to get past them," Ritchie countered. "Happy, Sleep Powder!"

The Butterfree unleashed another cloud of infectious powder.

"Get ready, Wartortle!" Ash warned.

"Now, use Psychic!"

"Huh!?" Ash flinched. "What's he up to?"

Faint blue light emanated from Butterfree, willing the Sleep Powder to gather and surround Wartortle, turning into an inescapable swirl.

"You've gotta fight it!" Ash coached. "Keep yourself awake; we've gotta think of something!"

"Warrrrr…" Wartortle yawned. His lids felt heavy, and his legs like jelly. He did his best to stay conscious, but the spores filling his lungs were bringing him closer and closer to slumber. He fell on all fours.

"We can't beat it just by blasting around Wartortle; it's everywhere…" Ash wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his glove. He grinned. "So, we'll just have to hit it all! Wartortle, Hydro Pump Counter Shield!"

"War…!" Wartortle shook his head, willing himself to jump. "Wartortle!"

He quickly retreated to his shell, torrents from every gap in the defensive plating. The burst sent him spinning, first horizontally, then diagonally, and soon, in every which way surrounding him.

 **"** **Wow! Butterfree started by swarming the field with Sleep Powder in a wild combination, but Wartortle's come back with the same! This 'Counter Shield' has fired back like a dam, cracking under pressure!"**

The gushing combination even reached Butterfree, knocking the doused bug back a few feet.

Finally, the attack began to calm, and Wartortle landed, surrounded in mist. He was hunched over now, gasping for breath. The combination was never an easy feat. But, the smirk on his face told another story. He was proud of himself, and he didn't plan to falter anytime soon. "Wartortle…!"

"Wow, Ash." Ritchie smiled, resting a hand on his hip. "You've used that move twice in this match; it's really impressive! Heck, you even gave it a name. Must be one of your favorites!"

"It is." Ash ran his index finger over his nose, smug. "It's a move that Dawn and I came up with! That's what happens when we all work together!"

* * *

"That's our move~!" Dawn gushed from the stances, shaking her pom-poms. "Way to show off our handiwork, Ash!"

* * *

"Well, Sleep Powder's out of the way… But Psychic's gonna be a problem." Ash frowned, clenching his fists. Neither Wartortle, nor Happy looked ready to give up easily. _'We'll either have to wear Happy down, or trick them to get around it, somehow…'_

While Ash seemed to be lost in thought, Ritchie took advantage. "Acrobatics!"

Butterfree shot forward, trailed by a purple blur.

"Crap." Ash snapped out of his daze. "Use Aqua Tail, on the ground!"

"War!" Wartortle stood upright, blasting the field below him with a swirling jet. The pressure launched him high above, dodging Butterfree.

"Free!" Butterfree shook his head, displeased to be doused with a splash from Aqua Tail.

A glint appeared in Ash's eye, then. "Wait a sec…"

"Happy, use Psychic to bring him back down!" Ritchie ordered, bringing Ash out of his thoughts, again.

Happy exerted his telekinetic grip, catching Wartortle in his ascent.

The Turtle flailed his body, struggling against the psychic grip. As high as he'd come, he was just as vulnerable to be yanked back down. The fall looked like it going to be devastating.

"Quick," Ash urged, "Hydro Pump!"

Wartortle tucked into his shell, spinning into a gushing Hydro Pump.

"Skull Bash!" Ash commanded.

Wartortle's descent stopped short, Hydro Pump launching him towards Happy, instead. He shot out of his shell, smashing his head into the Butterfree's stomach. He took the squeak as a sign of success.

"Don't let up!" Ash grinned, punching forward. "Aqua Tail!"

Wartortle dropped to the field, turning to fire another torrent.

"Use Psychic!" Ritchie shouted.

"Free!" Butterfree grunted, tensing his body as he exerted his will over the incoming jet. With a brief struggle, he put up an invisible stopper in Aqua Tail, just inches from his weary form.

"Shoot," Ritchie hissed. "He's barely holding it off…! Stay strong!"

As the residual splashes of Aqua Tail burst around Butterfree harmlessly, Ash saw his opening. With a smirk, he threw a hand out. "Now, use Ice Beam on that water, Wartortle!"

Wartortle turned to face his opponent, firing an Ice Beam from his mouth.

The unforgiving cold wrapped around Happy, freezing the stray streams. The Butterfree was quickly trapped in a block of ice, falling towards the field.

"Happy!" Ritchie gasped.

"Now's our chance," Ash shouted, throwing his hand out. "Skull Bash!"

Wartortle sprinted towards the falling chunk of ice, lunging to smash into his target.

The ice splintered, then shattered, freeing Happy with a brutal crash.

The referee watched the Butterfree tumble to the ground, covered in frost. "Butterfree is unable to battle! Wartortle is the winner!"

 **"** **What a finish! Butterfree's Psychic kept Wartortle at bay, but it could only hold up for so long, against the water type's brute force, and Ash's quick thinking! But, Wartortle must be pretty tired after that match!"**

* * *

"That's just like Ash!" Dawn boasted, resting her pom-poms on her hips. "Just one more to go!"

"Empol!" Empoleon squawked from beside her, raising a wing in support.

"Ooh, and Happy fought so hard…!" Himashi pouted. "B-but, Wartortle did, too!"

"Way to go, Wartortle!" Misty cheered, waving a fist. "You did the Cerulean Gym proud!"

* * *

"Great job, Happy." Ritchie recalled his pokemon, beaming at the ball in pride. "That was a lot of fun." Pocketing the sphere, he looked across to Ash. "Nice moves, Ash! You really caught me off-guard with that Ice Beam."

"Well, we had to get around that Psychic, somehow!" Ash proudly laid his hands on his hips. "Wartortle gave it his all. But, it's not over yet!"

"Right!" Ritchie reached for his belt, grabbing his last pokeball. "So, get ready, Ash! I'm not holding back at all!" He took a step back, winding up, before tossing the ball.

"Zippo, I choose you!"

The spinning pokeball spit out a flash of light, quickly taking the shape of a giant, winged creature. Light became solid matter, entering with a loud, booming roar. A flap of orange, teal-webbed wings beat the air, kicking up clouds of dust around Wartortle.

"War…!" The Turtle guarded his eyes, standing tall after. "Wartortle!"

There were marks on his shell and skin, Ash noticed. "Talk about power… And, Wartortle looks pretty winded. You wanna sit this one out?"

"War!" Wartortle protested, folding his arms. "War, Wartortle!"

"Guess you want to see this through to the end." Ash smirked. "Fine with me!"

"Then, bring it!" Ritchie challenged. "Zippo, Flamethrower!"

The Charizard tossed his head, blasting flames towards Wartortle.

"Hydro Pump!"

Wartortle retreated, launching a merciless jet in return.

Water clashed with fire, center-stage, erupting into a cloud of hot steam.

Wartortle stood, wincing from the blistering heat.

"They were dead even!" Ash grit his teeth. "Even with the type advantage."

"Zippo, Dragon Claw!"

The Charizard stomped towards Wartortle, bearing long, emerald claws.

"Dodge it!" Ash shouted.

Wartortle crouched, waiting for the first swipe. He jumped over a vertical slash, leaping on Zippo's forehead to avoid an uppercut. Tumbling behind the fire type, he clung to the floor to avoid another horizontal slash.

Zippo grunted, raising an armed claw high. With a roar, he stabbed towards Wartortle's shell.

Ash's breath hitched. "Wartortle, watch out!"

"War!" He swiftly rolled over, avoiding what became a groove in the ground by turning onto his back. He shifted his weight to roll again, quickly growing pale. He croaked.

Tried as he may, the turtle couldn't roll off of his back. Certainly not quickly enough to pull himself out of danger.

Ritchie grinned. "Now's your chance, Zippo! Dragon Claw!"

The dragon's mighty jowls curved into a triumphant grin, a hot puff leaving his nostrils. Both extremities, armed with huge, glowing talons were pulled past his head. With a roar, he slashed at Wartortle.

Ash gasped. "Ice Beam!"

"War!" Wartortle returned fire, blasting Zippo with cold. The beam enveloped Zippo's claws, making him howl in pain. He stumbled back, but found no relief.

Wartortle continued on, stubborn, until he pushed himself onto his hind legs.

Zippo growled, irritated. He felt numb, from the forearms down.

 **"** **What's this!? Wartortle's Ice Beam has frozen Charizard's claws solid!"**

"Bingo," Ash smirked. "Use Aqua Tail!"

"That's bad…!" Ritchie swallowed. "Pull up, and dodge it!"

Zippo flapped his wings, soaring out of Aqua Tail's range.

"Now, Skull Bash!"

Wartortle charged, smashing his skull into the Charizard's chest.

The Flame pokemon reeled, coughing from the impact.

"Power-up Punch, with both hands!" Ritchie countered.

Zippo growled, hoisting his frozen limbs above his head. With a heavy breath, he smashed each into Wartortle's shell.

Wartortle hacked, going silent at the sensation of shattering ice smashing into his shell. He was sent plummeting, crashing into the arena floor.

"Now, finish it!" Ritchie ordered, pointing towards Wartortle. "Flamethrower!"

A scalding Flamethrower crashed into the ground, cresting off of its target in a storm of embers.

The flames cleared, and Wartortle laid in their wake, covered in ashes, unconscious.

The referee raised a hand. "Wartortle is unable to battle! Charizard is the winner!"

"Thank you, Wartortle." Ash recalled the starter, gazing at the ball momentarily before placing it away. "Stubborn, as always. I'll make sure your fight doesn't go to waste."

"Pikachu…" Pikachu leaned over Ash's shoulder, patting the pokeball while he had the chance.

"He really was brave!" Ritchie called from across the field, smiling at Ash and Pikachu. "He held up, even after fighting Happy. But, I hope there's more where that came from, because we're not done yet!"

"Groarh!" Zippo bellowed in agreement, widening his stance.

"Not by a long shot…" Ash shared a knowing smile with Pikachu, tightly clutching the last metallic capsule in his grip. "I've still got one pokemon, and he's going to settle this." The trainer from Pallet winded up, chucking it with all his might. "I choose you…"

"Charizard!"

Wings spanned. A roaring flame crackled about, tossed by a powerful tail smacking into the ground. Teal eyes glimmered, staring down the Flame pokemon's counterpart. Charizard felt a spark of intrigue, and the birth of a fierce rivalry. He threw his head back, drowning out the crowd with a deafening roar. Shockwaves flew, disrupting Ritchie's side of the field, this time.

 **"** **And, Ash has also chosen Charizard! It's the moment of truth, for these two trainers and their pokemon!"**

* * *

"I'd forgotten how powerful Ash's Charizard was!" May gasped, leaning forward in her seat.

"He's a force of nature," Dawn remarked, looking on with interest. "I've never seen a pokemon like him!"

"Thank goodness, he won't be throwing in the towel again," Brock remarked, on a soberer note.

Catching a few looks of confusion, Misty explained. "The last time Ash and Ritchie battled here, Charizard wouldn't take Sparky seriously, and dozed off, costing Ash the match."

"It was pretty embarrassing," Max emphasized. "I couldn't believe it when I saw it, on TV!"

"Well, I'm confident," Professor Oak attested. "Charizard will be eager to prove himself, now."

"Aaahh, this is so intense!" Himashi shook her fists. "I can't wait to see 'em fight! Come on, Ash! Come on, Ritchie!"

* * *

"You ready, Ash?" Ritchie smirked, adjusting his cap.

"Ready!" Ash attested. "Right, Charizard?" Met with silence, Ash hesitated. "...Charizard?"

The Flame pokemon was silent. His gaze wouldn't meat Zippo's, nor Ash's.

"...Everything okay?" Ash frowned. No, there was no way that disaster would repeat itself. He was sure of it.

Charizard turned, suddenly, to fire a Flamethrower, roasting Ash, and barely missing Pikachu.

The audience was filled with gasps and whispered worries, immediately.

The referee swallowed. "Disorderly pokemon may earn the trainer a penalty, if they prove a danger to themselves, or anyone else in the arena!"

"No, no, it's fine!" The charred trainer waved his hands. "I promise, it's fine!"

The referee quieted, and Ash breathed a sigh of relief. "I understand… I understand Charizard's feelings. He remembers surrendering during our last battle, Ritchie," he addressed his friend. "As well as I do, or probably even more clearly. That was his formal apology, and his promise to fight with everything he has, this time." He made eye contact with the dragon, offering a warm smile. "Right?"

Charizard huffed, spitting out a brief red flame, turning back to Zippo. One of his heavy feet stomped the arena floor, making it quake. A provocative gesture with his claws egged the other on.

"I'm happy to hear it!" Ritchie beamed, from across the field. "Because I want a battle with you guys, like no other!" He stood with a wide stance, pulling a closed fist behind him. He tossed that hand forward with gusto. "Zippo, Flamethrower!"

"Charizard, Flamethrower!"

Charizard and Zippo launched a heated assault. Both met halfway, exploding into a roaring wall of fire. Neither stream pushed beyond the other, equally matched.

"Dead even…" Ritchie's brows furrowed. "Dragon Claw!"

The wall of flames parted for Zippo, who charged through the heat with elongated claws.

"Get in the air!" Ash ordered.

With a flap of his wings, Charizard avoided a slash from Zippo.

The grounded dragon grunted, leaping after Charizard to slash at his chest, once more.

He found no resistance, his second strike missing.

"Good," Ash encouraged. "Flamethrower!"

Charizard soared, spitting a Flamethrower down at his approaching counterpart.

"Dodge!" Ritchie ordered. "Then, Flamethrower!"

Zippo's eyes grew wide at the sudden burst, and he jerked to the side. Hot flames just barely missed his wings. He roared, returning fire with another Flamethrower.

Charizard pulled back, avoiding the counter attack. Another came his way, and he spun, weaving safely out of the way of the attack. A third Flamethrower, even, shot right by him.

"He's so fast!" Ritchie gawked, his head tilting back to keep the two pokemon in his sights. "Zippo can't land a hit!"

"You like that?" Ash boasted, beaming with pride. "Charizard's trained in the Charicific Valley, for years. Battling all of those different Charizard, his reactions are top-notch, now!"

"Is that so?" Ritchie smiled to himself. "Power-up Punch!"

Zippo had launched another Flamethrower, watching Charizard intently as he twisted under the attack. A perfect opportunity to swoop in, hoisting a glowing fist behind him.

Zippo roared, smashing his fist into Charizard's jaw. He felt a sudden rush of adrenaline, just as he felt Charizard's skull rattle.

"That looked like it hurt… Flamethrower!"

Charizard flipped in the air, rubbing his jaw. Eager to claim redemption, he fired another Flamethrower.

Flamethrower hit, blasting Zippo higher into the sky.

Its ascension came to a halt, soon, a flap of his wings blowing the flames away.

"It tanked it!?" Ash clenched his teeth, horrified.

Ritchie threw a hand out. "Flare Blitz!"

A swing of Zippo's tail ignited a blue flame around his body. He roared, plummeting to piledrive Charizard, slamming him with all of his weight. Blue embers scattered with the impact.

Charizard reeled from the pain in his side.

Ash punched into the air. "Now, Seismic Toss!"

The pokemon's legendary fiery resolve didn't waver. He lunged for his nearing opponent, crushing him in a stubborn bear-hug. Charizard continued his descent, ready to suplex Zippo.

"Break free!" Ritchie shouted, pumping his fists. "Dragon Claw!"

Zippo struggled, hissing through his fangs. With enough struggle, he yanked an arm free, striking back with ferocity.

A vicious slash struck Charizard's belly, forcing him to release Zippo.

"Another Dragon Claw!" Ritchie ordered.

Zippo pursued, slicing at Charizard, again.

Ash punched forward. "Dragon Tail!"

Charizard twisted his body, narrowly avoiding Dragon Claw. He swung around, smashing into Zippo's jaw with his teal, gleaming tail. A burst of tinted flame crossed the other's cheek, leaving it singed.

"Good, he's still got the edge in speed," Ash thought aloud. His confidence returned with a smirk.

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed, confident. They would still win this!

"Flamethrower, now!"

Charizard righted himself, blasting Zippo with another Flamethrower.

"Endure it," Ritchie encouraged. "Power-up Punch!"

Zippo charged the heat, braving it to smash his fist into Charizard's gut.

Charizard doubled over, his fire instantly quelled.

"I had a feeling…" Ash's eyes narrowed.

"Pikapi?" Pikachu tilted his head.

"Charizard's faster than Zippo, but Ritchie keeps building up his strength with Power-up Punch. We've always geared towards speed, and I guess they all went for brute force… So, that's our challenge, today. We have to overcome that power!"

"Charizard!" Ash crossed his arms over his chest, throwing them outward. "Dragon Rush!"

Charizard roared, drowning out the audience's clamors of excitement. Pulling back from Zippo, he became enveloped in a wild, bright blue glow. The horns and fangs of a dragon emanated from flickers of light, filling the pokemon's body with primal, draconian strength.

"So, we're clashing head-on, huh?" Ritchie grinned, throwing a hand forward. "You read my mind, Ash! Zippo, Flare Blitz!"

Zippo answered with his own thunderous cry, quickly surrounding himself in a lively blue blaze.

"Go!" The cry of both trainers boomed.

Charizard and Zippo shot towards one another with a burst of speed, leaving onlookers with bated breath.

Zippo huffed through his teeth, and Charizard roared. The two streaks of light drew near.

The power of fire, and that of dragons, collided above. Ripples of energy blasted their surroundings, assaulting the stadium with the resulting shockwave. A powerful wind rained white-hot embers from above, mercifully avoiding the audience.

"You can do it, Charizard!" Ash clenched a fist tight. "Give it your all!"

"Keep at it, Zippo!" Ritchie encouraged.

Copper and coal hues alike didn't stray from the sight, even as they strained from the light that rivaled the sun.

"Grrroarrh…!" Charizard snarled, shoving his shoulder against his opponent's. Wings sprouted from his aura, sweeping to smash into Zippo.

"Roah!" Zippo pushed on, flapping his wings to push on forward.

Flares swirled and burst, a deafening explosion the result.

Ash swallowed. Falling trails of smoke caught his attention. Charizard fell from the debris.

The trainer felt his heart sink into his gut. "Charizard…!"

"Pika-chu!" The mouse gasped, gripping Ash's shoulder.

Zippo fell from the smoke, wearily flapping his wings for a slow descent.

 **"** **What a collision! But, it looks as if Ritchie's Charizard came out the victor!"**

"Hang in there!" Ash cupped his hands around his mouth, calling in vain.

Charizard collapsed, crashing into the earth with a whimper.

Ash gasped. "Charizard!"

Zippo landed, easing onto one knee.

 **"** **Is Charizard down for the count…? I think this could be it, folks!"**

The referee squinted, hesitant to raise a hand.

"Come on, Charizard…" Ash pleaded, his knuckles turning white. "I know you can do this! You're more than strong enough!"

* * *

"Oh, dear…" Delia crossed her hands in her lap. "Does Charizard still have a chance?"

"Charizard's super strong, uh-huh… But, so is Zippo!" Himashi squirmed, conflicted.

"Charizard never goes down easy," Max recalled. "It has to have more fight than that! If it loses, then I won't get my battle with Ash!"

"Come on, Charizard! Come on, Ash! Come on back with a blinding flash!" Dawn chanted with vigor, her voice loud and clear over the deathly silent crowd. "I know you've got fight left in you!"

* * *

Ash swallowed. "Well, we've fought our hardest, with no regrets…"

He was roused from his thoughts by a loud crash.

Charizard's tail had slammed into the earth, leaving a dent. The flame on his tail still burned with vigor.

The referee's hand had started to raise. With that sign of life, he lowered it.

Bruises and burns covered him, from head to tail. Still, Charizard shoved the earth with his claws, pushing onto all fours. With a snort, he forced himself once more, to stand on his hind legs.

His teal eyes burned, white-hot, with intensity. He stared across the field, capturing Zippo in his gaze. He wiped his chin, exhaling a puff of smoke. "Groarh!" He had no intentions to lose, today.

Zippo righted himself, still breathing heavily. "Roah!" He roared in reply. He felt much the same.

Ash flinched, watching a Flamethrower shoot right past his head. The wall behind him was scorched.

"Roah!" Charizard spat, putting Ash in his sights. Brows furrowed in disgust, he slammed his tail against the ground.

"..." Ash stood in momentary silence. He smiled. "I get it. You're not too happy I was about to let it go, huh?" He didn't need to wait for an answer. "Sorry about that… You're right! This battle's not over, until it's over!"

Charizard nodded, turning back to face Zippo. The flame on his tail ignited like a torch.

"Your Charizard's amazing, Ash!" Ritchie called from across the fray. "I'm not disappointed at all. Heck, this is just what I entered the tournament for! To see what you guys can do. So, let's fight all-out, right till the end!"

Zippo roared, standing upright.

 **"** **It looks like I spoke too soon! Charizard is still raring to fight! But, how will it end!?"**

 _~Charizard.~_

Charizard yanked his head around, bewildered. That was Ash's voice, wasn't it!? But, his lips weren't moving.

 _~It's me.~_ Ash smiled from the trainer's box, slowing his breathing to a quiet calm. _~If we're going to win, I need to ask you a favor.~_

The pokemon tilted his head. He could tell, from his strong hearing, that the crowd was getting antsy.

 _~I know that you're a free spirit; that you like to fight head-on, and I respect that. But, right now, if we're going to win, we can't be working on different wavelengths. You're going to have to just trust me. Can you do that?~_

Charizard listened in silence. He finally nodded; redundant, as Ash had his answer before he did so.

Ash smiled wide, his copper eyes shimmering. "Great. Then, let's settle this!"

Ritchie tilted his head. He felt Sparky do the same. It looked as if Ash had been speaking to Charizard - getting some sentiment across. But, he hadn't heard a thing. "I guess that's a strong bond for you… You thinking what I'm thinking, Zippo?"

Zippo snapped his tail in affirmation.

Ritchie nodded. "Ash, we're going to give you guys the fight you deserve!" He pointed forward. "Zippo, use Flamethrower!"

Zippo snapped his head forward, launching a scalding Flamethrower.

"That's just what we want!" Ash grinned, pointing towards Zippo. "Flamethrower!"

Charizard stomped the field, returning fire. Flames met and parted in another blazing star.

"Take to the sky!" Ash commanded.

Using the cover of smoke and embers, Charizard shot into the air above.

"I get it." Ritchie smiled to himself. "Charizard's been over-powered, so Ash is looking for a lucky break. Sorry, but we're not giving you that! Follow him, with Flamethrower!"

Zippo gave chase, firing his next assault.

Charizard dipped from the incoming fire, quickly forced to soar above the next.

Ash punched forward. "Dragon Tail!"

Charizard somersaulted, coming down with his gargantuan, glowing limb.

"Catch it!" Ritchie shouted.

Zippo clashed his claws together, crushing down upon Charizard's tail. He bore his fangs, struggling to push back. The teal flame was only inches from scorching him.

Ash's face scrunched. "Toss him off!"

Charizard roared, spinning his hips about. With a vigorous lurch, he sent Zippo flying.

"Keep climbing," Ash coached.

Charizard soared higher, his wings now spanning Zippo's view of the sun. The other Flame pokemon shot up, quickly closing the distance.

"You can't run forever, Ash!" Ritchie boasted.

"Wasn't planning on it." A grin spread across Ash's face. "Charizard, Dragon Rush!"

Still ascending, Charizard dipped back, turning belly-up. In a swift turn, he shot into a nosedive.

Zippo had no time to change his path, staring into the eyes of a furious aura that swallowed him whole.

Charizard smashed into Zippo, carrying him plummeting through the remains of an indigo explosion.

Ritchie gasped. "Zippo!"

"This is it!" Ash roared, hugging his arms across his chest. "Seismic Toss!"

Charizard ignored the rushing wind, wrapping his arms securely around Zippo's back. He could feel the other struggle, and continued to apply pressure. He felt his arms growing sore.

The arena spiraled near, and he roared, chucking Zippo with all of his might.

The earth below trembled, and dust boomed across the field, swarming Ash and Ritchie, alike.

The audience gasped and exchanged hushed whispers. The dust clouds scattered.

Charizard stood, falling onto one knee.

Before him, Zippo laid, embedded in a crater, motionless.

The referee threw a hand in the air. "Ritchie's Charizard is unable to battle! That makes Ash's Charizard the victor, and Ash the winner of this match!"

 **"** **Wow! After that last clash, that was not the outcome that many expected, but Charizard showed true and blue resilience, pushing his way to victory! What a thrilling, earth-rattling conclusion to Ash and Ritchie's match!"**

Even as the crowd exploded into victorious clamor, Charizard huffed, exhausted.

"Way to go!"

The Flame pokemon found himself pulled into a strong-armed hug, by none other than Ash. The trainer laughed, nuzzling his cheek into Charizard's chin.

"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu hopped atop Charizard's shoulder, chirping his congratulations.

Charizard could only smile, and return the favor with a well-placed Flamethrower.

"I'll… Take that as a thank you…!" Ash huffed, coughing up soot. He beamed with pride, all the same. "Way to give 'em hell, out there."

The dragon smirked, before throwing his weight on Ash, slipping from consciousness.

Ash scrambled to recall the fire type before he hit the ground, placing it back on his belt. "Guess you need a rest."

"After that, I can only imagine!" Ritchie approached, having already recalled Zippo. He stood opposite of Ash, holding a hand out. "Congratulations, Ash."

The other trainer smiled, reaching to shake Ritchie's hand. "Thanks, Ritchie. Thanks for that great battle."

"Right back at you!" Ritchie winked. "...I should probably get these guys healed. I'll catch you, outside!"

"Yeah, good idea." Ash grinned, playing with his cap. "I think we all could use a rest after that!"

With those words exchanged, the two trainers went their separate ways.

* * *

Ash's entourage, including Delia, Oak, and of course, Himashi, stood just outside the stadium halls, waiting for the two trainers, some antsier than others.

Koda tapped a sneaker against the tiled floor. "They're taking their sweet time. You guys sure that Ash isn't getting that Flamethrower checked out? He took it point-blank."

"Oh, if Ash let that kind of thing bother him, he wouldn't be Ash!" Delia chimed, waving her finger matter-of-factly.

"You sure are taking that easy, being his mom," The boy deadpanned.

"If she didn't, I think she'd go crazy." Misty remarked.

"Hey, if you're gonna roast me, at least wait for me to show, first."

The group turned their attention to the hall before them. Two trainers of equal height walked into sight, each sporting a Pikachu on one of their shoulders. Ash and Ritchie stepped before their peers and elders, a smile on each of their faces.

"Ooh, congratulations, uh-huh!" Himashi shoved past Misty and Brock, grabbing each of Ash and Ritchie's hands, shaking them vigorously. "That battle was so good! Your pokemon were amazing, Ash; I've never seen them so strong! B-but, you were great too, Ritchie! You almost had it! That was a match to remember, uh-huh!"

"I'm just… glad… you… liked it…!" Ash stammered out, jerked around violently by the ranger. Just how strong was she!?

"Thanks… A… Lot…!" Ritchie replied, struggling just the same.

Pikachu and Sparky were less amicable, their cheeks crackling.

Brock gasped, putting an arm out in front of the group. "Get back!"

Sparkles immediately abandoned her post.

"Pika…!"

"Chu!"

A golden flash enveloped, Ash, Ritchie, and Himashi alike, sizzling them with so many volts.

Smoke trailed from the three, their hair a frizzled mess.

"Really… Really cool, uh-huh…!" Himashi stuttered, dazed.

"Pikachu." Sparkles tutted at her trainer, scratching behind her ear with her foot.

"Anyway," Misty ignored the results, "congratulations! You finally got to have your match!"

"And, what a finale!" Brock agreed. "You should be proud."

"Thanks, really!" Ritchie brushed his hair back into place, scratching his cheek. "I'm just thrilled we had no interruptions, this time!"

"No kidding," Ash agreed. "After all these years, I'd say it was worth the wait!" He clapped a hand on Ritchie's free shoulder. "Hope you don't mind me being the one to move on."

"Nah." The brunette shook his head. "I only entered this to measure my progress. We got what we wanted, right, Sparky?"

"Pika-Pikachu!" The wild-furred rodent cheered, pumping his paw in the air. He'd had his fun!

"Just make sure you win in my place, alright?" Ritchie winked at Ash.

Ash smirked, folding his arms across his chest. "No need to worry; that's a promise!"

"There you go, stealing my catch phrase again!" Dawn teased, pointing a finger at Ash's chest with a wink. "You'd better start giving credit!"

"It's just so good, I thought I'd catch it," Ash shot back with a cheeky grin. "You're a trainer, too, you know how it is."

While the older gang of youths went back and forth, Koda turned to his own peer, ignoring them. "That same rule goes for you, too, y'know. Don't make me look bad, after beating me."

"I won't." Max grinned, toying with his thick-rimmed glasses. A bold shimmer flashed over the lenses. "I've got this whole tournament figured out!"

"Yeah, yeah. Being shady doesn't make you look confident." The pale youth folded his arms, his hands tucked into his long sleeves. In a rare display, he smiled at his companion. "Just make sure you do your thing."

"Hey, I didn't come all this way, for nothing." Max smiled to himself, turning on his heel. His sights were set on just one thing; or, rather, one person. The crimson-clad teen with the Pikachu on his shoulder, who was clearly boasting, playfully wagging his finger as he exchanged words with his peers. Max swallowed, shifting in his sneakers.

He could never understand how, despite it all, Ash could be so unshakably confident.

 _'_ _We'll see just how far that confidence goes, Ash. Sooner or later, we'll see!'_


	81. To the Max

**Things are heating up, as the Indigo League is entering its final rounds! Please, give us feedback and let us know what you liked about the chapter, or anything you'd like to see! Thanks for reading!**

* * *

The stadium was lonesome at night. But, after the exhilarating match he'd had with Ritchie, he couldn't help but be drawn back to see the place how he'd last remembered leaving it. Wandering around unrestricted, he settled himself on an alcove just beneath the announcer's box.

"Y'can hardly see the stars, huh, buddy?" Ash whispered.

The mouse nestled himself in his trainer's lap. "Pika."

The summer night was wet and hot. The stars were barely visible above the dim glow of Indigo Village's many celebratory lights. The hamlet was alive with festivities. That made the empty stadium seem all the lonelier.

But, that did not mean he was alone.

"Huh? What's that up there?" Ash looked up, spotting a soft, round shape in the sky. As it flew lower, he saw that it was a Dragonite. "... Lance!" he blurted upon recognizing the champion.

Ash stood with Pikachu clinging onto his jacket. The mouse righted himself on Ash's shoulder as they watched Lance's Dragonite land. As the champion praised his partner, another figure stepped out from the darkness of the corridor leading out from the stadium's innards and onto the field.

"Deidra?" Ash furrowed his brows. "... Aw! She's one to talk about unfair treatment! She's getting a private audience with Lance! Let's see what that's about."

Sneaking together, Ash and Pikachu began making their way onto the field. He was eager to see what Deidra could do, anyways, if they were having a match. He didn't want to ruin the suspense, but she seemed so strong! He was excited to see her power.

By the time he made it to the lowest level just before the field, Deidra was standing before Lance. Her fists were balled at her sides and she glared up at the man, chin held high. Lance was speaking quietly to her, eyes harsh but posture not aggressive.

When Lance lifted his hand, and reached out as if to brush her bang away, her own hand darted up, smacking his away. She growled something low and angry before turning on her heel and marching away, her cape fluttering behind her.

Lance stood and watched her go before sighing and shaking his head.

As soon as Deidra was out of sight, Ash jumped down from the lowest level of the stadium seats and walked towards the champion.

"Geez, she took that kinda harsh," he mumbled. "Why'd ya say no to battling her, though?"

Lance quirked a brow. "... I'd say it's bad to snoop, but seeing how you've been good for doing that before…" Quietly letting references to the past go, Lance turned to fully face Ash, sweeping his cape behind himself as he did so. "I was not trying to battle her, though. That was Deidra Agrona, a member of the Johto Dragon clan… And, my younger cousin."

"She's WHAT?!" Ash blurted, looking shocked.

Lance laughed. "Yes, surprising, isn't it?" He quieted, looking dreary. "I'm worried about her, truthfully. She's so stubborn. I'm afraid she's become lost in her pursuit of power. She's not disciplined at all."

"She isn't?" Ash asked, extremely skeptical. Everything about her seemed restrained and calculated, like a Persian waiting to pounce. "She seems so… Serious."

"She is withholding, yes, but just…" Lance shook his head. "Have you seen her team?"

"Uh… Not yet," Ash admitted.

Lance smiled. "Well, she's my cousin, so I won't betray a secret about her you don't know, then. But… She's so adamant about being recognized as a dragon master, but she won't even use a team of dragons, or even pseudo-dragons, like Gyarados or Charizard!" He put his hands on his hips, finally expression some frustration. "It's disgraceful! Being a dragon master is about more than our power! But, that seems like all she can see out of it! She's only competing in this conference to spite me, to make me see that she's so strong she doesn't need my approval or even the elder's!"

Not entirely sure what Lance was talking about, Ash looked to the side. "Uh… Right." He wasn't a big fan of the kind of discipline Lance was talking about, but he had gathered that Deidra was probably lashing out about something she didn't have a right to. Furthermore, she wasn't here to explain herself. Ash had no choice other than to take Lance's side. "Well… I plan on winning this year, so I'll give her a good battle and show her the most important part is the bond with your pokemon!"

"Pika!" Agreeing with his trainer, Pikachu's cheek pouches sparkled.

Lance let out a sigh of relief. "It may mean more coming from you, Ash. Thank you. Family means a lot to me, so do what you can. If you do well, I'll make sure to reward you with a battle again later on!"

"Hey, that's a helluva reward!" the teen said with a chuckle, rubbing under his nose.

"Right. Well, I'll be off, then." Mounting his Dragonite once more, Lance took to the skies, taking off in the direction of the Indigo League building itself.

That left Ash standing in the middle of the stadium field with his starter.

"Pikaka Pi, Pikapi."

"Hm? Yeah, we did tell Dawn we'd be back before it got too late. Let's go so she doesn't worry." He began making his way back towards the cabin.

* * *

"Ash Ketchum! Please report to the nearest tank to decide your match-up!"

"That's my cue!" Ash turned back to wink at his companions, before heading for the stand before him with a proud, pronounced stride. "Time to find my next opponent!"

"He sure is eager." May rested her thumb on her chin, watching the trainer claim his fishing rod.

"Shouldn't he be!?" Dawn popped up beside the brunette, placing both of her hands on the girl's shoulders. Her eyes glittered like diamonds. "This tournament's just getting more and more exciting, and Ash is getting closer to victory!"

"That's true," May hushed, motioning her eyes to the right of her. "But, he's not the only competitor here…"

Dawn blushed heavily, cupping her hands over her mouth. She hadn't noticed Max standing right by his sister, toggling with his glasses. "Me and my big, fat mouth…" She quickly moved to correct her mistake, raising a finger with enthusiasm to the boy. "And, that's part of why he's excited; to face other super strong trainers in the final rounds!"

"Thanks a lot." Max replied dryly. "I know Ash is your man and all, but-"

"Max!"

"What!?" The boy snapped, whirling around to the one who'd called his name.

Dawn quietly thanked her lucky stars that the spotlight had been stolen, for once.

"Check it out," Ash gushed, pointing to the screen above. Ash's face was displayed, along with, of course, Max.

"No way! Already!?" Max gawked, running over to peer at the screen, rubbing his glasses to ensure he was seeing this right.

"Already? Max, we're in the top 8." Ash crossed his arms, tilting his head.

"Well, yeah! But…" Max pursed his lips. He thought he'd have more time? But, that was stupid; there really wasn't much room to put this off… But, why did he want to put it off, anyway!?

"C'mon. Show me some energy! We're finally going to have that battle I promised you!" Ash clapped an encouraging hand on the boy's shoulder.

"...Yeah!" Max put on a smile that he thought was convincing enough, adjusting his thick-rimmed glasses. A foreboding shine gleamed over the lenses. "It's time to show you what I'm made of!"

Ash's expression reflected satisfaction, then, and he stood. "Good. Then, I'm going to go swap my team for the big event. Catch you on the field, superstar!" Flashing a thumbs-up and a wink, the messy-haired teen walked off.

"See you there!" Max shouted back, blushing when he noticed his voice crack. He tapped his sneakers against the tiled floor.

"He really didn't get that, huh?" Misty mused, her thumb held to her lips.

"You've got to remember," Brock replied, "Ash may be a lot more sensible, now, but he's still Ash. Sometimes, he forgets that everyone else's viewpoints might be different from his own."

"Hey, don't look so blue!" May jumped onto the scene, crouching to take her little brother's hands. "You've been kicking butt out there, in the tournament; Ash should be the one afraid of you!"

Max's cheeks picked up in a curve, his usually harsh, dark eyes trembling. "You mean it? Thanks sis."

"Aw, you're tearing up~! You really do love your big sister!" May gushed, throwing her arms around Max to pull him in for a crushing hug. "Don't you worry, you'll-"

"I wasn't crying!" Max barked, shoving his sister away. "Don't worry, alright? I'm fine."

While May hummed in confusion, Misty stepped forward. "Just let me handle this, alright? You did your best."

"Treatin' him like a baby sure isn't going to help," Koda agreed dryly.

May pouted. "Hmph… Okay, Misty. I'm counting on you!"

* * *

Max had already departed from the group, heading out of the dome as quickly as possible. A park bench amongst the scenic shrubs and grass was a nice spot for him to plop down, he decided.

"Everything's just peachy, huh…" He rolled his eyes at his own sarcasm, reaching into his maroon vest. He pulled out a rectangular metal case, popping the latch. His eight gym badges shone from consistent polishing.

"Having your concerns waved off is never fun, you know."

The boy let out an irritated huff. "Look, if you're gonna give me the same cheesy…" He turned to spite whoever had followed. "...Misty?" Max's features softened, and he sat back down.

"Mind if I sit here?" The redhead smiled softly. When Max shook his head, she took a seat beside him.

"They don't get it, at all." The boy from Petalburg didn't think to question Misty's wisdom. "Everything's just a big game. Ash is just taking this for granted. And Dawn-"

"Dawn has impulse control issues," Misty cut him off. "But, she meant well. And Ash was just clueless."

"Maybe, but that's the thing! He's, like… Not even thinking. About our match, what it's gonna mean… Heck, he probably thinks he's won the thing, already!" Not that the assumption was entirely unlikely…

"Ash thinks differently than you; than most people," Misty corrected herself. "He likes to throw himself at any challenge with no reservations, to shoot for gold, no matter what he's doing. So, he's going to try to beat you, just because he's Ash. He's not looking down on you."

"I mean, I get that, yeah…" Max loosened his grip on his badge case - he'd been leaving fingerprints, he'd noticed. His palms were sweaty. "But, doesn't that bother him at all?"

Misty was about to open her mouth, and Max quickly recalled what Ash and company had told him, a while back; Misty couldn't read his thoughts. "The fact that one of us is gonna lose, I mean. Ritchie didn't even care about the tournament, so it's not the same."

"Now, I know you _definitely_ didn't dig into Ash's first challenge, here," Misty chuckled. "When Ash lost to Ritchie, he was devastated. Moped around for a whole day, before he realized how silly it was. In the end, you can always give it another go."

"Right… Really, I'd feel bad knocking Ash out of the tournament after he's done all this. But, I don't want to lose, either; not after coming this far."

Misty hummed, stretching her arms over her head. Max had a point; Ash had gassed himself up quite a lot for this conference. But, repeating that wouldn't help Max, any. "Just think of it this way; would Ash want you to hold back?"

Max's face instantly went pale. "Oh, hell no…" Suddenly, he wondered how he'd ever forgotten Ash's battle with Morrison. "Ash had a friend at the Hoenn League who felt just like me, and Ash was ready to tear his head off when he realized what was going on."

"Well, there you go. Going in with no regrets would do a favor to both of you, so no second thoughts, alright?"

"Yeah." Max smiled, finally, nodding up to the Gym Leader. "Thanks, Misty."

Misty smiled to herself - his eyes were watering again. But, he wouldn't make May's mistake and point that out. "Anytime, kid. Remember, you're not the only one who's had to deal with being the runt of the litter."

* * *

He stood at the threshold of the stadium, a faint, fluorescent glow behind him, and the warm, welcoming light of the sun shining before him. He wiped his glasses clean on his collared shirt before clutching a pokeball in his hand. A wealth of positivity washed over him, then.

Even from inside her pokeball, she kept him calm.

"Gotta focus…" Max straightened his posture, marching into the light of the stadium, and onto the field. Opposite of him was Ash, looking as tall and sure as ever. The boy swallowed, standing sure in his designated box.

"There you are!" Ash waved from across the way. That excited look in his eye that he always had was present. He was eager. "Let's make this match a great one, okay?"

"Pika-Pikachu!" Pikachu waved from the height of his trainer's shoulder.

Max eased a bit at the mouse's encouragement. He took a deep breath before speaking. "Yeah! I hope you're ready to get your butt kicked, Ash!"

Ash laughed. "We'll see!"

 **"** **Now, it's time for the fourth match of the quarter-finals!"** The familiar, attention-grabbing voice boomed across the stadium. **"Ash Ketchum, a seasoned competitor, will face off against a newer, but nonetheless talented trainer; Max Maple! As the stakes get higher, we can only assume that the battles will get more intense!"**

The referee grabbed attention from the announcer and the trainers alike. "This will be a full, six-on-six battle! Both challengers may substitute pokemon at any time. The first to defeat all of the other trainer's pokemon will be declared the victor! You may begin!"

Ash seemed to pick up on Max's hesitance to choose first, as he took the initiative to chuck a pokeball. "I choose you, Heracross!"

"Cro!" The Stag Beetle was summoned, appearing poised to battle.

"Heracross, huh…" Max's expression hardened. "Scizor, go!"

The Pincer pokemon appeared opposite of Heracross, snapping his claws.

"I'll start," Ash led. "Heracross, use Pin Missile!"

Heracross obeyed, firing off a green flurry of explosive needles towards Scizor.

"Dodge that, with Aerial Ace," Max quickly countered.

Scizor took off with noteworthy agility, spinning and weaving between the explosive projectiles. Slipping through the last of the assault, he flanked Heracross.

"They must be going for a physical attack," Ash muttered. "Heracross, get out of there!"

Heracross' wings began to buzz, ready to send him soaring off.

"Grab the horn!" Max commanded.

Heracross shrieked, thrown off balance when he was yanked back by his horn.

"Iron Defense!"

Scizor covered himself in a dense metallic sheen, weighing the two insects down.

Heracross struggled, yanked down by Scizor's powerful claw.

"Great!" Max praised, triumphant. "Now, Fury Cut!"

Scizor stubbornly held onto Heracross' horn, slashing at his back with his own free claw. The initial green streak only made Heracross budge, but Scizor was undeterred, slashing back and forth without mercy. Annoyed grunts from Heracross became pained cries, as the attack continued to pile on power.

"That's bad…!" Ash grimaced. "Heracross, Megahorn!"

"Cross!" The Stag Beetle bucked against his captor, his horn glowing white. As much as he struggled, he couldn't quite build the momentum to force himself free.

 **"** **Wow! What a start! Despite their gap in experience, Max is taking an early lead, by holding Ash's Heracross captive, helpless against the building power of Fury Cutter!"**

"Scizor, Aerial Ace!"

Scizor yanked Heracross into the air with him, stubbornly holding the flailing bug. With a buzz, he shot back down, tackling Heracross into the ground. Nonetheless, the Stag Beetle was irritated to find that he was still in Scizor's clutches.

Ash blinked, dumbfounded for a moment. "I'm impressed… This must be something you picked up from Norman, right?"

"Of course!" Max boasted, proudly adjusting his frames. "Dad inspired it, anyway. We used our superior speed to get close to Heracross; there's no doubt that he's stronger than us, so we had no choice but to bulk up on defense and hold it down!"

"It's a good strategy," Ash smiled. "Or, it would be, if Heracross wasn't used to bigger opponents."

Max swallowed.

"Heracross, use Reversal!"

"Hera!" Heracross grunted, willing himself to stand on his feet, against the immense pressure of Scizor's weight against him. With a grunt, he flipped back, grabbing Scizor's narrow torso. "Her…" He tensed, yanking its body forward. "Hera…! Cross!"

With a roar, the Stag Beetle flipped forward, brutally smashing Scizor into the ground before him.

Wrestled to the earth in a brutal blow that doubled as fighting and ground-type damage, Scizor reeled in pain. His concentration was shattered, and the silver gleam on his red coat lost its luster.

"His defenses are down," Ash noted with confidence. "Hyper Beam!"

Heracross pointed his horn towards his downed opponent, firing a blinding flash of energy. The resulting explosion tore across the field.

The debris quickly cleared, and Scizor lay unconscious.

The referee threw up a hand. "Scizor is unable to battle!"

* * *

"Well, that was fast." May bit her lip. "Only two moves…"

"I'm afraid that's what happens when there's a large difference in experience," Professor Oak lamented. "Heracross was one of Ash's earlier captures, and as a fighting type, he's always been fond of sparring with the other pokemon, even on the ranch."

"Heracross was always one Ash could rely on," Brock agreed. "Hopefully, Max remembers that."

* * *

"Thank you, Scizor," Max mumbled, recalling his pokemon. He tensed, staring at Ash.

"Heracross, return!" Ash spoke up first, recalling the recovering bug. He couldn't afford to give Max another tactical advantage, he'd decided. "Good job." He replaced him quickly. "Go, Donphan!"

"Phan!" The ground-type sounded, stomping the flat field below him.

Max snapped back to reality, and called on his next. "Go, Poliwrath!"

The rotund pokemon flexed its muscles, and stared down Donphan.

"Donphan, Earthquake!" Ash opened up, without moving a muscle.

"Donphan!" The ground-type brutally stomped the arena, sending dangerous quakes through the fray.

Poliwrath groaned, its bones rattled mercilessly by the underground quake.

"Did you really have to come out swinging with that move!?" Max blurted out, sweating.

Ash smiled at his opponent. "I can't risk taking it easy, since you're such a crafty guy."

Max blushed, flattered as he was bewildered. _'He won't be cutting me any breaks, then…'_ The boy shook his head. "Poliwrath, use Mind Reader!"

"Poli!" The water-type relaxed, his eyes flickering with cognition. He'd be able to perceive Donphan's next move.

Max smiled to himself, confident. _'Brandon gave Ash heck with Lock-on. It should work just fine for me!'_

Ash grimaced, distrustful. "Donphan, brace for impact!"

"Huh!?" Max stammered, thrown off. "Why would he… Okay, then use Circle Throw!"

Poliwrath charged Donphan, ready to toss it like a ragdoll.

"Gotcha," Ash quipped. "Use Rollout!"

Moments from taking a beating, Donphan did what it did best, tucking and crashing into Poliwhirl, knocking it flat on its rear, before spinning on.

"How'd you…?" Max's brows furrowed.

"Poliwrath reads Donphan's mind, not mine," Ash answered with confidence.

Max's brows furrowed. Donphan was still charging, though. "Use Water Gun in front of Donphan!"

Poliwrath fired a jet from his mouth, slicking up the field around his opponent.

"Do-do-do-don!" Donphan sputtered, quickly losing traction. With his momentum built and balance shot, he veered and crashed into the field on his side.

"Now, use Mud Slap!"

Poliwrath spat a mass of grime at the recovering Donphan, obscuring its vision with the impact.

"Good strategy," Ash commended. "Okay, Donphan, use Hidden Power!"

"Don…!" The pokemon cried, rearing his head back. "Phan!" He launched the mysterious energy, missing Poliwrath completely.

"Nice try," Max mocked. "Don't you remember that Mud Slap reduces a pokemon's accuracy?"

"It did what it needed to do," Ash countered. "Take another peep at the battlefield."

Concerned, Max did as told. "The water's all dried up!? And, Donphan's mud is gone, too!" A lightbulb went off in his head. "Then, Donphan's Hidden Power type must be grass!"

"Bingo," Ash confirmed. "Donphan, use Giga Impact!"

"Don!" The Armor pokemon charged, bracing himself with a whirling storm of purple and orange energy. Before Poliwrath could think to counter, Donphan smashed into its body.

Poliwrath was sent flying, smashing into the wall behind Max.

The boy swallowed.

"Poliwrath is unable to battle!" The referee called, ritualistically. "Donphan wins!"

"You're kidding me!" Max exclaimed, looking back to his companion, embedded in the stadium wall. Despite his trembling arms, he recalled his own. "Thanks, Poliwrath…"

 **"** **What a start to this match! Ash has quickly and decisively taken down two of Max's pokemon!"**

* * *

"Oh, dear." Professor Oak cupped his chin.

Delia, nearby, was taking snapshots. "Great job, honey!"

"Max needs our support too, you know!" May fussed, furrowing her brows at the mother.

"Of course!" She blushed, scratching her cheek. "Once Max gets momentum, I'll be sure to capture plenty of memories for him, too."

"Let's hope he finds that momentum, soon." Brock thought aloud. "I'm rooting for Ash, too, but it'd be better for his confidence if he at least gave him a hard time."

"Don't worry," Misty replied coolly. "He'll find it!"

* * *

"You good to keep going, Donphan?" Ash checked.

"Donphan!" The pokemon cried in reply, flexing his trunk.

"If you're not switching…" Max chucked another pokeball, with a bit more aggression than the last. "Go, Gengar!"

"Gen-Gengar!" The ghoul appeared, sporting his characteristic big, toothy grin.

"A Gengar… Hold on, is that Koda's Haunter?" Ash's eyes went wide at the realization.

"She is! Well, she was," Max confirmed. "That's how Koda got his Machamp, too."

"Of course! They both can evolve by trading, can't they?" Ash thought aloud. "Okay, then bring it!"

"You asked for it," Max boasted. "Hypnosis!"

"Gen!" The ghoul cackled, sending several hypnotic rings towards Donphan.

They enveloped the Armor pokemon, making his lids heavy. He yawned, instinctively tucking into a ball.

"Ha!" Max cheered, triumphant. "You're trapped, now!"

"Donphan, Return!"

"Huh!?" Max's jaw dropped, his spirits sapping away as he watched the ground type return to its ball. He growled, gritting his teeth.

"You didn't use Mean Look, yet, like you did with Koda," Ash explained.

The younger trainer kept his eyes towards the ground. "Talk about a rookie mistake," he grumbled.

"Go, Noctowl!" Ash chuckled a pokeball high.

The golden owl appeared with a chirp, bright sparkles trailing his shiny form.

"I'm not making that mistake again!" Max barked. "Use Mean Look!"

Gengar cackled, conjuring a large, eerie eye with her ghostly powers, staring down Noctowl.

Noctowl trembled at the sight, squawking in discomfort.

"Guess we're in for the long haul," Ash remarked. "Noctowl, Light Screen!"

"Gengar, use Shadow Ball!" Max ordered.

"Ge-ge-gar!" The ghost cried, launching a black, crackling orb at Noctowl.

It struck, shielded by the translucent glow of Light Screen. Noctowl only pecked at his feathers, unbothered.

"What the!? ...Oh. Great." Max's face fell. "I forgot that it's a normal type, too… And with Light Screen, it won't even budge." The realization heated his face with shame. "To top it all off, I've trapped us, with Mean Look…"

"Gen?" The ghost turned back to her trainer, her grin fading away with concern. "Gengar!"

Max shook his head. "No time to mope about it, now! Go ahead and vanish!"

The pokemon cackled in reply, seemingly disappearing into thin air.

 **"** **Finding himself at a disadvantage, Max has his Gengar disappear! How will this turn the tide of the battle!?"**

"Noctowl, use Foresight!"

The avian peered around the field with scrutiny, a red lamp cast from each of its keen eyes. The skies seemed to be clear of Gengar's presence, and she moved on to the field.

A vague shadow was poking out of the ground. He trilled.

Max's brows furrowed. "Use Hypnosis!"

Purple rings shot from beneath the arena.

"Dodge that," Ash ordered.

Noctowl handily veered away from their influence.

"Now, use Extrasensory!"

Flashy rings all across the color spectrum shot out of Noctowl's eyes, casting a sort of tractor beam on Gengar that yanked it out of the earth, and into the air. With a toss of her head, she threw Gengar back down to the ground.

"Now, use Sky Attack!" Ash continued.

Noctowl spanned his wings, a low trill gradually building to a high-pitched cry, as light gathered around him.

"What'm I gonna do…!?" Max trembled in his sneakers. "I think I've got it… Gengar! Smack a Shadow Ball against the ground!"

She didn't think to question her trainer's orders, forming a ghoulish orb in her claws before smacking it into the ground. In an explosion of dust, the Shadow Ball emerged, coated in rock and dirt.

"Now, throw it!" Max ordered.

Gengar did as told, lobbing the elemental blast at Noctowl.

"Hey, not bad!" Ash commended, impressed. "Way to improvise."

The blast hit its mark, ruffling Noctowl. But, Light Screen reminded Max, and the audience of its presence, dispersing most of the damage.

Noctowl had finished charging. He swept down, emanating a beautiful white glow. Gengar was within his sights.

"There's only one way out," Max muttered. Clenching his fists, he shouted. "Destiny Bond!"

In a self-sacrificial act, Gengar coated herself in a red glow.

"Pull up," Ash quickly instructed.

"Noctowl pulled into a U-turn, soaring back into the air, the energy of Sky Attack wasted.

"What!?" Max blanched, somewhere between frightened and furious. "How'd you make that call so fast!?"

"Even if I didn't see your stunt with Koda," Ash explained, "I've been around the block too much to fall for that."

As Ash's explanation ended, so did the light around Gengar.

"Extrasensory!"

Noctowl cast his psychic powers on Gengar again, roughly chucking it through the air.

Gengar floated back down, little more than an amorphous blob with swirls in her eyes.

"Gengar is unable to battle! Noctowl is the winner!"

 **"** **And, Gengar is down! With Max at a three-count disadvantage, things are quickly turning in Ash's favor!"**

* * *

"There they go again!" Dawn fumed. "Those announcers and their big, stupid mouths, discouraging kids…"

"Didn't Lilian have that problem, too?" Brock recalled. "When you battled Paige and Larkspur."

"Yeah!" Dawn pouted, crossing her arms. She didn't even feel proper cheering for Ash, now.

"I think someone needs to have a word with the Pokemon League and Contest Committee," Misty bitterly remarked. "What kind of environment does it leave for young trainers, to be called out like that!?"

"I'll have a word with the committee, myself!" May huffed. "Keep going, Max! We've seen bigger comebacks! This is your time to shine!"

* * *

"Hey, don't listen to that!" Ash called across the field. "You've still got half your team, so make sure you throw everything at me, alright!?"

Max recalled Gengar, making eye contact with Ash. "I will!" At least Ash was on his side, sort of. "This is where things turn around!" He announced, throwing a pokeball. "Go, Electivire!"

"Vire!" The Thunderbolt pokemon cried, pounding his fists together. He gave Noctowl his wide, Cheshire grin.

"Woah, you evolved it!" Ash marveled.

"Uh-huh. I asked Yas and Kaz about how they evolved their Electivire and Scizor, before we left town. Turns out, they just need a special hold item, just for them! And a lot of experience."

"That explains your Scizor, too…" Ash smirked. "Great, then let's see what you've got!"

"Use Thunderpunch!" Max ordered, unsure whether Light Screen had already died out.

Electivire sprinted at Noctowl, bringing down his hand in an electrically charged chop.

Noctowl swiftly dodged, spinning out of harm's way.

Max frowned. "Try again!"

Several more strikes followed, each as futile as the last. No matter how much Electivire hopped about, being stuck on the ground against an experienced flying type put him at a disadvantage.

 **"Electivire may have the power to hurt Noctowl, but he can't seem to land a hit!"**

"Time to fight back," Ash decided, throwing a hand to the side. "Sky Attack!"

Noctowl pulled out of Electivire's range, charging his potent attack. This time, with urgency; he was aware that simply tanking this opponent's attack wasn't an option.

Within a few, tense moments, Noctowl shot down, smashing into Electivire.

"Electivire…!" The biped grunted, shoved across the ground by the aerial assault. Bucked off by Noctowl's beak, he righted himself.

Though, Max wasn't bothered. In fact, he felt triumphant. He hadn't seen a glimmer of Light Screen for a while… This was his moment. "Electivire, use Thunder!"

"Electivire!" He roared, firing a sizzling streak of lightning at Noctowl.

"Quick, use Light Screen!" Ash ordered.

Noctowl hooted in fright, quickly swiping his wing across his body to conjure a mysterious shield.

Thunder blasted Light Screen, a fraction making it through to hurt Noctowl.

The remainder bounced off of the shield, ricocheting back onto the field below.

A particularly large bolt struck Electivire.

"Yes!" Max cheered, adjusting the frames of his glasses.

"What!?" Ash gawked.

"Vire…!" The Thunderbolt pokemon rotated his arms, building up static that now coursed through his body. His limbs felt light and limber, supercharged by his own attack.

 **"** **Wow! In a freak accident, it seems that Electivire's Thunder was knocked back at it, activating its Motor Drive ability!"**

"'Freak accident,' my butt," Max replied dryly.

"You planned that…?" Ash stared at his opponent, dumbfounded.

Max smirked. About time, credit was given where it was due. "I did," he confirmed, a mischievous gleam sliding over his glasses. "And, you know where I got that idea, Ash?"

Ash only stared, seemingly clueless.

"It was you!" Max pointed dramatically. "I got that idea from your strategy, against Tate and Liza! When you had Pikachu use Thunder on their Light Screen to bounce back and use as armor!"

"You remembered that?" Ash stood straight, seemingly impressed. "That lil' detail?"

"I may be my own trainer, Ash," Max prefaced, having taken May's mistakes to heart. "But, before I started my journey, my experience of battles was formed by you! May turned to contests… So, I made sure to study your style and pick up everything I could learn from it! And, I knew you'd need to put up a fresh, sturdy Light Screen when the old one faded, so I was just waiting for my chance!"

Ash smiled wide in response. From Max's point of view, it looks as if his eyes were glimmering with pride. "In that case, I'm flattered," Ash confirmed the other's suspicions. "Now, let me see you put that experience to work!" He went on to take the initiative. "Noctowl, use Extrasensory!"

"Thunder Punch!"

Noctowl's eyes began to glow, but suddenly, Electivire was upon him. He shrieked, smacked down by an electrified punch.

"Noctowl!" Ash gasped.

The bird hovered low, shaking free a few charred feathers.

"It's really fast…" Not quite Paul's Electivire, Ash guessed, but that left plenty of room to be impressive, regardless. "Noctowl, you need to put some distance between you and Electivire!"

Still rather rattled, Noctowl pulled back from where he'd been smacked.

"Thunderpunch, again!"

This time, Electivire didn't make it quite as high as his adversary. The yellow blur did, however, appear just below Noctowl. High enough to smash him back down to earth with a sizzling axe handle.

"Oh no," Ash gasped. This was looking grim.

"Now," Max quickly followed up, "Thunder!"

The Thunderbolt pokemon landed with a heavy thud before Noctowl. His twin tails quickly coiled around the bird, unleashing unyielding electricity directly into him.

Light Screen didn't stand a chance.

"Noctowl is unable to battle," the referee called, as he watched Electivire casually toss the unconscious bird towards Ash. "Electivire wins!"

 **"** **And, with Electivire's Motor Drive, Max leaves quite the impression with a quick comeback! Things are bound to get interesting, from here!"**

* * *

"Alright! Way to go, Max!" May whooped. "You show him!"

Delia snapped her shutter furiously, getting shot after shot. "Oh, just look at him!" She turned her camera to the group, where she'd zoomed in on Max's face. "He looks so confident, now!"

"Now, this'll be fun to watch!" Misty beamed, feeling awfully proud. Of Ash and Max, both.

"Ash better be careful, though," Brock thought aloud. "Electivire have given him trouble in the past."

"Not just Paul's, but Surge's, too." Dawn added. She kept her eyes glued to the field.

* * *

With a pained chirp, Noctowl slowly opened his eyes. He felt warm and secure, despite the numbing pain. He was in Ash's arms, with his trainer smiling down on him. "Noct," he quietly apologized.

"Hey, I don't wanna hear that," Ash beamed. "You were awesome. You get some rest, alright?"

The bird relaxed as he was recalled in a flash of light. Ash turned back to Max. "Now, that's what I'm talking about!"

"Not bad, huh?" Max puffed out his chest.

"Not at all!" Ash agreed, tossing a pokeball. "Now, it's your turn, Typhlosion!"

The Volcano pokemon appeared in a flash of light, roaring loudly. Flames burst from the hot spots on his neck and back.

 _'_ _Looks like you're finally taking me seriously.'_ Max smirked, comfortable with this knowledge. "Electivire, Thunder!"

Electivire threw his hands out, firing a roaring current at Typhlosion.

"Flamethrower," Ash countered.

Typhlosion threw his head forward, firing weaponized heat.

Fire clashed with electricity, sparking before cutting through, clearly overwhelming it.

Max swallowed as he watched the superior move close in. "Fire Punch; block it!"

Electivire coated each of his fists in flames, punching tirelessly at the oncoming flames.

Embers burst and scattered, deflecting most of the brunt from the Thunderbolt pokemon.

While Electivire was burnt in a few spots, though, his fists were roaring with heat.

"Great," Max exclaimed, relieved. "Now, Fire Punch!"

Electivire zipped forward, smashing one fist into Typhlosion's gut, then the next.

Typhlosion flinched from the blows, ignoring the flames that snapped at his fur.

 **"** **Wow! Max took the brunt of Typhlosion's Flamethrower, and turned it back on him, with Fire Punch!"**

"Good stuff," Ash remarked, "but, Typhlosion's far from done. Aerial Ace!"

Indeed, even Electivire began to cower at the taller pokemon's intimidating gaze. Even with his reflexes, he found himself sorely out sped at close range, where the Volcano pokemon pummeled him with an acrobatic tackle.

"Grab him, with your tails!" Max hurried.

Falling back from his foe, Electivire grinned, snapping his cable-like tails around Typhlsion's belly.

"Crap, no!" Ash's face went pale. "Typhlosion!"

"Thunder!"

"Electivire!"

Typhlosion cried, shocked stiff by the many volts assaulting him, all at once.

* * *

"Not this again," Dawn pouted, crossing her arms.

"Ash needs to stop falling for that trap," Brock lamented. "But, maybe he thought Max didn't know that trick."

"Didn't he talk about watching Ash's conferences?" Dawn recalled.

"He always does," May affirmed. "He was glued to the screen during the Sinnoh League."

* * *

Electivire released Typhlosion, hopping back to make some distance.

Typhlosion still stood, even as sparks crackled over his body.

"You really need to be more careful," Max taunted. "But, if Paul didn't teach you that lesson, then maybe I have to be the one to do it!"

"You…!" Ash's eyes widened. He swallowed his pride, smiling. "So, that's how you knew." He looked to his companion. "You okay, Typhlosion?"

"Ty!" The pokemon answered, raising a paw to Ash.

Ash narrowed his eyes. Even as the pokemon gestured, his movements were sluggish and stilted. Electricity still cunt to his body, making his fur stand up.

"You're paralyzed!" Ash's expression became blank; hard to read, in Max's opinion. Was he scared, but afraid to show it?

 **"** **That Thunder attack has Paralyzed Typhlosion! With two of his pokemon suffering from status conditions, Ash is finding himself in quite the predicament!"**

"Typhlosion, return!" Ash held a pokeball outstretched, recalling the large mammal with a red beam of light. "Good job."

"Check that out!" Max boasted, smiling from ear to ear. "I've got you on the run, now! How's it feel?" The boy taunted, playing with his glasses that promptly shone in the midday sun.

Ash clipped Typhlosion's ball back to his belt. Without a word, he grabbed another pokeball, clicking the center button with his index finger. His gaze held firmly on Electivire.


	82. Rise from the Ash

**Thanks for waiting! Now, you'll see the second half of the battle between Max and Ash! Please leave your thoughts in a review, if you don't mind! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Croconaw, I choose you!"

"Croc!" The second-stage water type appeared, opposite of Electivire. He snapped his jaws at the larger pokemon.

 **"** **And, Ash has substituted Typhlosion with Croconaw! What could he be thinking, using a water type in this battle?"**

"Took the words right outta my mouth," Max quipped. "What're you up to this, time?" He knew Ash too well to assume he made that choice without reason.

"The truth is, Croconaw's the only pokemon I have who's fast enough to deal with Electivire's speed. Plus, I just love a challenge!"

"I really doubt a Croconaw's fast enough to…"

"Dragon Dance!"

Croconaw began to do what he did best - dance and prance about. Hopping and flipping around, he became immersed in a red, misty aura, boosting his speed, and his attack power, to boot.

"I didn't know Croconaw could learn Dragon Dance!" Max blurted out. "Whatever; Electivire, Thunderpunch!"

"Electivire!" The electric type charged, throwing a charged haymaker at Croconaw.

"He's always lived to dance," Ash replied, confident.

Just as Electivire's fist came, Croconaw leapt backwards, soaring just over the blow, turning belly-up.

"Hydro Pump!" Ash called.

Croconaw turned into a backflip, quickly righting himself, still within close range. He opened his mouth wide, pulverizing Electivire with a powerful jet.

Electivire groaned, blown back across the field from the pressure.

"You weren't bluffing," Max muttered. "Thunder!"

Electivire casted the blast of electricity with haste.

"Dragon Dance, again!"

With Thunder incoming, Croconaw hopped on one foot, launching into the air, twirling into a graceful spin, while the attack only struck the ground below him. Shades of red swirled around his body, once more.

"Thunderpunch," Max ordered.

The Thunderbolt pokemon charged, throwing several punches at Croconaw.

The first was ducked, a second lower sweep avoided by hopping on one foot. A right hook was met with him spinning gracefully on that one leg, twirling gracefully out of the punch's reach.

Ash smirked. "Use Crunch!"

Still spinning, Croconaw turned his pirouette back towards Electivire's arm, opening his maw to sink his teeth into the limb.

Electivire cried in pain.

"Now, quick," Ash hurried, "toss him!"

Croconaw yanked Electivire's arm down to the ground with him, finding footing on the field. He spun once more, releasing the larger pokemon to toss it back towards Max.

Somewhat dizzy, Electivire landed on all fours, coming short of a rough landing.

 **"** **Wow! Not only is Croconaw an expert with rhythm, but his jaws have the power to toss a pokemon several times his size and weight! This battle is bound to be interesting!"**

* * *

"I didn't know Croconaw could groove like that!" May whistled, impressed by the gator.

"Croconaw's always been that way," Misty explained. She was still a bit bitter Ash had caught him first, but he seemed happy, at least. "He likes to dance just as much as he likes to battle!"

"He fights more like a pokemon groomed for contests than league battles," Drew remarked. "Groomed well, at that. It's no wonder even Electivire's having trouble."

"You're so right!" Dawn agreed. Admittedly, she was a little star struck to be discussing contests with Drew, of all people. "And, Ash is making perfect use of that."

* * *

Ash didn't let them rest. "Use Ice Punch!"

Croconaw sprinted for the recovering Electivire, closing the distance with a graceful leap. He reared his fist, a frosty Ice Punch ready.

"Use Barrier!" Max ordered.

Electivire threw his large hands forward, quickly summoning a sturdy wall before him.

Croconaw's fist smashed against it, leaving a dent. A bit of frost made it to Electivire, but it was otherwise unharmed.

"Use Hydro Pump!" Ash called.

Croconaw opened his mouth wide, firing Hydro Pump.

"Quick," Max panicked, "dodge that, and use Thunderpunch!"

Just as Barrier shattered, Electivire jumped above, coming down with Thunderpunch.

Croconaw did a somersault backwards, allowing Electivire's fist to only strike solid earth.

"Barrier!" Max called.

Electivire quickly created a shield between the two.

"But, I didn't call an attack…" Ash trailed off.

Croconaw turned to spin away from the shield of his own volition.

"Behind it, now!"

Electivire's speed made quick work of the distance between them, allowing him to flank the water type. A second barrier was placed behind the Big Jaw pokemon.

"Now, the sides!"

"...Crap, he's doing that again!" Ash's eyes grew wide with his realization. "Croconaw, get outta there!"

The jolly pokemon was tragically oblivious to the danger, merrily spinning to avoid Electivire.

He quickly found himself boxed in on four sides.

"Jump out!" Ash urged.

The water type jumped, as told. He found resistance when his head smashed against a solid surface, falling to nurse the bump it formed.

"This is bad," Ash hissed.

"Now, no more dancing around!" Max proclaimed, brimming with pride.

 **"** **What's this!? Max has boxed in Croconaw with five different barriers!"**

"Now, Thunder!" Max called out.

"Electiviiire!" The Thunderbolt roared, blasting the box with a ruthless current.

Croconaw's pained cries could be heard from inside the enclosure.

As the sizzling of Thunder stopped, the audience went silent, saved for hushed whispers. Ash and Max looked on with suspense.

The referee coughed. "Ahem, Croconaw can't be seen from inside barrier, so I can't make a call!"

 **"** **Despite the devastating Thunder, it's hard to tell how Croconaw fared, one way or another! "**

"I guess if I want my win, we better get those out of the way…" Max huffed. What a pain. "Electivire… huh!?" Just short of calling an attack, Max paused.

Flashes of light splintered from the tight grooves formed by Barrier. Daring slivers turned to bold illumination, and the Barriers began to crack.

 **"** **What's this!? Something's happening from inside the Barrier!"**

Ash smirked to himself. "Here it is."

The first of the walls cracked, then caved, shattered by a gargantuan blue tail, lined with spiked red ridges. The limb swung to the left, smashing another Barrier in half. As the roof collapsed, a large, brutish skull lined with red spikes smashed through it.

The last of the Barriers fell, and Croconaw stood tall. Or, at least he'd been Croconaw moments before.

Feraligatr roared, stretching his limbs out.

 **"** **Well, now I've seen everything! After enduring a super-effective Thunder, Croconaw spontaneously evolved into Feraligatr! Talk about a show of defiance!"**

"Congratulations, Croc- Feraligatr!" Ash corrected himself. "Way to come through." As he praised his teammate, he pulled out his Pokedex to scan his pokemon. **"New move learned!"** Dexter spoke in his usual monotone.

"Aw, come on. Talk about a lucky break!" Max scowled, stomping his foot.

"Nah, it wasn't luck." Ash pocketed his Pokedex. "He's been teetering towards evolving for a while now, he just needed the proper push! I guess getting backed into a corner was just what he needed!"

Feraligatr roared in response, his tail wagging. Despite his terrifying visage, he seemed to be grinning.

"Hah, I think he's thanking you, Max!"

"Glad I could help…" The younger trainer frowned. Though, he couldn't get angry at that big, goofy face. "Alright, Thunderpunch!"

Electivire sprinted, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. He delivered a crackling punch to Feraligatr's jaw.

"Superpower!" Ash called in return.

Feraligatr flinched, his head pushed back by the punch. The scales on his cheek were burnt. But, he swung back with brutal force, slamming his tail into Electivire's gut with all of his might.

"Vire!" The biped coughed and hacked, sent flying through the air.

"Use Crunch!" Ash pointed forward with a grin.

Feraligatr stomped across the field, somehow carrying himself with the same whimsy that he'd had as a Croconaw. His jaws opened wide, painting a far less jovial picture for Electivire.

Max swallowed. "Use Barrier! More than one of them!"

Electivire landed on one knee, beginning to grow weary. His arms and gut were sore. Nonetheless, he summoned three different barriers, each reinforcing the last.

"If you think he ain't biting on something, you're dreaming," Ash remarked, looking smug.

"Not with those in the way!" Max argued. "I mean, what's he gonna do, bite a Barrier?"

Feraligatr, meanwhile, did just that. Opening his mouth wide, he set himself to snap his jaws down on the first of the barriers, gnashing and shattering it with his razor-sharp teeth.

Max trembled, his face losing color. "...Oh."

"Told ya," Ash teased. "Now, Hydro Pump!"

The Big Jaw pokemon spit out the shards, firing an intense Hydro Pump from his mouth.

The move smashed through the two remaining Barriers, striking Electivire head-on.

"Quick, Thunder!" Max shouted.

"Electi…. Electivire!" The electric type groaned against the pressure, firing his influence through the current.

Feraligatr roared in pain, his attack dissipating at once.

"Great," Max rejoiced. "Now, Thunderpunch!"

Just as Feraligatr regained his bearings, shaking off the static, Electivire was only inches away.

The burly pokemon grinned, socking Feraligatr in the jaw.

"Use Crunch!"

Powerful jaws and teeth snapped down on Electivire's arm.

It roared, yanking away from the large reptile. Tried as he may, he gained no ground against his snap-happy predator.

With a muffled roar, the water type tossed his head, sending his opponent crashing into the field.

Electivire had swirls in his eyes.

"Electivire is unable to battle!" The referee threw his hand up. "Feraligatr wins!"

 **"** **A brutal battle, with two competitors meeting blow-for-blow! But, the newly evolved Feraligatr's bark was certainly surpassed by his bite! It was too much for Electivire!"**

Max swallowed, trying to ignore the peanut gallery. "Thanks, Electivire." He recalled the unconscious pokemon, clipping its ball to his belt. "You helped turn the match around, so you rest, alright?"

With that, his eyes were set on Feraligatr. It was conscious, certainly, but it was burnt in several places from super-effective moves, and breathing heavily, to boot. Electivire had done his job.

"Okay… Donphan's asleep, Typhlosion's paralyzed, Noctowl's out, and Feraligatr's weak…" Max counted aloud. "Now, if I just come at him with Venusaur, and…" His stomach tightened.

He only had two left.

"Alright, Ash. You're asking for it!" Max barked, reaching for his belt. "Here's the pokemon I got from Professor Oak! The second I ever got on my journey!" He fumbled with the pokeball, before chucking it.

"Go, Venusaur!"

Four gargantuan feet stomped down on the field. A gigantic, pink spotted flower climbed from the beast's back, brimming with toxins. "Sauuur!" Venusaur roared, spotting Ash across the field. The sight of the familiar trainer made her grin. "Venusaur!" She turned her chin up at the tired Feraligatr.

She'd certainly make up for their last match.

"A grudge match, eh?" Ash smirked. "Alright, Venusaur. Bring it on!"

"You'll see what we can do!" Max yelled.

"Saur," Venusaur agreed.

"Use Leech Seed!"

Venusaur lowered her head, firing a swarm of parasitic seeds from her flower.

"Blast them away with Hydro Pump," Ash countered.

Feraligatr blasted the bulk of the seeds away, their roots withering under the pressure. But, several found their home in the dirt, blossoming to snag around Feraligatr's legs. Stray roots hung just above ground, lying in wait for their meal.

The Big Jaw pokemon grumbled, kicking some of the roots snagging him. He roared when a red light surrounded him, sapping his strength.

"Great… They're limiting his movement." Ash frowned. "Whack those weeds with Ice Punch!"

Feraligatr brandished a fist, sweeping across the ground before him, covering it in frost.

A swarm of the seeds froze and wilted away. The next sapping took less of a toll on Feraligatr, which was clear to Ash when the pokemon only grunted in annoyance.

"Great…" Max grumbled. But, this presented an opportunity. "Use Toxic!"

Venusaur spat a pile of corrosive goo at Feraligatr. The latter, occupied with freeing himself, was struck.

Feraligatr roared, bothered by bubbling poison.

 **"** **Despite his disadvantage, Max has piled on two different status effects on Feraligatr! Venusaur is off to a good start!"**

"We're really fighting the clock now," Ash muttered. "Use Crunch!"

Feraligatr charged towards Venusaur, his long, sharp teeth on full display.

"He's moving a lot slower," Max observed, blinking. "...It's Leech Seed!" The roots were still offering resistance. "That's our chance; Petal Blizzard!"

"Saur!" Venusaur roared, unleashing a storm of petals.

The water type charged forward, snapping at the projectiles in his pursuit. The super-effective move slowed his approach, but the oncoming attack was inevitable. Feraligatr's jaws sunk into Venusaur's side.

Venusaur croaked, trying to buck the gator from her hide.

"Ice Punch!" Ash called.

Feraligatr began to raise his fist. Frost gathered, and quickly dispersed. Depleting stamina and painful poison broke the water type's concentration. It was all he could do just to hold on.

"He's stuck…! He can't do anything but bite!" Ash frowned.

 **"** **Feraligatr and Venusaur are locked in a battle of attrition! Will the former cave first!?"**

"If he gets another chance…!" Max gasped. This was their chance! "Another Leech Seed, now!"

Despite the pain, Venusaur was delighted to find her stamina refilled every so often. She launched seeds into the air from her flower.

They landed on Feraligatr, tangling him further. His legs were tied together, and his arms constrained. Suffering another sap of power, he released Venusaur, collapsing on his back.

"Feraligatr is unable to battle," the referee declared. "Venusaur wins!"

 **"** **Like a cornered Persian, Max struck back with ferocity when put in a tough spot! Venusaur came out of this round with only superficial damage, and it looks ready to go, for the next round!"**

Max exhaled a breath he swore he'd been holding forever. "That's another one down…"

* * *

"Way to go, Max!" May whooped, leaning over her seat. "You got him!"

When the woman sitting in front of her grumbled, she blushed, sitting upright. "Eheheh…"

"Poor Feraligatr…" Misty frowned. "But, good for Max. This match isn't over, yet!"

* * *

"Thanks, Feraligatr." Ash smiled down at the occupied pokeball, clipping it to his own belt. "You did your part." His gaze turned up. "Alright, Max! Hope you're ready for more!"

"What kinda question is that!?" Max snapped. "Of course, I am!"

"Jeez," Ash recoiled, "sorry… Anyway, here we come! Meganium, I choose you!"

The spinning pokeball spit out a flash, taking the form of a large quadruped. Sporting a vibrant flower of her own, this one sporting a much more pleasant fragrance, the dinosaur craned her neck, challenging Venusaur. "Ganium!"

 **"** **This next battle will be between two grass type starter pokemon! This is bound to be fierce!"**

"This might be a long battle," Max thought aloud. "Use Toxic!"

Venusaur made haste, firing another round of poison.

Meganium turned to run out of harm's way. A heavy splat against her side denied her that escape, slipping irritating poison into her skin. She hissed.

"You sure were quick on the draw," Ash frowned. "Hey, Meganium, hang on! I'll switch you for Typhlosion," Ash soothed, reaching for his belt.

"Meganium!" She roared in return, casting a glare at Venusaur. Her forelegs stomped the ground before her.

"So, you still wanna fight." Ash smirked. "Alright. Grab Venusaur's legs with Vine Whip!"

Meganium tossed her head, launching two vines from her neck. They latched around Venusaur's two right legs. She yanked her body backwards, unceremoniously uprooting Venusaur. The Seed pokemon cried, thrown helplessly onto her side.

"Venusaur!" Max shouted. "She's gotta be stuck… Use Leech Seed, below you!"

The disheveled pokemon complied, firing scores of Leech Seeds at the ground under her. Sprouts began to surface, gathering into what would soon become a shrub.

"Perfect," Ash thought aloud. "Now, use Aromatherapy!"

"What!?" Max's face quickly lost color.

"Ganium~" The quadruped soothed, summoning a sweet, calming pink mist from her flower, surrounding herself first. Proper color returned to her face, Toxic's effects dying away.

The restorative spores went on to slip past Ash's jacket and onto his belt, filling his remaining pokeballs.

Recognizing the threat Meganium presented on top of his already dire situation, an edge of desperation knifed its way into Max's expression. The corners of his mouth drew down and back in a determined scowl. "Leech Seed!" he cried. Then, for good measure, he called out another attack after it. "Toxic!"

Sending out the rough coated seed shells of the Leech Seed attack towards Meganium, they were soon caught up in the acidic sludge of Toxic.

Ash wasn't sure what a Toxic-coated Leech Seed might do, but he didn't intend to find out. "Meganium! Use Aromatherapy while hitting Venusaur with Body Slam!"

The same pink haze as before surrounded Meganium like an aura as she began to trot, quickly building into a full-on gallop. The Toxic-coated Leech Seeds struck her. However, in passing through Aromatherapy's veil, the Toxic was neutralized. Furthermore, only half of the Leech Seeds even landed to begin growing on her; many had been melted by the very poisonous move that had previously been combined with them!

Both trainers were still processing the scene, though. Meganium leaped into the air just before she reached Venusaur, displaying a degree of agility that was unexpected for her species, but not so atypical that it bypassed believability.

Heavily, the long-necked grass type kicked down at Venusaur when she used Body Slam. Venusaur let out a pained roar.

"Double-Edge, quick!" Max cried, noting the odd crackling wince Venusaur shuddered after being hit. It must have been paralyzed.

Leaning back and then leaping forward, Venusaur slammed into Meganium with its full weight. The dinosaur staggered backwards as her counterpart heaved heavily, the wind knocked out of them both.

"That ought to buy us some time. Meganium, use Solarbeam!" Ash was confident she'd be able to pull it off after the hurting she'd put on Venusaur.

Max, unsure of whether Venusaur would be able, but trusting in their bond and Venusaur's strength, spoke an order as well. "Petal Blizzard!"

The dash of pink petals crossed the field rapid fire. Swarming around Meganium, they hid her from view as she began to glow golden. She was blocked from view completely for a brief moment. Then, a dazzling pillar of yellow light burnt through the petals, striking Venusaur.

Meganium stepped through the ruined Petal Blizzard, breathing heavily but looking proud. Venusaur groaned, fangs bared in frustration.

Max, deciding to take a chance, called for another status effect. "Toxic!"

He was lucky; Ash was also in the betting mood. "Vine Whip!"

The Toxic, uninhibited by Meganium's defenses, landed on her forelegs. Her Vine Whips, however, lashed out, snatching Venusaur's forelegs. Lifting the behemoth flowering beast up, she turned it onto its back with a mighty roar of her own. Now, Venusaur lay prone and Meganium was poisoned.

And, with that, the gamble was turning in Ash's favor. A tingle of yellow, crackling power danced across Venusaur's body. The paralysis was taking hold.

"Meganium, now!" Ash yelled, pumping a fist in the air. "Body Slam! Let's finish it!"

"Meg!" the dinosaur called in turn, charging forward on her aching legs. She jumped, landing with her full weight on Venusaur's stomach. The wind was knocked from Venusaur's lungs and, briefly struggling, the grass/poison type fainted.

The referee raised a flag. The announcer's voice came over the speakers.

 **"** **And, in an uncharacteristically brutally physical battle, these two grass type starters have settled the score decisively! Meganium has knocked out Venusaur!"**

Max returned Venusaur wordlessly. He looked down at the pokeball, sweat dripping off his brow. He was down to his last pokemon. Snapping out of his panic, he nodded. "Thank you, Venusaur." He clutched his final pokeball. This pokemon wasn't his starter, but it was the one he had the deepest bond with. If anyone was going to pull through for him, it had to be this one! "Gardevoir, let's go!"

Fluttering down with dainty grace, the psychic/fairy type looked upon the scene quietly.

Ash took note of this, and spoke to Meganium. "Use Aromatherapy-"

"Psychic!"

Cutting Ash and Meganium's concentration off, Gardevoir reacted almost as quickly as Max spoke. One of the pokemon's white hands was lifted, eyes glowing blue as Meganium was thrown through the air.

"It's fast!" Ash yelped, shocked somehow. He hadn't seen that kind of synergy outside of himself and Pikachu, or maybe Rosa when they were both using aura! Then again, Gardevoir was a psychic type. Maybe they had a mental link!

"Calm Mind!" Max called, confidence restored.

While Meganium got back up from her side with a little encouragement from Ash, Gardevoir's eyes fell shut. The fairy type's whole body pulsed pink. It was stronger now, able to both give and receive stronger blows.

"Solarbeam!" Ash growled. They couldn't play around with Gardevoir, then.

"Calm Mind!" Max ordered once more. She was going to tank that attack! She definitely would!

Seeing that Meganium was fully golden from storing up power, Ash chopped the air, motioning towards their target. "Fire!"

"Ganium!" Meganium roared.

Better than tanking an attack, though, was not being hit at all. Max yelled his order out. "Teleport!"

Winking out of sight, Gardevoir was safely removed from harm's way. Meganium's Solarbeam struck the stadium wall.

"Yes!" Max cried, leaping into the air with relief. He could feel sweat dripping down his neck. "Psychic!"

When Gardevoir reappeared, its eyes were already glowing. Snatching Meganium up in a telekinetic hold, it threw the grass type. Meganium landed with a dust-disrupting thud outside of the chalk outline for the battle field.

When the dust settled, the referee raised a flag and Ash let out a sigh of relief. He'd been worried that fall might have hurt her, but she was only knocked out.

"Meganium can no longer battle! Gardevoir wins this round!"

 **"** **After Ash took the last round, Max returns with a vengeance! Gardevoir's psychic attacks completely overwhelmed its experienced competitor!"**

* * *

"Yeah! Way to give it to him, Max!" May chirped, winking to view a 'lens' through her open eye, formed by her index fingers and thumbs. "Today, on May's Expeditions, Max, the cunning trainer from Petalburg City, is staging a comeback against the veteran trainer, Ash Ketchum!"

"You can do it, Ash!" Dawn waved a fist in the air, suddenly shrinking, afterward. "...And, Max, you too!"

"He's holding together well," Brock commended, his arms crossed.

"Absolutely," Professor Oak agreed. "Ash staged a fatal blow with Aromatherapy; and, something tells me that he kept that in his pocket, intentionally, for just that sort of situation. Many trainers would crumble in his shoes; maybe even surrender. But, he's put all of his hope in Gardevoir."

Misty smiled, brushing a bang from her brows. "Get him, kid."

* * *

Ash recalled Meganium, quietly thanking her. "Hey, Max!"

The youth stood up, stiff. "What is it!?"

"Hey, loosen up!" Ash winked at Max, resting a hand on his hip, the other relaxed at his side. "You've held up great, so far. More than I could've asked for!"

"Yeah, well…" Any thoughts of a snarky comeback vanished. Max shrunk avoiding eye contact, as much as he tried to hold it. "Just because I only have one pokemon left, doesn't mean it's over!"

"Of course not." The hoisted hand slipped under Ash's red jacket, gripping a pokeball. "I'm proud of you. It's scary, out here. Especially in the later rounds. But, here you are. Further than I got the first time I came here."

Max bit his lip, widening his stance. "But, either way, that's still losing…"

"Shut up, already!"

Max flinched. As did at least a few onlookers, no doubt. The crowd seemed patient for the duo.

Ash snarled. "Listen to me, and shut up about that 'losing' crap!"

Max sniffled, biting back tears. "What do you care!?" He barked, ignoring Gardevoir's concern. "You're gonna win this, and go on! And, you'll probably win that next battle, too! You're all set!"

"It's got nothing to do with me!" The messy-haired contender threw a hand out to the side. "It's for you! Stop beating yourself up! Stop making it all about winning and losing!"

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu agreed, barking in turn at Ash's side.

Max fumbled with his glasses without a sound.

"You know what would happen if I thought like that, all the way through? Every round, I'd walk onto the field with the jitters, freaking out about whether I'll win, or get knocked out of the tournament, after all of my hard work!" Ash retreated his hand, balling it into a fist.

"I'd worry about how my opponent's going to feel, getting knocked out… I'd love to see us both win. But, guess what? If that's all we thought about, then we'd miss out on enjoying the battle. We'd miss out on sharing that thrill with our pokemon. This is about them, just as much as it is about us!"

This time, Max didn't look away out of cowardice. He looked to Gardevoir. "...Do you care?"

The Embrace pokemon gently shook her head. Through telepathy, she made her feelings clear. She was only happy to have gotten this far with him; to reunite and have this journey, from beginning to end. Worrying about first place could wait.

Max sniffled. The warmth relayed through her thoughts touched his heart. "I… Alright. You win, Ash! We'll fight you with all we've got!" He pointed towards his senior, leaving the last of his tears behind. "No matter what!"

"Gar!" The psychic type turned towards Ash, challenging him.

Ash grinned, gripping a pokeball at chest height. "That's what I like to hear!"

 **"** **I think I speak for all of us when I say that our patience was well-spent! A truly heartfelt exchange between competitors, about the intensity of competition, and about their pokemon! One can only imagine what will come of the climax of this battle!"**

"If you're giving your all with Gardevoir… Then, I'll show you my bond with my next pokemon!" Ash stepped to the side, one leg before the next. The pokeball was held across his chest, chucked with a backhand toss. "Typhlosion, I choose you!"

The Volcano pokemon appeared, now free of static. He roared loudly, flexing his muscles. Roaring fire bloomed around his neck.

Ash pointed forward. "Flamethrower!"

Fully revitalized, Typhlosion threw his head forward, spitting his assault.

"With those Calm Minds, it shouldn't do much," Max thought aloud. "But, just to be sure… Another round!"

Gardevoir had acted before her trainer had finished his sentence, taking a deep, peaceful breath. A vibrant glow surrounded her, amplifying her offensive and defensive powers.

Just in time for Flamethrower to blast the psychic type without mercy.

The smoke cleared, and she stood, with little more than a light coat of ashes.

 **"** **With all of those Calm Minds built up, even a Flamethrower is helpless!"**

Ash smiled to himself. "So, Flamethrower won't do any good… We'll just have to go physical!" He threw a hand in the air. "Typhlosion, use Aerial Ace!"

Typhlosion charged, lunging into the air with agility that few would expect. Setting his sights on Gardevoir, he zipped in, ready to dive bomb his physically frail opponent.

Max's brows furrowed. "Psychic!"

Gardevoir threw her arms forward, exerting a psychic prison on the beast that hung just overhead. His proximity made the typically serene pokemon remarkably nervous.

Max's thumb dug into his palm as his pokemon's difficulty washed over him.

"Ty!" Typhlosion roared, shoving against the telekinetic lock. With gravity, weight, and momentum on his side, he shoved against Gardevoir's influence.

"Gar…!" Gardevoir's outstretched arms trembled. She couldn't hold him for long; that was certain. Rather than shove back, she spun to the side, flinging Typhlosion's momentum off course.

He was flung past Gardevoir, landing roughly to skid across the flat terrain.

"We almost had them," Ash muttered. "Smokescreen; make it nice and thick!"

Typhlosion understood. He clung close to the ground, releasing a cloud of thick, inky smog. Rather than bother obscuring the whole field, his focus remained entirely on the small area surrounding himself and Gardevoir. The clouds were black as night, and clung close to the ground.

"What… Ack!" Max coughed, guarding his mouth with his hand. "What kind of Smokescreen is that!? It's gross!"

"I call it effective," Ash defended. "We learned this from Dawn and her Typhlosion; they use it the same way during their contests. It pays to have a creative training partner!"

 **"** **The Smokescreen is contained, but to whose advantage will that play out!? That's no ordinary diversion!"**

"Come on, how hard can he be to spot!?" Max complained, alternating between peering into the gaps in smoke and wiping his glasses clean. "He's huge; the smoke isn't even that high! You're not getting close like that, Ash."

Gardevoir carefully scanned every ease in the smoke she could spot, vigilant to keep her powers at the ready.

"Thunderpunch," Ash quietly called.

Inside the smoke, lightning crackled. Typhlosion crouched, flattening its long, bulky body along the ground, below any line of sight. Poised on all fours, he raised his rear.

With a roar, he pounced.

Gardevoir cried, slugged in the jaw with an electrifying strike. She was knocked back into the smoke, disheveled.

Feeling her distress, the boy gasped. "Gardevoir!"

"He may be big, but he's only tall if he wants to be," Ash explained, judging the result by the overheard cry.

Typhlosion retained his stealth, ready for his next command. Suddenly, he tensed, assaulted by a regrettably familiar numbness filling his body. Electricity danced along his fur, jolting his senses.

Black fog died away, for the most part, revealing both pokemon to all onlookers.

Typhlosion was hunched over, nipping at the occasional crackle of static. Gardevoir, likewise, was showing difficulty standing upright.

 **"** **What's this!? It seems that both Typhlosion and Gardevoir are paralyzed!"**

"Both of them!?" Ash echoed. "I get Gardevoir, but why Typhlosion?"

"Didn't you know?" Max taunted, nudging his glasses with his index finger. "It's Gardevoir's ability; Synchronize! Whatever status effect she's hit with, her opponent deals with, too!"

* * *

"A very handy ability," Professor Oak remarked. "That paralysis; Ash thought it was his ally. Perhaps it was not."

"I totally caught that!" Dawn winked, surprisingly containing her enthusiasm for poetry. She was too engrossed in the battle. "This is going to be difficult for both of them… What'll Ash do, now?"

"Whatever it is," Misty answered, "both of them better act fast. Time's of the essence, now."

* * *

Max didn't hesitate in this golden moment. "Use Psychic!"

Gardevoir stood upright, her eyes lit with a magnificent glow.

Typhlosion, tried as he may to cling to the earth, was yanked into the air above, helpless to move.

"He can't hit her, and Flamethrower won't do any good…" Ash adjusted the brim of his cap. "Another heavy Smokescreen!"

"Oh, no!" Max's face went pale. "Quick, try to contain it!"

Typhlosion hung, immobile, releasing a flood of smoke onto the field below.

Gardevoir tensed, keeping one hand suspended to hold Typhlosion. The other tended to the smoke, repelling it to the best of the Embrace pokemon's abilities.

As the smoke was blown away, it spilled over, crowding Gardevoir's dress.

"It's failing, now!" Ash smirked, triumphant. "She can't hold him and the smoke at once."

As Ash predicted, Gardevoir shuddered, exhausted. Typhlosion dropped with a thud, and Smokescreen flowed free.

"Now's our chance," Ash roared, "Aerial ace!"

Typhlosion tensed, numb from paralysis. After a moment's delay, he charged forward, leaping at the recovering Gardevoir. "Phlosion!" With a roar, he chucked his body forward.

"Gar!" The psychic type shrieked, assaulted with the fire-type's full weight. She flung backwards, the breath knocked from her compact lungs.

"This is it," Ash coached, throwing a hand out. "Flamethrower!"

Typhlosion hunched over, his legs numb. He carried on, spitting fire at his hurting opponent.

The psychic type was limp, her concentration lost from the impact. Calm Mind's influence was absent when Flamethrower slammed into her torso, blasting her onward with no resistance.

The flames crashed Gardevoir into the wall behind Max.

"Gardevoir!" Max followed the heat, stupefied. Everything had unfolded before he'd had the chance to blink.

The psychic type, light as she always was, tumbled with gentle grace to the arena floor. Swirls in her eyes erased any ambiguities.

The referee raised his flag. "Gardevoir is unable to battle! Typhlosion is the victor; making the winner of this match Ash, from Pallet Town!"

 **"** **And, that's a wrap! In a fierce battle for dominance, Typhlosion delivered his brute force, along with Ash's quick thinking to overcome Max and Gardevoir's formidable strategy! This quarter-final match has reached its thrilling conclusion!"**

The smoke that had surrounded Typhlosion had drifted off, leaving only inky spots on his fur. While he wasn't quite exhausted, his limbs were too numb to allow him to groom. Not that he minded. He was far too proud to concern himself with it.

He suddenly felt a strong pair of arms wrap around his torso.

"Feeling alright?" Ash beamed, lightly stroking the fur around his mane. Any embers that lingered left the trainer's fingers be.

Like many fire types, Typhlosion could cool his own flames to allow comfort for those he trusted. Typhlosion smiled, lightly brushing his face into Ash's cheek.

"You're not gonna knock me over, this time?" Ash teased, returning the show of affection. "You must be really buzzed up. You fought the good fight!"

"Pi-PIkachu!" Pikachu agreed, patting Typhlosion's shoulder. A battle well won!

"Ty!" The pokemon roared, passively leaning into Ash's shoulder. Staying upright in this condition was a pain. But, he was happy. Especially so.

"Let's get you healed up, real soon." With that, the trainer recalled his star player, turning to Max.

But, the boy was already retreating to the stadium. Out of the corner of his eye, Ash had seen Max console Gardevoir before recalling her. He smiled, adjusting his cap. "Guess he needs a minute. Let's go, Pikachu!"

"Pikachu!"

 **"That's the end of the quarter finals of the Indigo League Conference! Let's hear a big hand for our competitors!"**

As the second of the two determined trainers exited the ring, loud applause roared.

* * *

Max looked down at Gardevoir's pokeball, lost in thought. He didn't even hear Ash approaching until the slapping sound of having his shoulder clapped reached him, along with the slight sting of pain. Ash was strong; so much so, that even a friendly slap on the shoulder hurt a little.

"Ya doin' alright?" the elder trainer repeated when Max didn't answer him.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah. I'm…" He trailed off, looking to Ash and then back to the quieting field.

Their friends approached them in a herd just then.

Squealing with pride, May picked her little brother up and swung him in the air before quickly putting him down. She rubbed her back. "Jeez! You're gettin' big!"

Max blushed. "No one told you to pick me up!"

Drew huffed, shaking his head. "She's proud of you, Max."

"We all are," Misty quickly added in.

Koda gave a thumbs-up, nodding. "You did super."

"But, I…!" he began, biting his tongue and thinking it over.

"Lost?" Koda interjected, too close with Max to walk on eggshells around him. He snickered. "All that big talk about getting the gold, and you didn't even come in second!"

"Hey, I came in…!" he trailed off again, being forced to swallow his pride. He finally looked to Ash. "I came in top eight."

Realizing that Max was looking to him, Ash rubbed under his nose, grinning. "Heheh! That's even better I did my first time." He let out a content sigh. "Remember that promise we made last time we traveled together? I'd say this lived up to it." He held out a curled fist, offering it to Max to bump.

The boy choked up, bumping his fist against Ash's before blubbering. "Y-Yeah! This is good! I did good! My team did good!"

May couldn't help but throw her arm around her brother, hugging him close. "Aw, Max! You're so proud. You can cry. You did good."

Dawn, feeling a little distant from the drama with Max, looked to Ash. "This means a lot to him, huh?"

Ash nodded, looking to Dawn. "Yeah… Your first league… Until you've been to one, you won't get it. I guess the Grand Festival's a little similar, but…" He bumped his own chest. "It hits you here, you know?"

"... Well, I hope he's proud."

"He should be. He did good."


	83. Tohjo Twosome

She sat up, gasping, looking frantically around the dark room. Where was Ash?! She couldn't see him anywhere! Why was she so high up?!

After a moment, Dawn remembered where she was. She looked at Misty sleeping on the top bunk opposite of her. They were in the rented Indigo Village cabin, safe and sound.

… Weren't they?

Unable to completely set aside her fears, Dawn placed one sweaty foot on the ladder leading down to the floor. Her pajamas were drenched in her own cold sweat and she shivered a little for it. Still, as she looked around from the floor, she found herself more comforted. There was Ash and Pikachu. She looked around the rest of the room, spotting Brock on the opposite bottom bunk and all of their bags on the hooks where they'd left them at the beginning of the week. Everything was fine.

That was a relief. She wasn't sure what she'd dreamed, but it had frightened her so deeply she now felt exhausted upon waking up. Weary, she looked to Ash's bunk. There wasn't a lot of room, given his growth spurt had taken him from being a runt almost her size to now tall enough that she had to look up at him, but it seemed like a better idea than trusting her shaking knees to carry her back up to the top bunk.

So, quiet and careful, she lifted the haphazardly tossed blanket that half-covered Ash's body. Mindful of Pikachu's tail, she set her head on the pillow and tried to lay down as gently as she could on Ash's out stretched arm.

"Dawn?"

No good.

"Sorry, Ash," Dawn whispered, looking at her boyfriend's sleepy expression.

"Pikaka? Pi?" Pikachu questioning, turning around on the pillows to sniff her forehead. "Pika!"

"Yeah, she does look really shaken up? What happened?" Ash shifted to face her, looking concerned.

Dawn shook her head before yawning. "It was just a nightmare… I don't remember what, but it was just…"

As she trailed off, Ash understood.

"Geez… Sorry, Dawn. I actually haven't had one since the league started." He grinned softly. "It's been a better thing to focus on, you know? Takes up all my brainpower." Even as he joked, he rearranged the sheets and covers so that she was covered up, too. Pulling her closer, he smiled down at her. She'd always looked out for him. He was all too happy to do the same for her.

Equally as concerned for Dawn as Ash was, Pikachu licked her forehead before rubbing his cheek against it.

Dawn giggled at the tickling sensation of Pikachu's crackling electric cheek against her forehead. "I'm definitely gonna need to wash my hair in the morning."

"Yeah, well, go to sleep for now," Ash insisted. "I need my number one cheerleader to be peppy and ready for my match tomorrow."

"Right." Cuddling closer to Ash, Dawn rested her head just under his chin.

Pikachu settled beside the two trainers' heads, dozing off quickly.

Ash remained awake a few minutes more, marveling at everyone in the room; he had his starter, his girlfriend, and his two best friends.

Even if the journey had been rough, he was very glad to be here. He loved everyone in this room, and knew they loved him. Surely, with all of their support, his experience, and his team's strength, he'd win.

And, with that final thought, Ash went to bed, as well.

* * *

The morning came properly, and with it, so did the downtime to spend before that day's match. Our heroes and their friends met up briefly before May began insisting on going with Drew to the pharmacy in the village to find him something generic to help with his on-and-off sickness; Delia and Brock, naturally concerned and caring, went with her. Professor Oak had noticed how downtrodden Max had been, and offered to go see a particularly nerdy exhibition with the boy to cheer him up.

That left Ash with Dawn, Misty, and Koda in a sporting goods specialty shop.

"I'm tellin' ya, Dawn, you've gotta get a pair of gloves!" Ash insisted, holding up a pair. "You're only gonna start traveling more as your journey continues! My gloves have been great when I've had to scramble up crap."

Dawn looked at her own hands. Over the years, they had become more calloused. She also knew there had been times where she had to step back and let Ash or someone else handle a rough surface that would have torn her bare hands up. "I don't know… It just doesn't go with my outfit…"

"You don't need gloves," Misty spoke up from a few racks over. "I've never had any." She walked over, holding one of the three wetsuits she'd picked out in front of her body. "What do you think? Blue, teal, or purple?"

"They're the same," Ash automatically said.

"Hm… The teal looks really good with your eyes, but the purple pops against your hair! The blue seems a little…" Dawn waved her hand back and forth, shrugging a shoulder dismissively.

Koda, who had thus far been quietly watching, raised a brow. "I'm with Ash on this one…"

Misty turned up her nose. "Hmph! Well, Dawn's the fashion expert, so I'll trust her opinion!" With that, the water specialist walked off to go try the suit on.

Ash briefly stuck his tongue out in Misty's direction before picking up another pair of gloves. "Oh, sick! There's metal on the back of these!" Ash quickly tore off his own gloves, trying the new ones on. "Oh man! Pikachu, get a load of these!"

"Pi," the mouse inquired, crawling down Ash's arm to pat them.

"It's like a hero's! Like a ninja's!" he enthused.

As Ash took them off to put on his regular gloves, the coordinator picked them up and whistled upon looking at the price tag.

"Yeah, and you'd need an assassin's salary to pay for them." Dawn raised a brow at him.

Ash pouted, shoulders sagging. "Aw… Well, maybe I can buy them as a gift to myself after the league!"

Koda tilted his head, hands stuffed in his hoodie pockets. "How are you feelin' about your competition, anyways?"

Pikachu and Ash shared a look.

"Well… It'll probably only get tougher. I still haven't even gone up against Deidra. She's got some kind of beef with Lance, too, so who knows how desperate she is to win…"

"Did I hear Lance?!"

Bursting onto the scene was Marina, all of five inches from Ash's face.

"Where is he!?" she demanded.

As suddenly as she'd appeared, she was yanked back by her waist, held in the sturdy arms of a dark-haired teen with a backwards cap.

"Marina, what're ya doin', right in this guy's face?!" he asked. He looked to Ash. "Hey, sorry 'bout my girl. She's nuts for the champ, ya know?"

Dawn, recognizing Marina, giggled. "Aw, Ash, you've gotta forgive her! She's about for Lance how I am for Wallace! How's the charm going for you, anyways?"

The stranger and Ash looked at each of the girls, then at each other. Had they met before?

Marina, stepping out of the boy's grasp, brought out her phone. "She's the girl I told you about! She bought charms with me, see, Jimmy? That's Dawn, the rising contest star!"

"Oh! You're the girl," Jimmy said with realization.

Also putting the pieces together, Ash snapped his fingers. "Hey, Jimmy, you're awful familiar. You ever been to Crown City?"

Eyebrows raising, the teen slapped his forehead. "Dang, yeah! Sorry, man! We've battled before, haven't we?"

Marina rolled her eyes. "I guess we should all say hello properly. I'm Marina and this is my boyfriend Jimmy."

Dawn gestured to her friends. "I'm Dawn, and this is my boyfriend Ash. This is our friend, Koda."

The teen grunted before walking off.

"... He's his own person," the coordinator hesitantly explained.

"It's chill," Jimmy calmly commented.

"Hey, if she's your girlfriend, how come you weren't traveling together?" Ash wondered.

"I mean, we ain't always gotta be together," Jimmy insisted as he folded his arms behind his head. "I went that way because I was travelin' solo in a hurry, ya know? Challenging the Sinnoh Battle Frontier. That kinda thing."

Marina nodded. "I was doin' promotional work, the usual, you know."

"Makes sense… Well, regardless, no hard feelings about not recognizing each other, yeah?" Mentally, Ash noted that the only person good at making strong, quick impressions was Barry.

"Right!" the other trainer agreed. "... Hey, wait, aren't you guys missing somebody? The tall fella?"

"That's Brock!" Dawn corrected. "He's off with another friend of ours."

"Oh, so he must be like Vincent is for us," Marina noted.

"Would you quit calling the man that? He's asked ya like twenty times to help him get his stage name out. Jackson, remember?"

"... Wait, wait, wait, is this Jackson guy from Johto? Kinda clumsy, wears a cape?" Ash asked.

"Hey, the cape's a good fashion choice!" Marina whined.

"He only wore it to try and impress you," Jimmy grunted. "But, yeah, that's our guy, Ash."

Marina crossed her arms, sniffing. "A cape's the coolest thing anyone can wear… It's just a fact."

"Is that so?" Ash murmured. He looked to Dawn. "Wallace has got a cape. Do you like 'em? Maybe I should start wearing one."

Hearing this, Marina squealed. "Dawn, you're so lucky! Ash is so open minded! Jimmy won't wear one even though I've practically begged him!"

"What did I just walk in on?"

The group looked over to see Misty with Koda trailing behind her. The water gym leader tilted her head, glancing quickly around the group before her.

"A meet up," Jimmy explained. He sucked through his teeth, then. "Oh yeah. Don't know if you've stopped by to check your stuff recently, but we're paired up for the semi-finals, Ash."

"Yeah… I saw your face by mine," the trainer agreed.

The Johto native chuckled. "Well, we've got some time. Tell ya what; our girlfriends get along fine, and you've got another lady friend for 'em to hang out with. What do you say we go have some hang out time, yeah?"

Ash looked to Pikachu. "Well, I ain't gettin' any gloves today, I guess, so sure."

With that, Ash and Jimmy began walking off together.

While Marina and Misty caught up in a conversation with Dawn on whether or not Misty should buy the purple wetsuit along or buy the matching snorkel mask, Koda realized he'd been left with the girls.

* * *

Jimmy turned out to be quite rascally, perhaps more so than Ash himself. After some careful maneuvering, the two of them ended on the roof of one of the restaurants, a bucket of fries and fried seafood Jimmy had smoothly talked out of one of the waitresses below settled between the two of them.

Jimmy oozed charisma. Ash would have probably appreciated a friend like him when he was younger, considering how honest yet coarse Ash had been as a child.

Regardless, Jimmy started the conversation after taking a long drag out of a bottle of dark soda. "Ya know, this ain't my first league."

"Me, neither," Ash casually replied, passing a hushpuppy to Pikachu.

"I've actually won one before," the other trainer explained. "It was the Silver Conference. I, uh, wasn't up to snuff for the Elite Four, though. So, you know, once you fail that, you gotta go all the way back through a conference to get another chance." He laughed, shrugging. "Shit happens."

"Sure does," Ash quickly agreed, thinking of all his past league ambitions. While he was rather proud of himself, he couldn't help but share Jimmy's hunger for performing better.

"I wasn't just talking about the league." Laying back and watching the clouds, Jimmy's mind drifted to his home. "I grew up in New Bark Town. We're right by a lab. So, uh, sometimes… Sometimes stuff happens. I wanna be strong, ya know? Strong enough that people think twice about starting crap where I live."

Ash lifted his cap a bit before looking down at the other boy. He bit into a large piece of fish before swallowing and nodding. "Yeah… The Champion's super strong. He's good at protecting people. I wanna do that, too, you know?"

"Is that so?" Jimmy asked before snickering. "Well, if that's the case, I think I like ya! I can't be bitter no matter who wins if that's why you're gunnin' for victory."

Ash grinned so wide his eyes shut. "Same here! You're a good guy, Jimmy!"

Jimmy sat up, hearing the crowd in the stadium growing louder. Part of the reason they'd sat on the roof was that they could see the outer monitors of the league stadium without getting so close as to get caught in the foot traffic. Jimmy let out a low whistle as he caught sight of the match.

"Deidra's done," he said with a low whisper. "She sure works fast."

"I didn't catch much of it," Ash noted. "I was talkin' so much, all I really saw was her same old Metagross."

Jimmy shrugged, humming. "Well, it's better like that, ain't it? Mystery's always a fun challenge. It'll make whooping her all the more interesting."

Ash smirked. "Alright. Tell you what, I plan on winning, but I'll forgive you for beating me only if you make Deidra use all her pokemon."

Jimmy barked out in laughter before holding his hand out to Ash to shake. "Hey, I'll take you up on that deal! I'll give ya a good fist fight if ya whoop me and can't make her break all six out!"

Nodding, the Kanto native shook Jimmy's hand. The deal was sealed.

* * *

Indigo Stadium was packed, roaring with commotion under the afternoon sun. Fresh out of the previous match, the crowd was bustling in anticipation for the coming clash.

"Looks like we've got a heck of a crowd to impress." Ash took his first steps onto the battlefield, adjusting his cap to guard his eyes from the sunlight. "Let's give them a real show, bud." He cast a smirk at his companion, who was nuzzled securely into his shoulder.

"Pika-Pikachu!" Pikachu nodded, his own adorable visage brimming with confidence. He had total faith that Ash would carry him onto the final round.

With that, Ash stepped onward, taking his place on the field.

 **"** **The Indigo League Conference is heading into its final stretch! After the first match of the semi-final round, our last two competitors will go head-to-head, to decide which one of them will head on to the finals, to face the last battle's victor!"**

The crowd roared as the play-by-play successfully stirred them up. But, to Ash, that was just background noise, right now. His gaze was cast across the field, locked onto his opponent.

Jimmy made eye contact, and sent a cocky smirk Ash's way.

Ash smiled, in turn. His heart was already racing.

 **"** **This will be a match between two league veterans; Ash has a building history of placing in conferences, most recently a semi-finalist in the Lily of the Valley Conference. His opponent, Jimmy, is a former Champion of the Silver Conference!"**

"Hope you're ready to trade places," Ash challenged. "Because, I'm winning this one!"

Jimmy belly-laughed, sliding one of his hands into a pocket on his sweatshirt. "You'll have to beat me, first. So, good luck!"

"This will be a full, six-on-six battle," the referee interrupted. "The battle will end when all of one trainer's pokemon are knocked out. Both trainers can switch pokemon at any time!"

"Then, I'll go first." Ash grinned, tossing a pokeball. "Glalie, I choose you!"

The Face pokemon roared, floating above the battlefield. His pitch-black horns glimmered under the beaming sun.

"An ice type?" Jimmy reached for his belt, then, calling on his first. "Then, I'll call on Sudowoodo!"

The Imitation pokemon appeared, throwing several jabs with his branch-like limbs.

 **"** **Jimmy has gone straight for the type advantage! How will this battle play out!?"**

"I'll start," Jimmy prefaced. "Use Mud Slap!"

With a swipe of its arms, Sudowoodo launched a splatter of mud.

"Gla!" Glalie roared, smacked head-on by the muck. He'd attempt to shake it free, his face coated in dirt.

"Not a bad start," Ash commended. "But, we can do better! Glalie, use Ice Beam!"

Glalie obeyed, firing a blast of cold from between his horns.

The attack flew past Sudowoodo, harmlessly blasting the ground with frost.

 **"** **Right off the bat, Jimmy takes a lead with a Mud Slap, making Glalie miss his target completely!"**

"Let's try that again," Ash resumed. "Move to the right, and use Ice Beam!"

Under Ash's direction, Glalie hovered to the side, launching another Ice Beam. With the ice type's poor aim, Sudowoodo had no trouble leaping over Ice Beam, avoiding it completely.

Ash's brows knit low. "So, we still can't hit… Rapid fire Ice Beam! Keep moving!"

Sudowoodo watched as his opponent floated around aimlessly, doing its best to assault him with the bursts of cold. Three beams missed him completely, but a fourth came close - he ducked under it.

"Roll to the side!" Jimmy urged.

Sudowoodo obeyed, tucking in to roll to the left. Another Ice Beam narrowly missed.

* * *

"Woo-hoo! Way to keep Ash on his feet!" Marina hollered, flashing a victory sign from the stands. "Keep dodging those attacks and tire 'im out! Then, give us a big ol' smile~!" She chirped, giddily pointing her index fingers towards her cheeks.

"That's an awful lot of confidence, coming right out of the gate." Dawn smirked, resting her pom-poms on her hips.

"Well, it's important for an idol to have a grasp of any given situation, and give the charge when the time is right!" Marina winked, nudging Dawn with her elbow. "Since we're acquaintances, now, I'll give you some advice - whether you're coordinating or cheering, you'll need to assess a situation carefully!"

"Maybe you should follow your own advice," Dawn proclaimed, turning her chin up high.

"Eh?" Marina tilted her head.

"If anyone's missing the point, out there, it's Jimmy."

* * *

"You're getting warmer," Jimmy taunted. "But, if you ask me, starting the match like that is a little desperate!"

"Au contraire," Ash smirked, wagging a finger. "The truth is, you're getting colder!"

"Huh?" The Johto native cocked a brow. "...Oh, crap. Now, I get it."

While Sudowoodo had, indeed, gone untouched, spires and chunks of ice were scattered across the battlefield. A few were large enough to serve as cover.

 **"** **In what's quickly becoming a hallmark strategy of his, Ash has disrupted the field to his liking, this time, forming spires of solid ice! How will this affect the ongoing battle?"**

"I don't know what you have planned… But I'm not about to find out! Sudowoodo, Dynamic Punch!" Jimmy commanded, punching forward.

Sudowoodo charged Glalie, a glowing limb ready.

Ash pumped a fist. "Gyro Ball, behind you!"

"Glaaa!" Glalie roared, twisting into a fierce, silver-coated spin. Rather than charge his opponent, he launched himself in reverse, slamming into an angular chunk of ice.

Twisting against the ice, Glalie spun off, ricocheted by the field hazard.

Sudowoodo swung, his punch shattering the solid ice. But, there was no sign of Glalie.

Glalie flung about, bouncing from one frozen mass to the next. With every launch, mud splattered from his round body.

"It's moving so fast!" Jimmy grit his teeth. "Now, how do we pin it down and hit it…"

"Use Crunch, now!"

"Gla!" Glalie roared, launching off of a nearby glacier to sink his teeth into Sudowoodo's body.

"Sudooo!" The Imitation pokemon cried, flailing in the attacker's clutches.

Glalie bit down hard, spinning to send Sudowoodo crashing into a block of ice.

Sudowoodo stirred, yanking his arm out of a crater in the ice behind him.

"It's gonna take more than that to do Sudowoodo in; he's rock-solid!" Jimmy boasted, pumping a fist. "Rock Tomb!"

Sudowoodo raised its limbs to the sky, then flung them towards the ground.

Several huge boulders were summoned from overhead, smashing down upon Glalie.

 **"** **Ooh, that had to hurt! After Glalie dealt a solid blow with Crunch, Sudowoodo came back with a super-effective Rock Tomb!"**

"Not bad." Ash smirked. "Water Pulse, now!"

The rock formation crumbled, impaled by a compact bubble of water shooting across the field.

Sudowoodo took a direct hit, skidding back across the dirt.

"Now, I know that one hurt." Ash brushed a finger over his nose.

"Not too bad," Jimmy waved off, gesturing towards his own pokemon with his thumb.

Sudowoodo was back on its feet.

"Sudowoodo don't like water at all, but we've trained hard to take our opponent's attacks, and strike right back!" Jimmy flashed a thumbs-up. "Show them, with Mimic!"

The Imitation pokemon held the ends of his arms together, summoning a compact mass of water. "Woodo!" He cried, tossing it at Glalie.

"He may be tough," Ash prefaced, "but he can't handle Glalie! Gyro Ball, right through!"

Glalie launched himself at the rock type, smashing head-on into the Water Pulse.

Despite being rattled, he pressed on through the bursting attack, smashing into Sudowoodo like a mad cannonball.

"Keep it going!" Ash urged.

Feeling relief, having been knocked off, Sudowoodo eased. A moment later, the breath was knocked from his solid body as he'd been pressed into a solid structure behind him.

 **"** **Wow! Glalie has Sudowoodo pinned to the ice, and he's still not letting up! What a brutal, reckless attack!"**

"Gla…!" Glalie grunted, shoving his head against Sudowoodo's torso. With each push, it was buried further into the ice.

"Sudowoodo!" Jimmy gasped. "Dynamic Punch!"

"Soo…!" Sudowoodo grunted, raising a glowing fist. He swung.

With a crash, the ice collapsed.

The referee held his breath as the vapor cleared. Sudowoodo had been pressed clean through the ice, and laid unconscious. "Sudowoodo is unable to battle! Glalie wins!"

 **"** **We've only seen the first battle of many, and the ferocity of two seasoned trainers is already on display!"**

* * *

"Way to go, Ash! Way to go, Glalie!" Dawn shouted, waving her pom-poms.

"Empol!" Empoleon clapped his wings together. He definitely appreciated the use of the ice!

"I guess you were right, Dawn." Marina conceded, turning her eyes back to the match. "Who would've seen that coming?"

"Well, I _have_ used the same strategy against him several times, before," the bluenette boasted. "It's just another maneuver that we share!"

"Ash has done something like this before," Brock corrected.

"Yeah, at the Hoenn League!" Max added. "Though, that time, he tricked his opponent into freezing the field instead…"

Dawn blushed, then. Way to give herself too much credit. "Well, anyway, it suits him well!"

* * *

"Not bad, Ash, not bad." Jimmy praised as he recalled Sudowoodo. "But, let's see how you do against Politoed!"

The water type appeared, sitting upright. "Poli!" He croaked, battle-ready.

"Now, use Whirlpool!"

Politoed raised his arms, summoning a large, roaring Whirlpool, chucking it at Glalie.

The ice type was promptly swept in, tossed mercilessly about the rushing water.

"Good start, but I've Dawn's used this one on me, before," Ash boasted. "Use Gyro Ball!"

"Gla…!" Glalie grunted, turning to spin along with the current. Coating the Whirlpool with streaks of silver, he launched out of the hazard.

"Dynamic Punch!"

A fist promptly smacked Glalie down against the earth, rattling its sturdy skull.

Ash grit his teeth. "That was fast…!"

"Ha!" Jimmy sneered. "I've always used Whirlpool to make our opponents move the way we want them to! You played right into that, man."

"About what I'd expect, from you!" Ash smirked, though his face fell quickly. Glalie's toppling about told a whole story. Dynamic Punch had confused it. _'We're in trouble, if that keeps up for long… Maybe we can freeze it and stall for time!'_ Ash pointed forward, then. "Glalie, Ice Beam!"

"Glalie…" The Face pokemon groaned, struggling to stay afloat. In his confusion, he could barely maintain his natural cold! Hints of ice began to flicker between his horns.

"Well, we're not just gonna be sitting ducks." Jimmy pointed forward. "Bounce, now!"

"Gla!" Glalie fired the Ice Beam, then.

By the time it'd come close to its intended target, Politoed had sprang far out of reach.

The water type came down with a vengeance, smashing Glalie into the ground.

Ash frowned. "Crunch, now!"

Glalie struggled beneath Politoed's weight, bucking against his stomach. With a lurch, he snapped down upon his opponent's arm.

Politoed subsequently cried in pain.

Jimmy threw a hand out. "Dynamic Punch, now!"

Politoed bared the pain, raising a closed, glowing fist. It was promptly smashed into Glalie's skull.

The ice type's grip held, momentarily, before going limp. Glalie tumbled to the side, unconscious.

"Glalie is unable to battle! Victory goes to Politoed!"

* * *

"Yes! Nimble as ever, Politoed!" Marina pumped a fist in the air, posing from her seat.

"I could've sworn Glalie did better at the Power Plant," Dawn pouted. Quickly feeling guilty for her criticism, she sputtered. "I mean, he did great! It's just that he was able to take a lot more hits and keep on trucking, not long ago."

"That's true," Brock agreed. "But, you have to remember - the motivation for that battle was different. Sure, he wants to win this match - but he already played his part in defeating Sudowoodo. Back then, the prestige of beating a legendary pokemon was probably keep him going. He probably toughed out a lot more than he would be willing to, in an ordinary battle."

"It beat a legendary pokemon!?" Marina gasped. "That's amazing! Well… for what it's worth. Jimmy's pokemon are top-class! He didn't win the Silver Conference, for nothing."

"No kidding," Max quipped.

"The stronger Ash's opponents are, the better he battles," Misty resumed. "So, I'm sure he'll do better as the match goes on! If Jimmy's really all that, that is," she winked at Marina.

"You're right… Not every performance is your best," Dawn thought aloud. "I've learned that much, as a coordinator!"

* * *

"Thanks for the hard work." Ash beamed at the pokeball in his hand, returning it to his belt. "The others'll take over from here." Dismissing Glalie, he eyed Politoed. "So, it's fast, and it hits hard. In that case… I choose you, Crawdaunt!"

"Craw!" The Rogue pokemon was summoned, snapping his claws.

"Use Aqua Jet!"

Crawdaunt shot forward in a spiraling jet, slamming into Politoed.

The water type slid back, otherwise unharmed. In fact, he seemed more comfortable after taking the hit.

"Thanks for that," Jimmy replied. "Hyper Voice!"

Politoed opened his mouth wide, letting out an ear-splitting scream.

Sound waves barraged Crawdaunt, making the crustacean cringe in pain.

"What's the big idea? Aqua Jet didn't do a thing." Ash Reached into his jacket, pulling out his Pokedex.

 **"** **Politoed's ability is Water Absorb. Water absorb, unsurprisingly, prevents damage from water type moves, and instead replenishes HP. One would think a trainer could figure that out for themselves."**

"Thanks for the sass, Dexter." Rolling his eyes, Ash deposited the device. "Alright, so no water type moves."

Jimmy took advantage of the lull in the action. "Use Whirlpool!"

Another Whirlpool was summoned, yanking Crawdaunt into its spin.

"Great… So, playing into their strategy's out of the question." Ash frowned. "Guess we'll just have to bide our time. Crawdaunt, Swords Dance!"

Even as he was tossed about, Crawdaunt snapped his claws, a red aura flashing about him.

 **"** **Crawdaunt is trapped in that Whirlpool, but so far, Ash seems to be taking advantage of the hazard!"**

"You okay in there, Crawdaunt!?"

"Crah!" The Rogue cried, buffeted by a wave smacking into its body. "Craw!"

"Just a bit longer… Swords Dance, again!"

Even in the midst of being tossed around, Crawdaunt built his fighting spirit, once more.

Jimmy grimaced. "Trying to lure us in, huh? Well, we're not taking the bait! Hyper Voice!"

Politoed screeched, pummeling the Whirlpool with devastating sound waves. The roaring waters whimpered under the pressure, bursting into mist.

As Crawdaunt recoiled, Jimmy pressed on. "Use Dynamic Punch!"

Ash punched forward. "Aerial Ace!"

As Politoed charged, Crawdaunt swept in, smashing into Politoed's body in a swift loop.

Politoed recoiled, but not before smashing down upon Crawdaunt's crest with his fist.

Crawdaunt was smashed against the arena, and Politoed was sent tumbling by the tackle.

 **"** **Ooh! A solid hit, from each pokemon!"**

"Hang in there, Crawdaunt!" Ash encouraged.

The Rogue pokemon pushed himself up on one claw.

"You can do it, Politoed!"

Politoed held his torso, pushing himself onto his hind legs. "Pol!"

"Okay, now use Crunch!"

"Craw…!" Crawdaunt sing-songed, awkwardly stumbling forward, without a hint of his usual rhythm. He snapped his claw rhythmically, humming some sort of tune. His snaps came nowhere close to Politoed, however.

"Crawdaunt…?" Ash frowned, scratching his cheek. His face dropped further in realization. "Oh, no…"

 **"** **Dynamic Punch has left Crawdaunt confused! He can't seem to gain his bearings!"**

"Well, he can be pretty deadly, even when he's confused." Ash smirked, pointing forward. "Show them, Crawdaunt!"

"Craw!" The Rogue cried, snapping down with crunch.

Moments later, he cried loudly in pain.

 **"** **What's this!? In his confusion, Crawdaunt has come down on his own pincer with Crunch! That's got to hurt!"**

Ash gasped. "Oh, no!"

Suddenly, Politoed came crashing down, dive bombing Crawdaunt.

The dust settled, and there were swirls in the crustacean's eyes.

"Crawdaunt is unable to battle!" The referee shouted, raising a flag. "Politoed wins!"

"Alright, Politoed!" Jimmy cheered, flashing a thumbs-up. "You rock, and you rule!"

* * *

"Aw, man… And he had such a good showing at his gym battle in Saffron," Dawn pouted.

"That's the dazzle of Dynamic Punch!" Marina cheered, pumping a fist in the air with her words. "It'll leave a confused opponent completely defenseless!"

"Luck was definitely on Jimmy's side, though," Brock thought out loud. "Crawdaunt's usually a force to be reckoned with, when he's confused. Usually, he throws his opponent around before he can hurt himself. But, not this time."

"And now, Ash is losing," Max pointed out.

* * *

"Return, Crawdaunt!" Ash smiled down at the occupied pokeball. "Thanks for your hard work." He turned his attention to Politoed. It was showing some signs of fatigue, but short of a few scratches and heavy breaths, it was hard for Ash to gauge. "Politoed's already taken down two of mine… We've gotta strike back, here and now!" Ash winded up, tossing a pokeball backhanded.

"It's your turn, Sceptile!"

"Tile…" The Forrest pokemon stood, putting his signature twig in his mouth.

"That's a rad-looking Sceptile!" Jimmy praised. "But, I hope you're not just relying on type advantage."

Ash brushed his index finger over his nose. "Why don't you come and find out?"

Jimmy smirked, then pointed forward. "Use Hyper Voice!"

Politoed's huge mouth opened wide, launching an ear-splitting sonic barrage.

By the time the wave had crossed the field, it was without a target.

 **"** **What's this!? Sceptile has seemingly disappeared!"**

"Not exactly." Ash smirked, folding his arms. "Take a look around!"

"Where'd it…?" Jimmy's eyes darted around, until he managed to find a green blur, shooting around the perimeters of the battlefield. Finally, it came to a halt, standing with his arms folded, mirroring Ash.

"Tile." The grass type lazily chewed on his stem, taunting Politoed.

 **"** **What speed! Jimmy may have to show a bit more caution, while battling Ash's Sceptile!"**

"Caution? As if. That's not how we do things!" Jimmy threw a hand out. "Whirlpool!"

Politoed raised his arms above his head, conjuring another cyclone. With a croak, he tossed it towards Sceptile.

"Leaf Blade."

As soon as the Whirlpool picked up momentum, it was carved cleanly in half, bursting into a cloud of mist.

Politoed croaked. A searing pain crossed his belly, stretching all the way to his torso.

A streak of emerald flashed past the mist, and shot past Politoed. Sceptile crouched mere feet before Jimmy. The gleaming blades on his forearms retreated.

As he watched Politoed collapse, Jimmy's breath was caught in his throat.

Sceptile stood, quietly chewing on his favored twig.

"Politoed is unable to battle! Sceptile wins!"

 **"** **Down in just one move! With a stunning Leaf Blade that you could miss with a blink, Sceptile has made his impression on the battle! Ash and Jimmy are now both down to four pokemon!"**

* * *

"Yes! Good ol' Sceptile!" Dawn cheered, smacking her pom-poms together. "Way to dazzle them!"

"I know Sceptile are fast…." Marina trailed off, slack-jawed. Her silence lead to the obvious.

"But, Ash's is exceptional," Brock finished. "At Ash's last league conference, it was the one to defeat Tobias' Darkrai. In one Leaf Blade, no less."

"Eh!? How many legendary pokemon has Ash battled, exactly!?"

"I honestly think we've lost count," Misty shrugged.

"Huh… Well, good ol' Jimmy did defeat Raikou, once! They're good friends and all, so he got the chance to have it out." Marina winked, flicking her index finger up in a peppy show of pride.

"Him, too!?" May gawked, leaning past Dawn, almost over Empoleon, much to the penguin's annoyance. "Who pulled that off!?"

The Idol smirked, leaning back into her seat with crossed arms. "The star of his team, of course. You'll see."

* * *

Golden eyes challenged him, making his palms sweat. Despite this, Jimmy smiled. "So that's the power of Ash's all-stars, huh? Alright. Then, I'll have to get serious!"

Silent, the Forrest pokemon nodded to his adversary, before leaping back to Ash's end of the field, in several large bounds. He slid back across the field, kicking up dust. "Sceptile."

Ash grinned. "Then, show us what you've got!"

"We're gonna need to match that speed… Beedrill, it's your turn!" Jimmy called, chucking a pokeball.

A flash of light spawned Beedrill, who hovered above the battlefield with a quiet, constant buzz.

"Let's match their speed - Agility! And then, Pin Missile!"

Beedrill zipped about, seemingly vanishing from one point to the next.

Sceptile's eyes kept up the pace.

Beedrill continued his flight, spraying the field with a barrage of poisonous needles.

"Dodge that!" Ash ordered.

A barrage was already flying towards Sceptile. He swiftly jumped out of harm's way. But, to his horror, a field of Pin Missile wedged in the field laid in his path.

"That's bad… Knock those out, with Leaf Blade! And, keep running!" Ash coached.

Sceptile laid low as he continued to sprint, severing the needles with clean swipes of his energized blades. A hazardous row was mowed down, in no time.

"Look out!" Ash shouted. "They're coming right for you!"

Sceptile's amber eyes went wide, as a pointed storm rained down upon him. "Tile!" He cried, leaping into an agile backflip. Pin Missile came within inches of scraping his hide.

With a grunt, he landed on all fours.

"Good, we've got him on the defensive!" Jimmy cheered. "Beedrill, use Twinneedle!"

Beedrill was built for predatory charges. He zipped in with a moment's notice, appearing in front of Sceptile within a blink, stinger poised. He buzzed, stabbing at Sceptile.

A glimmer flicked in the grass type's eye. He leaned left, cleanly avoiding the strike.

Beedrill persisted, jabbing relentlessly with both of his needles.

"Tile! Scep! Tile!" With quick footwork, Sceptile weaved and dodged, backing out of every Twinneedle attack as it came to him. In a blatant show of confidence, the grass type didn't even bother to raise his guard.

Beedrill hissed, furious, and stabbed forward with both of his arms.

Sceptile slid back towards Ash, untouched.

 **"** **Beedrill's attacks are swift and furious, but it can't seem to land a hit on Sceptile!"**

"Great work," Ash praised, flashing a thumbs-up to his pokemon. When Sceptile nodded back, he smiled. "But, you might come in handy later… Return!" Ash drew a pokeball, launching the familiar red beam to retrieve him.

Jimmy lit up, immediately. "Pursuit!"

Beedrill shot forward like a Zubat out of hell.

A pitch-black shadow snatched away the beam's target.

Sceptile cried, irritated, as he slid across the field. He rubbed his side - the sole victim of Pursuit.

"Nice try," Jimmy taunted. "But Beedrill never lets opponents get away, that easily! Even your Sceptile."

"Figures you wouldn't make this easy on us." Ash frowned. "Well, this time… Sceptile!" Ash thrust out the starter's pokeball, once more.

"Still not gonna work! Pursuit!"

Beedrill zipped in, barely more than a shadow.

"...Rock Slide!"

Beedrill struck, but he didn't hit flesh. His needle was embedded in solid rock, jerking him back with its momentum. He buzzed, struggling to yank his arm from the solid surface.

"Now, return!" Ash hurried, recalling Sceptile. "You can rest, for now."

"Well, what do you know?" Jimmy smirked, as Beedrill jabbed at the boulder, breaking his stinger free. "I should've known you were the type to play mind games, Ash."

Ash smiled, brushing his thumb over his nose. "Had to get out of that, somehow!"

* * *

"Very clever," Professor Oak remarked, a hand held to his chin. "Pursuit can result in some very nasty locks - sometimes even worse than harder locks, like Mean Look, purely for the element of uncertainty. But, Ash feigned falling for it again to plot an escape."

"And, Ash was always so straightforward, growing up…" Delia smiled to herself, getting a look at a particularly nice shot she'd taken - of Ash successfully recalling Sceptile, while Beedrill was struggling with Rock Slide. He looked proud of himself.

* * *

Ash hesitated, then, thinking his next choice over. _'Who'd be best for this…? Torkoal's got the type advantage, but he's probably too slow…'_

"Pikapi!"

Ash looked down to his feet, where Pikachu stood inside the trainer's box.

"Pika-Pikachu!" The mouse mimed, pulling his ears back to curl over his head, while flashing a pair of enlarged, stretched out eyes to mimic the face of one of their companions.

Ash smirked. "Good call. Thanks, buddy." The trainer grabbed a pokeball decisively, tossing it forward. "I choose you, Misdreavus!"

"Mis~!" The Ghost pokemon, barely larger than Pikachu himself, appeared, wisping about the field.

"She's probably thinking of spooking me… But, there's no time!" Ash thought aloud. "Use Thunder Wave!"

Misdreavus whined - he'd called her out! But, as determined as she was to have a good laugh, she was even more set on winning their match. She howled, unleashing a weak electromagnetic pulse.

Beedrill recoiled, uttering a sharp buzz in displeasure. His wings crackled with electricity, already beginning to make flight difficult.

 **"** **Right out of the gate, Misdreavus cripples Beedrill with Thunder Wave! That's one way to slow down a speedy opponent!"**

"Good call, Ash," Jimmy commended. "But, not good enough! Another Agility!"

Beedrill floated about, working out his wings to regain a bit of his speed.

"Not happening," Ash barked. "Icy Wind!"

"Mis~!" The ghost type wailed, blowing out a bitter, chilling wind. Ghost types were, naturally, devoid of life, and usually devoid of warmth. All the better to assault an opponent with cold.

Beedrill shivered, now dealing with frost, as well as static. "Bzzt…!"

"You're serious about weighing us down!" Jimmy threw a hand out. "Take this! Pin Missile!"

His flight was hindered, but his weaponry, not so much. Beedrill pointed his stinger towards the ghoul, spraying an assault of poisonous needles.

"Time to go ghost!" Ash exclaimed.

Misdreavus chirped in reply, then faded from sight. Momentarily intangible, she watched the needles shoot right through her intangible form.

"What kind of lingo…?" Jimmy cocked a brow at Ash. "Whatever! Pursuit!"

Soon enough, Misdreavus had to return to the living plane.

As soon as she did, a painful jab struck her body, sending her tumbling through the air.

"You've got this! Power Gem!" Ash commanded.

"Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu chanted, shadowboxing to pump her up.

Upside-down, Misdreavus cried, firing a series of glowing jewels that smashed into Beedrill.

The Poison Bee pokemon recoiled, shaking his head. Though no facial expression could give it away, the cold and static made him wince.

"Beedrill would never give in, that easy!" Jimmy declared. "Twinneedle!"

Beedrill shook off the discomfort, zipping in with his needles raised. He jabbed at Misdreavus, striking her body with several venomous strikes.

Misdreavus howled, hovering low. A streak of blue covered her face.

 **"** **It looks like Misdreavus is poisoned! Both pokemon are suffering from status conditions - which one will triumph over their predicament!?"**

"That's bad," Ash grimaced. "Shadow Ball!"

"Mis!" The ghost winced, stubborn. She forced herself back into the air - she was native to Mt. Silver. She had her pride, and the strength to back it up! That thought fueled her, as she fired a ghoulish violet orb.

"Dodge that, Beedrill!" Jimmy ordered.

The bug type shot back, ready to soar. Electricity clipped his wings, and he fell into the blast.

"Beedrill!" Jimmy shouted, panicked.

Wisps of smoke died away, and Beedrill continued to hover.

Misdreavus, meanwhile, howled, brought close to the ground by bubbling poison.

 **"** **Beedrill has taken plenty of damage, but it's still holding on! Will it overcome Misdreavus' status-inducing attacks?"**

"You're doing great," Ash praised. "But, this could be too much…" He frowned, reaching for his belt. _'With Beedrill paralyzed, there's a good chance I could call her back.'_

Jimmy's eyes narrowed. "I see you, Ash! Beedrill, Pursuit!"

Beedrill shook out his wings, throwing himself at Misdreavus.

"Crap, there's no time." Ash gritted his teeth. "Power Gem!"

"Mis~!" Misdreavus cried, surrounding herself in explosive gems.

A fierce pressure struck her ghostly form, drawing a loud squeal.

Beedrill had crashed into her with a super-effective Pursuit.

As Beedrill hit his mark, though, he was ambushed. Several glowing gems crashed into his segmented body, pummeling it with booming explosions.

Powerful winds rustled the field, ruffling Ash and Jimmy's hair, as well as Pikachu's ears and tail before winding down. Dark smoke billowed, pushed apart by the force of Power Gem

Beedrill hit the field. Misdreavus floated down beside it, with swirls in her eyes.

The referee threw up both arms. "Both Beedrill and Misdreavus are unable to battle!"

 **"** **Wow! A double knock-out! Both Ash and Jimmy are now down to three of their pokemon!"**

* * *

In the stands, another match was brewing.

Dawn lifted a hand, pompom fluttering in the air as Empoleon and Zorua danced beside her. "Ash, Ash, he's our man, if he can't do it, no one can! Kanto's brightest, Kanto's best, he'll put Jimmy to the test!"

Marina let out an insulted cry. "Hey!" She, lacking the cheering equipment Dawn had, rolled up her on hand magazine and put a foot on the railing before them, throwing up an arm to yell down at Jimmy. "You can do it! Show 'em that old fashioned Johto spunk!"

Not taking kindly to being out done, Dawn looked to Empoleon before scrambling on top of his shoulders, with Zorua on her head. "The moon! The stars! The sun! Ash Ketchum, he's number one! His team, his strategy, his skill; if anyone can do it, he will!"

A low frustrated growl rumbled in Marina's throat before she got out a roll of ribbon. It was meant just to tie her hair back, but she quickly got out a black pen and wrote the word "determination" on it before tying it on her head and beating the railing with her rolled up magazine. "Jimmy! You've already won this before, so there's no way you can lose to someone who's never been where you have!"

"Excuse me?!" Dawn demanded from on top of Empoleon. "What's that supposed to mean!?" She leaned down towards Marina.

The idol put her hands on her hips, glaring up at Dawn. "You know what it means! Jimmy's super strong and he's totally gonna whoop Ash's butt!"

"Yeah right!" Dawn spat. "Ash is stronger than anyone, definitely!"

"What would you know?" Marina said with a shrug. "Your favorite's Wallace! He can't even win out against Steven Stone."

Dawn gasped. "You take that back! You… You… Two region leadership hoarder lover!"

"What kinda insult is that towards Lance?!" Marina demanded, already knowing what Dawn meant.

Before the girls could to continue to bicker, Dawn slipped off Empoleon's shoulders. The two crashed into each other, screaming in shock and pain.

Brock, who had been watching the exchange, shuddered. "... Misty, May, didn't you say they got along together? If this is getting along, I'd hate to see them fight…"

* * *

"Thanks, Misdreavus." Ash recalled his pokemon, smiling down at the pokeball in his hand. "You did a great job in your first league. Rest, easy, alright?"

"Pikachuuu." Pikachu had boarded Ash's shoulder, reaching to affectionately pat the occupied capsule. Once the object returned to Ash's belt, Pikachu nuzzled into his trainer's cheek. "Pikapi, Pikachu!"

"Yeah, I know. Three down, and three more to go!" The teen gleefully returned Pikachu's show of affection before turning his eyes back on his opponent. "And, I'm just getting started!"

"I hope you're not counting this match yours, already!" Jimmy challenged from across the field, placing Beedrill's pokeball back on its holster. "You're an exceptional trainer, Ash. All the more reason to go all-out!"

"So are you." Ash smiled, leaning forward. He nudged the brim of his cap with his thumb. "In that case, let's keep it going!"


	84. The Most Reliable!

**Welcome back, everyone! We hope you enjoy the battle. Please leave your thoughts in a review, if it's not any trouble! Thanks for reading!**

* * *

The crowd had grown painfully quiet, with the field empty. Three discolored silhouettes appeared next to Ash and Jimmy's faces on the scoreboard, and three untouched pokeballs with them.

"In that case, let's keep it going!" Ash grinned, reaching for his belt. A pokeball was gripped, and chucked forward. "Torkoal, I choose you!"

"Koalll!" Torkoal stomped a foreleg down, breathing thick black smoke from his nostrils.

"I agree!" Jimmy beamed, tossing a ball of his own. "Go, Ambipom!"

"Oo-ah!" The two-tailed primate stood, flashing a wide, enthusiastic grin.

"An Ambipom… They're tough customers." Ash smiled to himself. He'd watched Dawn raise his, after all. "Torkoal, Body Slam!"

Torkoal shifted on all fours, swaying back and forth several times. With a grunt, he launched forward, throwing his heavy body at Ambipom.

Jimmy's eyes widened. "Agility!"

By the time the words left the trainer's mouth, Torkoal had thrown his weight unto where Ambipom stood.

"It missed…" Ash frowned. After a moment, his brow twitched. "Torkoal, behind you!"

Startled, Torkoal expelled a puff of steam, turning his body around as quickly as possible.

Balancing with the hands on his two tails, Ambipom suspended himself above ground, roughly in the same spot Torkoal had started.

"It's fast…!" Ash smiled to himself. "And, we put all that effort into Torkoal throwing his weight around."

Overhearing his trainer, Torkoal started to sniffle.

"Ah!" Guilt drained the color from Ash's face. "But, that's fine, Torkoal! We'll just have to try harder!" He pointed towards Ambipom. "Flamethrower!"

"Koal!" Eager to deliver on his training, Torkoal spat a wild blaze.

"Agility, again!"

In the face of oncoming flames, Ambipom sprinted forward. A purple blur disappeared into Flamethrower.

 **"** **Wow! Flamethrower hit Ambipom head-on! Whatever it and Jimmy were thinking, their strategy came with a cost!"**

"Nice one!" Ash praised, snapping his fingers.

"Not quite!" Jimmy sneered.

"Huh…?" Ash gasped. "Torkoal!"

Torkoal had let Flamethrower die, expelling steam in pride. But, he quickly found himself in something else's shadow.

Ambipom hung just overhead, a mischievous glint in the pokemon's eye.

Jimmy threw out a hand. "Double Hit!"

Ambipom screeched, throwing his tails around.

"Iron Defense," Ash ordered.

Torkoal startled, sinking into his shell.

"Ambi!" Ambipom cried, smacking the hard shell with each of her tails.

She hissed, coddling the hands on her dominant extremities.

 **"** **Iron Defense wards off the danger of Double Hit! Ambipom doesn't seem to be liking the results!"**

"Okay, that's not good," Jimmy thought aloud. "Ambipom, Baton Pass!"

Ambipom hopped over Torkoal, clapping her two tails together. What looked to be a baton was magically conjured, dragging the Long Tail pokemon back into her waiting pokeball.

"Huh!?" Ash gawked. "What kind of move just returns a pokemon to their pokeball?"

An orange glow flickered along Ambipom's pokeball as he returned it to his holster. Another pokeball was reached for, and it sported the same glimmer. Jimmy tossed that one forward.

"You take over, Togekiss!"

"Toge~!" Beautiful white wings spanned, carrying the Jubilee pokemon high above in but the blink of an eye. He coasted the skies with ease, skating patterns with swift turns and dips.

"It's fast…" Ash marveled, unconsciously widening his stance. "Torkoal, watch out-"

During Ash's warning, Togekiss shot down, making a line for Torkoal.

By the time the trainer from Pallet could draw a breath, Togekiss had vanished from sight.

Instinctively flinching, Ash searched the sky for the fairy type. "Where'd it go!?"

"Pika…?" Pikachu's ears twitched. It was only then that he noticed a shadow hanging over the two. He tapped Ash's shoulder. "Pikapi!"

Togekiss was hanging right behind the two, giving Ash what almost looked like a smirk.

"Okay… Now I know how Blake felt, with Pidgeot." Ash smiled to himself. This was only getting more interesting.

"Pretty amazing, huh?" Jimmy boasted. "Togekiss rides the skies like no one else!"

"I can see that!" Ash smirked. "Togekiss are steady fliers, but they're not usually that fast… It's almost like she got a speed boost, too…" In the middle of his sentence, the bulb went off in Ash's head.

"Of course! That Baton Pass… It must've passed Ambipom's Agility to Togekiss!" Now, that was new to him.

"About time you figured it out," Jimmy taunted.

"Hah… Well, in that case, return, Torkoal!" Ash held out a pokeball, recalling his own pokemon. "For this one, we're gonna fight speed with speed…" Another sphere was snatched from his belt, and tossed into the air. "...and no one can hang in the air quite like Swellow!"

"Swellow!" Swellow cried, flying opposite of Togekiss.

 **"** **Both trainers have swapped pokemon to suit the situation! It seems we're about to have an aerial battle, between Swellow and Togekiss!"**

Ash didn't waste a moment. "Quick Attack!"

With a flap of her wings, Swellow shot like a bullet, trailing a blazing silver path.

She cried a tune of victory when she smashed brutally into Togekiss, sending him tumbling.

 **"** **And, Swellow opens with a brutal Quick Attack!"**

Togekiss continued rolling backwards through the air, before flapping his wings to bring himself to a halt. "Kiss!" He hummed, casually brushing his wings off.

"It didn't do anything!?" Ash swallowed. "And, Swellow hits like a truck."

"Not for long," Jimmy replied. "Use Charm!"

"Togekiss!" The Jubilee pokemon chanted, gliding towards Swellow without care. As he came close, he turned into a gentle horizontal spin, both wings at full span.

"Kiss!" Just short of crashing into Swellow, he halted, throwing one wing out, another crossed over his chest. He winked at Swellow, flashing just about the smuggest smile a Togekiss possibly could.

Two pink hearts circled Swellow, enveloping her. Consequently, the bird flustered, backing up from her opponent. She'd be mortified to notice the streak of red over her beak. But, that strength and speed… he was sort of cute.

"Swell!" Sweating, the flying type shook her head, reclaiming her composure. She was in a match, right now! She couldn't afford to lose focus!

* * *

"Now, that's just about the most dramatic use of Charm I've ever seen," Misty remarked.

"Of course, ~!" Marina boasted, folding her arms with conviction. "Togekiss only learned from the best! To dishevel your opponents, you need a healthy dose of confidence, and then some; really let yourself shine!"

"It really worked wonders on Swellow." Brock held a hand to his chin, nodding and humming in thought. "Hm. Togekiss has the right idea. A proper gentleman, who uses all of his charm to go for broke!"

Koda shot a look at Brock. "Whose side are you on?"

* * *

"Now that we've weakened it, let's fight back," Jimmy resumed. "Ancientpower!"

Togekiss backed up to give himself some distance, throwing out his wings. Several huge boulders floated about him, enveloping the Jubilee pokemon in a mysterious flash of light.

Ash's brow twitched. "It looks like Ancientpower boosted Togekiss." That, on top of Charm, could spell trouble. "Dodge those, with Quick Attack!"

Togekiss launched his barrage, and Swellow took off, swerving past the first boulder with grace.

She startled when, passing the first, she found herself face to face with a second rock.

Ash threw a hand out. "Steel Wing!"

Glimmering silver overtook Swellow's wings. She spun, striking at the boulder with her limbs.

Large dents and cracks were busted into the mass, but it persisted, slamming into Swellow.

"She should be plenty strong enough to break that…" Ash's fists tightened. "It must be Charm… Come on! Give it another try!"

"Swellow!" Still pinned to Ancientpower, Swellow sounded her cry, relentlessly battering the boulder as it plummeted closer to the ground.

Ash didn't dare breathe. At the last moment, he watched Swellow bust through. "Great! Now, combine Steel Wing with Quick Attack!" He roared, pointing towards the air.

Swellow shook out her feathers, zipping forward quickly enough to kick up dust.

The few remaining rocks were cleaved in two by Steel Wing, bolstered by Quick Attack's momentum.

"Not bad at all!" Jimmy grinned, brushing his thumb over his nose. "Togekiss, Double-Edge!"

Togekiss smirked, barreling towards Swellow with a full-body tackle.

Not guarding itself at all, Togekiss left itself open to be smashed by Swellow's Steel Wing.

But, Charm had done its work. Togekiss pushed on, throwing himself into Swellow's torso.

"Spin off that," Ash coached, "then, Quick Attack!"

Swellow grunted, pushing herself to spin off to the side. Togekiss soared on past.

"Swellow!" The flying type cried, shooting forward with a silver gleam.

Togekiss cried, irritated, as he felt a painful blow to his back. He turned to face Swellow.

"Not bad at all, Jimmy praised. "Metronome!"

Togekiss began to lull rhythmically, back and forth. After a moment's rest, he was surrounded in a crackling, golden aura.

Watching from below, Ash gasped. "That's Volt Tackle!"

"Pikachu…!" Pikachu gawked, astonished. That was his move!

"Kiss!" Togekiss cried, throwing his electrified body at his opponent.

"Swellow's too close," Ash cursed. "We can't outrun that - Double Team!"

Togekiss smashed into Swellow - or, at least what he'd thought was Swellow. The flying type vanished, leaving several floating copies of herself surrounding Togekiss.

"Now, Air Slash!" Ash ordered.

Each clone raised their wings, conjuring a contained twister, roughly the size of a beach ball.

Togekiss was ambushed, struck by several illusions, and one very real assault that crashed into his right wing. He recoiled, shaking some of the soreness out of the extremity. "Kiss…!"

"Let's see how your Swellow likes this!" Jimmy pointed towards Swellow. "Metronome!"

Togekiss recovered, raising each of his wings to rhythmically shake from side to side. "To…. to… togekiss~!" With a chirp, he threw his wings forward. A loud, crackling storm of blue and violet flames shot forward, plowing through Double Team's clones.

Consumed by heat, Swellow squawked in pain.

"What's that move!?" Ash quickly reached for his Pokedex.

 **"** **Inferno: A powerful fire type move. This move always leaves a burn on the opponent."**

"Now, that's bad…" Ash deposited Dexter with a frown. "But, if there's one thing Swellow knows, it's sticking it through a tough fight!" He looked up to his ailing pokemon, investing his hopes in his own words. But, something about Swellow caught his eye. "Huh…?"

After a flash of fire snapped at Swellow, burning her feathers, it was consumed by a strong, crimson aura. She threw her wings outward, defying the pain with a loud battle cry. "Swellow!"

 **"** **What's this!? Togekiss' Metronome stuck Swellow with a burn, but Swellow only seems to have gotten stronger in response - this must be Swellow's Guts ability!"**

* * *

"I didn't know Swellow's ability was Guts!" May gasped, clutching her fists in awe.

"I didn't either," Max agreed. "But, I guess it makes sense… It'd explain a lot about Swellow."

"Maybe that was what allowed her to put up such a great fight against Pikachu, when Ash first caught her," Brock thought aloud. "She always took electric attacks surprisingly well."

"Go, Swellow!" Dawn cheered, waving her pom-poms. "You've got guts, you've got spunk, show 'em up until they're sunk!"

"Empol!"

* * *

"So, she's got Guts… I'm not surprised!" Ash smiled to himself. "You've always been stubborn as they come. So, let's put that determination to work!"

"Swellow!" The avian agreed, raising her wing to Ash.

"Right on!" Jimmy flashed a thumbs-up. "But, we've got plenty of guts, ourselves! Togekiss, Metronome!"

As Togekiss began to wave his wings about, Ash threw a hand aside. "Double Team!"

A crackling green orb formed in between Togekiss' wings.

"So, that's Zap Cannon… Togekiss, don't throw that, just yet," Jimmy ordered.

Ash raised a brow. "What's he up to?"

 **"** **Togekiss had the fortune to summon up a Zap Cannon! But, with Double Team, Swellow has left Jimmy and his pokemon stumped!"**

Each image of Swellow floated in sync, completely identical. Suddenly, a burst of flames interrupted the charade. One of the Swellow cried in pain.

"Bingo!" Jimmy grinned. "Do it!"

"Togekiss~!" The Jubilee pokemon raised Zap Cannon above his head, chucking it at Swellow.

"Dodge that!" Ash shouted, desperate.

Swellow flapped her wings, only just recovering from her burn. She only saw Zap Cannon coming when it was mere inches away.

A shrill, pained cry drowned out Zap Cannon.

All eyes were on Swellow, as she tumbled out of the sky, her limp body hitting the ground with a thud.

"Swellow!" Ash gasped.

Swellow laid in a heap, motionless. A wing raised briefly before falling flat.

 **"** **A devastating Zap Cannon from Togekiss has dealt a decisive blow! Is this the end for Swellow!?"**

Ash's shoulder tightened. "Come on… I know you've got more fight in you."

Ash's hopes were trampled when the referee raised a hand. "Swellow is unable-"

"Swell!"

Wings pushed against the dirt, even as a numbing charge crackled among their feathers. Swellow cawed, pushing herself onto her feet. "Swell…"

Another burst of flames consumed her.

 **"** **Swellow is still hanging in there, by a thread! But, with that burn, the situation doesn't look good!"**

Ash winced, watching a wisp of smoke die away from his companion's hide. "Hey, are you feeling okay…? I know you'd never want to give in, but whatever happens, don't worry about it."

The avian threw her wings out in response, boasting her crimson aura. "Swellow!" She'd be damned if she was just going to quit. Especially after that Togekiss had made a fool of her.

She shot a gaze at the coasting Jubilee pokemon. He barely even seemed to acknowledge her presence at this point. He'd regret that.

Ash grinned. "Sorry, Jimmy, but we're not done yet! Swellow's still got plenty to prove!"

"Hey, if you want to apologize, then do it by giving us your all!" Jimmy smirked, jerking a thumb towards himself. "But your Swellow looks like she's running on empty, now. She's still hurting from Zap Cannon!"

Ash looked to Swellow, who was preening her feathers that were bothered by static. He smiled to himself. "Jimmy, you've got a lot to learn about Swellow. She's never been one to go down to just a little electricity!" With glee, Ash pointed forward. "Use Steel Wing!"

With a caw, Swellow flapped her wings, ascending with a burst of speed.

"I was hoping you'd go for broke!" Jimmy beamed, throwing a hand out. "Ancientpower!"

"Kiss!" Togekiss sing-songed, tossing several magical boulders towards Swellow.

Ash clutched a fist. "Cut right through!"

A shining coat of metal covered Swellow's wings. Stray static flocked to the conductive material, allowing the extremities to glitter with a golden charge. Falling into the shadow of a much larger rock, Swellow narrowed her eyes.

"Swell!"

A narrow line ran through the rock mass, splitting it in two. Swellow burst through, turning into a barrel roll to avoid the brunt of another rock. It was given a dismissive slash, leaving a large dent.

"Now, that's something I've never seen." Jimmy smiled, ignoring the sweat trickling down his forehead. "There's no helping it! Use Double-Edge, and go for broke!"

"Kiss!" The Jubilee pokemon's eyes narrowed. He threw himself at the last of Ancientpower, not at all surprised when it crumbled.

A gleam of gold and silver crossed him, soaring past.

The crowd held its collective breath as the two crossed.

Swellow winced, shaking off the remaining static from Steel Wing.

Togekiss looked up to his afflicted pokemon and smirked. _"Not bad. Not bad at all."_

With that, the Jubilee pokemon plummeted.

Seeing the swirls in his eyes, Jimmy recalled Togekiss before he hit the ground.

The referee turned his eyes from Togekiss to Jimmy, and raised a hand. "Togekiss is unable to battle! Swellow wins!"

* * *

"What a beautiful Steel Wing!" Misty marveled, clasping her hands together.

"Woo-hoo!" Dawn whooped, repeatedly pumping her pom-poms in the air. "Good job, Ash! Way to go, Swellow!"

"Ash has always been one for those come from behind victories," Professor Oak quipped.

"There was no way Togekiss was going to survive that one," Max whistled. "Boosted by guts, and doubly super-effective. With the electricity hurting its flying type, and Steel Wing being strong against its fairy type, piled on top of Guts…"

"That's killer," Koda finished.

* * *

"So, how's that?" Ash boasted, resting a hand on his hip, closing the other into a fist. "Now you've seen what Swellow can do!"

"Awesome stuff, Ash! I can see how you made it this far." Jimmy smirked, reaching for his pokeball holster. "But, there's more where that came from! Look alive, Ambipom!"

"Ambi!" The long tail pokemon made its second appearance, flicking his tails about.

"Now, I _know_ you wanna stay in, even in that state, right?" Ash looked up to Swellow.

The flying type hung just above, looking weary. She huffed, raising a wing. "Swellow!"

"Alright! Then, there's no time to waste! Use Air Slash!"

Swellow spun her raised wing, spinning up the violent winds before tossing them at Ambipom.

"Use Double Hit," Jimmy coached.

"Pom!" Ambipom spun around, whipping one of his tails past Air Slash.

The coming gust of wind tore into Air Slash, slowing its spin to a mere wisp. The following tail swiftly did away with the attack.

"It didn't even touch it…!" Ash stared, eyes wide. "What power!" He pointed forward. "Then, let's settle this! Quick Attack!"

"Swell!" Swellow cried, shooting downward in pursuit.

"Get ready!" Jimmy cautioned.

Ambipom tensed, her tails whipping about.

A blaze suddenly boomed around Swellow.

"Bingo," Jimmy muttered. He threw a hand out. "Hyper Beam!"

Ambipom cried, firing a golden blast at Swellow.

"Watch it!" Ash called out.

Swellow shook her head, bucking off the initial pain. But, all her limbs felt heavy. She didn't see Hyper Beam coming.

A thunderous explosion boomed, and a body tumbled out of the smoke.

The referee looked to Swellow, who laid with spanned wings, unconscious. "Swellow is unable to battle! Ambipom is the victor!"

Swellow's image on the board went grey, as she was recalled. This round of applause was less enthusiastic than the rest; even for those rooting for Jimmy, it was hard to be happy for Swellow's defeat. Valiant, gutsy comebacks were historically fan favorites.

Jimmy accepted this quickly. "Your Swellow's really something else, Ash."

"She is, and there's more where that came from! Torkoal, it's your turn, now!"

"Torkoal!" The Coal pokemon made his second appearance, stomping the field with his hind legs.

 _'_ _We already had this match-up… but, there's no guarantee they won't use Baton Pass, again.'_ Ash's eyes narrowed. He remained uncharacteristically quiet in thought.

"Pikapi?" Pikachu nudged his trainer's pant leg. "Pika!"

"Thanks, Pikachu." Ash snapped out of his trance, giving a thumbs-up to the mouse. "Gotta keep my head in the game… Alright, Torkoal! Use Flamethrower!"

"Tor… koal!" Torkoal cried, firing as directed.

"Dodge it, with Agility!" Jimmy countered.

"I don't think so," Ash replied, as Ambipom started to move. "You won't escape us again! Torkoal, the field!"

Torkoal's jet of fire fanned out, completely missing the speedy purple monkey. The battle field, however, ignited. The flames spread, a dark black pattern being carved across the grown with glowing embers remaining. In the sky, Ambipom struggled to adjust his trajectory mid-air, swinging its tails to shift himself. It landed on a single foot on a patch of still-brown earth.

"Just like playin' the floor is lava as a kid," Jimmy noted. He poked his tongue out, bending over so his hands were on his knees. As he considered the field, he realized his options were limited. "Well, damn. I dunno if I wanna send anyone out on this quite yet. So… Let's make the most of this! Ambipom, Double Hit!"

Ash's eyes gleamed. "Torkoal, Body Slam!"

Ambipom jumped up first, both tails at the ready. Torkoal took off across the ashy earth, unbothered by his native element. Ambipom's first tail slapped across Torkoal's face, sending the tortoise skidding off course. The second hit Ambipom used to propel itself backwards, landing on the carefully selected cool patch of earth. That was when Torkoal leapt forward, clearing the little air it could manage.

Swift as it was, Ambipom tried to dodge; it was no use, Ambipom was pinned under Torkoal.

"Ambiiii!"

Jimmy's eyes widened. He clenched his fists. "Hyper Beam!" It was more of a reflexive call than one that had been carefully thought out.

The other trainer barely had time to respond. "Iron Defense!"

It worked, all the same. Ambipom opened his mouth. A little ball of white light formed and then exploded out. A pillar of pure light blinded the audience temporarily, blasting Torkoal off the normal type. When the light faded, Torkoal was on his back.

He gleamed silver. He struggled for a moment before huffing, blasting a burst of fire out of its shell to flip himself back onto its feet. He'd survived the Hyper Beam, thanks to the Iron Defense.

"Well, crap," Jimmy muttered, eyes flicking from the twitching, tired Ambipom to the waiting Torkoal.

Ash didn't miss his opportunity. "Flamethrower, now!"

The normal type staggered back, washed over by fire. he was burned now; it was impossible for it not to be. Between the cooling coals under its feet and the recent fire attack he didn't yet have the energy to dodge, it was inevitable.

"Now, Rapid Spin!" Ash called.

Torkoal tucked into its shell, spinning across the field.

Jimmy, however, wasn't going to just take a second attack. "Knock it back with Double Hit!"

Ambipom moved, raising its first hand to shield itself from Torkoal's attack. As the tortoise grinded against the tail-hand, the second tail came around, smacking Torkoal off track like a disturbed toy top.

Ash gritted his teeth. "Flamethrower!"

Jimmy threw a hand out beside himself. "Hyper Beam!"

Both pokemon obeyed. The light and fire flashed out. They met in a chaotic, combusting collusion. The explosion expanded before bursting, forcing both trainers to cover their faces.

Ash's jacket whipped around him, and he felt Pikachu clutch onto him to keep from being blown away.

When Ash looked up, he first noticed his hat had been blown off his head and onto the ground beside him. He left it for a moment, checking the field. Across the battlefield, Jimmy stood, his hat also blown away in the destructive move clash. Ash looked to their pokemon, then.

Ambipom trembled on two legs. Torkoal didn't look to be faring much better, only more stable due to being on four legs rather than two.

It wasn't much of an advantage, but it was all that Ash needed, since Ambipom wasn't going to be able to dodge.

Ash watched as Jimmy stiffened. He called out for the next attack all the same. "Torkoal! Now, quickly! Use Iron Defense and Rapid Spin!"

Shining metallic gray once more, Torkoal swept across the soot covered field, whipping the ashes around him like flower blossoms during a wind cherry blossom viewing.

The fire type collided with Ambipom, sending the normal type flying into the air before landing in a heap. The cooled ashes settled around Torkoal as he untucked.

 **"** **Ambipom is unable to battle! This round goes to Torkoal!"**

Satisfied with this announcement, Ash bent over to pick his hat up. He dusted it off, returning it to its rightful place on his head. Jimmy did likewise, though he slapped the hat against his thigh to clean it rather than gently brushing it, as Ash had done.

* * *

In the stands, Dawn's jaw hung slack, mouth open. "I've seen explosions before, but…"

Marina nodded. "Yeah… That's not the biggest I've seen, but it's pretty up there."

"Hyper Beam's a very high energy move," Brock said, mostly unprompted. "Flamethrower ignited all that power there. It's not a good idea to combine such volatile elements."

Recalling her own encounters with explosive moves, Dawn shivered a bit before lifting a pompom to cheer for Ash. "That's not quite what I was hoping for as far as an explosive victory, but I'll take it!"

* * *

Back on the battlefield, Jimmy had returned Ambipom. He considered his next pokeball for a moment before smiling.

"Alright, big guy! It's all on you!"

In a beam of light, Typhlosion appeared. The behemoth seemed larger than most, more muscular. Ash wasn't quite sure if even his own matched it in mass. The Johto starter's ears were pinned back and a frantic smile crossed its lips. It looked eager.

Ash's eyes flickered to his Torkoal. "Iron Defense, and then Body Slam."

Jimmy didn't share Ash's cautious strategy. "Flame Wheel!"

Typhlosion was faster than Torkoal. Tucking into itself, it ripped across the field, slamming into the silver-coated tortoise as it was beginning to pick up steam for its initial blow. Torkoal skidded back, feet knocked out from under him. He struggled to regain his footing.

Jimmy didn't relent. "Thunder Punch!"

Ash's eyes widened with the quickness of how Typhlosion untucked and ran across the field on all fours. It was like watching Mamoswine switch into freight train style fighting! "Torkoal, Rapid Spin!"

Twirling to meet Typhlosion in combat, Torkoal was instead slammed into by clasped paws. Typhlosion struck Torkoal down into the ground, hard enough to leave a slight dent in the earth with the impact.

The announcer's voice carried over the speakers. "Torkoal is unable to battle! Typhlosion wins this round."

Ash whistled. "Thanks, Torkoal." He looked over to Jimmy. "That's some Typhlosion you've got there."

The Johto trainer grinned roguishly. He put a hand under his chin, getting ready to brag. "Yep! That's my baby; my most reliable; my absolute number one; my starter." He clenched a fist. "Typhlosion is my ace in the hole."

The Kanto trainer nodded in understanding. "I get what you mean. I'm excited to see what all Typhlosion can do, but…" He pulled out his final pokeball for the match. "I've got someone very reliable, too." He tossed the ball up. "Sceptile, I choose you!"

Entering the scene by landing crouched, ready to strike, Sceptile's yellow eyes narrowed as he spotted Typhlosion. The Hoenn starter moved slowly, muscles tense and coiled in anticipation of the battle coming soon. He chewed on his favored twig, in the meantime.

Typhlosion, seeing its opponent's fighting form, crouched over, all four paws on the ground. It snorted with delight.

Knowing he'd need the speed advantage when the typing was already against him, Ash ordered their first move. "Leaf Blade!"

A green blur, Sceptile tore across the field. In a breath's pace, Sceptile's glowing green blade cut across Typhlosion's face. The fire type's face whipped down at the impact. After the initial blow, Typhlosion smiled, eyes locking onto Sceptile's form.

Jimmy nodded. "It's fast. But, is it strong?" Undeterred, he stretched a hand out. "Flamethrower!"

Ash grit his teeth, nose wrinkling in a grimace. "Leaf Blade!"

The fire type's head swung towards Sceptile, jaws opening to reveal a throat full of fire. The flames along Typhlosion's neck danced higher. Sceptile raised an arm, once again glowing with vibrant natural energy. The stream of fire billowed out, but Sceptile's blade cleaved it in half. Like a river splitting around a rock, the Flamethrower parted on either side of Sceptile.

A good sport and excitable, Jimmy hollered. "Aw, you're kiddin' me!" He jumped into the air. "That was sick!"

Ash nodded, eyes trained onto Typhlosion. "You're not kidding… Typhlosion absolutely tanked that first Leaf Blade. This won't be an easy battle." The Kanto native smiled. "I'm glad." They couldn't stand around and gush over their pokemon, though. They had a battle to complete. "Sceptile, use Rock Slide!"

Sceptile jumped back as a multitude of various stones were summoned.

"Typhlosion, knock 'em back with Thunder Punch!"

As they fell, Typhlosion swung its fists. The smaller stones were sent flying across the battlefield as debris. The larger stones, however, were shattered, having too much mass to simply change direction. As powerful as Typhlosion was, it only had two forepaws and was only so fast. The Rock Slide quickly outpaced the fire type, burying it under the rubble.

Ash threw a hand out. "Leaf Storm!"

Sceptile ran forward, turning his back to the rubble to conjure a storm. As he began, Jimmy spoke up.

"Flame Wheel, now!"

Bursting out from the rocks, Typhlosion lunged for the grass type. The fire type was cut by the grass type attack, but Sceptile was pounced on. The two tumbled across the battlefield, Sceptile sliding out of Typhlosion's grasp and range in the turmoil.

"Flamethrower!" Jimmy ordered.

Deciding it had worked well last time, Ash ordered a repeat. "Rock Slide, defensively!"

This time, rather than forming a long, punishing drop of rocks vertically summoned, the Rock Slide was summoned so that the mass of rocks was laid out horizontally, falling in a protective shield both before Typhlosion and, hopefully, on him. Flamethrower encountered these encumberments.

Jimmy wasn't going to let Typhlosion get hit, though. "Climb 'em with Flame Wheel!"

Typhlosion focused on the task at hand. Kicking off the few already fallen boulders, the fire pokemon tucked into himself, practically throwing himself onto one of the still falling boulders. He raced across them, positioning himself to be able to pounce on Sceptile again.

"Crap, he's tryna get the drop on us! Sceptile, get up there!" Ash's heart hammered in his chest. The battle was incredibly fast. Sceptile's second Rock Slide hadn't even finished executing and they were moving onto other tactics!

Sceptile climbed into the air, making sure to position above Typhlosion with the falling rocks. The grass type smirked at its opponent, cocking its head. Typhlosion snorted, feeling thoroughly challenged.

"Flamethrower!" Jimmy called.

"Dodge it!"

Sceptile leapt out of the way as Typhlosion's fire consumed the rock the grass type had just been standing on.

Ash noticed Sceptile's positioning and smiled. "Perfect! Leaf Blade!"

Jimmy frowned. "Dodge it!"

Unfortunately, their fast-paced aerial battle was coming to an end. A streak of green sliced under Typhlosion, and the rock he stood upon split in half. Plummeting, he landed with a skid on the battlefield below.

Sceptile grass type now stood on top of the second pile of rocks, keeping a close watch on Typhlosion.

Ash considered the field. They could use this to their advantage. "Sceptile, you remember what I told you about baseball?" the trainer asked.

The grass type spared a glance at Ash before nodding. Kicking one of the smaller boulders into the air, the grass type sent it flying with the flat edge of a Leaf Blade. The boulder was sent flying.

Jimmy's eyes bulged. "Are ya kiddin' me?! What kinda made up," he began to grumble, but cut himself off. "Typhlosion, dodge it!"

The Typhlosion began to run circles around Sceptile, dodging the numerous 'boulder' balls Sceptile was launching towards the fire type. Unfortunately, Sceptile was faster than Typhlosion. After a few tries, the Hoenn starter correctly judged its target and struck true.

Typhlosion was swept off its feet at the impact, stunned so that it landed on its side.

"Leaf Storm!" Ash immediately called, wasting no time to switch their tactics.

Sceptile kicked off the pile of rocks, summoning the Leaf Storm mid-jump as it raced towards Typhlosion. The leaves pummeled the fire type.

After the attack, though, Typhlosion shifted before righting himself. He raised onto his hind legs, roaring to the sky.

"Tyyyyy!"

Ash gulped, impressed but not quite intimidated. "That thing just won't give in…"

Jimmy nodded. "Of course. My Typhlosion's about as stout as they come. He's my most reliable partner."

Ash furrowed his brows. He couldn't afford to let Sceptile get hit, then. If this match came down to a matter of exchanging blows, he wasn't sure Sceptile's endurance would outlast Typhlosion's. They had to exploit the speed advantage to win.

Not content to dwell on their internal processes, Jimmy ordered his Typhlosion again. "Flamethrower, head on!"

"Leaf Blade to split it again!" Ash ordered.

Once again, Sceptile deflected the fire attack.

That was what Jimmy was counting on. "Flame Wheel!"

"Block it!"

The behemoth Typhlosion rolled up on Sceptile, fiery form grinding against Sceptile's Leaf Blade. The attack, however, could only last so long against fire. It soon burned up, sending Sceptile sprawling back at the impact of the Flame Wheel.

"Flamethrower, quick!" Jimmy yelled.

Untucking, Typhlosion spat a trail of flame on Sceptile.

Ash frowned. "That's two hits in one go… We can't do that again!"

"Flamethrower!" Jimmy ordered when the first one faded, revealing Sceptile, who naturally scrambled back to its feet.

"Dodge it!" Ash ordered, not really interested in turning this into a contest of tanking attacks.

Sceptile crouched before leaping out of range of Typhlosion's Flamethrower.

Jimmy frowned. "Dang. That was a good spot, too. Oh well, let's try to keep it close range! Typhlosion, Thunder Punch, and a whole lot of them!"

Running after its opponent, Typhlosion cornered Sceptile between the two rock piles.

Ash grit his teeth. "Dodge 'em! Look for an opening to get out of that corner!"

Sceptile obeyed to the best of his ability. When Typhlosion jabbed at his left cheek, he ducked right. When the fire type clawed with crackling, electrically charged claws for Sceptile's right hip, he leaped to the left. The exchanges continued until Sceptile saw an opening to jump up and back, getting out of range again.

That was the momentary distance Ash needed. They had to really make a dent in Typhlosion's defenses, and he knew just how. "Outrage!"

Sceptile bent over, practically steaming. The grass type leaned onto all forwards before lunging at Typhlosion. He shrieked, slashing at his stomach.

The draconic energy struck true, sending the fire type skidding backwards. Typhlosion grunted, raising his head to regain his bearings. He found no relief, when a fist slammed into his jaw.

Sceptile lashed out with successive, rabid blows, hammering Typhlosion's face and chest. A punch to the head was followed by a spinning kick to the abdomen, and crimson-tinted slash to the face. Any measure of measured agility and footwork was lost in a mindless frenzy.

Jimmy grinned like crazy. "All that energy…! Mega cool!"

A final punch to Typhlosion's gut came with a hiss, and Sceptile collapsed, supporting himself with one knee. His head was spinning, coherent thoughts slipping through his clutches like sand.

Typhlosion huffed, worn down. His fur was ruffled. Sceptile, meanwhile, clutched his head.

"Yep, there's the draw back," the Kanto trainer noted. "But, we made the dent."

Jimmy put his hands in his pockets. "Alright, Ash, if you wanna play with temper tantrum type moves, I'll show you a real hothead." He lifted his hand in the air, crying out for the next move. "Typhlosion! Blast Burn!"

Typhlosion's pupils narrowed to pin pricks. It roared. The audience fell to a hush. There was something primal and ancient about that roar, a cause for a pause of reverential observation. The fire type slammed its claws on the ground. It shook before yielding to fountains of fire bursting all over the field, snaking out from Typhlosion's position all the way to Sceptile.

It was too bright. Ash squinted before looking away. His teeth rattled as the ground shook. When the move was over, he looked at the field. The rock piles from the previous moves were gone. Laying in a heap was Sceptile. For a moment, his breathing hitched.

Had they lost?

 **"** **What a terrifying Blast Burn! Sceptile just might be down for the count."**

Ash's fears were alleviated when he noticed the subtle glow on the grass type's form. As he stirred, the glowing grew brighter.

"Overgrow wouldn't activate if Sceptile was down for the count," Ash reasoned, relief flooding him.

Typhlosion, temporarily spent by the powerful attack, trembled and dropped onto all four limbs. As Sceptile gathered its senses, the two pokemon briefly regarded each other.

 **"** **I spoke too soon – Sceptile is still hanging in there, and with that Overgrow glow, it's sure to be fiercer than ever!"**

"What's it been? Three fire type moves, now?" Jimmy asked. "I lost count… I gotta wonder how many Sceptile can take, though."

Ash tilted his head, smirking. "Dunno. I lost count of how many hits Typhlosion took a long while ago, so no hard feelings."

"Oh, ho, ho! You've got jokes. But, can you handle the heat?! Flamethrower!"

"Leaf Storm!"

Typhlosion threw his head forward, launching an inferno.

Sceptile lifted a hand, summoning a cyclone of leaves in response.

Panicking, Typhlosion fell flat, as Leaf Storm blew through Flamethrower with ease. He only narrowly avoided the emerald storm that blasted away above him.

Jimmy winced. The move's enhanced power had left him speechless. "Thunder Punch!"

"Leaf Blade!" Ash called after.

Typhlosion snarled as its claws crackled with electricity.

Sceptile remained silent, flicking a wrist to create the glowing blade.

The two ran towards each other, meeting in a rapid-fire exchange of blows. When Typhlosion would make to hit Sceptile, the Hoenn pokemon would parry. When Sceptile tried to slice Typhlosion, it would catch the blade with a crackling claw. Ash and Jimmy watched silently, drinking it in.

Sceptile's swordsmanship outdid Typhlosion's boxing abilities, though. After blocking Typhlosion's' latest jab, the grass type slipped the blade under Typhlosion's arm, striking the fire type and sending him tumbling to the side.

"Four!" Jimmy yelled. "I bet four fire type attacks is all Sceptile can take! Bet on it! Typhlosion, use Blast Burn!"

From where it was crouching, Typhlosion roared once more, getting ready to set off another awe-inspiring attack.

Ash, meanwhile, quickly ran through the potential scenarios. He settled on what he hoped would counter it. "Sceptile, up and over with Leaf Storm, and then counter with Outrage!"

The glowing grass type nodded, aiming its Leaf Storm at the ground. Propelled into the air, it missed the initial tremors marking the beginning of Blast Burn. The blades on his arms took on a deep red glow, as did his eyes with them. He shrieked, plummeting down to slam his assault into the geysers of heat.

The epicenter of Blast Burn was split, spraying errant flames and hot ashes all about the field. Sceptile hissed in pain, as his leg was scorched by a spraying fire.

Typhlosion shuddered. Its endurance was massive, but even it had limits. The fire on its back grew higher, its Blaze ability triggered by pure exhaustion.

"One more try," Jimmy said. "This time, with Blaze boosting it. Typhlosion, Flame Wheel!"

Ash furrowed his brows. "Sceptile… I know we haven't really practiced this for battle, but you're gonna have to trust me. Outrage with Leaf Blade!"

The grass type growled, slowly turning his gaze back to Ash. A primal thirst for violence dominated his mind – Ash's words only scraped at his consciousness.

Ash pursed his lips. "Sceptile! You gotta listen to me. It's now or never!"

"Ty!" Typhlosion boomed, his back igniting like a furnace. He charged, becoming completely coated in white-hot flames.

Ash's eyes went wide in horror. "Sceptile! I believe in you!" As Typhlosion charged, the air grew harder. Ash roared, throwing a hand forward. "So, let's finish this together!"

Sceptile's eyes shot open. Deep down, beneath the unbridled fury, a nostalgic warmth caressed his heart. The voice that had guided him, through thick and thin. The man that had held his hand, even in his worst days.

"Phlosion!" Typhlosion snarled, lunging at his hunched opponent.

"Scep…" Raising the familiar sword, it focused, managing to coat it with a draconic, pulsing blue-and-yellow energy. As he turned, the fireball that was Typhlosion was upon him.

"Tile!"

Sceptile's crackling blade smashed into the inferno. Hot embers and flashes of draconic energy splashed about as a great weight came down on the exhausted grass type's arm. He buckled to one knee.

From within the gigantic Flame Wheel, Typhlosion roared. He threw his weight onto Sceptile.

Sceptile's teeth gnashed. Clawed feet dug into the dirt.

 **"** **I think this is the final clash! Who will come out on top!?"**

"Now!" Ash cried to the heavens, throwing a finger above his head. He pointed forward. "You can do it!"

Gleaming red eyes widened, regaining their original golden hue. Sceptile bucked with his occupied blade, pushing himself onto his hind legs. His opposite arm slashed forward.

Flames flew every which way, baking the field.

Typhlosion was sent careening back, rushing past Jimmy so quickly the teen's bang was stirred. Jimmy and Ash both immediately looked to where Typhlosion had crashed.

True to its nature, the fire type was there, back slumped heavily against the wall with rubble and scorch marks all around it. Its upper lip trembled in a growl as it glared at Sceptile. For a moment, the two pokemon locked eyes, an intense rivalry brimming between them.

But, there had to be a winner. Fighting exhaustion and failing, Typhlosion's flames went out first. Then, it slumped over, eyes shut. It was knocked out.

The stadium erupted into cheers. Ash ran out towards Sceptile as the announcer spoke.

"Typhlosion can no longer battle! The match goes to Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, and his Sceptile!"

 **"** **Talk about a heart-stopping conclusion! Both Typhlosion and Sceptile went all-out in a final clash, with their prides on the line! Typhlosion fought the good fight, but Sceptile was just a bit stronger! What a conclusion to the semi-final round!"**

* * *

"Yes!" Dawn whooped, punching both of her pom-poms in the air, before throwing one forward with a wink and a grin. "That's exactly what I'd expect from Ash and his team!"

"Ugh, they were so close." Marina pouted, collapsing into her seat to rest her cheek in her palm. She huffed, standing back up after a moment. "But, they went out in style! And, part of being a great trainer is accepting defeat with grace! Just like Ash and Sceptile, Jimmy and Typhlosion are walking a shining road to victory!" As she delivered her speech, Marina flashed a victory sign, earning a bit of applause from surrounding spectators.

"Maybe you should be an announcer!" Misty commented, clapping briefly for Marina, before turning her attention back to the victors.

"As if! If I was just up in an announcer's box, I'd be denying the world this gorgeous face!" Marina refuted, pointing an index finger to each of her cheeks pushed out by a grin.

A sweat drop ran down the group's foreheads, collectively.

"…Anyway," Brock, picked up, "what a battle. Two expert trainers walked into that arena, but only one could walk out a winner. And, ash earned his way to his highest rank in a conference, yet."

"That's right!" Delia gasped, cupping her hands over her mouth. "This is his first time in the finals!"

"He and Sceptile look really happy, right now." May observed, looking fondly on the scene.

* * *

Ash caught Sceptile under his arm, supporting the prideful pokemon.

"That was risky. You really came through."

Bruised and exhausted, Sceptile let down his guard, leaning into Ash's shoulder. "Sceptile." A glance was spared to the weary Typhlosion, who'd been called back to his ball. He let his eyes fell shut. Their training had certainly paid off.

Pikachu jumped onto the pokemon's opposite soldier, nuzzling him. "Pika Pika!" he cheered.

Ash briefly waved to the audience before clicking Sceptile with its pokeball, putting him away. Catching Pikachu in his arms, he made a quick getaway to see the Nurse Joy.

* * *

Ash jogged through the backstage halls of the stadium.

"Hey, man, wait up!"

Ash looked over his shoulder, watching Jimmy jog to catch up with him.

"What? You gonna gimme one of the greatest matches of my life and not even gimme a fist bump after? What kinda mess is that?" the Johto trainer chided.

Ash laughed, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry! Sceptile's got a bit of an ego, and I figured it wouldn't wanna see anyone if it's all shaky and stuff!"

Jimmy nodded. "I get ya, I get ya. So, let's walk and talk!"

The two boys fell into step by each other.

Ash let out a sigh. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I beat it, but… That Blast Burn was something. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it!"

Jimmy smiled. "Ya like it? It's somethin' we picked up from this real exclusive move tutor out in the Sevii Islands. Name's Kimberly. She also teaches two other moves, called Frenzy Plant and Hydro Cannon. She's kinda picky with who she'll teach 'em to, so I'm lucky I got Blast Burn outta the ordeal."

Scratching under Pikachu's chin, Ash considered this information. "Sevii Islands, huh? That's just off Kanto's coast."

"Yep." The teen looked over to Pikachu. "Hey, speakin'a Kanto, isn't Pikachu your signature? Why didn't ya use him?"

Ash grinned bashfully. "Uh, well… We've got our reasons, and no offense, but I was tryna save him for the final round."

Jimmy, clearing mocking the fact he could have been insulted, put on the theatrics as the two approached the nurse's station. "Oh, I see! I see! I'm not good enough for your starter, huh? Yeah, yeah, you country guys are all the same! Think you're too good for us streetwise guys."

Rolling his eyes, Ash nodded. "Yeah. That's it."

The two greeted the Nurse Joy and handed over their teams to be taken care of.

A thought struck Ash. "... I haven't even checked about whether it's legal for Pikachu to wear his thunder vest during battle."

"His what?" Jimmy asked. "You mean that little… weird sweater he's got on?"

Pikachu's tail swished a bit. He tilted his head. "Pi… Pika."

"You're second guessing it, now?" Ash answered, drumming his fingers on his forearm. "You sure you'll be okay?" With that, he addressed Jimmy's question. "It's to calm his nerves."

"He's jumpy? I ain't never heard of a jumpy Pikachu," Jimmy stated.

"It's a long story. Trust me, I'm happy he has it," Ash insisted.

"Pika..." Pikachu laid into his stocky arms on Ash's shoulder, momentarily. His brows furrowed. He couldn't hide from his problems, forever. If they weren't even sure whether it'd be legal, perhaps he had to get over it. He sat up, making eye contact with Ash. "Pika. Pika, Pikachu!"

Ash pouted, his heart beginning to race. "But…"

Pikachu sternly held his gaze.

The trainer sighed. "You're right. It's your call. If you think you can handle it, then I'll put my faith in you."

Satisfied, Pikachu smiled to himself, flicking his tail, before licking Ash's sliver-marked cheek. "Pika!" Admittedly, during the past few matches, he hadn't turned to rely on the vest's embrace, very often.

The Johto native smiled at the two. "That's the spirit! Well, you've got a day off tomorrow, before the finals. You'll have time to unwind, and even run through that paperwork, in case Pikachu changes his mind."

Ash didn't seem as excited about this news. "... Right, there's a whole day." He wasn't sure what he was going to do with all that excitedly anxious energy. It was like waiting for Christmas. He shrugged. "We'll find something fun to do, I'm sure."

Jimmy took his tray back. "Well, I dunno about you, but since I don't gotta be fresh faced during the finals, I think I'm gonna go out and party."

Ash, intrigued, took his team back before following Jimmy towards the exit. "A party? What kind?"

The conference winner smirked. "Oh, man, Ash, buddy, if you've never been to a mid-conference block party, you haven't lived. They're to die for."


End file.
